Middle Aged Drama Queen's Eastern Med Review: Serenade, Pics, Surprises & Fun!

[bhoffman]

Loved the review. We took the Epic last month and had many of the same ports. We also used Rome in Limo. We had Elisabeth as our guide in Pisa/Lucca ( REALLY didn't like her, she spent a LOT of the day on her phone trying to rent an apartment out rather than engaging with us, was 40 minutes late picking us up from the ship, etc etc and we are pretty easy going) and Tony in Pompeii/Sorrento/Positano and absolutely loved him. He was WONDERFUL. We had a different driver in Rome than you (Mauro) who was also great. I think we just got unlucky with Elisabeth. Really enjoyed reading your review and reliving some of the places we went to!

[Id rather be diving]

Sherri, this is awesome. I've spent ALL of my lunch hour reading this and I think I'm oly on page 6 or 7. This is going to be a stage race to read instead of a marathon. I'll check in tomorrow on my lunch hour.

 

I love reading and seeing all of your adventures. We did a TA from Barcelona to Ft. Lauderdale last fall on the LIberty of the Seas. It was so great to see Barcelona again in your pictures. Loved it. Thanks for sharing.

[Bonnielass]

This review is awesome, so so informative, so so entertaining. Keep the good work up but the suspense is killing to find out what was the disaster??

 

Thanks so much, i have spent a few hours sitting read through the entire thread, most enjoyable.

[Sherman793]

I have enjoyed your posts so much!!! I feel like I have been to Europe and enjoyed every day reading this for the last week. I am so sad that it is almost over. As so many have said you certainly could be a career blogger and all of us are guaranteed readers! Thank you for taking so much time to make this so very enjoyable for us!!:p

[Alrana Eris]

okay I'm hooked need to know the ending LOL

[FloGaleRNTX]

Me, too!!! I think the flight home was a nightmare.....

 

Barbara

[KansCocoa]

Me, too!!! I think the flight home was a nightmare.....

 

Barbara

 

Hee hee....stay tuned. It's coming....!

[PCWalton1]

145,000 views :eek:. And I was boasting when my review hit 20,000. :o

[KansCocoa]

 

It's now Thursday, July 5th....

 

It’s our last day…gulp. The last day of our HUGE European adventure…the last day of two weeks spent invading, indulging, enriching and encouraging….we are finally, FINALLY going home.

 

We were ready. We’d had an amazing time, but we were ready. We’d reached the point in our vacation where we all just wanted to be winging back west across the Atlantic, and heading home.

 

So…are YOU ready? For what happened that morning??!!

 

Fasten your seat belts, folks, for it may be a bumpy ride. Here goes.

 

 

 

Originally, when I had made our flight reservations with Delta Airlines (way back sometime in December), our flight home was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. I had scheduled a taxi pick-up with the same company I had used at the beginning of our trip, Barcelona Day Tours, asking them to come get us at 7:30 a.m. This would allow us to get to the airport by 8:00 am, giving us plenty of time to check in, go through security, and people watch. Because we ALL know how interesting it is, watching people at airports.

 

However…at some point between December and our trip…Delta moved our flight from 10:00 am to 11:40 am. I never changed our pick-up time with the cab company, though, and this would prove to be a godsend, as you will see. I still had them scheduled to pick us up at 7:30 – which would get us to the airport extremely early, but better early, than late, right?

 

 

So…the morning of the 5th…we arise early and get all of the suitcases prepared for the flight home. Around 7:00 am, Hubby Mike says to me, “You know…after yesterday’s snafu, when Barcelona Day Tours cancelled on us, you might want to call them and confirm they’re going to actually come get us this morning….”

 

That was a GREAT idea. He's known to have them every now and then. :p So, I did. I called Barcelona Day Tours.

 

The dispatcher guy said, “Oh, yes – we have it down to pick you up at 7:30 this morning and go to the airport. No problem. In fact, if our driver is not there by 7:35, give me a call back.”

 

Sounds awesome.

