Synagogue, cats and huge drinks

Today was Rhodes, and we were docked. It was the second of the two ports we didn't have tours in.

We agreed that we'd meet our friends at the Passport Bar at the not too early time of 10:00 am. We headed down to breakfast, and then back to the room to get our stuff. (Since the restaurant closes at 9, we knew we'd have time. Glen had a couple of things to do in the room, so I went down. When I got to the bar I got a text from JoEllen telling me to go to Cafe Al Bacio instead. Up I went. Alan forgot his hat, and so she was waiting while enjoying a coffee. I figured in a few minutes, I'd go down and get Glen, but he found us. Alan soon joined us. Our other friends overslept and had to work on hurricane preparations for their kids, (they would text when they were ready), so the four of us set out.

One of the things we'd wanted to do was visit the synagogue and the holocaust memorial. JoEllen read it was by the Seahorse statue. We asked in a shop as you entered the walled old city and she sent us to the right down the main street of the old city. She also told us to take the second left. It was little hard to determine what a left was - road or path. We found the statue, and the memorial for the Jews of Rhodes who were deported and killed. There were, if memory serves, 1600 people, 1450 who died. Some came back and JoEllen said she read that there were 31 Jewish people with one active synagogue in Rhodes.

After taking pictures of the memorial, we tried to find the Synagogue. Google Maps said we'd arrived. We asked in a few places, and people kept pointing us in the right general direction. Finally we found the street that we knew it was on, and soon found it. We found a door, but it was locked. JoEllen had apparently booked a tour, but the guide was sick, and she thought maybe that was the only way you could see the Synagogue. However Glen found the actual entrance, it was open.

The entrance went into a nice courtyard, with the gift shop ahead and the synagogue to the left. It's an old Sephardic synagogue, meaning the bema (equivalent to a pulpit) in the center of the room, surrounded by pews on 3 sides. A docent was there greeting people. He told us he spoke Greek, Spanish, Italian and French, but his English wasn't good. He did show us the tattoo on his arm indicating he is a Holocaust survivor. He gave us a handout with the history of the Synagogue in English, and suggested we sit and read it.



After reading it, we entered the courtyard on the other side of the Synagogue, which was where the locked door was. To the side, is the entrance to the museum, so we went through that, learning about the history of the Jewish people of Rhodes. As mentioned earlier, the was a thriving community in a (mostly) tolerant greater community until the Nazi occupation of Greece.

After visiting the synagogue and stopping by the gift shop, we decided to have a drink in one of the many restaurants. We chose the nearest one called The Orange Bar (I think). Alan and Glen asked for a local beer, and JoEllen and I wanted a mixed local cocktail. The server asked what size we wanted and we all said small.

So what came out was two boots of beer (literally a glass shaped like a boot, and a full size small boot) and two mixed drink with the drink part the size of a soup bowl. I can't imagine what their large size is. After getting partway through the drinks, we decided food was a good idea, so we ordered dolmas (stuffed grape leaves). JoEllen tried Octopus, and we shared a greek salad. The rice in the Dolmas was very, very good, and more like a risotto.

Glen and Alan did very well in finishing their drinks, we did not. So, when we were ready to leave, the server brought us to go cups (coffee to go cups, actually). Poured the remainder of our drinks in, and away we went. JoEllen and Alan went straight back to the ship, but we decided to wander a bit outside of the old city to find an ATM. Outside of the gates, we saw a bunch of what are probably feral cats. Apparently a lot in this part of the world.



We walked to what looked like a commercial part of any city, with a gas station, restaurants, and a park area to walk in. No banks, though. I thought I'd ask Siri, but she was of no help, so I used Google maps. Turns out there was a ATM back in the old City, a bit further than we'd gone. So back in we went, went to the ATM and then back to the ship.

It was about 1pm, and we weren't quite hungry, so back to the ship to do basically nothing. After an hour or so, we decided we were a bit hungry, so we went to the mast grill to get some hotdogs. It was way too windy to eat up there, so we went to the buffet. On the Equinox I wasn't too impressed with the burger, here I wasn't too impressed with the hotdog. Oh well, we had a nice dinner planned.

