Mediterranean Cruise Blog Hop

My Dearest Friends

Any of you who follow me on Facebook will have already seen a TON of pictures from when Scott and I were on the Stampin' Up! Mediterranean Cruise.  When a demonstrator works really hard, Stampin' Up! lavishes attention on us and rewards our hard work with a fantastic, all-expense paid trip for two to somewhere spectacular.  In May 2016, the trip was a Mediterranean Cruise and hubby and I had the time of our lives!!

We sailed from Barcelona (Spain), and spent a day in each port:  Naples (Italy), Rome (Italy), Pisa and Florence (Italy), Cannes (France) and Marseilles (France), before returning to Barcelona again.    From the Segrada Familia (Barcelona) to the Colosseum (Rome) and the Sistine Chapel (Vatican), to the Leaning Tower (Pisa), the Duomo (Florence) and the French Riviera (Cannes and Marseilles), our Mediterranean adventure had it all.

Can I just take a moment to point out that for Scott and myself, the highlight was getting to see and spend time in so many of the most gorgeous European churches imaginable!!   So much beauty.  So many blessings.  And so many "Doors of Mercy" to get to pass through in this Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy.  I was positively overwhelmed by the experience on more than one occasion.  And my photos (there are an absolute TON posted on my FB page) just cannot do them justice.


At any rate, myself and a bunch of my demo friends wanted you to have a chance to see the trip through our eyes so we are posting it today as a blog hop.  You may have started with me (Cynthia Millan) or you may have arrived from one of the other blogs.  Visit them all so you can see just how great it is to be pampered and rewarded by Stampin' Up!

If I hadn''t already known most of my blog-hopping buddies before the cruise, I got to meet many of them aboard the ship.  Naturally one of the highlights of any Stampin' Up! trip is all the people you connect with.  The ever-present, and always lovely Shelli Gardner can usually be found spreading her gracious and infectious smile among the group.  And you get to meet fellow demonstrators from all over the world.  I have made some very close, and very special friendships through Stampin' Up!  Friendships that will last me my whole life.  I love this company for having introduced me to so many spectacular folks!

This is the best company in the world to work for and trust me, you *WANT* to earn a trip through SU!  You can also trust me when I tell you that YES, you CAN earn a trip!!  It's a goal you can set for yourself, and it is achievable.  Honestly.  If I can do it, anyone can!

There are already a ton of demonstrators who have earned the trip to Thailand for next year.  I am close and I have it as a goal to achieve it sometime this summer.  I'll let you know when that happens.  But honest-to-goodness my friends.....I am gearing up already for Stampin' Up! to send me away again next July.

Want to start on your way to earning your own trips?  If you live anywhere in Canada you can join my team and we can start to make that happen.  Until the end of June (2 more days!) you will even earn 2 FREE stamp sets when you purchase your starter kit.  Details can be found HERE.  

While you are visiting me today, I wanted you to experience some of the trip through my eyes.  I tried to pick a brief collection of shots to give you a good overview of just how wonderful the trip was.  

And I couldn't talk about the trip without showing you some photos of the cruise ship itself.  The Norwegian Epic is simultaneously opulent and elegant, and fun and carefree.  And huge.  Did I mention HUGE.  It has pools and hot tubs and water slides and mammoth screens and live bands and comedians and musical theatre and karaoke and, and and.....       Stampin' Up! even treated us to an onboard Cirque de Soleil show!  Now THAT was an experience I tell ya!!!!

I repeat my friends.  You *WANT* to be a demonstrator and earn a trip through SU!  Really you do.

If you've ever had the opportunity to cruise before, you will also be aware that food figures prominently into the experience.  I have to admit that after taking photos all day, every day, at some of the gorgeous sightseeing attractions and landmarks and churches and scenery on shore, we returned to the ship and took just as many photos of the decorations for dinner.  Each evening the kitchen staff would find new and ingenious ways to decorate the buffet area according to the theme for the evening's dinner.  The Leaning Tower and the Colosseum carved into melons for Italian night.  Tropical Fish carved from cantaloupe, swimming amidst watermelon-carved sharks and cruciferous vegetable coral reefs for Seafood night.  Cute eggplant animals for Asian night and floral bouquets arranged from colourful fruit for the Grill Extravaganza night.  The imagination and creativity of the kitchen staff paralleled their talent in the food-preparation department.  No one on a cruise goes hungry.  Or loses weight.  Ever.   :)

I know if I don't stop talking you may never get a chance to see some of the other blogs in this lineup.  Please do continue along to see what my friends have in store for you today.  But also please remember - YOU TOO CAN EARN an incentive trip from Stampin' Up!  And I would love to have you join me for the experience.  Feel free to contact me to find out how.  And don't forget to join my team so we can make that next journey together.

Enjoy the rest of your hopping.  And have a wonderful day my friends.   God Bless,       
~Cynthia    <><