If It’s Friday….

…we must be going to the ship!


This morning, we all decided to finish repacking what we had taken out of our suitcases for Rome before we went for breakfast - a mistake, as it turned out. Norm and Barb told us about a group of 35 German tourists who had ‘invaded’ the Rooftop Patio last night after we left. Of course, we didn’t think that they would ALL be in the breakfast room at 9:00 in the morning, but sure enough, there they were, so breakfast was delayed slightly while we tried to find a table (or tables) to eat at.

Once that was done, Larry went to check out and was given a fax from the transfer company who was sending the van and driver to take us to Civitavecchia to pick up the ship, telling us that the transfer was scheduled a half-hour later than we had confirmed it for. The Reception staff helped us out here, and in the end the driver was only about 10 minutes late. You know, you can stuff quite a bit into the back of a Merecedes 6-passenger van! With luggage to the rafters and some carry-ons taking up the front seat, we set off. The trip is highway almost all the way, so he had us to the port in about an hour and a quarter.

Norm, Barb and Mitch left their luggage with the porters and had our driver drop them off at a local hotel where they were meeting Norm’s niece Katy and her (now) fiancé, Joel. They had just been on the previous cruise on the same ship, and had become engaged while on board. The only one who didn’t know about it in advance was Katy! Since Joel is with the Canadian Forces and is heading back to Afghanistan to finish his tour at the end of this holiday, Norm wanted to make sure he saw them if he had the chance. It all worked out well in the end - they had their visit and boarded the ship in plenty of time before sailing at 5:00.

As for us, we checked in, dropped our carry-ons in our stateroom and did our refamiliarization wander around the ship. We’re not used to anything quite this large, so it took a little time. We did, however, find all the important places, including the cigar lounge for Norm, and changed our dinner seating from 6:00 (we were expecting 6:45 but the time had been moved up) to 8:30 (much more civilized given the length of some of our tours) and got back to our stateroom to unpack with time to spare before lifeboat drill.

Other than the fact that there are more announcements being made here than we are used to, the bothersome thing is that they are all made in at least three languages other than English and therefore take one heck of a long time to finish!

Our tablemates in the dining room are a couple from Ottawa who are doing some more extensive touring around Italy after the cruise is over. Bernice reminds us of Patricia Dorst (and that is a compliment, though she talks almost as much as Patricia!) and we spent a nice extended time over dinner…as much as anything else, that was to give Mitch enough time to eat his first AND second main courses! You can’t complain when someone enjoys their food as much as he does, though.

Well, it’s off to bed a little early since we have to meet for our tour at 7:30 in the morning. We are going to the Amalfi coast - Positano and Sorrento - and visiting Pompeii on the way back. We’re expecting a long day with quite a bit of walking - not that we shouldn’t be used to that by now!