Next we decided to practice our dance choreography. First stop was the Sky Lounge - nope an event going on these. Next was the studio below - a couple practicing there too. So we went to what they call the entertainment or activity foyer on deck 4, and practiced there for a bit. Following that, we went to Cafe Al Bacio for a coffee, then back to room, then to Michael's club for a while. While there, I asked about using priority tendering for our group of 6 going to Santorini together. They said just bring everyone to them. I let the group know to meet in Ensemble at 8:15 (We were meeting the guide around 9 am).

The show tonight was the cast singing broadway, so we went to that. It was good, not great - basically just the leads and two others singing songs from various broadway shows. I think the most recent was from Dream Girls.

After that back to the room to prepare for dinner at 8:30 in Tuscan Grill. There, a problem developed - the toilet wouldn't flush, so I tried calling Guest Relations. No answer, so I called the concierges in Michaels club. They, of course answered the phone, and said they'd forward the message.

We left a bit early for dinner (and to use the restrooms downstairs), and ran into JoEllen and friends on our way to Tuscan.

The dinner in Tuscan was very good. I'd heard some not good things about it on the Equinox, and when I was on the Equinox they were offering discounts like crazy. I had the beef Carpaccio, burrata salad and filet mignon. I think Glen had a calamari, a caesar salad and the ribeye. We, for reasons I'm not clear on, also had the Antipasta board. (Next time I'll just ask for the gorgonzola and fig jam). For dessert we shared a strawberry shortcake type thing.

While there, we noticed two things. First, Rick Steves and his gang at a table across the room, and plumbers working frantically in the area between the specialty restaurants and the Ensemble lounge.

After dinner, we watched a little bit of the Myst show that the singers and dancers do in the Atrium. We had a tour the next day, so went back to the room after trying to dance a bit in the stair bank on deck 7. Got back the room, the toilet worked, but only for a while, then it stopped again. This time I called guest relations because our concierges were gone for the day.

Went to bed hoping to have a flushing toilet by morning.

Windmills and not much else expect total fan girl evening

Today was Mykonos (which I just learned how to spell) and the first of four back to back port days. It was a tender port, meaning the ship anchors in the harbor. Apparently this is one port where tender is better since the dock is about 2 miles away from the old (read: interesting or tourist) town.

We caught the end of breakfast in Luminae, and I asked for eggs Benedict with regular american bacon. I was not optimistic, but it was correct, including a pretty decent run on the eggs (often they are overcooked and come out closer to hard boiled). The hollandaise was tasty, so all good.

After breakfast, we headed back to the room to get our stuff, and our butler Arun called to see if we were ready to go to the tender. Apparently, they escort you to the next one. We said 5 minutes, and 5 minutes later there he was. We headed down to deck 3, and then through the closed side of the stairs to the line. It sort of felt like cutting, but nobody said anything. The way Princess usually does it for their elite skip the wait people is to have them go to the room, and when they announce the next tender group, they tell the elites in the room to go too.

It was about a 15 minute tender in, and I noticed a Costa ship, an MSC ship, and a Pullmatur. We'd read the Rick Steves book (this isn't what I'm talking about when I teased this post yesterday) and he said Mykonos has not much there, except a lot of people. He was right. The tiny twisting walkways of the old town were pretty much packed and mostly featured stores. After a little but of wandering, we decided to see the only site nearby - the windmills. We thought about the archeological museum, but it was a mile and half away along a tedious route with only a few things worth seeing. We opted for the windmills. We looked at the map and figured - follow the coastline.



We did that and after about a 15 minute walk on more crowded pathways, there they were. Basically just like in all the post cards. One had an open door so we peeked inside. Not much to see.

We walked back to the pier, and decided it was just too crowded, so we went back to the ship. We talked to a British couple on the tender - like us (more or less) it was their first Celebrity cruise after many with Princes. We all agreed the food was overall better, but we miss our free laundry and other perks (nobody does loyalty benefits like Princess).

We stopped by Michael's club to get some water and ended up chatting with one of the Indonesian waitresses there about her life - the crew dining and other topics. After spending some time there, we went to our room, dropped our stuff and headed to the buffet for lunch.

