Category: Cruises

It’s almost been two years since our family went on our Transatlantic Cruise.  I was feeling nostalgic about it today and so I dug out the digital pictures and took a stroll down memory lane.

We got to see so many historic places and ports during our trip, and I probably couldn’t pick a favorite.  The day we drove out to the White Villages of Andalucia when we were docked in Cadiz, Spain, gave us some beautiful scenery as well as some great picture opps.  Here’s some of what we saw that day.

One of the ports we stopped at in Alaska on our Disney Cruise was Skagway.  We took an excursion where we boarded a bus and drove up to Carcross, Yukon in Canada, and then took the White Pass Rail back down to Skagway.

Before we even left town, we got to see this neat contraption.

So I know I have some online readers who have been waiting to hear about my trip to Alaska, and some real life friends, who apparently would rather see them on my blog than come to my home and see the pictures I took (you know who you are…).

I sit here on this rainy morning and remember a day last spring when my family was fortunate enough to visit the city of Funchal on the island of Madeira (Portugal) on our Disney Transatlantic Cruise.

The city is beautiful with chapels and old buildings.  Even the parks feel ‘old world’ and you would love to take the benches for your garden that they have in them. 

Barcelona, is the second largest city in Spain.  It is situated in the heart of the Catalonia region.  Barcelona preserves its historic palaces, museums and centuries-old churches.

Barcelona’s known history begins with the ancient Romans, who settled it in 15 BC.  Some of the city walls still remain.

Our last day at sea was Earth Day, April 22nd.  It’s hard to believe that at this point our cruise was almost over.

We were quite busy on board today. 

We splurged a bit and played some Bingo.  We didn’t win any cash prizes, but we did get a special “Earth Day” gift, which I’ll be giving away to one of my readers on Monday!

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory perched on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula.  It’s geological features are stunning and it is filled with unspoiled natural beauty.  

Cadiz is a city in southwestern Spain.  It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe and hence is steeped in rich antiquity.  Cadiz  is one of 8 provinces that comprise the autonomous community of Andalucia.  

We spent our time here in two villages about 100 miles outside of Cadiz city.  The whitewashed villages of Andalucia are impressive historical monuments in themselves, and their people still live according to age-old traditions, inherited from their Iberian, Roman and Moorish forefathers.

The day in Madeira tuckered us out a bit after six days at sea!  So it was nice to be able to recoup from all that walking and rest again today. 

Disney brought one of their imagineers on board to give some seminars, Gary Landrum.  Gary gave a presentation of a visual behind the scenes look at how fairy tale castles were deigned and created to be the focal point of Disney Magic Kingdoms throughout the world.

Madeira, Portugal is located on a string of islands in the North Atlantic between Portugal and Africa.  It’s known for its festive celebrations and we were fortunate enough to be there on the last day of their annual Flower Festival.