Detailed Photo Review of Carnival Sunshine 12-Night Mediterranean Cruise 9/8/13

[deladane]

 

 

 

The roof also offered great views of the Eixample district.

 

 

Once we were finished enjoying the roof, we went down one floor to the attic level. The red brick arches that run throughout the attic were beautiful, and the museum featured lots of information about Antonio Gaudi (some of which we had already learned earlier today at the other buildings haha), and it also had examples of his ergonomic furniture designs.

 

 

 

[deladane]

Our last stop was to the next floor down, which was a furnished apartment. Unlike Casa Batllo, Casa Mila is fully furnished and set up like an apartment at the turn of the century. It was interesting to see how someone would have lived in this building over 100 years ago.

 

 

 

 

We left around 3:30pm and used our unlimited metro cards to ride the bus back to Placa Catalunya. We decided to head back to the hotel to rest and repack our bags. At 6:30pm, we walked down to Las Ramblas in search of some more souvenirs. I bought a tshirt for my dad, and mom bought a few things too.

 

Around 8:30, we were hungry for dinner and decided to eat at a tapas restaurant near the top of Las Ramblas. I didn't get to take photos because we were so hungry that we ate the food before I had a chance to take out my camera haha The food was very good, and it made for a nice last meal in Spain. After dinner, we went back to the hotel around 10pm to finish packing.

 

On Monday, we ate our last breakfast at the hotel, and had the hotel concierge call us a taxi to go to the airport. Our flight home was uneventful... we had beautiful views of the southern coast of Spain, and they served lunch midway through the flight.

 

 

 

Well, that's it folks! I hope you enjoyed reading my review :) Please let me know if you have any other questions about anything! I took over 2,500 photos on this trip, so if there was something else you wanted to see a photo of, let me know and I'll check to see if I have one.

 

[Bimmer09]

I just got back a week ago from my own cruise and visit to Barcelona and am trying to catch up.

 

Great review from start to finish

 

Like you we spent two days in Barcelona and the Sunday was reserved for Casa Mila (La Pedrera) and Casa Battilo. We stayed at Hotel Majestic which appears in your street lamp photo. It's 2 blocks either way to each of the amazing houses. I took lots of photos which will wind up in my review (currently being written daily)

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Pop over to my review and say hi when you get a chance. Like yours it's written chronologically so it will take a while to tell the tale.

 

Norris

[deladane]

I just got back a week ago from my own cruise and visit to Barcelona and am trying to catch up.

 

Great review from start to finish

 

Like you we spent two days in Barcelona and the Sunday was reserved for Casa Mila (La Pedrera) and Casa Battilo. We stayed at Hotel Majestic which appears in your street lamp photo. It's 2 blocks either way to each of the amazing houses. I took lots of photos which will wind up in my review (currently being written daily)

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Pop over to my review and say hi when you get a chance. Like yours it's written chronologically so it will take a while to tell the tale.

 

Norris

 

Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed my review :) I started reading yours and you are doing a fantastic job! I literally laughed out loud when you noted that the size of the plane in the flight course map is not to scale haha Thanks for taking the time to write it up, and I will post a comment when I finish reading it (or when I catch up and finish all your posts that you've done so far!)

[isismommy]

Awesome review and pics! Kept me wanting more from beginning to end!!!

Also, congratulations on ur engagement!!!! I can only imagine the detailed planning u will be doing 4 the big day! If u put all this wonderful effort into this review and cruise, I can only imagine how wonderful the big day will be!!!:) wish we could read along 4 that as well!!! Lol thank u 4 taking the time to share with us!!!

[pink roses]

I loved your review! I just got off of one of the Carnival Dream Journey's cruises and want to do a photo review to share. Can you tell me how to add the photos?? Thanks

[deladane]

Awesome review and pics! Kept me wanting more from beginning to end!!!

Also, congratulations on ur engagement!!!! I can only imagine the detailed planning u will be doing 4 the big day! If u put all this wonderful effort into this review and cruise, I can only imagine how wonderful the big day will be!!!:) wish we could read along 4 that as well!!! Lol thank u 4 taking the time to share with us!!!

 

haha trust me, you really don't want to read about the drama of planning a wedding! ;) And ironically, I don't even have that much planning to do for the wedding because we live in CA but the wedding will be in NY. My mom is taking care of most of it (which is also convenient because she works in the party planning industry and has a few business contacts to help us out) We have a venue and a few vendors that our family has used for many prior events, so booked them again and saved the effort of hunting for something new :) I am mostly looking forward to honeymoon planning, but probably won't start that for a few more months as we are waiting until 2017 to take our honeymoon. If it involves a cruise (as I hope it does), I promise to come back and share all the planning and details then!

 

 

I loved your review! I just got off of one of the Carnival Dream Journey's cruises and want to do a photo review to share. Can you tell me how to add the photos?? Thanks

 

You need to upload your photos somewhere online as Cruise Critic can't host photos. For this review, I used Flickr. Once all your photos are there, click on the arrow on the bottom right corner of each photo, and copy the BBCode (I found the medium size works best). When you get to the point in your review on Cruise Critic that you want to post a photo, click on the icon in the yellow rectangle with a mountain, and paste the BBCode in there. That should do it! Let me know if you have any problems or have other questions :)

[isismommy]

We also got married out of state. Hired a planner which saved me many headaches BC I wasn't there to oversee every detail. I'm sure the big day will be beautiful and I wish u a happy, loving, and an amazing life together!!:) I bet u get to take that honeymoon cruise! Just remind him "happy wife, happy life"! Looking forward to that review! Best wishes!!!!!!

 

[sailawaybellaluna]

Such a wonderful review! Thanks for taking the time to write it! I loved your photos too...Reminded me so much of our 2012 Europe cruise on the Breeze!