It was not crowded, although I missed where Glen was sitting, so I ate mine quickly, then found him and finished up. After that, we headed up to the Sky Lounge to just enjoy the view from the front of the ship. Glen felt a nap coming on, so we decided to head back to the room. On the way out we noticed a couple practicing cha-cha. We started talking to them, asking if that was the cha cha they taught on the ship yesterday. No, they dance at home in London. We talked a bit about the difference between American and International styles and then headed back down. They'd mentioned the floor was sticky and the background music was distracting.

While at the Sky Lounge we noticed a deck just below. It looked like it was just in front of the fitness center, so we decided to investigate. On the way, we found a small studio with a wood floor that was quiet. We did find a way onto the deck, and practiced our choreography a bit. On the way out we decided to go back up to the lounge and let the couple know about the studio. We did, and walked them down there.

Then back to the room. I went to Michael's club to have some tea and work on the blog. I was there for a while, and Glen eventually joined me. There was a solo performer in the pre dinner show, and I didn't know what he did, so I asked the staff at Michael's. They told me he was an extraordinary hypnotist, so we decided to check him out at 7.

Eventually, we headed to the room, changed clothes, and went to the show. The performer first asked for volunteers - he wanted about 50 onstage, but it was a small crowd, so got about 20 if that. He had them try an exercise to see how susceptible they were - the idea was for them to hold out their arms and lock their fingers. He then tried to convince them that their fingers were glued together. If they couldn't spread them they stayed, if they could, they left the stage. He didn't have enough left, so he asked the entire audience to try. He ended up with about 10 people, but I think would have preferred more. He then had them all do things like play imaginary instruments, etc. Kind of cheesy, but fun, until he started pitching his CD to help you stop smoking, drinking, etc.

We left at that point.

We still had some time before dinner, and Glen's SD card had become stuck in his camera, so he decided to go the I Lounge (a licensed Apple reseller) to get a thunderbolt to USB cable. The staff member there didn't want to sell it without seeing with the camera (in case it didn't work), so we decided to go tomorrow. We went back to the room to get Champagne for dinner, and realized we probably had enough time to get the camera, determine it worked, and maybe get the camera back to the room. I grabbed the champagne in case we didn't have time to go back to the room - that way I could go to dinner, and Glen could drop off the camera.

We did have enough time, though, so dropped the camera, and headed up to the Lawn Club Grill. Originally, we were a table for 4 but now we were 6. We were seated first, and then Adele and Frank showed up, followed by JoEllen and Alan. I'd had the concierge notify the staff that it was Frank's birthday. We ordered a couple of flatbreads (small think crust pizzas, and we each ordered a meat course. They told us they'd bring all the sides, as well as one each of the three skewers on the menu. It was very good and a lot of food.

Midway through the meal, Alan noticed that one of the gentlemen at the next table was Rick Steves, the travel expert on PBS, and book publish. Adele, it turns out, is a total fan girl, so she started waving at him. He waved back and then came over to our table. We chatted with him, and he asked how we knew each other and seemed fascinated by the idea that we met on cruise critic. It was very friendly and I thanked him for the advice on previous trips, including the restaurant in Paris with the good GF menu (Le Petit Troupet by the way).

A few minutes later he came back to get our room numbers. They are doing a TV show and may want to film some people if we were willing. We all were. They left, and about 5 minutes later, he's back. They'll be filming at the party up on deck, and if we want, we should go, find his cameramen, tell them who we are, and they'll maybe film us.

So after dinner, we went to the party. It was, of course, packed, Eventually we found both the cameramen and Rick. He called us over, so Glen, Adele, JoEllen and I danced with him. He kept giving Glen high fives. Eventually the camera guys left, a conga line started, and Rick gave us all goodbye hugs and left.

All in all, one amazing evening. Perhaps, when the show airs you will see me. I'm in a blue top with gem flowers around the neck. If I get pictures up, you'll see it.

After that, we walked JoEllen and Alan to their room, took a look at a balcony room (I'd seen one but Glen hasn't. We said goodbye and called it a night.

