Mediterranean Cruise MSC Meraviglia 7N Genoa Civitavecchia Palermo La Valletta Barcelona Marseilles Day 2 Bad Weather & Cirque De Soleil

Day 2 of our cruise!  #MSCMeraviglia Today, the ship was scheduled to arrive at 0800hrs, and depart 1800hrs.  It was designed to be a relatively long port of call, as some pax would want to take a day trip to Rome, and that would take 9 hours (according to the excursion booklet).  Simple reason, Rome was about 80km from Civitavecchia.

For our last cruise (on the MSC Preziosa back in 2015), we were far more adventourous.  We decided to rent a car from a nearby Avis/Budget, and drive ourselves to the Castel Romano Shopping Outlets.  Looking back at my video from 2 years ago brought back fond memories.  Here it is again (gosh, the weather looked good then!).


This time round, the plan was to take a shore excursion organized by MSC, to Tuscania and Tarquina.  So we woke up in good time, to have breakfast in the YC restaurant, and were all ready to go.  This was my MSC Express breakfast.

And some of the finger food available in the Top Sail.  I enjoyed a small cup of Bircher Muesli.

However, something was amiss.  When we were having breakfast at about 0715hrs, I noticed that we were nowhere near the port.  In fact, the ship was still quite some distance from the land.  When we asked the staff, we were told that there were high winds at Civitavecchia, and our ship was waiting for the winds to die down.

In the video below, we had some breakfast and then waited in the Top Sail lounge.  After about 30 minutes, we had enough to eat, and the ship still didn't look like it was headed to the port.  Anyway, the seas were rather rocky, and we all decided to head back to our cabins to lie down.  Yes, it was really quite rocky.


And as we were lazing in our cabins, suddenly the announcements came on, in many languages.  Before it got to the English announcement, we figured that the ship would not be docking at Civitavecchia.  Instead, we were headed for some place us.  I managed to record the entire english announcement.  It is not everyday that one hears such an announcement.  We were now heading towards Naples!


True enough, when I turned on the cabin interactive TV, this was what I found.  We were not scheduled to arrive at 1700hrs.  All aboard time was 2230hrs.  There would be no shore excursions.

Wow, this was certainly unexpected.  Anyway, the rocking got so bad, that I had to lie down.  I ended up skipping lunch because I slept through lunch till mid afternoon!  (Yes, the rocking was not a joke)

By the time I woke up from my morning sleep(due to rocky seas), it was mid-afternoon.  Thankfully, by now, the ship was less rocky.  I assume we had fled from the storm brewing near Civitavecchia.  I still felt a bit woozy.  So I decided to head out to the balcony to get some fresh air, and to eat a green apple in the process.

Here is the video.  Compared to our cruise 2 years ago on the MSC Preziosa (also in December), this cruise was turning out to be much more rocky!  By now, I had puked once already.  But the cruise must go on! Nothing was going to stop us having fun.   Fortunately, my parents were most resilient.  They had a hearty lunch (in the YC restaurant) and subsequently spent a fun afternoon roaming the ship (it was their first time on an MSC ship), and patronising the casino.  Glad that they were ok.  Do you get less sea-sick when you get older?


These days, with mobile phones and roaming plans, we can monitor the ship's location right from our own mobile devices.  Glad to say that from our phones, we could see that the ship was making good progress towards Naples, and the weather looked to be calm enough for docking. As the sun set early, it was dark as the ship approached Naples port.  Here was my kid looking out for the port. Land ahoy!

Well, we were now feeling hungry (since we skipped lunch), and it wasn't time for dinner yet.  So we headed to the Top Sail lounge to get some drinks and food.  We were all feeling much better, since the ship was not rocking anymore, and we all had a good sleep.  It was time for some more bonding over food and drink!

In this video, while the ship was docking in Naples, we were in the Top Sail lounge, for drinks and some finger food before dinner.  It was father and son bonding time! I had the Long Island Iced Tea, and he also had the Long Island Iced Tea sans Alcohol.  Later on, we did the same with the Mojito. It was good fun! Not everyday you can bring a kid to a lounge and enjoy great drinks.  Happy sailing!

Day 2 Dinner - Yacht Club Restaurant

As usual, we headed to the dinner venue at around 6:30pm.  We liked to eat early. The House White for this evening - Tenuta Di Blasig Chardonnay.  All was good.

And this was the House Red. Regale.

Some pictures of the food we enjoyed.  This was the Bauletti pasta filled with lobster.

Speciality Dining Experience - Tex Mex.  Lamb chop, Beef Sirloin, Chorizo Sausage. (From Tex Mex restaurants aboard MSC Fantasia and MSC Splendida)  This was awesome!

Here is a video of our Day 2 dining experience in the Yacht Club restaurant.  Everything tasted wonderful.  It helped that we were hungry. (Remember, I skipped lunch)


Post Dinner & Cirque Du Soleil At Sea Show 
You may have figured out by now that we decided not to leave the ship for Naples.  A few reasons.  It was already dark outside, and there were no shore excursions running.  We didn't want to be wandering around the streets of Naples in the dark, since we were not familiar with the place.  Anyway, we had been to Naples before, so it wasn't new to us.  All that said, at dinner, our waiter told us that a good number of pax had disembarked to walk around Naples.  So the YC restaurant was a lot quieter that evening.

