The Ancient City of Pompeii & Naples Pizza

Another late night and another early morning for the crew. We arrived in Naples this morning and had a beautiful view of the city and harbor from our stateroom balcony. Last time we were in Naples we were on a lower floor and faced the dock so we couldn’t see anything. This time we could see all kinds of activity out on the water.

I grabbed some breakfast for the kids from Cabanas with Whitaker and brought it back to the room while the other kids slept as late as we could let them. Then it was a quick breakfast before meeting in the atrium at 8. Naples is a very busy port and there were at least 3 ships docked at our terminal. Of course we grabbed some photos before heading into the chaos of Naples to find our guide and driver - Giovanni and Marco!

The minibus took us to the city of Pompeii. Along the way Giovanni told us a few things about the city. Then we met our Pompeii ruins tour guide outside of the gates. Pompeii sits at the base of Mt Vesuvius, a volcano, that erupted in 79 AD covering the city in ash and essentially preserving it for 1700+ years. It’s amazing! We felt like we were right in the Roman times and able to look in different houses, shops, restaurants, the amphitheater and more. It was really incredible and the tour guide did a fantastic job keeping the kids engaged even though it was very hot and very sunny.

After our 2.5 hour tour, we boarded the bus back to Naples and Giovanni escorted us to Starita - a pizza restaurant Keely found. They’ve been open for over 100 years. The store front is very small but it just kept going deeper and deeper and there was plenty of space for all of us. The entire menu was in Italian but we managed to order many delicious pizzas with a few leftovers to enjoy tomorrow. Arin said it was the best pizza of the trip and it’s hard to disagree. Delicious!

We met up with Giovanni again and Keely asked him to lead us to Gelateria Poppella, an Italian bakery, so we could try fiocchi del neve. There we a few different flavors of this pastry stuffed with cream. The vanilla one reminded me of a small cream puff and the chocolate and pistachio ones were also great. Then it was back to port so we could get on the ship.

Our family booked Goofy’s virtual sport simulator so we raced straight up there to make our reservation. The kids played hockey, basketball, football and dodgeball but the favorite was shooting penalty kicks with a soccer ball against Goofy. Lillian and Grandma and Grandpa joined us for a bit too. We had it for an hour which went by super fast. Even though everyone is exhausted and tempers are short, I think they really enjoyed doing something different.

After virtual sports, we saw the basketballs were out on the basketball court so we shot baskets either Grandpa for a bit. The rims must not be exactly 10’ because we missed a lot of shots! Then it was back in the pool for a bit before dinner. Ainsley and I tried to ride the AquaDuck but when we were on deck, someone got stuck and we had to go back down while they reset the system.

Dinner tonight was back in Animators Palate again. While tonight was semi-formal, the big boys wanted to wear their suits and Ainsley wore her sparkly Minnie dress from her dance recital. Whitaker had a strict, no photos policy and he made sure to let everyone know. Tonight the show in Animators Palate was our own drawings animated. Before we ordered we all drew a stick figure and colored him however we wanted. Then they brought him to life on the screen. The kids loved it. To cap off our last dinner, we celebrated Odin’s birthday and the staff brought him cake and sang. He was so happy!

Since it’s our last night, the kids wanted to swim again after dinner. So back into swimsuits we went and when we got to the top deck, Mickey and friends were having a dance party. The kids swam and danced and rode the AquaDuck until 9:45! Even Grandoa came up for several AquaDuck rides!!

Even though they were totally exhausted, the kids really wanted to go to the farewell party in the atrium for some quick pictures with the characters. It’s basically speed dating and trying to get into as many lines as possible. We did great and only missed two! Whitaker fell asleep after seeing Mickey and Ainsley could hardly hold her head up. Grandma and Grandpa joined us for many of the photos too!

Finally we were back in the room, finished up packing and had most of our suitcases in the hallway to pickup at baggage claim tomorrow when we walk off the ship. No idea how we’ll wake everyone up by 8 am to get out of our room and off to breakfast. They are so tired.

Lastly, before we went to bed tonight, we made sure to book placeholders for our next cruise!