A whole lotta nothing

Today Monday, was the first of the two coveted sea days. (Med itineraries are very port intensive). We slept in and missed breakfast, since I thought it ended at 9. Turns out it was 9:30, so if I'd hustled a bit, I could have made it. Instead we went to Cafe al Bacio for a latte and a pastry. After that was the cruise critic ship sponsored meeting. The event director was at the door of CellerMasters with nametags for everyone. Only about 20 people showed up if that. I think the problem was that there had been a time change the night before, and people were an hour behind. I saw at least 4 people come in while we were chatting after the event look around and leave. After that, we decided to go ahead and book another cruise, so we went to the future cruise desk. Unlike Princess where there can be an hour wait, they have multiple people and long hours, so the wait was about 10 minutes max. We decided we wanted to go back to Antarctica and Princess doesn't go there anymore, but Celebrity does. There were two cruises in 2019, one in January and one in February. The February one was probably a better date, but it was pricier and had less availability in mini(Sky) suites, so we went with January. After that we went back up to the room for a bit, and then down to lunch at Luminae - one of 3 days it's open. We ran into a couple of our cruise critic peeps, so we decided to have dinner together. I made a reservation on our way out.

We then spent a while in the room, while getting caught up on this blog. Turns out, it's a lot of time to write - now I sort of see why people do it when they get home, but I'd forget everything. I also put on the on demand movie "A Dog's Purpose". It was cute. I'm glad I didn't take the time to go to the theater to see it, but we enjoyed it.

Following that, and about 3/4 of the way through my Malta post, we decided to go practice our choreography, since our dance coach went through a lot of effort to give it to us before we left. First, I suggested Glen find the spreadsheets he did for it. He couldn't get the google sheets to load, or the video. Oh well, down to the deck.

We worked on it for a while, I know there were some mistakes, but we got to a point where the sequences worked together. We'll continue to review. Following that, we headed to the Martini bar to try their Martini's. We ordered at the bar, but no tricks. On the Equinox, I really liked the Candied Apple Martini, but I decided to be different I'd get a Banana Split one. It was good, but not as good. They line the glass with chocolate syrup, and I'm not really a chocolate fan. I really couldn't taste it but I still like the other better.

After that, back to the room to get ready for dinner. Glen made the mistake of checking his work email and a minor crisis popped up. So at about 6:55 (our reservation was at 7), I headed to the restaurant while he finished up. He followed about 10 minutes later.

We joined our friends and had a lovely formal night dinner. Both Glen and Claude ordered the lamb from the dining room menu. Because of the proximity to the dining room (they share a galley) you can order from either menu. Carolyn and I had the steak with bernaise sauce. It was great. Good dinner, good conversation.

After dinner, we found a solo guitar player in the foyer playing danceable music. I had a purse with me, and that was getting in the way, so after a few dances we decided to go back to the room to dump it. I looked at the schedule and noticed the house band was coming on at 10:30. We headed back about then, did a few more dances and called it a night.

Up next - Mykonos and Rick Steves.

Where's the puppy and the bird?

Today was Valetta, Malta. First thing, find out where Malta is. Oh wait, I don't need to know - I'm not driving. Next, find the falcon, or the puppy or the Cross, or the malted milk. Never mind.

We'd joined a tour a fellow cruisecritic member had organized for 4 of us. They had to cancel, but fortunately, Adele and Frank stepped in. Once again, we met at the Passport bar to meet for finding our guide.

Disembarkation was fast, and we walked out of the pier area. One other ship was the there - the Mein Schiff 2 (Mein Schiff is a joint venture between RCI and TUI shipping - a German company). I subsequently learned that the ship was originally the Celebrity Mercury.

We were to meet our guide, Therese at a bar at the end of the pier. After getting directions, we arrived at the bar and her at at exactly our meeting time 8:30. We jumped into her 7 seater car, and away we went.

The first part was a quick drive around Valletta, with a stop at the old looking walls of the harbor. (Pictures coming - promise!). We looked some churches that are getting ready for a feast or festival or something - the neighborhood was decorated, and it was all very festive. Therese started us off learning about Maltese food with some puffed pasteries - one stuffed with ricotta and the other with mushy peas. Both good.


Following that, we went to a fishing village and took some pictures. In addition to fishermen selling fish, there were a lot of local vendors selling purses, clothes, toys and the ubiquitous fidget spinners. Yes, they have made it even to small fishing villages.

Following that, and driving through other villages (Malta is made up of a couple of cities and a lot of villages) we arrived along the coast at the Blue Grotto - a rock formation where the water is very, very blue. We watched the tourist boats come and go for a bit.

