Today is Wednesday, the 7th day of the cruise. Unfortunately we were still in port at Marseille, on the ship. We were to have traveled to La Spezia last evening and should have had the opportunity to travel to Florence today. We were still there because of the accident the day before, injuring four crew people and killing one. So sad because a family has lost someone that was trying to support the family financially. Also, they will not have that person in their lives forever.
For the passengers, we will miss an opportunity to see La Spezia and Florence. That is nothing compared to losing someone. Today will be like a day at sea but actually in port, a least until the ship is released and it is still unclear when that was to be. There was still a full slate of activities that would have been going on whether we had traveled or not, except for the shore excursions.
I attempted to go to breakfast at the Windjammer at 9:30AM. Not. Everyone was there. There was no place to sit so I grabbed a couple of things and went out onto the deck. I ended up sitting in a covered area because it was cloudy. After breakfast, I decided to just stroll around the ship to see if there were things that I had missed. After walking around a bit, I decided to go back to my cabin to check on the activities schedule. There were plenty of activities on the ship. There was always Flow rider or the climbing wall, neither of which I had done on the ship. I had done wall climbing before and was considering it. I also had not done the Ultimate Abyss slide or the Perfect Storm waterslides. Morning special activities included two trivia contests, a Sudoku challenge and a Zumba class. Afternoon activities included a puzzle challenge, the movie Frozen on deck 14 and Star Wars – The Force Awakens in 3-D in the Royal Theater. There was also a family karaoke, The Lego Movie, a scavenger hunt, 90’s dance class, Beatles trivia and an adult football tournament. There were several other activities but I opted for The Force Awakens.
Unfortunately there was no popcorn but I had my large cup of soda and a very comfy seat. At about 2PM, about half way through the movie, they announced that the ship had been released and would head directly back to Civitavecchia with an expected arrival time of 7AM, Thursday morning, just in time. Well it was good to know that we would be getting back because I am sure that most people getting off in Civitavecchia had flights scheduled by Thursday afternoon at the latest. I was going to be all right because my flight from Rome was not until 3PM and the bus would take me directly to the airport. After the movie, I decided to take a nap before dinner.
By 6PM, the dinner line was long. I also found out that somehow my dinner reservation had not been made as I had requested and I did not want to wait in line. I decided to wait an hour and return for dinner. During that time, I decided to look into some future cruises. I knew that the ship would be moving to the Caribbean late October-early November. I thought that it would be fun to try the same ship on a different itinerary, in a different ocean. I also wanted my sister and her husband to give cruising a try, especially since my sister had chickened out on this voyage. Additionally, future cruises scheduled during a cruise were given a 30% discount and $100 per cabin on-board credit with a $100 per cabin deposit. I saw no downside. At worst, we cancelled and I would get the deposit back. At best, we get a good discount and go on a cruise. They have lots of specials and sales but this way, I did not have to keep looking for a sale.
After making the reservations, I decided to give dinner another try. No luck at 7 or even 8:00. At that point, I decided to grab pizza and pack. The evening and night was packed with activities including an ice show, a couple of movies, and music and dance parties until late. Night club at The Attic did not start until 11PM, as did Caribbean music on deck 5 and Latin music and dancing at Bolero’s. It was the last night of the cruise for many and there was no shortage of things to do on the last night. I decided to just relax and get prepared for a long day of travel.
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The cruise had been quite enjoyable. There was tons of stuff to do. On the cruise, I had been to Naples, Mallorca, Barcelona and Marseille with excursions to Sorrento, Amalfi, Palma on Mallorca and Aix-en-Provence. I was a little disappointed that we did not make it to La Spezia and Florence but the cruise line refunded the excursion fees and compensated us for not getting to La Spezia. All in all, the cruise and the crew had done a great job to entertain and take care of passengers. I was satisfied enough to book another cruise before getting off the boat. Royal Caribbean also owns Celebrity and Azamara Cruise lines. I hope to try Celebrity one of these days.
Tomorrow morning, we will be back in port.
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the-wandering-doc
Not all who wander are lost
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