Thursday, October 28, 2010

Tuesday, October 5, 2010 – Embarkation Day – Civitavecchia, Italy – Storms – 50s F

The hotel was pretty quiet (earplugs helped).  A crazy, jet lagged, night of sleep.  Almost slept through the breakfast (quality not so good so no great loss).  Outside, it is a monsoon complete with lightning and thunder. 

Rain and Thunder 2 (Small)

Rain, Thunder, and Lightning

I think I see the Celebrity Equinox at the far end of the pier.  An RCI ship is also there along with several local, small, cruise ships.

We grabbed a quick breakfast – cold cereal with warm milk and assorted but unidentifiable pastries.  The cappuccino was the highlight of the meal.

The weather has improved somewhat so we are going to attempt to walk to the pier entrance and catch the bus to the ship.  The shortcut provided by the hotel proved to be useful and we cut off considerable distance to the shuttle bus stop.  The Equinox bus was waiting for us and soon we handed off our bags to the porters and checked in at a special desk.

We dropped off our bags in our room – behind the door in Stateroom 3519 (next door to the room we had last time on the Equinox).  Porthole and tiny bathroom but a nice room.

Cabin 3519 (Small)

A light lunch in the Ocean View Cafe and downtime on the pool deck. 

Dinner was in the Silhouette Room at a table for eight – the people were nice but we are hoping for a table for two over the next day or so.  Food was good.

At 8:15 PM, all the speakers on board met with Esparanza Gambroudes, the Activities Manager (Dru Pavlov is the Cruise Director) to go over the schedule and film a promotional video.  I am planned for five talks – there is a Destination Speaker also (Kathleen Wulf) and a Smithsonian Journeys Speaker (Astronomer Carolyn Peterson).  The passengers will get some serious education on this cruise.

We checked out the various music venues – folk rock singer Valerie Ponzio in the Ensemble Lounge, Pianist Katie Guglielmo in Michael’s Club, and the Georgetown Jazz Quarter (the female singer is a Brit) in the Ensemble Lounge. 

Back in the room by 10:30 PM and lights out at 11:00 PM.

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