Of course here it is:

We then stopped at a bar in a village called, I believe, Siggiewi for a tasting. I tried a local wine - a light wine made from Cabernet grapes, Glen & Adele had beer, and Frank a soda. The proprietress also served us some dip that was a cross between hummus and bean dip, a vegetable and egg dish that was roughly a quiche and maybe a sweet - neither of remember. We bid a warm farewell and headed to our next destination - Mdina.

Mdina is an old walled city in Malta. It was the capital of Malta on and off under different names, and it's history goes back over 1000 years. There are only a limited number of cars allowed, so we marked out side and walked in. The architecture is a mix of medieval and byzantine. It was a fascinating walk through the inner city.

From Mdina, we went to Therese's general home area for lunch in a restaurant that's known for it's local food. It was packed since it was lunch time on Sunday, so we decided to finish the north part of the tour, and eat on the way back. So we headed to the north of Malta.

On the way to the far point of our tour, we were quite surprised to see what looked like a New England building at the top of a ravine. When we got to the ravine, there was an entire little New England village! Turns out that was the exterior set for the 1980's movie Popeye. Malta agreed to let them film there, provided they leave the set intact. It was then turned into a theme park. We could see a stage in the middle where Popeye and Olive Oyl were leading the guests in a line dance or something.

From there, we drove towards the ferry to Gozo, but took a side road to the view instead. Therese said she liked that because the cruiseship busses couldn't get there. We drove to the end of the road, hopped out and took some pictures of Goza. We also watched the ferry heading to it's dock in Malta.


Back into the car, and back down to lunch. It was still busy in the restaurant, but there was a table for us. Lunch was included in the cost of our tour, and was very filling and good. There was bread with tomatoes and olives, rolled stuffed beef, stuffed eggplant, pork chop and stewed rabbit. I tried one bit of that. Not my thing. There were also roasted potatoes and fries. For dessert, there was a pastry stuffed with almond paste, but since almond is expensive here it was fake almond. She also gave us some halvah.

We went back to the car and then she stopped to run into a small grocery store. She gave each couple a jar of honey and some halvah. She also bought some prickly pear fruit to try. Not bad if you can get past all the seeds.
We drove back to Valletta stopping at the village of Mosta to look at their cathedral. A few more views of Valletta and back to the ship.

Tonight was our night for our first specialty dining at Qsine. We had a couple of hours before dinner, and we wanted to see the Beatles tribute show at 7:00 so we went up to the room to drop our stuff, relax and prepare for dinner. I took advantage of the time to call my mom and sister, who are still in France. This would be my last chance to talk to them in the same time zone. While I was chatting with my sister and explaining the differences between the Reflection and the Equinox, Arun came in to explain a few things about tomorrow night. (We get reserved seats at the show). We asked about making sure the laundry was out by 9:00 and he said just leave it and they'll get it when they make up the room.

We had a bottle of champagne that came with the room chilling in the fridge and thought we'd bring it to dinner. The issue was keeping it cold. At first we thought we'd drop at the restaurant on our way to the show, but we both ran out of time to drop and explain, and we weren't sure they would get it. So then we decided that since there wasn't time to go back to the room, we'd have our butler bring it down. No time to call him, so on our way to dinner, we stopped in Michaels club to ask them to call him. Apparently that was successful because the champagne did arrive.

We met Adele on our way to the restaurant and quickly got seated at a window table. Qsine is a tapas style restaurant, although not your mother's tapas. Our waiter said they recommend 6-8 things, and let them pick the order. He also said that he would do a few as a started, bring a "main", followed by the favorite tower of middle eastern treats and then we could decide what else we wanted.

We got through the main and the tower and then decided to go straight to dessert. I guess that happens a lot. Next time on a ship with Qsine, we'll go twice. For the food details, visit the cruise critic thread. Or I'll add later.

After dinner we walked around on the outside promenade deck, and up on top for a bit, and called it a night. We'd been up early, so after that off to bed, and I decided to write this on the sea day.

The Godfather Part 4

Today was our first of many port days. We woke up at 8 to get to breakfast before they closed at 9. At that time, we were sailing into Messina Sicily, accompanied by the pilot boat. We were scheduled to dock at 10. Breakfast was in Lumenae again, and we finally got a window table. yay.

