Cruising Part Four-Final Disembarkment

Cruising Part Four-Final Disembarkment

 I had no idea what to expect when it came to final disembarkment from our fantastic cruise.  It was definitely organized chaos. 
The afternoon before the final cruise day, the staff holds a disembarkement informational brief in one of the lounges.  It's a power point presentation explained in detail by a staff member.  The staff went through the information in multiple languages.  It's very helpful and has some SUPER important information in it-so DO NOT MISS this.
The way the cruise handles disembarkement of the masses is really thought out.  They arrange set times for each member or family to leave the cruise ship based on how you are traveling out of the final port destination.  For example, our final port was Venice.  If you were flying out of Venice on a morning flight, you left earlier than those that had an afternoon flight.  I hope that makes sense.  If you take a look at the below hand out that was given to us the night before, then It might be a little more clear.

You can see how the cruise line categorized departure with group colors based on departure info.

The disembarkment groups are categorized by colors.  We were in the brown group.  The final night on board, we were given the disembarkement guide/times and our brown luggage tags.  The luggage had to be set outside of our room by midnight.  This is IMPORTANT!  Since you have to leave your luggage in the hallway outside of your room by midnight, what do you do with your toiletries and all that you'll need to get ready the following morning?  Make sure to have a carry on type of bag set aside.  Here's my tip: leave out the pajamas for the last night, the clothes you will need for the following day, and all your toiletries and keep them in this one carry on.  Pack everything else in your luggage and place it outside your room, in the hallway by midnight, to be picked up by the staff. 

Brown luggage tag (I regretfully did not take any pictures of the tags before putting them on our luggage:/)

The final morning we had plenty of time before it was the brown group's designated time to disembark.  We had a leasurely breakfast in the buffet and played cards waiting to get off the cruise ship.  When it was our designated time, we went to the deck 6 (as directed by the instructions given).  It was VERY easy.  We just walked off the ship and followed the masses to a building that you had to walk through to get into the final port, which for us was Venice.  When we walked into the building, there was luggage everywhere.  But, it was all sectioned off by color. 

We found all the brown labeled luggage, grabbed our 4 bags and walked out of the building.  Then we caught our bus back to Frankfurt. 
That was it!  We had a great time and I recommend going on at least one cruise while stationed in Europe.  It's a fantastic way to see a lot of countries and not have to haul luggage from destination to another, book train tickets, Airbnb lodging, etc.  I have to say that we were able to have a lot of time with one another and relax and enjoy family time.  It really was a trip of a lifetime!

Cruising-Part Three

Cruising-Part Three

Cruising-Part One:  Embarkment can be found HERE
Cruising-Part Two can be found HERE (it covers excursions, payments, rooms, etc.)

There was so much information to share from taking our cruise that I had to break it up.  Here is part three...

Let's get started:  I'll be covering night shows, kids club, and some of our cruise ships facilities.

Night shows:  There was a show every night.  We missed the first 2 shows because we thought the kids wouldn't enjoy it and it was rather late starting.  But, after giving in and realizing (with the help of my husband) that we were on vacation and to throw bedtimes out the window-we went to one of the shows on Wednesday.  It was wonderful and the kids were mesmerized.

Needless to say, we saw every show after that for the rest of the cruise.  The show started at 1930 and they had a second showing at 2115 every night and lasted about 45 minutes or so.

They were all kid friendly.  Basically its like a small Vegas type dance show with some singing here and there.  The shows are entirely FREE and we never had problems finding seats...we traveled with another family and we were a pack of 9 and we STILL found seats easily.

Gym:  There was a spa and a gym that were connected to each other on our cruise ship on the top deck.  I enjoyed a spa treatment, which surprisingly was quite luxurious.  My husband enjoyed the gym early in the mornings before it got crowded.  The treadmills offered an amazing view!

Kids Club:  There is a wonderful kids club on the cruise ship.  It was divided up into 3 parts:  infants, mini club (3-6), junior club (7-11), and teens (12-17).  When we first arrived on the ship, there was a kids table set up where you get an ID bracelet for your child.  This is mandatory for all children and the wrist bands were already made up and ready to be placed on our kids when we got to the table. 

