Day 14 Start of Cruise

We checked out of our hotel and walked the 5 minutes to the train station. We bought tickets to Civetavecchio. The walk to the platform was longer than the walk from our hotel to the station. The train arrived on time, but a nice Italian couple whom we met on the platform and who was also going on the same cruise informed us that the departure time is only “estimated”. The 10:39 am departure was indeed a rough estimate because the train didn’t leave the station until after 11. After a 50 minute train ride and a 5 minute walk, we got to the harbor entrance where a Royal Caribbean bus was waiting to take us to the dock. After a 5 minute bus we arrived at the ship. The checkin was very quick and efficient. They really know what they are doing. Lunch buffet was already available. Lots of choices and great food. At 5:20 the ship left the dock amid thunder and lightning. Our stateroom is about the same size as our Rome hotel room but more efficiently laid out. It is on level 6 and there are 12 levels with the top two being pools and sports facilities. The main entertainment floors are 4 and 5 with bars, restaurants, theater, shops, cafes and a casino. We decided on an early dinner sitting and were reassigned table 466 in the main dining room. We went to dinner and were seated at a table for 8 so we were curious who our dinner companions will be. It’s hard to say if we were surprised because we didn’t know what to expect, but we were a bit disappointed. The first two dinner companions to join our table were two men from Ireland whose looks and behavior suggested a close association with a pig farm. Shortly afterwards, we were joined by two ladies about 80 years old in lovely pink outfits who turned out to be from Lancashire. One of them had a hearing impairment so the conversation was rather limited. Dinner was very tasty, though. Bo had a sea bass, spinach salad and chocolate mousse and Al had a Vidalia onion tart, prime rib and an exotic dessert. After dinner we continued to explore the ship. We walked into a show, which wasn’t too good, then we tried some venues with music -- classical quartet and a guitar. We walked inside and outside and have no clue how much of the ship we haven’t seen yet. It’s huge. Al says it’s bigger than the entire Villa Park. Tomorrow we dock in Naples at 7 am so we have to have breakfast at 6:30 or so to make the most of the time we have available on land.