 

Now, our apartment is on the 1st floor…which is really the 3rd floor…because Europe uses a different numbering system than we do when it comes to numbering apartment floors, that I’ve never understood, but anyway….we have to get the five MONSTER suitcases that carry our Very Important Stuff down to the street level, for lack of a better term. And the elevator is dinky. So…I send the boys out at 7:15 am, to start transporting it all down, thinking this will save us some time when our cab finally does arrive. By 7:20 am, we have the luggage out on the street, with the boys babysitting it…and not too long afterwards, the rest of us close up the apartment, leaving our apartment keys on the table, and head out to join the boys on the curb. We’re technically locked out now of the apartment, but this shouldn’t be too much of an issue, since our ride is due to arrive any minute now.

 

Because it’s now 7:25…and our ride should be here any minute now.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

Well…it’s now 7:30…and our ride should be here any minute now.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

Hmmm…it’s now 7:35…and no cab. Time to call Dispatcher Guy.

 

 

Me: “Yes, this is Sherri, and our cab isn’t here. You said to call by 7:35 if he wasn’t here.” :confused:

 

DG: “What??!! He’s not there???!! He left a long time ago. I will call him and find out where he is.”

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

It’s now 7:50, and Dispatcher Guy has not called me back yet. Time to call Dispatcher Guy. So I do. I call him.

 

Me: “Yes, this is Sherri…and our cab still isn’t here. You were to call him to see where he was….?”

 

DG: “Oh, yes. Well, I can’t get reach him. He’s not answering his phone. I will keep trying.”

 

Me: “Oh. Well. Do you think maybe you could send someone else, in the meantime?”

 

DG: “I will call him and find out where he is.”

 

Click. He’s hung up.

 

And we wait. And we wait. And we wait.

 

.

 

.

 

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It’s now 8:15 am. The Klingons are getting VERY restless. So is Mom. Wait. Mom is BEYOND restless – I’m getting panicked…and…um…mad. Very mad. Why isn’t Dispatcher Guy calling me back???! Time to call him. Again.

 

Me: “This is Sherri. This is ridiculous. WHERE IS OUR CAB??!!” :mad:

 

DG: “I have tried to call him and he doesn’t answer. But!!! We know where he is. Because we have GPS on all of our cabs, and he has been stuck in the same location for the past 45 minutes. His cab has not moved. We know that police have been sent to that location, so we can only assume he has been in a car accident.”

 

Me: :eek:

 

DG: “You can get another cab. We will gladly refund your money.”

 

Me: “Wait. What??!! NOOO!!! You don’t understand!!! We can't get another cab - we've already paid YOU! We don’t HAVE any more money for another cab – all of our Euros are gone! We have NO cash! And the ATM isn’t working!!! Not to mention, we’re on a little side road WAY off the beaten path – there ARE no cabs! No cabs are driving by us!!!”

 

DG: “If you wait, you can get a cab. We will gladly refund your money.”

 

Me: “Wait! Don’t hang up! NOOOO! I don’t WANT another cab! Why can’t YOU send another cab??!! We can’t just ‘wait’ for a cab!!! We have to get to the airport!!! Send me another cab!!!”

 

DG: “We have no other cabs that can accommodate your family. We will gladly refund your money.”

 

Me: “WAIT! Don’t hang up!”

 

By now, I am pretty much in tears…which is what happens when I get really, really mad…and really, really frustrated. Not a good sign. Because my voice is shaking, and I’m shaking, and I’m pacing on the sidewalk, and passerbys are looking at me like I’m a mad, crazy woman. Which I pretty much was at that point. :p

 

Me, continuing: “There are NO cabs here! And I don’t know how to call for a cab – I’m sitting outside, on a curb! I have no phone book – no internet – We’re locked out of our apartment!! YOU NEED TO SEND ME A CAB! Even if it’s from another company!”

 

DG: “Oh, no. I can’t do that. But we will gladly refund your money.”

 

And he hung up. Seriously. He hung up.

 

(And in full disclosure...I did, indeed, get a prompt refund - AND an apology letter - from this company, after we had returned home.)

 

 

I looked at Hubby Mike in total shock and disbelief. :eek: We now had no cab. And we had no cash. And we had no way of hailing a cab, as we are on a little residential street way off the beaten, tourist path. We’re screwed. That was the bad news.

 

The good news was, it was only 8:30 – so, we weren’t late for the airport. Yet. But how were we going to get there??