They verified our ID, then found our child's wrist bands and placed them on their arms.  If you have a younger child, the band will go around their ankle so that it's less irritating and the child won't try to rip it off.  This band is for security and tells who each child belongs to and where the family evacuation deck is for them to reach you in case of an emergency.

At the table, they also gave information on the kids club, age groups, and events for kids each day.  It was great! 

I'm SUPER overprotective when it comes to my kiddos.  Admittedly, too overprotective.  (I've worked years in child and adult sexual abuse, and domestic violence and unfortunately have a jaded view when it comes to leaving my kids with anyone other than myself or my husband).  But the couple of hours we put my kids in the kids activities-they really enjoyed.  I found comfort in the fact that my 7 and 9 year old were together for everything and were able to look out for one another and they did things like:  Lego building and cooking pasta from scratch with the ship chef!  It was super cute!

The kids schedule was wonderful to keep handy, because you could chose whatever activity you wanted your kids to do. 

They didn't have to be in kids club all day.  You could chose from a menu of kids activities-a la carte activities if you wanted to.

Dining:  Our cruise ship had 3 different restaurants, including a sushi restaurant, and an all you can eat buffet. 

Because we had kiddos with us, we always chose the buffet because it was HUGE and had a variety of things and even included a kids buffet sections which had kid friendly pasta and nuggets, veggies, etc.  The food was great and was never questionable.  There were things like burgers and fries, pasta, salad, meats and cheese, pasta, fish, roast beef and chicken, pizza, fruit, etc.  There was food available at the buffet ALL day long if your little ones need a snack-the fruit section was great.  During more snacking hours they had cookies and pastries and fruits and yogurts available instead of the FULL buffet. 

Drink Packages:  There are many different types of drink packages.  Review the packages with your travel agent to ensure it's what you want.  We included a drink package because I did not want to have to worry about water and coffee and other drinks adding up fast and have to limit ourselves.  We had booked this vacation 7 months in advance and I really wanted to enjoy ourselves.  We got the all inclusive one.  What I didn't even think about, or realize, is that it included coffee and ice cream!  We definitely indulged in the smoothies, shakes, coffee, and ice cream. 

Pools:  Our MSC Poesia ship had 2 pools and 4 hot tubs, including a baby pool on the top deck.  It was beautiful.  Just remember, the pools are SALT WATER.  Pool towels are provided for you in your room, but if you loose one there is a 20 euro charge.  So, make sure you keep track of those!

Kiddie Pool

I'll be writing about final Disembarkement next week.  Stay tuned!

If you have any questions or would like more information on our cruise experience-feel free to leave a comment!:)

Cruising-Part Two

Cruising-Part Two

There is so much to write about from our cruise experience, that I broke it into a few sections. 
Here is part one...

Arrival:  I broke down arriving in details HERE.  What I didn't mention is that we arrived at 1000 and the ship wasn't quite ready for us (we arrived via an MSC shuttle bus (more to come on that).  Our room wasn't ready for us yet since we were so early. The rooms were available after 1400.  But, they still let us on the ship and we got to explore it practically empty. For early passengers, you could check in your backpacks and carry ons at a temporary luggage station.

The center of the ship

Balcony/top decks

Rooms:  There are a variety of rooms to choose from and they all come at different prices.  We got a room on the top floor with a balcony. 

Our friends, that previously went on a cruise, recommended we get a room with a balcony for 2 reasons:
1)  it makes the room feel larger than it is
2)  the rooms get stuffy.  It's nice to air out the room by opening the balcony doors. 
We really enjoyed our balcony because it offered amazing views!!!!

The balcony rails were high enough that I didn't have to worry about my 7 and 9 year old going over the edge and the bottom of the railings were so close to the floor that I didn't have to worry about one of them falling between the bottom of the railing and the balcony floor. (hope that all makes sense).