After dinner, the plan was to go for the Cirque Du Soleil at Sea show.  We had purchased our tickets in advance (from travel agent).  I think it cost 15 Euro per person, with a drink.  You can also have dinner plus show, that would be more expensive.  As our show only started at 2200hrs, we had plenty of time to walk around the ship.

Looking across the atrium towards Plaza Meraviglia.  It is designed to remind you of an upscale shopping mall.

One of the bars, which I recall was next to Kaito.  This place was quite happening, i.e. I heard a lot of music coming out during the evenings.  People were dancing too.

I like the sign - Galleria Meraviglia.

I thought these packages were of good value. And I think if you purchase them in advance (from your travel agent), you may even be able to get further discounts.  At 26 Euros for 15 cappuccinos, that works out to be just 1.7Euro per serving.  At 59 Euros for 14 Beers, that is 4.2Euro per beer.

And some live music to add to the atmosphere.

And check out this video compilation of our walk in the Galleria Meraviglia. See how the LCD Dome changed, from a fresco to pillars which made it look like a Cathedral.  There were people boarding the ship at Naples (whom I told were bussed from Civitavecchia). We also looked at the menu of Kaito Sushi bar.  Geisha set menu for 19 Euros. Looked reasonable.  We also checked out the Chocolate Shop (Jean Philippe). Chocolates were 1.2 Euros per piece.  Macarons were 1 Euro per piece.  We saw a Chocolate Octopus (display only), Chocolate Shoes, as well as dark and white chocolate on tap!  Fascinating.


Entrance to the Main Dining Room, full of bottles.  I thought this concept was cool.  They had to store many bottles of wine, and that required space.  Why not use some of these bottles as a display of sorts?  All these unopened wine bottles made for a very impressive display before you entered their Main Dining Room.

Another perspective of this passageway.

So, tonight, the plan was to go to the Cirque Du Soleil show.  This show had a dedicated theatre, which we found.  The setting is relatively small, which makes for a more intimate setting.  So here is a video showing you excerts of the show, which lasted about 40 minutes.  This was our first time watching any Cirque production.  It was an interesting experience.  Plenty of sound effects, lighting effects, acrobatics, dancing, all very well put-together.  Experience Cirque Du Soleil @ Sea on the MSC Meraviglia!

Well, this about sums up Day 2 of our cruise. Tomorrow, we arrive in Palermo, Italy.

NCL Jade - Greece and Turkey Cruise - Pre-Cruise in Hotel Traghetto, Civitavecchia

Pre cruise, we stayed one night at Hotel Traghetto in Rome Civitavecchia. We also ate at the pizza place next door. I made two videos to show you the experience.

Hotel Traghetto 
A good clean hotel that I would recommend. Complimentary Wi-Fi. Continental style breakfast with very good coffee. The biggest plus point is that the hotel is very, very near the cruise port shuttle pick up. This video will show you more.



Mastro Titta Pizza
We arrived quite late at the hotel and we did not wish to venture too far. The reception told us that there was a good pizza place just next door to the hotel so we decided to eat there. It was not bad. Rather charming place but watch that scary flight of stairs!



Some pictures to share before we continue. This was taken outside Hotel Traghetto, Rome Civitavecchia, where we stayed one night pre-cruise.
 

This was the only lift (elevator) in the hotel. It is not big, but works.



Our family room, costing 120 Euros per night. Not sure if the rate goes up during Summer. We were here in winter and I think the hotel was largely empty.


View from the small balcony of the room. We were on the first floor and you could see the junction very clearly.


Post 5 We had a late dinner at the pizza place next door called Mastro Titta Pizza. Some pictures. The menu.


Freshly baked pizza. We ordered too much for the six of us.


More pizza.

Thanks for reading!

Emirates Rome to Dubai to Colombo to Singapore, with Airport Hotel stay at Dubai International

In these videos, I show you our journey from Rome to Singapore. We fly from Rome to Dubai, stay some hours at the Airport Hotel, before an onward flight from Dubai to Singapore, via Colombo.

Video 1 - Rome to Dubai


Video 2 - Dubai to Singapore via Colombo


Lines at the Economy Class boarding, even before boarding commenced.


My seat for this flight was 46H, in the front most section of the Economy Class cabin. The aircraft interiors looked and felt very new. Leg room was good.

The aircraft interiors looked and felt very new. Leg room was good. The flight itself was smooth and departed on time. Since the air traffic at Rome was so light, there was no issue of congestion on the ground. In the air, as this was a day flight, most passengers did not sleep. The inflight entertainment system was superb, as usual.

 Many movies to watch. I also like the cameras on the IFE system very much. This is a feature that is not available on SQ. My kids got no sleep during this flight. They either played games or watched movies for the entire time. The main meal served not too long after take-off was dinner. This was the menu.