Following that, we headed up to the room to gather our stuff (money, etc). While there, I called our lovely butler and asked him to switch around some reservations - go to Tuscan before Murano. He said he'd take care of it.

For Sicily, we'd booked a tour with some cruise critic friends that included driving to Mt. Etna. We met at a bar at 10:15 and headed out. Our guide, Ignatio (aka Iggy) was waiting for us at the pier, and we headed to his van, and drove out of town.

Our first stop was Savoka, a small arty town, most famous for being a filming location for the Godfather. It hosted the church where Michael Corleone got married. Also we encountered a local resident who as an extra in the movie, played his wife's mother. She still lives there.

We also tasted olive oil and almond cookies and wine. It was good, but not, in my opinion only, as good as the olive oil we get in Napa. We did walk to the church as well.

Back into the van and then off to Mt. Etna. We drove to 6000 feet, stopping on the way at another tasting room. We tried a wide variety of wine, olive oils and honey. We also learned about the honey making process. We thought about buying some, but honestly, it would just probably go bad.

Next we went up to an area at 6000 feet. From there, we could see the actives craters of the volcano. It is the largest active volcano in Europe. At that location there were several restaurants, Also there were several craters which had previously been eruptions. We did walk up to them and peered in, but it was very windy and hard to walk around. Iggys original plan was that we'd have our lunch there (a capresse sandwich and pastry) but it was too windy. So we drove to Taormina, a nearby municipality known for it's views and old churches. We had our lunch and walked the main street which was a lot of shops and old churches. We even watched part of a wedding. Glen and I wandered the streets, looked at the old theatre (probably Roman), and some interesting streets. We thought the two hours we had there were too long, so we stopped at a bar and had some Gelato. It was the messiest ice cream we've ever had, as it was melting pretty continuously. By this time, we had about 20 minutes until our meeting time so we headed to Porto Messina to wait for the others. We'd had two hours, which we thought was about 1/2 hour too long. At about 8 minutes early everyone else, including Iggy arrived and we headed back to Messina and the ship.

When we got to Messina we had time to goto an overlook to see a view of the city, as well as some remnants of old forts, etc. After that, we stopped at the Cathedral that features a clock tower with moving figures, that move at noon. It was, of course well past noon when we got there, so I guess we'll go to You Tube to see it.
Following that we went back to the ship, arriving either before or after the busses, since it was quick to get on the ship.

After a rest, we headed to the theater to see Elysium, which I'd seen on the Equinox. It was pretty much the same, even the lead girls looked similar. The acrobats were very good, the dancers just a touch out of sync. We then headed to the restaurant for dinner. It was packed, with no good location for a table for 2. The hostess said she had a couple of people leaving soon, so suggested we go to Michaels club for a drink, and she'd come and get us when a table was ready. It ended up taking about 40 minutes, but we did get a window table (not sure why I need one at dinner since it's dark out)

Dinner was good, although about midway through our waiter disappeared and someone who seemed to be a maitre'd (but not the restaurant maitre'd) finished up. The service was good, but not as good as the night before - as we left I asked the hostess, and she said that because of the late port, everyone came at the same time. Usually, it's more spread out.

From there, we went to Silent disco. It was packed, but we were able to get headphones right away. The dance floor was packed, so we went over to a seating area with some space and danced a few swings and went back to the room.

My key got demagnetized, so I went down to guest services and had a very nice chat with the agent there. I asked about some of her strangest requests and she gave me one that I have to share.

A guest came down to complain about her room. She said she'd paid for an ocean view, and now didn't have one. The agent asked if she'd moved rooms, and the guest said no. She said that yesterday she'd had an ocean view, but now she just had a view of the port.

I leave you tonight with that one. Today was crazy busy, but I did figure out how to put pictures on cruise critic. I have some on my phone that I will upload tomorrow. At some point, maybe on the sea day, I hope to figure out how to get Glen's pictures to the phone so I can upload some of his much better ones. Good night.

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Where's the driver?

So, at long last it was time to board the ship. WE tried to sleep until 9 am and Glen did. Was up at 7 for a while, but then went back to sleep until the alarm went off. We dressed and packed, and went down for breakfast. After breakfast, it was 10am, and we went up to get the bags and check out.

