Wednesday 1 October 2025
Last evening the captain informed us that because of an impending weather system with high winds that we would be skipping the next stop in La Spezia, the port for Florence and Pisa, Italy. Although La Spezia would be accessible the potential problem would be navigating the channel into Civitavecchia the next day. So our revised itinerary had us arriving in Civitavecchia this morning and staying overnight. That’s great news for folks who will enjoy an extended visit to Rome. It’s less exciting for us for we miss our planned visit to Pisa and for our dinner neighbors who miss the opportunity to visit an ancestral home near Pisa, but that’s travel. Stuff happens and you make the most of it. For us since we already have another Rome visit scheduled to start tomorrow and we’ve already spent some time in the port city, we’ve opted to enjoy a low-keyed day on the ship. After all we’re on the Allure of the Seas which as recently as 2009 was the largest cruise ship in the world. It’s truly a floating resort that can be a destination in and of itself. We have in fact enjoyed exploring the ship, finding some of the out of the way places for snacks and drinks, and relaxing in Central Park. We have made a point to check out the theatrical productions, an amazing song and dance production, the aqua show with some heart-stopping high dives, the dazzling ice show, and a production of Broadway’s “Mamma Mia”. That said there are pros & cons to the larger ships vs the smaller ones and the truth is that smaller ones are more our style. We enjoy a cruise as transportation to a variety of places giving us a chance to visit places that truly cannot accommodate the larger ships. If there’s fewer theatrical productions or dining options that’s fine with us. We enjoy the educational seminars sometimes available as well as the chance to get to know other passengers and crew members. So today we’ve spent the day enjoying our surroundings and pondering some of the lessons that we’ve learned so far on this trip. We’ve learned that although we’ve packed light we still have more than we can comfortably carry in a backpack. Smaller wheeled cases are in our future. We’ve learned that train strikes and other misadventures happen and it’s wise to pad your itinerary and your budget to accommodate such. And we’ve learned that in fact we do appreciate cruises for the fact that it offers a balance between the familiar and a chance to experience a taste of different cultures. So tomorrow we disembark to enjoy another visit to Rome then on to Florence, Venice, Geneva, then to London involving seven train trips. Life is an adventure!
Enjoying reading about your trip!
Love from Marlis (from Florida now!)