We were a family of 4 and I thought the kids were going to have to share the pull out couch in the room.  We were pleasantly surprised by having a wall bed.  My son loved it!

Turn down service in the evening

The room servicing was amazing!  We were shocked daily at how clean everything was.  The room got cleaned twice a day.  Once in the morning and then there was a turn down service in the evening that involved room cleaning as well.  We were not expecting this at all!  With both daily cleanings our trash was taken out and we got fresh towels.

Daily Newsletter:  Every night a cruise employee brings you a newsletter for the next day.

It includes a TON of info:  Excursion meeting times and locations, night show info, spa specials on the cruise, disembarkment times and the time you need to be back on the cruise for it to depart in the afternoon. 

You can see in the top right hand corner ours stated "Eng" for English version. 
I would carry this on me at all times on and off the ship.

Language: Even though the MSC cruise line is a German cruise line, everyone spoke English.  The majority of the people on the ship were either English, French, Italian, or Deutch.  The ship would make announcements in EVERY language (I counted 6 different languages every time), even the emergency procedure that they make you go through before you even leave the initial port.


Cruise Card:

You use your cruise card for everything.  I describe in detail the cruise card HERE.
What you also use it for is when you order any drinks, ice cream, dinner, book any excursions-really anything on the cruise!  It's also the card to get into your room.

Payments: You don't use money for anything on this cruise.  Don't get me wrong-you pay for everything you eat, or do.  But, there is no money exchange. 
Here is how it works:  When you get your cruise card, there are all these little payment machines on the cruise ship (mostly by the customer service desk).  You pop your cruise card into the machine slot and it reads your info.  Then it will ask for a form of card payment (credit card).  Then you swipe the credit card you want to use when paying for anything on the cruise ship. 

That's it!  super easy!  However, if you don't like that, then you can register a credit card, debit card, or euro at the customer service desk.  They make you put as low as 230 euro on your cruise card, like a down payment or security deposit.  If you use all that money, plus more by buying cruise excursions or using the spa on the ship, etc. then you will end up getting a bill at the end of the cruise on your last day.  But, if you don't use all the 230 euro deposit, you'll get the remaining balance refunded to your credit card that you registered. 

Excursions:  The cruise website lists the excursions that the cruise company offers and you can prebook them online before the cruise.  But, if you wait-it's not a problem.  On the first day of the boat, as soon as you arrive, go to the excursion desk (for our cruise it was beside the customer service desk).  The excursions fill up fast, so do not wait too long.   Book them as soon as you get on board the first day.  The excursion office provides early sign up sheets and break downs of all the tours offered through the cruise line for each port destination listing:  ease, price, length, descriptions of tour, etc. 
We only booked one excursion through the cruise line.  The other days, I had done tons of research on our locations and we were able to choose from prints outs I had brought from Rick Steve's and cruise critic.com and some other blogs I researched.  Our last day, we were in Spit in Croatia and did a 'Game of Thrones' Tour-IT WAS AMAZING.  I'll write more on that later;)

This is just one page of the excursion brochure

We registered for an excursion before there was anyone manning the desk with the below form and by that night I confirmed we were booked and good to go.  The excursion got booked on our cruise card and the charge was deducted from our 230 euro we had on security deposit (explained earlier in this post).

When no one is at the excursion desk, just fill out one of these booking forms

and place it in the box on the counter labeled for the forms. 

I recommend returning to the counter to confirm

everything was booked accordingly.

Daily Disembarkment:  Almost every day of the cruise you have the option to leave the boat. some people stay on the boat and enjoy having it almost completely empty since most people get off the ship.  We docked every day, except for one, due to being at sea for one entire day.  This was when I enjoyed a spa treatment and my kids enjoyed the kids club on the cruise. 

When you leave the ship-you must present your cruise card to security on your way out.  They scan it to get a head count, to identify people on the ship, and those that are off the ship exploring.  When security scans it, your photo comes up on their computer, and they verify that it's actually you that is associated with your cruise card (hope that makes sense).

