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Writer's pictureKelly Maples

Why cruising is a great way to explore Europe with your family.

After spending several days in Barcelona, Spain, our family of 5 boarded the Disney Magic for a 2 week journey through the Mediterranean in June of 2022. This trip was extra special because we'd been waiting for this cruise for over 2 years. We originally booked in 2019 for a 2020 sailing, then rescheduled to 2021 and finally to 2022 due to the pandemic.

This trip was composed of two back to back sailings aboard the Disney Magic. Our ports of call included Nice, France; Genoa, Livorno, Naples, Messina and Civitavecchia, Italy and Athens, Santorini and Mykonos, Greece. From Liviorno we chose to visit Florence which did require a 90 minute transfer via private car while others from our ship chose Pisa or Lucca. We had 2 stops in Naples. We toured Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius during our first visit to Naples and the Isle of Capri for the second. We ended in Civitavecchia and from there took a 90 minute transfer to Rome where we spent two days.

We saw so many amazing places. Our family's favorite spots were Pompeii and the Isle of Capri. We'll share the details of each port of call in future blog posts. Today, I'd like to share reasons to choose a cruise for your family to explore Europe.


It's simple and easy.

Visiting Europe on a cruise means unpacking once. There's no packing and repacking, no train schedules to deal with, and no checking in and out of a bunch of hotels. Unpack once and sail through Europe on your floating resort. As a mom of three, this was a huge plus and made the vacation more relaxing for my husband and I.


Independent time for tweens and teens, and parents too!

We love spending time with our kids, but during a weeks long trip, we all need some independent time. If we traveled through Europe on land, it wouldn't be possible for our kids to have time on their own. On the safety of a Disney ship, they were able to spend time on their own in the evenings and on sea days. They watched movies, swam, played trivia, participated in game shows, visited the kids club and ate lots of soft serve while my husband and I relaxed on the adult deck at the pool and coffee shop, worked out and enjoyed spa time.


Sea days

We spent most of each very busy port day off of the ship. On average we would tour ports for about 8 hours per day. Over two weeks, we had just 3 sea days. We are active travelers and enjoyed each port but having a few sea days to relax and recharge after spending days on our feet was a wonderful reward. Disney Cruise line has a ton of options on sea days. If relaxing isn't your style, you can easily fill your sea days with fun activities including trivia, exercise classes, cooking classes, craft and animation classes, live performers, musicians, broadway style shows, movies and more.


Safe food for food allergies and comfort food for picky eaters

Eating delicious food is an important part of vacation for many, but for some foods can pose a problem. Disney Cruise Line is committed to safe food for all food allergic guests. While eating abroad can be a challenge, onboard you can be sure your food is safe. We have a very picky eater and coming back to chicken nuggets and mac n cheese after a busy port day was a relief for him. In addition, three of us are vegetarian. We had plenty of great options at each meal we had onboard the Disney Magic.











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