 

Hubby Mike and I quickly had a conference on the curb. Our only option, that we could see at this point, was to have some of us walk over to Las Ramblas, and hail a HUGE taxi. That could take credit cards (not all cabs are equipped to take plastic…just an FYI).

 

We began arguing on who should walk over, and who should stay with the suitcases on the curb…when God sent us an angel.

 

In the guise of one Antonio Garcia, also known as “Toni”, who drives for a company called Transfers From Barcelona. His single, lone cab came slowly down the street, and we immediately hailed it. Heck, we didn’t just hail it…we swarmed it and set up a human roadblock, probably scaring poor Toni half to death. We explained our dilemma – that we have no cash, and we have to get to the airport…and we are a HUGE family with five HUGE suitcases.

 

Toni said, “I take credit cards. I can take half of you. I will call my brother, Esteban, who can take the other half. Don’t worry. We will make it all right.” And he did.

 

He puts in a call to his brother, who was on another fare at the time, but Esteban promises to get there as soon as he can. After about 30 minutes, Esteban shows up. And as we hadn’t seen a single other cab go by us in the meantime, it was obvious that these cabs were fated. For us.

 

Hubby Mike & Mickey go off in the smaller cab, while the boy Klingons and I go in the larger cab. We arrived at the airport by 9:30 am, JUST making our 2-hour window to check in. These two young men, Toni and Esteban, were true heroes….I want to give them a special shout-out here for saving us that morning. Toni didn’t even charge us extra for waiting the 30 minutes for his brother to arrive…he sat with us, and kept assuring us that all would be well.

 

And it was.

 

We made it.

 

We had a wonderful flight home…

 

…and life was good.

 

 

THE END

 

 

Okay, it's not really the end. I mean, I have "appendixes" to add, such as a quick summary of the ship, the list of tour companies & prices, and the Cruise Compasses - if I can figure out how to scan them! But that's the end of the story. Really. The end. No more. Done.

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Why are you still here??!! Go home.

(Shout-out to Ferris Buehler....)

 

Edited August 9, 2012 by KansCocoa

[gbarry27]

Sherri, I've been lurking on this board since October 2010. Really. I have. And up until now, I haven't had the nerve or reason to post.

 

But for this fabulous dramatic, funny, witty and real trip review, I had to screw up my courage and say BRAVA!

 

And thank you.

 

I have laughed til I cried, made crazy long notes, and then read it all again.

 

We're taking the same trip exactly one year after yours, and I hope to have half the fun.

 

Best to you, hubby Mike, and the Klingons,

Grace

[Steppy08]

I LOVE the Ferris Bueller shout out! :D

 

Great review Sherri! It's been fun to re-live it again with you.

 

For those of you who are sad the review is over, wait until your real 12 day Med. cruise actually ends! I almost needed some Pr0zac. :(

Edited August 9, 2012 by Steppy08

[KansCocoa]

Sherri, I've been lurking on this board since October 2010. Really. I have. And up until now, I haven't had the nerve or reason to post.

 

But for this fabulous dramatic, funny, witty and real trip review, I had to screw up my courage and say BRAVA!

 

And thank you.

 

I have laughed til I cried, made crazy long notes, and then read it all again.

 

We're taking the same trip exactly one year after yours, and I hope to have half the fun.

 

Best to you, hubby Mike, and the Klingons,

Grace

 

Oh, wow.

 

Thank you...really.

 

Seriously.

 

It's posts like these that made it all worth it. I'm glad you enjoyed the ride! And I hope our tips help you...I wish you a bon voyage and I hope you aren't a stranger, and you come back and write your own review. I read so many reviews before our own cruise, and they were ALL helpful in their own way... between people's tips, the photos, the stories, the itineraries - it all made our own trip more special.

 

:)

[ShellDil]

Wow...what a fantastic review Sherri! I can only hope that my family has even close to such an experience next summer on our Mediterranean vacation! You've given us such great advice, mixed with such cliff hanging storytelling! And I love the tidbits of history thrown in as well! I'm sorry to see it come to an end. I'll be waiting for your next review, and your next vacation!

 

As well as your notes at the end of this one, which I'll file away with my printout of gelato translations!