Each time you get on the boat, after exploring the country you are docked in,

you will get in line to go through security to get back on the ship. 

There are open area tents to protect you from the harsh sun or sprinkles. 

Coming back on: After exploring off the ship and returning, you'll have to go through security again.  Any alcohol or knives (anything they consider a weapon) will be confiscated.  But, you'll receive a receipt and when you disembark on the final day,  you can get your items back.  Super efficient-just don't lose the receipt they give you when they confiscate your item.  When getting back onto the ship, you will go through metal detectors.  Security will also scan any bags and check your purchases. 

This is what you encounter when coming back on the ship: 

security on the left scans your cruise card,

you go through the line and through the scanners.

Travel sickness:  You can definitely tell you are on the boat!  My daughter and I get severe motion sickness-severe!  I had packed Dramamine for kids and myself, acupuncture pressure bracelets and even had a prescription patch for behind my ear.  My daughter and I didn't need any of it!  It was great! 

Cruising Part One: Cruise Ship Embarkment

Cruising Part One:  Cruise Ship Embarkment

We recently took a cruise for the first time and loved it! 
Cross Mediterranean cruise OFF the bucket list!

We didn't find a lot of information on cruising that was useful-at least for families, so I thought I'd share with you a few things we learned.
I'll try to break it into sections for easier reading.  I'll be covering Cruise Embarkement, Cruising-Part One, Cruising-Part Two, and Disembarkment.

First off-Cruise Embarkement

The cruise company that we went on is MSC cruises.  Here is their website.

The cruise we went on was one of the first of it's kind, meaning that even our travel agent hadn't seen a cruise that went to the locations we did.
If you wanted to find it again, you cannot get to it from the English MSC website.  You'd have to go to the German MSC website, located here.

Our cruise went to: 
Genoa, Italy
Civitavecchia, Italy
Corfu, Greece
Kotor, Montenegro
Split, Croatia
Venice, Italy

Here is the easy breakdown of our initial cruise embarkment, but continue reading for more details:
-Cut and place luggage tags from boarding passes onto your luggage
-Arrive at port
-Cruise employees will take your luggage and place it on the ship for you
-Walk down the port to the boarding station/building
-Enter boarding station:
  -welcome line
  -boarding line, where you wait to get your passport and boarding pass verified
  -waiting area/boarding group
  -security check point
  -loading bridge
  -cruise ship security check point
  -finding your room/getting your luggage/obtaining your cruise card
  -registering cruise card-Once you get your cruise card, you have to register a form of payment with  it.  I'll describe more about this on the next segment of my cruise blog posts.  Stay tuned.

When you embark to get to the cruise ship, it's similar to getting onto an airplane.

We arrived with all of our luggage (each family member was allotted one large suitcase-visit the MSC website for luggage guidance) at the end of the docking port.  MSC cruise employees collected our suitcases and placed our luggage tags on them for us.  The luggage tags came with our boarding passes and we noticed other people had laminated their luggage tags and already placed them onto their luggage.  We had never gone on a cruise before, so we had not had that ingenious idea.

Here is one of our four luggage tags

that was printed on the bottom of each persons boarding pass.

We walked towards the cruise ship, where we encountered a large building.  In the building was where you'll find lots of roped lines and sections:  welcoming section=cruise ship employees greeted us with water and orange juice and took professional photos of our family in front of a make shift ship wheel and backdrop (we never purchased these, but they were available at customer service if we wanted them).  Then we were ushered to roped off waiting areas to begin the boarding process.  Instead of waiting in line with everyone, we had purchased a special package when we bought our cruise ship tickets which included priority everything.  Honestly, we booked our cruse 6 months in advance and it was almost sold out.  I only had 2 packages to choose from to get our cruise tickets and drink package.  The cheaper of the 2 packages left to purchase still included 'priority' status.  In the end, it was great and well worth it!  Basically, we were waiting in line with everyone else and I took our cruise invoice to one of the employees ushering everyone in the lines.  EVERYONE employed with the cruise ship spoke English and was able to understand that I was wondering if we needed to wait in line with everyone or go ahead due to the priority status on our tickets.  The employee gave us a special priority card and ushered us to a separate area where no one was and we got expedited service.  We went to another desk where they verified our tickets, our passports, and gave us a boarding group number.  We were group 4, but when I showed the desk clerk our priority card, she told us we could go straight to the front of the line-which was a security area (similar to when you are trying to get on to a plane).  From here, we had to get our carry ons (backpacks and purse) scanned and walk through metal detectors.  It's just like an airport, where they will confiscate any weapons, liquids over a certain amount, food, etc.
Once through security, you'll walk outside of the doors to the embarkment bridge and onto the cruise ship.