This was what one of the rooms looked like. Dubai to Colombo to Singapore The plane would be the Boeing 777-300ER
This was another Boeing 777-300ER plane at the next gate.

This was our first B-777 on Emirates as all the earlier flights were on their A380s. Our seats were right at the rear, where the plane fuselage narrowed and the seats were in a 2-4-2 configuration. I was at Seat 48B
 

The flight time from Dubai to Colombo was just under 4 hours. Smooth flight with good food and service on board. Breakfast was served on this leg. I chose the Chicken Curry option and it came with Roti Pol, or a thicker form of Roti Prata (plain). It tasted very good.

I watched the scenery as we landed into Colombo. Thick vegetation. Temperature on the ground was 30 deg C. I have never been to Colombo but that place has a long history too, due to its strategic location at the cross roads of trade routes between East and West.

When the plane landed, we were informed by the cabin crew that passengers heading to Singapore could not get off the plane. This was a strict rule with no exceptions. I noticed that about half the plane alighted, which means half of us from Dubai had our final destination as Singapore.

The transit on the ground was approximately 1hr 30 minutes. Wow, we were going to be stuck on the plane for 90 minutes. Oh well, let's make the best of it. The good thing was that the In Flight Entertainment system was turned on all the way. Many passengers continued to watch movies but I was certainly getting restless.So what happened during the 1.5 hours?

Ground Crew Came Onboard Preparing Seats
Ground crew came on board to clear the rubbish and prepare the cabin for the next flight. It was interesting to have a half-full plane watching the ground crew work, but the ground crew looked like they were used to being watched. As mentioned earlier, only half the plane alighted. The rest of the passengers stayed onboard and we were not allowed to get off.

Rear Door Opened - Catering Activity
As I was seated near the rear of the plane, I heard a lot of activity going on, so I went behind to take a look. The rear aircraft door was opened and a catering truck had pulled up to the plane.

That made sense. The plane was taking on fresh supplies for the next flight as well as older trolleys were taken off. Since I had nothing better to do, I watched the ground crew do their work.

Cabin Crew ID cabin bags
Shortly after, there was an announcement that cabin crew was to begin identifying cabin buggage. Huh? Oh, the idea was to positively ID all overhead cabin baggage to make sure that all remaining baggage on board belonged to passengers that were still on board. That made sense, from a security perspective. This was done very efficiently.

A short while after, the plane began boarding new passengers. The flight was full. Every seat was taken. Emirates certainly has good business. The doors closed and we were on our way again, this time to Singapore. Flight time was 3 hours and 30 minutes.

Again, it was a very smooth flight. The lunch served was very good too! I had some chicken with fried rice. My kid had spaghetti plus lots of stuff to eat like Kit Kat. The food came onboard in Colombo, so the quality of catering was pretty good too.

Overall, it was a good flight. The cabin crew had to work doubly hard and I didn't envy them. They had to do a lot of work and the total flight time was 9.5 hours (Dubai to Singapore,including Colombo). The cabin crew were cheerful and professional throughout. Kudos to the multi-national Emirates crew!

We landed in Singapore on time. Overall, the time from Dubai to Singapore took 9 hour 30 minutes, compared to about 7 hours if you flew direct and non-stop (Singapore to Dubai).

Rome Quod Libet Bed & Breakfast (near Vatican City)

Rome Quod Libet Bed & Breakfast (near Vatican City)

We stayed at the Quod Bilet for 2 nights pre-cruise and 1 night post cruise, sailing on Celebrity Silhouette.  My wife had searched extensively online for a cost effective place to stay for the 6 of us (4 adults and 2 kids) and we settled on Quod Bilet as this B&B had very impressive reviews online.

We got a room for the 4 of us (2 adults and 2 kids) and another room for my in-laws.  Both stays were very comfortable.  Overall, it was a great experience and highly recommended.  The only slight hiccup was that the lift to the 4th floor where the B&B was located was not working properly on the first day.   Also, finding the place may be a bit of a challenge as it is not immediately obvious.  It was easy for us because we took a B&B recommended transport from the airport and cruise port.  So the driver could call ahead to inform the proprietor that we were arriving.

Here are some pictures from our stay.   This was the room pre-cruise.

The toilet.  The furnishings are very modern.

The shower.

Some cabinet space.

This was our room post-cruise.

There was the main double bed plus two singles set up for the kids.

The doorway that leads to be main hall.

The shower.

Toilet.

Yups, that was a rain shower.

Some pictures from breakfast.  The breakfast was continental, but there was more than enough food for a decent breakfast.  The breads were very good.  Right beside the B&B, there is a 24 hour bakery where you can go buy your own breads and confectionary items, if you wanted.  Croissants were 0.30 Euro per piece! (yes, 30 Euro cents).   Some breakfast ham here.

Some cheese for the bread.

My kids loved these nutella packs.  Jams.

Some cookies.

Here were the croissants.  They were freshly baked, from the 24 hr bakery next door.

Coffee.

More of the Nutella!

Hard-boiled eggs for breakfast.

That's my egg, after some pepper.

A rather big clock that is in the breakfast area.  Yes, it works!!

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