Cruising, Italian Style...

Last year I decided a cruise would be a fabulous way to see a lot of different cities and not completely drain my children of all joy they have in travelling. Sort of a taster to decide where we might go stay for a longer vacation...
I browsed the internet. One of my criteria was that the itinerary MUST include Morocco. Another rule was that it needed to occur over a spring break so the kids don't miss school (they take missed school VERY VERY seriously here...)
Well, I found Costa Cruises. Great price, great itinerary, kid friendly. SOLD!!! Then. January 2012. Costa disaster. So sad, and a lot unnerving for me. 6 weeks later, another Costa problem. OMG. We decided to do it anyway. All I can say is that I am glad we did. We had a GREAT time. Don't get me wrong, I will do my fair share of complaining in the next few posts. But, overall, we left having enjoyed the trip.
Let's start with complaining. If you haven't been to visit us, you won't realize how far we are from Heathrow airport. It is a minimum of a 2 hour drive for us! To avoid getting up at 2 am for a 6 am flight, we stayed the night at a hotel near the airport. I found cheap long term parking online. I dropped the kids and Chris off at the hotel and headed to long term parking. 2 hours later I returned to the hotel. Long story, not worth it. We set off bright and early the next morning. The flight to Nice was just a few hours. We arrived in Nice and had to wait about an hour to board our shuttle. Then, a 2 hour drive to Savona, Italy. Whew. Finally there at the cruise ship. We would be in our room, exploring the ship in no time, right? Wrong. They put you in this holding cell area and give you a number. Then, you wait. By this time we were tired and grumpy. We found a small play area for the kids. We had to get it unlocked, but we persisted and were able to use it.

 When our number was FINALLY called, we rushed on to the ship. Here we are. Home for the next 11 days. I really wish I could've blogged all along the way. Oh well.

 It wasn't long before the kids made a "fort" under the bed and it was here that they spent most of their days at sea. It doesn't look so comfy to me, but they had a great time.

 There was an inordinate amount of time spent hanging on these railings outside our room. In the distance you can see our very sweet room steward, Octavio. He is a grandfather, from Columbia. He works 8 months on the cruise ship and 4 off. He told us he sleeps in a very tiny room with one other staff member. Ug. I don't imagine it is an exciting life.

 The decor of the ship reminded me of a flashy casino.

 I have never had a good comprehension of the size of these ships. It was MASSIVE! 10 stories of art up these walls!

A few unexpected surprises on our cruise:

• Costa Cruises is VERY Italian. Passengers, staff, decor, food, etc. 
• There were less than 20 English as a first language passengers on the ship. Therefore, all English excursions were cancelled. Great. The staff all spoke English, so we were set.
• Swimming pools on Med Cruises are not heated. Therefore, if you go in the Spring, the pools are completely unusable. Lame.
• The goal of the Cruise people is to get you to spend money. They want you to dump your kids and hit the slot machines. 
• Drinks are very expensive. Guess how much we spent on drinks? $0. Yep, we drank free water the ENTIRE time. They must have hated us. 

We decided to do dinner in the restaurant the first night. What they say about the food on cruises is totally true. It is unlimited and wonderful. I admit I was sick of it by the end, but it took a while! We had pizza several nights and found a buffet that was great. We opted out of the formal nights. Chris doesn't do formal, I didn't bring a dress, and there was absolutely no way the kids were willing to stay in the kids club with the 10 other children, all Italian, locked in a tiny, dark room. At the restaurant we were given our assigned table with our dinner partners...three single American women. Needless to say, they mysteriously vanished the next night. We saw them later and they nervously explained that they opted for the later dinner. What, sitting with ADHD, Asperger's, and their children wasn't fun for you? No surprise, ladies. We did get a lovely Canadian couple seated with us later...apparently they did something really really bad the first few nights. Punishment=sitting with us.
So, welcome to our cruise. It is now my bedtime, so the next post will have to wait. First stop? BARCELONA, Spain