[EmpressofPurple]

OMG Sherri, best review EVER! I am so impressed with all of your pre-planning (a website?!? really?!?! with multiple tour operators, travel tips, tipping guides, etc., etc.?!?!?) -- with your keeping your, er, cool in crisis (missing klingons... missing taxis... eek!)... and those photos! pasta! gelato! (hey, what was the outcome of the search for the best gelato?)

 

Wish I could preserve this review to help me plan a future med cruise... although with the honesty about pricing (and thanks for that!), it probably won't happen for us for a while... I can't wait to see your list of pre-cruise movies, books, tour guidebooks and tapes, preferred tour providers...

 

and even though I am shedding a tear for the end of your european sojourn, I am looking forward to FREEDOM! (No, not freedom from reading your delightful blog... your blog about your Freedom trip!!! How did Mickey fare with no arcade access? What transportation excitement did you experience in the caribbean? did you search for the perfect coconut drink?)

 

such a delight, my dear, thanks again. Can't wait until we actually are on the same cruise at the same time!

 

Best,

[noche_caliente]

Wonderful review! Thank you so much for all the great laughs. It reminds me of our honeymoon cruise from Barcelona on the Splendour!

Edited August 9, 2012 by noche_caliente

[FloGaleRNTX]

Oh, Sherri, I have enjoyed this trip report soooo much. I know it was a LONG journey for you (meaning all the postings), and I cannot thank you enough!!!

 

I hope to cruise with you one day....would be wonderful! My sister and I are scheduled for a cruise out of Galveston in Jan and am contemplating a cruise out of Seattle to Alaska in the late summer of 2013. Want to come along?

 

Barbara

[Luvs Crusin]

Regarding price drops. Check often. They can change from day to day. When I booked last year for my upcoming med. cruise I booked the cheapest inside at $1,999 per person. This past spring there were two price drops within one week. I am now in a balcony for $1,049 per person. A big change from my original booking.

[baggal]

BEST REVIEW EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

It brings back fond memories of our Med. cruise two years ago that we took to celebrate my son's college graduation and his older sister came along for the ride.

 

I too planned for months, but I didn't use a binder. I had manila envelopes for each port so that I only took out the day that I needed and could also store any cruise compasses, receipts, etc. to take home (only to throw them out when I got home.)

 

It also reminds me of our Med. cruise last year, without our "Klingons" where we narrowly missed embarkation in Barcelona (by 10 minutes!) and a Barcelona taxi driver saved our cruise! (the RCI rep. in the airport said "rapido like she meant it!)

 

Thanks again for taking us along.

[EmpressofPurple]

Hey, just read your great Blogger site, too... great excuse to come do that Explorer cruise in December, cross off a few NYC activities (broadway play, anyone? how about some of the other great must-dos here in my home town?)...:D

[CAC104]

Sherri...This was such an enjoyable read, and I am wondering if you are going to continue with a review of your Caribbean cruise on this same site, or whether you will write it under another name. Could you please let us know?

Also, why don't you add the cruises you are planning on going to in your signature so we can all see if we can book the same cruise since you obviously know how to organize everything so well, and have lots of fun.:D

[My2Kitties]

Sherri, thank you again...you are a wonderful writer...enjoying it so much...

 

So sorry about your uncle...keep all those good memories of him...

 

Sad about the gentleman in Greece...

[joand452]

Hey, just read your great Blogger site, too... great excuse to come do that Explorer cruise in December, cross off a few NYC activities (broadway play, anyone? how about some of the other great must-dos here in my home town?)...:D

 

We just booked the 12/3 Explorer cruise -- come join us!

 

 

Sherri,

 

BRAVA! BRAVA!! Awesome review!

[sherifa]

After leaving E.T., we headed over to the port area, where Carlos took the obligatory family photo:

 

All eyes open? Yes? Then it's a GREAT photo of us!

 

 

This is where you can hop onto the iconic Port Cable Car, that cuts across Barcelona’s skyline.