After security, on our way to the embarkment bridge

This is where you will go through ANOTHER security check point where the cruise ship employees take your photo as you get onto the cruise ship. 

Security taking passenger's photos as you arrive to the ship.

This photo gets associated with a card that you get for the duration of the cruise.  This cruise ship card has your identity on it, your meal plan on it, cabin number, etc.  It's basically your exit and entrance pass to the cruise ship and you also register a form of payment to the card so it's used for EVERYTHING!  (I'll explain more of the card as you read on and I provided some more info in THIS-link to come late- post).  The card is also your key to get into your room.  After you finally get to step foot onto the cruise ship and have gone through the security check points you may go to your room.  Your luggage will be lined up outside of your room, or at least up and down the same hallway as your room-so you may have to go on a little bit of a search for it.  Don't fear though, it'll all be there for you.  We were amazed out the efficiency of this process.
In your room, you'll find a daily newsletter and your cruise cards.  Each member of your party gets their own card.

This cruise card will tell you everything you need to know.  Ours says 'Aurea' which meant that we had priority everything and that our drink package was included.  When you purchase your tickets, you have drink package options to chose from as well.  We are not big drinkers, but wanted to have bottled water and soda available-it was a great choice for us, because their cappuccinos were great and I fully indulged in those.  The 'Assembly Station' is where you go if there is an emergency and you need to evacuate the ship.  12065 was our room number and it was located on Deck 12.  We did not pay for the 'internet package', but our card came with an Internet ID in case we decided to purchase the Internet during the cruise.  The cruise ship was called MSC POESIA and the cruise lasted from April 2-8.  Dining times are assigned and the first seating is at 1830 and the second seating is at 1930.  Due to our 'aurea' status, we could eat at either dining times='My Choice Dining'.  The card comes with a barcode on it.  Remember when I mentioned that when you arrive on the ship, initially, that your picture gets taken?  Well, whenever you get on or off the boat you have to provide this card to security, who then scans the barcode.  When security scans your card, your picture pops up on a screen so they can verify that you are actually you.  It was also their way of getting a head count and knowing who is on or off the boat.  Pretty amazingly efficient, right?

To read more on Cruising-Part One, click Here.
To read more on Cruising-Part Two, click Here.
To read about Disembarkment, click Here.
***these posts are coming available over the next few weeks.  Stay tuned...***

German Trash-How to Recycle

So, in Germany you have to pay for your trash to be picked up.  Lots of landlords include the trash fee into your rent.  It could get pricey, depending on your location, due to recycling being a German law. On average I've been told families could pay around 10-30 euro a month for trash.


When we moved into our house, figuring out the trash schedule seemed daunting, but it's actually not that difficult once you have a little knowledge on the subject. 


Due to recycling being the law in Germany, there are some guidelines necessary for success. 
First, there are yellow bags.  We live and die by these yellow bags;)  What goes into the yellow bags?

Cans, plastic, polystyrene, aluminum, tinplate and "composite" materials like beverage cartons made of a mixture of materials. 
In my house we have a full sized trash can that holds a yellow trash bag.  My kids know what goes into the yellow recycling trash can.  But, before they got the hang of it I kept a list of items that go into the yellow bag taped to the side of the trash can for their reference. (soda cans, juice boxes, tin foil, plastic wrap, etc.)