Our driver was supposed to arrive at 10:15. 10:15 came and went. At about 10:20, I asked the front desk to call the number on the confirmation. She said it didn't work. Slight panic set in, and I emailed the contact. A couple of minutes later I got a text saying the car had broken down and they were sending a new car in 15 minutes. Ok, not what I wanted. About 10:44 I sent another text, and then the driver pulled up. We loaded the bags and away we went. About 1/2 there, he stopped for gas. Then it started pouring with a full out thunderstorm. That didn't delay us much (I was, for grins, running waze on the route) and about 11:45 we pulled into the port (about 40 minutes after I wanted to).

It was still pouring so we waited until he could pull up close to the covered area. He helped us with our bags and then when we went to pay, he couldn't break a 50. Total was 125, and given how late it was, and the gas stop (also he was taking pictures with his phone and such while driving - completely illegal where I live), we didn't want to give a 25 Euro tip. Finally, he found a friend to break it, and we paid him and said good bye.

Next up was to figure out where to put the luggage - there were a bunch of bags out front, and then, inside the building (there was a covered area in front) there was a sign directing those with luggage tags to the right, without to the left. We went to the right, and an authority there told us to go to the left and opened a rope to let us through. We gave our bags to someone who was handing them to the porters and hoped we'd see them again.

Next, trying to get to checkin, the entire way was blocked by bags. I really wish I had a picture to share. Finally we squeezed our way through, and entered the building. We were given what they called an embarkation number - we apparently were in group 91. Hopefully they'd started by now.

As I put my stuff through security, they held the line, because the line to move through the room to check in had extended to security. Glen suggested a sing along while we waited. After a couple of minutes, the line moved and we got in line. It took about 15 minutes, and once we got our room cards they let us go directly onto the shop. I think it took about 30 minutes total.

First stop was Michael's Club. We have a minisuite (called a Sky Suite) and we get some suite privileges, including Michael's Club lounge and the suite restaurant. We went to Michaels to work out our specialty dining with our friends, and just ourselves.

It took a few minutes but we were able to work out Qsine with our friends Adele and Frank for the time they'd selected. It got a bit more complicated for Jo and Alan at the Lawn club because her original reservation had been for the same day as our Qsine, so she changed it online, but the ship never got the message. So I had to call and ask her to come down to Michaels. We got it all straightened out. She mentioned they wanted to try the Porch, but since that's sea food, we passed. The concierge there was happy to help her out. They also let her know that because she's in Aqua, she can use the Concierge class concierge. After that, I booked Murano and Tuscan and we were set. At this point, they announced the rooms were ready, so we said goodby for now and headed to our room.

We dropped our bags, and headed to Luminae for lunch. We had a nice lunch (a few pictures coming soon) and I tried the famed Luminae burger. It was good. After lunch, we did some ship exploration, until time for Muster drill.

At some point, we stopped int the room and met our room steward. He was vary nice. Just before the muster drill our butler stopped by to introduce himself. Since it was just before Muster, we agreed he'd come back later.

Soon the alarm sounded and off we went to the Tuscan grill for Muster. We found some seats, but then noticed they were behind the single screen. There were many people behind the screen, but the crew in the room didn't require them to move to see it. After the video we expected a life jacket demo but nothing, except saying the station leader would take over. Ours just said let us know if you have questions. Then dead silence for about 5-10 minutes. I believe that they were waiting for the bigger muster stations to call out the names of the people who weren't checked off. Then the captain made a brief have fun announcement and we were done. Honestly? This was a total waste of time. In the event of an actual emergency any new cruisers on this ship would have no clue what to do. As many know I mostly sail Princess, and they take their saftely drill very seriously. I felt this ship only did one because they had to, and did as little possible to say they did it. Maybe the Carnival Corp ships take it more seriously because they lost a billion dollar ship in 2012. Off my soapbox now.

After muster, we went to the Cruise Critic sailaway party at the sunset bar. For whatever reason we were on the smoking side, but it was still fun.

At 6, we headed down to unpack and meet our butler. He explained the room lights, and a few other things, and what he could do for us. Anything, apparently.

