Civitavecchia, Italy: As explained yesterday, our ship stopped in Civitavecchia, Italy (the official port for Rome) to begin a new cruise. (We learned about 200 passengers will remain for the next 10-night cruise, and we will be joined by 500 new friends.) We decided to skip the hour-plus drive to Rome and later we learned this was a very good decision, as Rome is crazier than usual with funeral preparations and crowds.
This is the first time we have experienced a change-over on a ship! As soon as the passengers leave, it is all hands on deck - literally!
Though I had never noticed it before, but there is a pressurized hose nozzle near the ceiling of our deck. A crew member popped a hose into it and pressure washed our deck this morning. Imagine all the details required while designing a cruise ship.
We waited for the passengers to leave before heading into town. There was a market to explore, a fort, and a walkway on top of the fort wall along the port. We wanted to have lunch, and basically be away for a few hours during the hustle-bustle on board.
The ship provided a shuttle bus to the town center, so we didn't need to walk far to find the market, but we arrived at 11a, and the marcado closes at 1p. Most of the fresh fish vendors were closing up shop, but this market is mostly outdoors and not only sell produce, but clothing, electronics, junk, hats, underwear - basically anything anyone would require.
I really missed my kitchen today. I wanted to cook, taste, and try so many things!
Time for lunch, but all we could find were coffee bars, so just kept walking down to the seafront and found a nice variety of restaurants offering pizza and pastas in the sunshine. We split a Caprese Salad (served without basil for some reason) and a very nice Anchovy pizza.
Near the restaurant, we found another car that would fit in my tote bag. This was labeled only MINICAR.
We walked back to the shuttle bus along the top of the seawall, with good views to the old fortress.
They are enforcing the jetty to make a safe swimming area:
The Nepalese server in the lounge on Deck 11 told us the other day she hadn't been off the ship in a while and was having a hard time finding spicy noodle packets (you know, like ramen). We laughed at her having trouble finding food on a cruise ship because we know the food downstairs is very good and varied. Crew members always tell us so, but the crew still like to go into town on their time off and stock up on their favorite snack foods from home. (I've been an expat, and understand this completely.) Dave stopped into two shops in town (that obviously cater to the snack needs of cruise ship workers) and bought her several varieties of spicy instant noodles. He figures if she didn't like them, she would know someone who would.
We returned to the ship, using the shuttle bus again, and took a good long nap. The Wind Spirit (148 passenger) sailed out of port at 5p. The Spirit and the Explora II were the only two ships in the Rome port today.
At cocktail time tonight, our server was quite surprised when DT handed over a variety bag of spicy ramen. She was so happy. I told her, next time tell him you are having trouble finding a Mercedes. She really laughed, but was so grateful for his efforts today.
We had dinner in the Fil Rouge dining room, but tonight it was basically empty. We asked the hostess, Ivy, and she said this was typical of a first night. People are tired from their flights. Dave and I had Caesar Salads and then split the popular Dover Sole. It really is a fabulous choice, and is deboned table-side, all fancy-like.
Captain Serena informed us this evening our sail between the islands of Corsica and Sardinia overnight will be most unpleasant. Seas over 10 feet and winds up to 30-40 knots per hour, and gusts to 60. Hold on! Personally, I find a rough sea day an exhilarating experience. My Driver? Not so much. Hopefully, we will be asleep during the worst part.
Pedometer: 10,400 steps, 4 lousy miles.
Until my next update, I remain, your ten-more-nights correspondent.
LINKS:
Civitavecchia Tourism
Explora II
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