 

I'm planning our Vista cruise out of Athens (which ends in Barcelona), so I appreciated your tips! Last time I was in Barcelona, I didn't visit any of the Gaudi houses, but your photos have convinced me to do so!

[deladane]

Such a wonderful review! Thanks for taking the time to write it! I loved your photos too...Reminded me so much of our 2012 Europe cruise on the Breeze!

 

I'm planning our Vista cruise out of Athens (which ends in Barcelona), so I appreciated your tips! Last time I was in Barcelona, I didn't visit any of the Gaudi houses, but your photos have convinced me to do so!

 

Thank you!! I have loved all of your prior reviews, so I hope you plan to write another review for your Vista cruise! I always love seeing your photos of your adorable son, and I share his love of escargot ;) hehe Definitely check out some of the Gaudi houses, but if you can make it to Park Guell, I think your son would really enjoy it!

[BabyJacks17]

Thank you so much for wonderful, detailed review. I am in the midst of planning for my 10 day Mediterranean Vista cruise & I was wondering if you remembered the tour guide/ company that you used in Izmir? From everything that you covered, it fits exactly what we are looking to do / see there.

[deladane]

Thank you so much for wonderful, detailed review. I am in the midst of planning for my 10 day Mediterranean Vista cruise & I was wondering if you remembered the tour guide/ company that you used in Izmir? From everything that you covered, it fits exactly what we are looking to do / see there.

 

Unfortunately, I don't know which company we used in Izmir because I did not organize that tour. I actually just went back through my emails to the people on my roll call but they never mentioned the tour company name, just the details of the itinerary. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful :( Please let me know if you have any other questions!

[midwestchick]

Next, we drove to the quaint old town of Castiglione. It was a Sunday morning, so the town was mostly deserted except for a group of about 10 men sitting together outside (Antonio said their wives were all inside cooking!). We walked around the town for a little while, and then headed up the hill to explore an old castle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pacing of the day seemed a bit weird to me because that was all we did by 11:30am, but we still had a lot to do on our itinerary. It almost seemed like Antonio was stretching out our stops so we would arrive at the right time for lunch.

 

I heard about this review. That's Casteglione di Sicilia...home of my husband's grandparents. Did you go into the castle? We were there last year.

Who did you book this tour through. We're going to Messina and would like to return to the village.

Edited November 13, 2015 by midwestchick

[cruise47]

Thanks for sharing your detail review and all your outstanding pictures.

[deladane]

I heard about this review. That's Casteglione di Sicilia...home of my husband's grandparents. Did you go into the castle? We were there last year.

Who did you book this tour through. We're going to Messina and would like to return to the village.

 

Yes, we did get to walk around inside the castle!! I don't remember which tour company we used because this was one of the tours organized by someone else in my roll call and we just tagged along. Looking back, I don't know that I would recommend this company. Our driver wasn't very chatty or informative and the pacing of the day was weird. I think Rome in Limo does tours from Messina and they always have lots of options of different tour itineraries. Plus if they don't already offer a tour to Castiglione, they are very accommodating and will create a tour to wherever you want to go! Hope you have a fantastic trip!!

[deladane]

Thanks for sharing your detail review and all your outstanding pictures.

 

Thanks for reading along! I'm so glad you enjoyed it :)

[midwestchick]

Yes, we did get to walk around inside the castle!! I don't remember which tour company we used because this was one of the tours organized by someone else in my roll call and we just tagged along. Looking back, I don't know that I would recommend this company. Our driver wasn't very chatty or informative and the pacing of the day was weird. I think Rome in Limo does tours from Messina and they always have lots of options of different tour itineraries. Plus if they don't already offer a tour to Castiglione, they are very accommodating and will create a tour to wherever you want to go! Hope you have a fantastic trip!!

 

We had a private tour scheduled last year for just the two of us...a lady I contacted did all the research at the records office prior to our visit and we got all the information about his family...very interesting.

We also saw the Gorges on the way back to Taormina. Sorry you couldn't find the Greek Theatre..very easy and there is a little cannoli stand near there where they make them fresh, which is the best.

Your photos brought back a lot of fond memories. You did a great job with your report.

I'll do a search for tour operators for Messina.

 

[Msjodeci]

Bravo! Fantastic review!! Getting ready for our Med cruise on Vista the same week as you did yours. I was worried about the weather, but looks like it was beautiful. Thanks for all the pointers. Now I'm going back through to write my notes [emoji4]. Again, wonderful review!!!

 

 

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[deladane]

Bravo! Fantastic review!! Getting ready for our Med cruise on Vista the same week as you did yours. I was worried about the weather, but looks like it was beautiful. Thanks for all the pointers. Now I'm going back through to write my notes [emoji4]. Again, wonderful review!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

 

Thanks for reading! I'm so glad you found it helpful as that why I take the time to write my reviews :) I hope you have a wonderful time on the Vista! She looks like a beautiful ship!!

 

 

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[Out of Iowa]

thank you so much for your efforts in writing and illustrating your vacation!

You took me back to our Mediterranean cruise and some of those same ports; I adored Barcelona and would go back in a heartbeat....

 

even though it is the only place I've ever had problems with (attempted) pick-pocketing. It happened in the Boqueria marketplace along Las Ramblas. I knew it was a real possibility and I thought I was being so aware! My PacSafe purse thwarted their efforts, although it has missing paint on the metal coupling parts. All they got was my small bottle of hand-sanitizer in its little knitted holder.

[mothermary]

Thanks for all your hard work on this review.  Even though this cruise was over 5 yrs ago I gleaned many tips from your review.   Your pictures were just superb.