Faria’s European Vacation

We have been planning a big vacation for a while now and here we are ready to embark!
I have been in full-crazy, excel spreadsheet, organization mode this week.  We are going on our first cruise. 
I found this fantastic website:  www.cruisecritic.com
I was able to “meet” lots of people who will be taking the same cruise as us and we are planning on several private tours with some of them (able to see more for less money with less people then through the cruise ship).  I was able to get great packing tips and more.  It has been a wonderful resource.
I was also able to see a detailed ship itinerary from the same cruise that took place on May 29th.  I was able to take this and make a rough sketch of what we plan to do and times for things.  I’m feeling pretty organized and I also know that even though I have an extremely detailed list for each day (down to the times and everything) that some things won’t happen and that’s okay.  Times we have to meet people for tours, times for dinner  - those are set in stone.  But whether Bella and I attend a “napkin folding class” or I make it to “Pilates class” are a little more flexible.
Here’s the basic itinerary:

VACATION ITINERARY
Date	City	Activity
Fri July 13th	Dubai, UAE	Hotel Overnight
Sat July 14th	Dubai, UAE	Fly out on Emirates at 7:00 a.m.
Sun July 15th	Barcelona, Spain	Barcelona Tours –                                    ½ Day Tour, Gothic Quarter/ Lunch
Mon July 16th	Barcelona, Spain	Board Cruise & Spend Day on Ship
Tue July 17th	Cannes (Monte Carlo), France	On our Own
Wed July 18th	Livorno (Florence /Pisa), Italy	Rome in Limo Tour with Susan/Ed –Climb Tower of Pisa, Day in Florence
Thu July 19th	Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy	Rome in Limo Tour – Tour Rome, Tour of Vatican
Fri July 20th	Cruising	Spend Day on Ship
Sat July 21st	Cruising	Spend Day on Ship
Sun July 22nd	Athens (Piraeus), Greece	Royal Caribbean Tour – Tour Athens & Acropolis Museum
Mon July 23rd	Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey	Private Tour with Group – Ephesus, Terrace Houses and more
Tue July 24th	Santorini, Greece	Ocean Wave Tour with Group –           Fira, Oia and more
Wed July 25th	Cruising	Spend Day on Ship
Thu July 26th	Naples (Salerno), Italy	Rome in Limo Tour with Victor/Gigi – Tour Pompeii
Fri July 27th	Cruising	Spend Day on Ship
Sat July 28th	Barcelona, Spain	Disembark Ship and Fly out at 4:00 p.m.
Sun July 29th	Dubai, UAE	Hotel Overnight

Here is a detailed idea of a day for us: (I don’t think it transfers from my Excel so well to the blog but you get the idea).  I did a spreadsheet for every day with all of our information on it and I attached printed off tickets or email confirmation for everything that I have in a travel packet.

7/18/2012
Date	Port	Shore Excursion?	Details	Co. Name	Contact Info.	People with Tour	Cost	Dep/ Pur. Tickets	Balance Due	Misc.
7/18/2012	Livorno (Pisa/Florence)	Yes	Climb Leaning Tower of Pisa, Tour City of Florence, Church of Santa Croce, the Duomo and Baptistery, Academia (Statue of David), Ponte Vecchio, Pitti Palace, Piazza of Michaelangelo	Rome in Limo	info@romeinlimo.com 011 (39) 328 652 6705 Jany	Susan, Ed, Sarah	343.75 Euros + 57 Euros Academia Tickets	$73.88	$434.74	Bought Academia Tickets - Family of 3 joining us
All	7:00 a.m.	Deck 11	Windjammer Café		Breakfast
All	7:30 a.m.	Deck 4	Lobby Bar near Guest Relations		Meet Susan, Ed & Daughter
All	8:00 a.m.		Outside Ship		Meet Driver with sign saying "FARIA" on it
					Bring SEAPASS CARD, PASSPORT
Tour	9:00 a.m.	Pisa			Climb Leaning Tower of Pisa
Tour	12:30 p.m.	Academia			Museum Tour
Tour	1:30 p.m.	Lunch?
	2 p.m. - 4 p.m.	Florence			Touring around Florence?
All	5:00 p.m.	All Aboard	Return to Ship
All	6:30 p.m.	Deck 4,5	Reflections Dining Room		Dinner - Dress is Casual
All	7:30 p.m.	Deck 5, 6	Tropical Theater		"Stage to Screen"
	Include Money for Tour:  350 Euros
	Include Money for Lunch:  50 Euros
	Include Money for Spending:  200 Euros
	600 EUROS for Livorno
	About $750

    After I had the entire two weeks completely spreadsheeted out – I had to make a packing list.  We are able to do laundry on the 20th (about halfway through) on the cruise so I figured on outfits that would work for two days – one day prior to the 20th and one day after and made labels for plastic bags that I could do for all the kids.  Each ziploc bag has a pair of underwear, socks, accessories (in Bella’s case) and their outfit.  This will make it easy for getting dressed each day.
It was also recommended to pack two sets of bathing suits so you never have to put on a wet bathing suit and make sure one set is in your carry-on bag since it takes a while for stuff to get to your room.  I packed all three kids suits in two one bag for each set.  I also did something similar for me but brought a long a few extra dresses for evenings.  I’m hoping all this planning proves worth it!

Here’s Bella’s labels:

Isabella 7/13 - Dubai Outfit 7/22 – Athens Capris Top Outfit		Isabella 7/14 – Plane Outfit 7/28 – Plane Outfit Comfy Pink Outfit		Bathing Suit Set 1
Isabella 7/15 – Barcelona 7/26 – Naples Skirt & Top Outfit		Isabella 7/16 – Cruising 7/21 – Cruising Shorts Jumper		Isabella 7/17 – Cannes 7/25 – Cruising Brown Sundress Outfit
Isabella 7/18 – Pisa/Florence 7/23 – Turkey Leggings & Top Outfit		Isabella 7/19 – Rome 7/24 – Santorini Red/Navy Dress Outfit		Isabella 7/20 – Cruising 7/27 – Cruising Shorts Jumper

Here’s our ship: