Rome – Transatlantic 2009 Day 8 – Livorno, Italy
December 2, 2009
Yesterday was our first full day onboard the Celebrity Solstice, which is turning out to be a fabulous ship. In the morning, we were due to dock at Livorno, Italy. Most folks would be touring Florence or Pisa, Italy. We had arranged a tour through the cruise line to take a bus to Pisa and then have a self guided tour of the town including the infamous leaning tower. However, weather and other circumstances had different plans for us.
Oddly, around 6:30 am, I was awoken to the sounds of the anchor being dropped. Since our cabin is on the bow of the ship, we are quite close the anchor hold. I thought it was quite strange for the anchor to be dropped when we were docking in Livorno. We had a wake up call set for 7 anyways, so it wasn’t a big distraction so I got and started getting ready since we had an early morning tour. Everyone else was soon up.
While prepping, I heard the cruise director come on the PA system, which generally does not play in cabin rooms, so I had to open the door to the hall to fully hear and we were informed that due to weather, some cargo traffic was unable to leave Livorno as scheduled and thus our docking slot was no longer available. So, the cruise ship had diverted to La Spezia about 30 miles North. They also stated that all cruise line tours were going to operate as planned since they had worked throughout the night with the tour operators to make the changes.
The weather didn’t look too good outside. It was dark and rainy, but we made our way to the theater which was our staging area for the tour. Our tour was scheduled for an 8:30 departure. This is where it got interesting. There were a lot of tours supposed to occur. Livorno had the most tours of any stop for the cruise line on this sailing. We were supposed to dock but were tendering and the weather was rough. So they were having a hard time getting folks off the boat. In addition, it was now thundering and lightning with heavy rain and intermittent hail. They were forced to take less and less folks on tenders to ensure safety.
The only real problem here is that they weren’t communicating (and thus managing) the situation very well. There were some pretty upset folks that the cruise ship diverted to La Spezia which I find pretty ridiculous. Stuff happens. Folks need to learn to go with the flow. I had no issue with the diversion whatsoever. The problem, and not a big one, was the lack of communication from the excursion folks during the process. They should known our tour wasn’t going to a make an 8:30 departure and ‘allowed’ us to leave the staging area and come back closer to when they thought we might get a tender ashore. But they were pretty adamant about staying there. Some folks wanted to cancel outright which they resisted. I think since plans changed, they should have offered anyone who wanted it a refund. And they simply should have communicated throughout the whole situation. With some angry folks, lack of communication was just making them madder.
Anyways, about 10:15, almost two hours late from our scheduled start time, the cruise director came back on the PA and said because of the hail, they were going to slow down the tendering process even more for safety. At that point, we decided we would just try to cancel our excursion. We still had no real idea when that might occur. We weren’t mad or bitter, but were just tired of sitting in the theater and would rather go find something else to do. They were good about it and agreed to refund the excursion cost. I don’t know if they realized the problems or if it was the other 30 folks that followed us up to the desk to try to cancel too. Anyways, there was no issue getting a refund. Or course, about 10 minutes after we had done so, they called for our tour. But, we were still happy with our decision.
So, instead, we set out on the ship to get some pictures and video of the area. La Spezia was a nice little harbor and coastal area. It is quite picturesque. The weather was still fairly foul, but was beginning to show signs of clearing, though the temperature was in the 50s.
After lunch, Suzanne decided to take a nap and the kids and I decided to take a tender tour. We call the tender tour what you do when you take a tender ashore and then come right back on another tender. The kids like riding in the tenders (as do I) and you do get a nice view of the area. We said we would do some souvenir shopping in town if there was any place to do so on shore, but folks coming back were indicating that there really wasn’t. The tender ride in was nice. It had stopped raining and the sun was poking out. They hadn’t opened the top of the tender but the kids enjoyed the ride ashore. We stayed on the dock for about 15 mins and there was not any shopping available there so we rode another tender back. This time we asked if we could go up top and they opened it up for us. The view was pretty stunning on the ride back. With the rain stopped and the clouds parting, it was now possible to see the mountains surrounding La Spezia and they were covered with snow – very nice.
In the evening, we visited our new favorite lounge on the ship, the CellarMasters lounge and enjoyed a flight (small tastings) of French Wines. We also registered for a couple of upcoming wine events. One is a wine tasting with Reidel Crystal glasses and you get a set of crystal at the end. The other is a wine connoisseur tasting and meal. It replaces a regular dinner and takes place in the main dining room in a special section, but it’s a different gourmet meal with specially selected wines. There are some pretty special (and expensive) wines included in the tasting – a couple I have wanted to taste just because of their names and how big/good they are ‘supposed’ to be. It seemed like an ideal way to do so.
Dinner was once again spectacular. I enjoyed a very nice cream of corn soup as a starter. Sean had another shrimp cocktail and Suzanne went for the escargot. All of us had the same entrée, which I am not sure has ever happened before. It was chicken ciao bella – basically, cheese and sun dried tomato stuffed chicken breast with a prosciutto wrapping. It was very tasty. As usual for us, late seating continues to work very well – even the kids prefer it to early seating.
After dinner, the kids went to the fun factory while Suzanne and I headed off to karaoke. She went to sing and I went to listen. Suzanne sang Cabaret, On My Own, Girl in 14G and All that Jazz. She did well except for a couple of sour notes in On My Own – likely a bi-product of the earlier wine tasting and wine with dinner. She did well enough to apparently get picked to compete in the Celebrity Starring You promotion later in the cruise.
We returned to the cabin a little after 1:00 am. Sean was still up watching a movie but Savannah was long asleep. We chatted with Boomer and bit and we all retired for the night shortly after 1:30 am. Tomorrow we are scheduled to dock in Villafranche, France. I don’t think there is a ton to do there. Most folks will be either heading to Monaco or Nice. We plan to sleep in a bit, eat lunch and they go ashore. We plan to stay in Villafranche and walk around town and do some shopping.
Be sure to follow our travel exploits on this blog as I try to make a daily update of our Rome and transatlantic cruise.
Rome – Transatlantic 2009 Day 7 – Boarding the Celebrity Solstice
November 30, 2009
Yesterday, we began our Transatlantic cruise from Rome (Citavecchia) to Ft Lauderdale back in the States. As much as we enjoyed our stay in Rome, we were still anxious for the cruise to begin as it was the most looked forward to part of the whole vacation.
The morning began with a bell pepper, onion and cheese omelet. Having the apartment and being able to cook breakfast each morning was helpful and a cost savings. Rome is quite expensive from a dining standpoint. Even buying groceries in Rome was significantly more expensive than we are used to. The weak dollar vs Euro just make its worse too.
After breakfast, we had to pack back up and do a quick straightening of the apartment. We had hired a driver to take us to the cruise ship terminal which is about 70 miles from where our apartment was. The fee to get to the terminal was 80 Euros. The driver showed up about 45 minutes early which was fine by us as we were ready. The drive to the cruise ship was uneventful and painless and we arrived about 11:30 am.
Boarding was supposed to start at 12:30, but as usual, they started early and we were onboard the ship in about 15 minutes. Since the room was not yet ready, we proceeded to grab some lunch. After lunch, we went and got the kids checked into the kids club. Looks like a total of 11 kids on this sailing, which is almost double the 6 from the transatlantic last year. Sean is in the teens this year and they have a pretty sweet, private set up. There is only 1 kid in Savannah’s age group, and he is Polish, might not speak English and 3 years younger than Savannah, so she is hopeful of getting moved up to the teens.
After getting the kids checked in, it was announced that the rooms were ready so we went down to ours. The luggage arrived about the same time. Our room is huge! Never thought I would say that about a cruise ship cabin, but it is. We have what is called a family ocean veranda (or something similar). Basically, it’s a ocean veranda room, but its in the very front of the bow of the ship facing forward. Its on the far right side, in the corner if you will, so the balcony is on the side. But, its almost like a suite, coming in at over 550 sq feet. We have two bedrooms, a small one for the kids and then a good sized one for us, and a big living area with three desks, a couch and two oversized seats. We pretty much have more space than we know what to do with. The best part is the price is the same as a standard ocean veranda room. It has two big picture windows, one the living area and one in our bedroom looking forward over the bow of the ship, plus the balcony which is actually on the side of the ship.
We were slightly worried about the size of the Celebrity Solstice. We have typically sailed the smaller class ships of Celebrity. The Solstice holds about 3000 passengers. The ship is significantly bigger than most that we sail on. Its also newer. And it is most definitely very nice. The ship is immaculate. The kids and I took a our private tour of the ship while Suzanne unpacked. We visited the bars and lounges, theater, stores, dining room – basically all the public areas. I was quite impressed. I found what is likely to be my hangout, the cellarmasters lounge.
After the tour, we went back to the room to see Suzanne’s progress (glad it was her unpacking!). When she was done, it was about time for the Muster Drill. In a first for us, the Muster Drill no longer requires you to put on (or even take) your life preserver. Instead, you proceeded to the muster station (the theater in our case) and were presented a talk and video – much nicer than wearing your life preserver and actually going to the muster station.
After the Muster Drill, we dressed for dinner (smart casual) and proceeded down to the Cellarmasters lounge to enjoy a flight of Italian wines before dinner. We once again have late seating (8:30 pm) on this cruise. As a family, we all prefer the late seating.
We have a nice table for four, situated near the Captain’s table and by the 3 store wine cellar prominently displayed in the dining room – its quite impressive. Both our waiter and his assistant are from Turkey and are very nice.
The dinner was quite nice and enjoyable as usual on Celebrity. Me and the kids enjoyed a Spaghetti Carbonara (nope, didn’t get my fill in Rome!). Suzanne had Coq au Vin. We started slowly on this first meal and passed on several of the courses to avoid over stuffing ourselves. We did splurge and have Crème Brule for dessert.
After dinner, the kids and I retired to the room to wind down and prepare for a relatively early turn in time as we need to be up for the thing in the morning for our port of call in Livorno, Italy as we were taking a bus and tour to Pisa. We are scheduled to dock in Livorno at 7:00 am. Suzanne swung up to the Michaels Club for about 45 minutes to check out the piano player and to hang out with a couple of her Cruise Critic Roll Call friends.
We have ordered room service for breakfast and are looking forward to our touring of Pisa, Italy.
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