After that, we dressed for dinner and went to the Grand Foyer to dance to the orchestra. We danced through their set, and then went over to guest relations so Glen could fix his internet package (he'd signed up for the 90 minute plan rather than waiting for his code for unlimited).

We then stopped in Michael's club just to see it when it wasn't packed, and ended up staying for a drink. It was then getting on dinner time. I'd looked at the Blu menu and the appetizers looked good, so I decided to see if we could eat there instead. The host told me probably not since it was very busy. So off we went to Lumenae. we had the same waiter for dinner as lunch, and it was enjoyable and good. During dinner, I got a text from JoEllen that they were at Blu at 8:50 and there was a wait.

We finished dinner just before 10, and since there was nothing interesting going on, we came back here to call it a night.

All roads lead to Rome (at least that's what the signs indicated)

Woo-hoo we're in Rome!

Our flight to Rome was uneventful. Long, but uneventful. I watched Hacksaw Ridge and tried to nap. I may have slept some.

Our flight left Chicago 20 minutes but arrived only one minute late. Processing at the airport was fast, at least when we got there (being at the front of the plane helps) - it took about an hour from pulling into the gate to arriving at our room. We're staying at the Rome Park Marriott, listed as an airport hotel. It turns out that it's about 1/2 way between the airport and the city. They have a shuttle that's 5 Euro per person to the hotel. They recommend booking the shuttle in advance for going back to the airport, but of course we're not doing that. We have a car coming at 10:15 directly to the port.

When I contacted the hotel and asked about the shuttle, I also asked about the easiest way into the city - although both of us have been to Rome before, it seemed a shame to just hang out in a hotel. They also have a bus to the Piazza dei Tribunale - on the Tiber near St. Peter's and the Pantheon. It's 6 E each way, or 10 round trip. We decided to reserve for 6 pm and set up a dinner with some from our roll call.

Once we arrived at the hotel, we got settled, and decided to go in at 4pm instead of 6 pm - after a power nap and showers.

On our way to the Shuttle, we asked the concierge what we should do with a couple of hours to sightsee. He gave what we called a circle tour of 4 sites walking distance from the shuttle. We called it the "place you don't need to go into" tour. We went to the Spanish Steps (got hustled for money but didn't bite), Trevi Fountain (I don't recall being there before, the Pantheon (we did go in - I didn't know it's a church) and Piazza Navone. It took just under two hours and then we had about 90 minutes before our dinner meeting time. We headed to Campo d' Fiore and found the restaurant nearby. We then went back to a bakery we'd seen called Il Forniao. We know it just means the baker, but the font is similar to that of the restaurant chain near us. We had coffees and a bottle of water. I decided I don't really like Evain water, but I'm not sure why.

We still had some time so we wandered a bit more and found a grocery store. Glen needed toothpaste, so we got some. We then decided to go to the hotel next door to the restaurant, which is where our friends were staying, and hange out in the lobby for a half hour.

It was airconditioned and pleasant and after a while JoEllen and Alan came down, and we joined the others for dinner.

It had been a bit of a problem trying to get the dinner reservation, as I'd asked the concierge to call and they couldn't reach them. JoEllen had the American Express concierge call, and they called the hotel next door, which said that the restaurant was closed for vacation through much of September. We made other arrangements, but about three days ago the restaurant confirmed. It came highly recommended, so we were thrilled they were open.

JoEllen and Alan had taken a food tour this morning and the guide said that while one of Rome's specialties is Jewish fried artichokes, they are out of season, so restaurants shouldn't have them. If they do, they are suspect as to their freshness. The guide also said to beware of large menus. This restaurant had both. Oh well.

The food was good, but not great after that. The company, however was fun and we spent about 2 hours enjoying dinner together. We had to catch the 11 pm shuttle back to the hotel, so we said goodbye until tomorrow. We used google maps to get to the shuttle (During our touring we were having fun following the map the hotel gave us, but at night google seemed easier).

We had enough time to stop and take some picutres, and still make the 30 minute shuttle back to the hotel.

And then it was write this, call my mom who's visiting France with my sister (yes, that sister from the Equinox trip), and now to get more than a few hours of sleep - the first time since Monday. I will have some pictures tomorrow.

up next - the ship!