 

 

It looked intriguing, but Too-Tall Taylor has a phobia of heights. I had already been working/consoling/preparing/bribing him for the cable car that we were going to have to endure in Santorini – so there was NO WAY, JOSE he would step foot in this “floating death trap”, as he called it. The cable car supposedly has a capacity of 20 people – but they must have put 20 of the world’s most anorexic models in there while measuring – because that cable car looked PACKED with a mere 12 people or so. And those 12 people looked...average-size. Between the sardine-factor, as well as the heat-factor – not to mention the fear factor – perhaps Too-Tall Taylor was right on the money with this one.

 

We skipped the Floating Death Trap.

 

 

Perhaps Too-Tall Taylor was looking a bit pale from his Close Encounter with the Cable Car…or perhaps we were all looking a bit green from Carlos’s driving…but for whatever reason, Carlos decided that a trip to a hospital was now necessary.

 

Well. In full disclosure, we went as tourists…not as patients. Carlos took us to the beautiful, ancient Hospital de Santa Creu I de Sant Pau…which began in the 11th century and is still open today. The hospital celebrated its 600th birthday in 2001, and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

 

 

Now. If you’ve been paying attention…you will have realized, at this point, that we are dreadfully missing something – or someone – that is SO important to all-things Barcelonian. As in the famed architect/artist, Antonio Gaudi. Don’t fret, Dear Readers. I have an entire DAY of Gaudi planned for the next day of our adventure, so we had asked Carlos to skip all-things Gaudi…and after he picked himself back up from the floor from his dead-faint and recovered from the shock, he kindly obliged us.

 

To a point.

 

Not being able to resist showing us at least one-thing Gaudi, he took us to something small…something unique…and something that is normally missed in the standard Gaudi tour:

 

 

The famed Iron Dragon Gate at the Guell Pavillions....

 

Hubby Mike and I had been to Barcelona previously, in 2009…and we had never seen this. Wow. This is really a not-to-be-missed attraction if you are a Gaudi aficionado. Seriously - it is way-cool. For both parents and too-cool kids.

 

Speaking of too-cool kids. Each one of the kids had been given their own camera, so that they could record their own memories of this possibly once-in-a-lifetime trip. I had spent months stressing the beautiful art, architecture, and scenery that we would be seeing, and I had emphasized the importance of capturing the memories...the essence...of all things European. Every now and then, I will post a photo (or two) of what my kids took on their own cameras...so that you, Dear Readers, can see the trip through my kids' eyes.

 

So...without further ado...I will now post a couple of photos taken that beautiful afternoon in Barcelona, by Brainy Brad:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And another one:

 

 

 

 

 

Pigeons. Oh, but not just ANY pigeons. These are Barcelonian pigeons.

 

Sigh.

 

 

Eventually, all good things must come to an end…including my energy and ability to stay awake. I had hit the wall – the kids had hit the wall – and it was time to bid farewell to Carlos and head to the apartment.

 

Let’s talk about the apartment. Finding a hotel in Europe is never easy, but the Internet Gods have made it somewhat less of a pain. However – finding a hotel in Europe for FIVE people…with lots of STUFF…is next-to-impossible. This is where I probably spent a good bulk of my time in the planning; researching, price-checking, etc our lodging options. Hotel rooms in Europe are…um…well…dinky. We could have gotten two hotel rooms, but the cost was looking a bit prohibitive.

 

About the time I was ready to throw in the towel and give up, and convince the family that sleeping on a park bench under the stars in Barcelona would be a really-cool adventure that they’d remember their entire lives, inspiration struck. How about renting an apartment??!! We’d have rooms for all of the kids, with perhaps a living room/salon to relax in…and it wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg??!!

 

Voila.

 

Renting apartments for a night or two (or longer) in Europe is easy, convenient and extremely affordable. When I did cost comparisons to reserving hotel rooms, the apartment always came out on the better end of my budget. And – as a concerned mom, it was a load off of my mind to know that all of my chickadees (or should I say, "pigeons"?) would be roosting under the same roof at night…behind ONE locked door.

 

I secured the apartment last June (2011) with a small deposit, and so, we were set. But…would this apartment meet our needs? Had I made a mistake in not going with a hotel? We were soon to find out as we whisked over to pick up our key.

 

Up next: Our apartment in Barcelona…and our wild & crazy evening with wild & crazy Jo….

This is TOO funny! I'm laughing out loud!!!

[1lovehols]

Your review was great.

[agathasmum]

Brilliant review!