Our Itinirary

     Our itinerary will take us first with a drive to the Crown Plaza in Miami. After a relaxing evening,  we leave the next day at five in the evening on American Airlines to Madrid, Spain. We then transfer to an Iberia flight to Venice, Italy landing at the Marco Polo Airport.  Our hotel is  ten kilometers from the air port.  We will be in Venice for two days at the Bascolo Bellini hotel.  The extra days will give us a chance to see Venice at night and to dine at a fine Italian restaurant.   We plan to take a gondola ride on the Grand Canal, go to St Mark's Basilica and spend time in the square to feed the pigeons! 

    A must on my list is also to visit the market where I want to buy some Venetian masks for my mask collection.  We will be staying near the Santa Lucia railway station.  So we are planning to take a day trip to Verona to see Juliet's Balcony and other sites in Verona.

 On Sunday we will embark on the Sunshine Cruise ship at two in the afternoon.  After spending the evening on the ship we still have the morning to roam around Venice before leaving to our voyage.

     Our first port of call will be Dubrovnik, Croatia where we plan to take the tram up to the mountains as well as walk through the old city walls.  Then we will be at Sea for a day as we sail to Messina.  While on board we plan to the try out all the water slides and the Sky Course.  We will also have lots of time to explore the ship and look at all the renovations that make the ship unique.
    On the morning of June 20th we will arrive at Messina, Sicily where we plan to go to the Taormina and explore the town.  We then sail to Naples where we plan to take a ferry to Sorento and train to Pompeii in the morning the take trip to the Amalphi Coast.  This will be a long day arriving back at the ship by seven in the evening.
     We will have another day at sea on the 22nd and then arrive at Livorno Italy to take a train to Florence. There will be much to see there as we plan to spend the day taking in the masterpieces of Michelangelo.  We will then go to the port of  Civitavecchia and train to Rome where we plan to do the hop on hop off bus to view the ruins of Rome.  Then we hope to go to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel.  Our next stop will be the island of Sardinia where we plan to check out the windsurfing action as well as some bike hiking.  The following day we will be in Monte Carlo, Monaco.  There will be lots to see including the gardens and casinos.  This will give me a chance to try out my French when we go to a restaurant and do some shopping!
     A welcome visit to the island of Palma de Malorca will allow me to speak Spanish as we explore the beach, restaurants and more shopping.  Our last port of call where we will disembark is Bacelona, Spain.  We plan to be there for a few days as we will stay in the hotel from June 28 to the 30th.  Since I went to Barcelona last year, I plan to show John all the sights: the Ramblas mall, the tapa bars, a flamenco show, the Park Guell, the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, and take a train to the Monserrat monastery.  John wants to visit the nude beaches and go on a catamaran ride.  I'm sure there will be time for that too!

     During our sail many of our stops will be a day long, so we are doing some intense research to maximise the experience with in the time limit.  It will be like "Cliff Notes" take in the sights on a budget of time. Now is the time to do our research and get excursions.  We are on the internet daily getting more excited as the days draw near to our departure.  We can't wait!