Greek cruise...part 1

So we took off June 11th around 2am in the morning to drive to Venice, Italy and take our cruise.  We were so proud of ourselves for leaving so much extra time once we get there to look around Venice a little before leaving on our blissful vacation.  After about 2 hours of driving we started realizing we were not going the way we had thought we would go and went to check the gps.....ummmmmm....yeah so by the time I spam out on the gps and to find out that for some reason we are being sent through Switzerland instead of Austria we are at the border and have to purchase an overpriced autobahn sticker!!  We weren't worried though because time wise we were still right no schedule and would have plenty of time to reach our port so we drove on.

Let me just pass about 6 more hours of traffic, construction and going up and down mountains to say that it took us 8 hours to get through Switzerland...GRRRRRRR!!!  By this time we were nervous and getting madder by the minute.  Once we finally hit Italy's border it took us almost an hour to get through the border into Milan.  Let me just say.....God bless gps and the warning of traffic cameras on the road because otherwise we would have a ton of tickets to pay right now!! We were flying!!!

As we finally get into Venezia our gps dies on us. It keeps saying program error and won't reboot at all. We are frantic trying to find another way to the port and driving around aimlessly. It was also raining which didn't make anything else easy. As we watched the clock hit 3pm which was to be the last time the book said they would allow you to embark the ship we really got flustered.  Yes, yes I started to get scared that we would miss our cruise and I was sad!!  We finally spotted an Italian security guard and pulled him over to ask for help. He spoke no English but showing him the port number and map we were trying to get to he was able to point and help us find our way.  Once we hit the entrance to the port bridge we were so excited and Mr. M was still flying like we were on our way to the ER and then it happened.......*pause for suspense*..... Mr. M took a corner too fast and lost control of the truck.  The girls were screaming and crying in the back seat, I was watching the cars coming at us and wondering if there a family in their car as well and Mr. M was so calm and working hard to keep control of the truck that he didn't even notice he barely missed hitting 2 cars and a van and just barely clipped the end of a guard rail before coming to a complete stop.  We were fine!  The girls were still crying! Mr. M was mad and just wanted to get there!  At this point we all figured if they said they wouldn't let us on the cruise we were fighting tooth and nail and would get our place on that cruise ship.  Oh yeah we had been through it all that day and I was getting on my cruise ship NO MATTER WHAT!!!!

As we reach our ship and the dock, Mr. M pulls up to the luggage drop off and the people could not have been nicer.  Mr. M says we have bags and they help unload them out of the truck.  We head to check in and Mr. M heads to park the truck.  Oh did I mention that our tail light was hanging on the truck?!?!  Yeah good times!!  So we go inside only to find out that we have plenty of time and everyone keeps telling us how we missed the crowds and are lucky to get checked in so fast now....REALLY?!??!?!?!  We had an accident and it took us 12 hours to get there and it's just fine?!??!  Oyyyyy!!!!

So yes we made our cruise and yes I now have to fix the rear end of my truck and yes I will have tons of pics and things to show you all in the next few days.   Ok you can stop clutching that pillow now!!

 The atrium on the main floor of the ship.

 Map of the ship's levels.

 One of the grand staircases in the atrium.

 The bridge where they are driving the ship.

 This was one of the lounges where they held classes and you could just relax and chat with people.

 This is the theater where we watched all the shows at night. It was also the room where we learned about all the ports, where to shop and met to take off on our excursions.  The shows were fabulous!!!

Our ship docked at our first stop. Corfu, Greece   I was a little flustered when we first got on the ship to even think about taking pics of the ship.  She's a beauty isn't she?!?!











So keep coming back each day and I will introduce you to our cruise day by day as well as Greece and a few Greek Islands as well.