Cruise - At Sea

Today is our first of two sea days.  We didn’t start the day until noon and went to lunch.  It was an uneventful day.  Because it was formal night in the main dining room, we ate at the buffet restaurant instead.

Cruise - Messina, Sicily (Italy)

We woke up in Messina, Sicily (Italy).  Our shore excursion didn’t leave until 11am so we had plenty of time to sleep in and enjoy a leisurely breakfast vith a great view.

While we were sitting in the theater of the ship waiting for our tour to be called, we met a nice young couple from New York who were also on the same tour.  Together we boarded the bus for a two hour ride up to Mt. Etna.  Jason again kept himself occupied with his Gladiator book while Samantha slept.  Once at the top we stopped at a local restaurant and enjoyed a cannoli.  The tour guide told us it was too windy to walk along the crater’s brim as the tour description stated.  Not pleased, the New York couple headed to the crater on foot.  Mike and I were concerned that we would not be able to get to the crater and back with the kids in the 30 minutes we were allotted at this stop, so we settled for climbing on the lava.

The crater is the bowl looking spot at the top.

The New York couple did make it back in time but they confirmed that we never would have made it.  They showed us pictures of how windy it was.  While they were away I spoke with the tour guide a second time and insisted that we be allowed to go to the crater’s edge as the tour description stated.  So we drove to the crater’s edge.  The New York couple told us to hang onto the kids tight because of the winds.  They were not exaggerating at all.  We only lasted a few minutes at the edge as it was cold and the winds were extreme. 

Mike isn't pulling Samantha... she is trying not to blow away.

I hung on to Jason with one hand and my camera with the other.  This didn’t leave any hands to grab my glasses as they flew off my face and tumbled over the edge.  Luckily I had my prescription sunglasses on the bus and a spare pair back on the ship.  The kids told everyone as they boarded the bus.  Apparently I yelled “My glasses!” which the kinds found funny (and continued to joke about for days after).

We were back on the ship with enough time to clean up and get to dinner.  After dinner we dropped the kids off at the kids program and went to the bar for a drink.

Cruise - Day 1

Did you know that Europe observes daylight savings?  Apparently they do.  The last weekend in March as a matter of fact.  This would have been good to know before we left.

Today we are headed to the Civitavecchia Port which is about an hour away from Rome.  The cruise leaves the port at 5pm and all passengers must be on board 90 minutes prior.  We didn’t schedule any sightseeing today so our only tasks were to pack and get out the door.  Shortly after we woke up Mike looked at his phone and said “it is 10:15am”.  It sure didn’t feel like 10:15am.  I was surprised we had slept so late.  I checked my watch and it said 9:15am.  I looked at the clock in the flat and it said 9:15am.  So we figured Mike’s Blackberry was having a hard time.  The Bureau doesn’t allow automatic updates on his phone so when he changes time zones it doesn’t automatically update.  He has to do it manually so he changed it to show the same time as my watch and the clock.  We took a few photos of the flat before we left.

The front of our building.  Graffiti here does not indicate a bad neighborhood...just looks bad.

We managed to get out the door with relative ease and took the metro to the train station.  It wasn’t quite noon and the next train was at 2:10pm with a scheduled arrival of 2:51pm.  Mike was a little concerned about being able to get to the ship in 40 min but surprisingly I wasn’t.  I am embracing the “fly by the seat of my pants approach” this trip.  The kids found a McDonalds and we agreed to grab lunch there.  Having only killed about 20 minutes of our 2 hour wait, we found a spot to wait.  Sam and I read while Jason played with his new Gladiator cards.  Mike just stood and stared at the train schedule board.  He noticed that the time on the board looked to be a whole hour later.  If that was correct, it was 1:49pm and not 12:49pm like we thought.  We ran to track 23 and boarded the train.   Once settled on board we used Mike’s Blackberry to Google Daylight Savings in Europe.  Wow! We were lucky that Mike caught that.  We would have missed our train and then the cruise if we would have followed my watch.

We were on the express train so the first stop was going to be ours.  Jason played with the Gladiator cards that came with his book and Samantha wrote in her journal.  The 40 minute ride went quickly.  The three adults sitting across from us on the train were also taking the same cruise so we shared a taxi for the short ride from the train station to the pier.

The check in went easily although I was a little hesitant to turn over our passports to be held by the cruise line.  Apparently when we dock, customs agents may come onboard and ask to see passports.  Because it is usually very early they found it was easier to have them readily available than to have to call cruisers out of their staterooms.  Reluctantly I turned over our passports.  After we checked in, they took our baggage right away then we boarded.  Just inside, the kids were each given a wristband to wear during the duration of the cruise which showed our muster location.  If there is an emergency and we are separated, we are to go directly there and the staff will get the kids there.

When I originally called to get information on this cruise, I was told that a family suite required a minimum of 5 people so I was going to book two staterooms instead.  However, when I finally did call to make the reservation, it was so close to the cruise date that a family suite had been released into general inventory and I was able to book it with only four.  Waiting also allowed us to get a fantastic price.  I was concerned about not having a balcony but when I walked into our suite I was thrilled.  At the very front of the ship, we have four separate sections each with a large round window.  We are two for two on perfect lodging accommodations.



They took turns sleeping on the top bunk.

The view from our room.

We had just enough time to drop off our carry-ons and clean up before we were called down for a muster drill.  After that we spent quite a bit of time trying to get signed up for shore excursions and trying to change our dining time from 7:15pm to 6:30pm.  We also went and signed the kids up for the kids program.

Dinner was fantastic.  Jason and Mike had prime rib, Samantha had and I had fish.  It is going to be tough going to back to DFAC food.

Rome - Colosseum and Pantheon

On our last day we started out at the Colosseum.  On the walk from the metro, Mike and I got a kick out of the blend of old and new.  Love the dish!

The Colosseum's proper name is the Flavian Amphitheater.  The Colosseum is a nickname it received because there was a replica of the Colosses out front.  This was the first place that we paid a tour guide to walk us through a site.  Jason stuck to her side the entire time.  I found it interesting that in 1749, Pope Benedetto XIV declared the monument a public church, which stopped the removal of stones from the sections that had already started falling down which were being removed for use elsewhere.  This is where Jason picked out a souvenir, a Gladiator book.  Samantha picked out two key chains from the kiosk outside.

From there we walked to the Pantheon.  Most of the cars are compact or smart cars.  Sure makes parking easier.

The Pantheon was a pleasant surprise.  I had read that it was a site to see but I didn’t understand why until I was inside.  Built as a temple between AD 118 and AD 128, it became a Christian church in AD 609.  It houses Raphael’s tomb and also those of two Italian kings.  Its dome is the largest ever built before the introduction of reinforced concrete in the 20^th century.  Of all the sights we saw, this was Jason’s favorite.  Samantha’s favorite was the Victor Emmanuel Monument.

 

We once again visited our take-out spot down the street for dinner.  After dinner we walked down to the Gelato Shop that the owner said was the best in Rome.  Given the long line, he wasn’t the only one who felt this way.  Back at the flat we packed and prepared for our departure.  We couldn’t have stayed at a more perfect location.