Day 4 of our World Cruise, January 7, 2025

This morning our ship docked at the cruise port at Barcelona, Spain.  Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain next to Madrid.  It dates back over 2000 years. It is a very important shipping port for Spain. 

We went ashore this morning on a city tour of Barcelona.  We stopped at many historical locations throughout the city, had a nice lunch downtown, and had some free time to walk around and take in the sites and culture.  (See some photos below)

This cruise has amazed us by not only the cool places we are visiting, but due to the many different backgrounds and nationalities of our fellow passengers.  The crew we have interacted with has been very accommodating and are fluent in multiple languages. When instructions are given, they are given in 7 languages.  English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, and Dutch.  It really amazes us that one person can repeat a set of instructions clearly in 7 languages.

 Day 3 of our cruise, Monday January 5, 2025

This morning our ship docked at the cruise port in Marseille, France.  After breakfast we left the ship on a shore excursion to see the historic sights of Marseille on a guided tour of the city.  The tour was in 

a motor coach with a local guide narrating as we drove through the beautiful areas.  We made several stops along the way to get out and get up close and personal with the people, culture, and sights of this iconic city.

Here are some highlights in photos:

We arrived back to the ship in the early afternoon for a light lunch and a good nap.  Dinner was awesome again then off to the nightly entertainment.

Tomorrow’s stop is Barcelona, Spain.

 We just returned to our ship from our Segway tour of inner city Genoa. It was amazing and most of the city dates back 1000 years.  Very narrow streets and many areas are pedestrian only, to include our Segways.  Check out my photos:

Our wonderful guide Matt

 Today is Sunday January 5, day 2 of our cruise, and we woke up this morning in Genoa, Italy, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus.  We are parked in the cruise port next to another MSC ship, the World Europa.  It pulled in just after we did.

Later this morning we will get off the ship and do a 3 hour Segway tour through the city.  We have driving Segway’s before and really liked it so we are looking forward to this tour.

Day1 of our World cruise.  January 4, 2025

 On January 3 we landed at Rome, Italy airport.  We exited the plane and claimed our bags and headed for customs.  There were lots of self service kiosks where you scanned your passport, a camera took your picture, the gate opened, and you simply walked through. Very simple, no need to speak to anyone, and best of all, no waiting.

We headed to the terminal exit to find our ride to the San Giorgio Hotel, in the cruise port city of Civitavecchia.  We found our driver and within an hour we were at our hotel.

We had dinner at the hotel and settled in for the night.

The next day we were taken to the cruise terminal where we checked into the ship.

Once on board, we found our Fantasy Ambassador friends Connie Jo and Steve, and had a welcome toast. 

We began exploring the ship and got settled into our cabin.  Here is a nice sunset view from our 10th deck balcony stateroom.

We had a real nice dinner aboard ship, then proceeded to the theater for the nights show.  A great show featuring music from the rock n roll bands from the 70s and 80s.

Here is how I am able to stay connected with email, text, FaceTime, and TV, and be able to share our pictures and blog. This ship is set up with StarLink satellite internet.  I saw 12 StarLink antennas on the top deck, on both sides of the smokestacks.

 We just boarded the plane and are settled in to our mini suites.  Very nice accommodations and the drinks are flowing before we even leave the gate.

Had a wonderful dinner and going to watch the Georgia game.

 Today is January 2, 2025…..Happy New Year!

We drove to Jeff and Kira’s house near Athens, Georgia yesterday and watched a great ASU - Texas football game.  Gotta love those Sun Devils! This morning Jeff took us to the Atlanta airport for our non-stop flight to Rome, Italy.  Upon arrival we checked our bags and headed to Delta’s Sky Club.  We had a nice snack/lunch and a toast to our upcoming four month adventure.  We will be boarding soon and I’m told the Georgia - Notre Dame should be on TV or WiFi on the plane.  Our flight will be around 9 hours and we will arrive in Rome around 8 AM tomorrow, local time. (Time difference of 7 hours ahead). We have a San Giorgio Hotel car picking us up from the Rome airport for the one hour drive to the port area of Civitavecchia where the hotel is.  We will spend one night there and board the ship the next morning, January 4, at 10 AM.  To be continued: