Today we packed up, had breakfast, checked out and headed back toward Rome. We actually didn't go to Rome, but to the port city of Citivecchia. By the way, please pardon my butchered spelling of many Italian places as I don't always have a resource handy when preparing the blog entry. Lucca helped us plan the day so we could board the ship earlier than originally planned by suggesting we take the smaller bus back to the port so he could travel at higher speeds on the highway. Larger buses, like the one that had been reserved for us to contain the group of eight with all our luggage, would have required lower speed limits be maintained. Some slept and others helped me compose these notes of our trip during the drive, thanks to the car lighter adapter loaned to me by Martone and Debra.
About halfway to the port, we stopped to stretch our legs and walk through another small walled city named Cortona. The objective was to find a clean bathroom we could all use, but we managed to add in a little shopping, too. Handmade leather purses, italian pottery, and possibly other items caught our eye. In fact, David and I took pictures of more dishes and pottery we might like to order some day as they were gorgeous.
As a side note, I hope all Italian men are not as rude as they two that cut in line in front of me for the restroom. When I tried to tell them I was already in line, I was told "No. Banos" then was dismissed as if I wasn't even standing there.
When Lucca drove us up to the port entrance with the Queen Victoria in full view in front of us, he was told he could not drive our bus into the gate to the terminal area. He was told he would have to drive us back out to a pick-up location where we would unpack our luggage, wait for a port shuttle bus, then reload our bags into it before being dropped off back at the terminal that was just 100 meters in front of us. Well Lucca argued and argued with the security guards until finally their conversation ended and Lucca pulled up a few feet and helped us off with our bags. He went to the luggage handlers for the terminal and obtained a couple of carts and workers for us. They loaded the bags up and even allowed us to take time to tag and mark our luggage. We said Goodbye to Lucca then walked the remaining way to the terminal check-in area our bags safely loaded and processed.
Check-in was quick and without incident. We walked aboard the Queen Victoria with no fanfare and took the elevator to the 7th floor before we were ever greeted. Just outside of the elevator, staff waiting asked our cabin number then showed us to our room. Chris and Chrystal are in the cabin adjacent to mine and David. Greg is two cabins down the other direction, but Martone and Debra are about 1/2 down the long hall from us.
In our nice room, David and I had two bottles of champagne along with gifts from Eagle Travel. A welcome sight was in store when we rounded the corner in our suite to find our two pre-shipped bags awaiting us. In fact, all the pre-shipped bags from Austin and Dallas arrived before us. Our terminal checked luggage was safely delivered also even though I had erroneously guessed and marked a cabin number on our borrowed tags. It's good to have orange luggage that stands out from the others some time.
Lunch was the first order of business for some, while half of the group unpacked before taking lunch in the Lido buffet. We all were able to find our favorite foods. Some of us hurried on to the salon and spa to make appointments before unpacking and taking some well needed down time.
I made the mistake of trying to get my broken acryllic nail fixed before dinner. David had scheduled us to meet at the Queens Lounge at 7:30 pm with dinner at 8 pm. I made my appointment for 6:30 pm thinking I might be a little tardy for drinks, but would catch up with the group before dinner at 8. I was wrong. It was 8:15 pm before I got to my room only to find that I couldn't reach my room key without ruining my newly polished nails. :( I quickly changed, applied lipstick and rushed to meet up with the group.
Dinner in the Queens Grill was wonderful as we knew it would be. The selections the first night were limited but we were assigned a good location for our table and the staff are all attentive and experienced. David is making fast friends with Richard, the wine steward.
After dinner last night, Debra and Martone retired as Debra was struggling with motion sickness. The rest of us went on to the Empress Casino to try our luck. David and I were so disappointed to learn the casino onboard does not have a craps table. We both realized we would save lots of money on this cruise. Even so, we both headed over to the slot machines. After trying a couple of them unsuccessfully, I followed David's suggestion to play a machine in the area of $1-$5 slots. I settled on a $5 machine and played just a few minutes before I won $1,800! What a wonderful way to end the evening. I was off to bed afterward. David had his own minor success with slots, blackjack and roulette. Great day to start off the cruise.
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