I have realized that there are a few points that I have not addressed in my TR so far that may help with your perspective as you read this report:
Security of Money - during periods of travel or when off the ship on excursions, I carry an across the body (Roots) triangular shaped camera bag that can be worn either in front or in back. Often my camera was actually out of the bag and around my neck, and I used the bag to carry other stuff, like souvenirs after we bought them, or water bottles. DH and I both wore shorts during the trip when on excursions, and this made it easy for each of us to wear a cotton money belt (we purchased ours at Bentleys).
We only carried as much cash on us as we felt we needed for each particular day, leaving the rest in our room safe, however we each carried a credit card in case one didn't work for some reason. (In hindsight, if the card didn't work it was because of the machine, not the card). We had purchased a package of 'sleeves' to cover our credit cards individually to avoid them being electronically 'picked'. Did we honestly think that we needed the 'sleeves'? Maybe not, but we had cheap peace of mind, and we bought them at Bentley along with my money belt for less than the cost of buying the heavier money belt that did the same thing that the sleeves do (and I would not have liked wearing the heavier belt). At no time did we have any issues with pick pockets, however I was glad for the peace of mind the money belts gave us in several highly crowded areas where we were being bumped up against a lot.
Whisper systems on excursions - Out of 7 Disney port excursions, we received 'whisper systems' on 5 of them. Essentially a whisper system is a small square radio receiver on some type of string that you can wear around your neck. The ear phones we received on the Med cruise only had one ear bud (unlike during our Baltic cruise). In general they worked very well, except in Delos where the stone walls seemed to block the sound waves. As we did Athens on our own, the guide just briefed us on the bus. In Malta again, our guide used the bus sound system to brief us.
Dining Rotations - Our dining rotation this trip was APL, which meant that we were in Parrot Cay on Formal night and I think in Lumieres onPirate night. During a conversation I had with Cedomir our head waiter, Cedomir mentioned that how you are assigned to dining rooms is based on the type of reservation that you have, as in Family, Adult etc. I don't remember all of the details (including what the etc was, but there was another category` DH thinks maybe size of party?), but it was clear to me that if I wanted to be in a specific restaurant on a specific night then I needed to actually make that request before the cruise started. It also explained why we have never been in the 'fancier' restaurant on Formal night as they schedule the dining rotation so that Adult groups get that option.
Weather/Temperatures - The weather on our cruise was basically sunny every day, and the basic temperature during our cruise was hot! Ok, not really, the temperatures were actually about the same as we had been experiencing at home before we left, but at home we don't wander around outside for extended periods of time during the hot summer, unless we are heading towards a body of water for recreational purposes!
The average temperature on the more westerly ports was officially around 81F, while the official temperatures for the eastern ports (Greece and Turkey) was roughly 89F. The reality was that the days started out really warm in the mornings and by lunchtime you probably had sweat rolling down your back, no matter how light the breathable fabric of your Lululemon t-shirt and your equally lightweight breathable Travex shorts was! Ok, that was pretty specific, but you get the picture, it was often in the 90s by lunchtime. In general our tour guides all handled this well and kept us in the shade as much as possible, and they all provided us with a bottle of water.
There were usually water fountains available (one of the reasons why the Greek and Roman empires lasted so long in my estimation!), however we often chose to purchase coke/diet coke (which fluctuated around 1.5 - 3 Euros per can in general).
In Mykonos/Delos, it did not feel as hot as it was simply because there was a very strong wing blowing constantly. It was not a knock you off your feet kind of wind, but just constant wind, which had the effect of cooling down the islands. Apparently this happens every July according to our tour guides. One of the sea days also felt a little cooler than 80 degrees, but it was still warm/hot overall. And Malta was having a heatwave according to our tour guide, so yes, we were melting in Malta!
Med related souvenirs on the Magic - I always hit the Treasure Ketch on board the ship just after it opens on Embarkation day. Realistically that is when the store has the best variety, both of souvenirs and of sizes and styles as they haven't sold out yet. In general though, we don't usually shop a lot, my main souvenir (aside from my collection of cheesy picture frames) is usually the photo cd.
Based on a conversation with a Treasure Ketch CM, their Med merchandise this year is just not selling well. We did end up buying some pins, one for Greece and one for the Med (which is all that they had specific to this trip), a Greek Mickey vinylmation (they also had a gondolier styled one too I think), a post card,
a scrapbook kit (paper and a sheet of stickers I think) and a Med themed photo album (to hold 200 4 x 6 photos).
When I added on a t-shirt for each of us,
my total came to roughly $200 (no VAT on this trip). As a result of spending more than $175 at one time, I got a coupon for 20% off a purchase from the store of my choosing - there were some restrictions on it, but I don't remember what they were. I do know that you could not combine this with any other discount, such as the Gold/Platinum Castaway perk of 10% off. I actually had trouble using it, since we are not shoppers and since it wasn't valid at Shutters
.
Photo CD/Shutters photos - The cost of the photo CD on this 12 night cruise was $399, coincidentally, that was the same price it was on the Baltic in 2010. On this cruise you could also add in all of the hard copies of photos for another $75. Since we like to purchase the photo cd, we usually take advantage of most of the family photo ops available either on the ship or on excursions if we are lucky.
On this trip we saw Shutters photographers at Villefranche/Monaco, Pisa and Rome. We did not end up with a photographer on any of our excursions however. In Athens, although the photographers tried to set up on the Acropolis, they were quickly shut down by the Acropolis officials (Pillar police as we like to call them - those would be the people who see people touching or sitting on the pillars or columns and make them stop, often blowing a whistle). We did not see any out and about in either Ephesus or in Mykonos/Delos. At Malta, the photographers were apparently wandering around on deck 4 during the day using the port buildings as a backdrop.
I highly recommend that you start on Day 1 and collect your photos from the racks each time you see them and then get the Shutters staff to start a file for you behind their counter. By the last couple of days, the majority of photos from the first few days have been removed from the walls and placed in bins on tables. On the last sea day (we really should have done it the night before, as in the Malta night, but hindsight is 20/20), we compared our hardcopy photos to the digital files and were able to get the Shutters staff to add photos to our digital file for our cd, and conversely, to print some photos that we could not find in hardcopy.
The morning of the last sea day was complete and utter madness at Shutters and getting a photo kiosk on deck 4 was almost impossible! Luckily DH headed for the kiosks on deck 3 where it was slightly less
congested. One lady that we saw was at a kiosk before we started our review of our hard copy prints, and was still at the kiosk after we left a neighbouring kiosk having completed a review of our digital file.
One of the Shutters staff informed DH that after dry dock the Magic should be outfitted with photo folders on shelves, similar to the system on the Fantasy and the Dream, and they can hardly wait!