Yellow bags can be picked up at city hall or you can leave a really nice note on your trash can when your 'food' trash is taken requesting more yellow trash bags from the garbage man.  Simply put a sign out on your trash can stating "Mehr Gelbes Sacks, Bitte".  This does not always mean that your garbage man will have them to give to you OR that he/she will feel like being courteous and leave the yellow bags for you.  This should be a back up plan if you are not able to get to the town hall/city hall in your area and pick some up.


Paper and cardboard: Recycle paper and cardboard in the large blue containers or in a designated residential bin for paper items, depending on one's location.
We have a large blue topped trashcan that is for our paper and cardboard.  We break down all of it so that we can have plenty of room for all of the paper recycling in the blue recycling trash can. 

On our trash can on the right you can see a small, white rectangle sticker on the side.  On this sticker is a bar code our trash man scans verifying we pay for our trash to actually be picked up by him/her. ( I didn't take a close up due to it having our address listed on it).

For example:  If you finish a box of cereal-take out the plastic bag that the cereal was in and put that empty plastic bag into the yellow trash bag.  Then take the cereal box, break it down, and put that into your blue recycling trash bin.


Trash:  What constitutes trash?  Due to ALL the recycling in Germany, what you are left with (if you recycle correctly) is mostly the "other stuff" and biological waste.  This includes kitchen scraps, peels, leftover food, coffee filters, tea bags, garden waste, etc.  Your trash should go into your trash can supplied by your landlord.  This trash can should have a bar code somewhere on it that the garbage collector scans (see above picture).  Each trash can has to be registered in order to let you throw out your trash (your landlord should handle this for you).  That is why you pay a trash fee-when you pay for your trash you are registering your trash can and when the garbage man takes your trash and scans it, there is electronic verification that you paid for it to be picked up.


Glass: Glass items, to include bottles and jars, need to be separated according to their color and recycled in appropriate containers in a resident's community. The three categories for separating glass are brown; white or clear; and green and all other colors. You will see every few blocks large silver metal bins, about 5 feet tall, that have small holes in the tops of them to deposit your glass jars.  The labeling on the bins is super easy to know which color glass item goes into which bin because the signs are brown, green, and white;)

See how the left sticker is brown, the middle is white and the far right one has a green sticker?

Bulk trash: Larger items, including furniture, mattresses, carpets, rugs or bicycles, may be placed outside on bulk trash pickup days. If a resident does not know the collection schedule, they can ask their landlord or neighbors when bulk trash is collected.  Bulk trash is usually scheduled 2 times a year. 



Each county or village area should have a trash schedule posted online.  When all else fails, just look to see when your neighbors put out which trash and follow suit.


Here is what the 2015 trash schedule looks like for the Eifel area.  Do not get overwhelmed.  Below the chart is a breakdown of how to read this thing.;)

Sorry for the poor picture quality-my computer was having issues, so I had to take a picture of my screen:/

First of all, find your village.  For our purposes, lets choose one:  Speicher.
Speicher is the last village listed on this chart.  You will see that there are very light greyed out dates, blue and yellow dates, and orange dates.
The light greyed out dates are your trash days:  i.e.  the 'other stuff' and biological waste.
The blue and yellow dates are your recycling days:  your yellow bags should be set out the night before and your blue paper/cardboard bins/trash cans set out as well. 
The orange dates are your bulk trash pick up days:  furniture, carpets, etc.
So, for Speicher it read like this (for 2015): 
           Trash days:  January 5, 19
                                February 2, 17
                                March 2, 16, 28
                                April 13, 27
          Recycling days (yellow bags and blue paper/cardboard bins): 
                               January 12, 13
                               February 9, 10
                               March 9, 10
                               April 7, 8
          Bulk trash days: 
                              January 27, 28
                              May 12, 13
                              September 29, 30

***Please note this is my personal experience and suggestions, but may not apply to everyone or every village***



Eifel Trash Schedule Online-http://www.bitburg-pruem.de/cms/images/stories/Entsorgungskaledner_Speicher_mit_Vorblatt_Hosten.pdf