This put us heading out of the room around 9:30. We enjoyed a fairly empty ship for a couple of hours, before heading out around 11:00 (just as the new cruisers began arriving).
The weather was much nicer than it had been the week before, and Dave and I decided to check out a nearby beach town we had heard of--Santa Marinella.
We were lucky enough to have a port bus arrive almost immediately, to drive us out to the gate into the city. From there, it is a short, 5 minute walk along the waterline to the train station.
Santa Marinella can be reached on any regular train heading to Rome--it is the very first stop on that line after leaving Civitavechhia. It was late enough in the day that trains were running only every 30 minutes and we missed one while waiting in line for our tickets (the automated ticket machine would not let me buy a ticket for such a short distance). By the time we made it through the line and had our tickets (round trip for the both of us ran 4.40 Euro) we only had about a 20 minute wait. It is a little confusing finding the tracks (just a little) because there are tracks numbered 1 and 2 and also, to the right as you exit the station on the track side, another set of tracks labeled T-1 and T-2. It is these T trains that you want for Rome or anything on the Rome line.
The train was already sitting there waiting to go, and it was climate controlled, so we happily climbed on board and took a seat to relax and wait. It was a double decker train and the views alone from up top as we wound along the coast were probably worth the fare.
Arriving in Santa Marinella, we first checked on what times the trains returned so we could make sure to arrive back at the station without an overly long wait. Next up, even though it was still too chilly to swim, we wanted to check out the town beaches for future reference.
The sand and the water looked very nice--and I am nearly always happy to pay for chairs and a shady umbrella and access to a restroom. We looked at 3 or 4 of the different "private" areas (all of the beach from what we could tell) and all had signs in both Italian and English saying that they were private and you had to pay to use the beach--but none listed prices. We got the clear impression that the price varies depending on the weather and the demand on any given day (and likely your negotiating skills).
We wandered through town for a bit, stopping to enjoy the rocky coastline as well:
It is a very lean and pleasant little place to wander. After about 45 minutes, we decided to head into the small "downtown" area and find a place to get a bite to eat. Along the way we passed a little church holding a wedding.
We decided to stop at a very pleasant looking little cafe right down the street from the church so that we could enjoy people watching when the wedding attendees left the ceremony. This turned out to be a most excellent decision because the cafe was wonderful and the people watching was a lot of fun (it turned out there as another wedding in the other direction and we got to people watch from both--tons of people all dressed up walking all over town).
(here's the name, in case you are ever in Santa Marinella looking for good food)
David described the bruchetta as "a religious experience" lol It WAS amazingly good--you could smell the really wonderfully ripe and flavour tomatoes from across the room. It is worth going out to the town just for this, I swear.
The plaza across the street.
A bunch of the wedding guests stopped for a beer at a cafe across the way--I thought it was fun to see them all in their formal wear on an Italian street corner at mid day.
After our snack, we headed down the hill into the harbor area. Marika is a big fan of Star Trek, so we had to get some photos of this boat for her:
On the other side of the harbor we stumbled upon a local car show for Lotus owners. We wished Rio had been with us, he would have loved it.
Dave was particularly amused by the "Lotus Royalty" in their crowns and ultra high heels. Some had on evening gowns and others very casual clothes like cut offs with tank tops. There was even a "Mr Photogenic"
We wanted to catch the 3:40 train back, so we headed back over the hill to the train station. The train was running about 15 minutes late, so we had to wait a bit, but there was a shady bench so that was not an issue.
By the time we took the train, stopped at a store to buy a couple of candy bars to snack on on the drive home, took the bus back to the ship and made it to our room it was about 4:30. I think we had half a dozen notes and messages from the kids telling us the next place they were headed and asking "are you people ever coming back?" lol
We never really had lunch, just a snack, so I wanted to grab some nachos from the afternoon snacks section that was set up every day in windjammer from 4-6. I headed up, only to be told that they do not have snacks on "boarding day." It wasn't a huge issue, or anything that ruined my vacation or anything, but I feel like when 1/3 of your passengers are not boarding that day, and the norm is the snacks all the days leading up to that day, that it is not the best policy to suddenly change it--it is one of those little things that makes those boarding in Genoa or Marseilles feel a little less important. I could have had a sandwich or salad from the Park Cafe--but the lines were long and I really wanted something smaller, so I skipped it all together and just held out for dinner. Of note, they also closed ALL ships services (every bar, everywhere to get a snack) for about 45 minutes during the muster drill for those who had embarked that day--leaving those who were from Genoa or Marseilles and just returning from a day in port, to e hungry/thirtsy for a bit. Again, not a big deal, but they o not do that during the other two muster drills and probably ought to work out something that still leaves somewhere open for the guests "in transit"
heading back to the stateroom, I stopped with Marika and waited in line at guest services to retrieve her backpack that she had lost and realized was missing when she started to pack. Good thing I did! By the time I got back into the room, David was in the hall with two people and the woman was yelling at him about being in her room.
Yep, you guessed it. In spite of us having asked guest services TWICE if there would e any issue with us moving rooms given that we were a Genoa departure, and having confirmed with our stateroom host that we left in Genoa once we saw that everyone else in our section was leaving in Rome, there was indeed an issue.
Apparently the couple had checked in and been given keys to the same room we were in and had gone in while we were in Santa Marinella. They had gone to guest services to tell them the "room was a mess" (which Dave chuckled at--we keep our staterooms neat as a pin) and been told to give the host 30 minutes to clear it out and then it should be fine. It wasn't really clear to us if they explained to Guest Services that someone else's belongings were in the stateroom.
Anyway, they had come back and let themselves in while David was working on packing to leave the next day. I was so glad I had not gone up without stopping with Marika and had them open the door to me undressing for my shower. I could totally understand their frustration (particularly the woman, she was very upset), but they were acting as if this was somehow our fault and yelling at David as if he was the issue and could magically resolve it for her--which was out of line in my opinion. If anything--I thought that having once seen that someone else was IN that room, they ought to have at least knocked before letting themselves in again 30 minutes later.
Really, it was a pretty big mistake on RCIs part to have given them keys to a room we were still occupying. We had iPAds and nice headphones, etc in that room that could have easily walked off in such a circumstance.
None the less, nothing like that happened, and mistakes can occur, so I was not all that bothered and neither was Dave. We actually thought the whole thing was a pretty comical sit com moment.
The woman;s adult daughter (who had the connecting room next door) was trying to calm her down and told her she saw that their luggage was outside of a different room down the hall and it could all be worked out. Dave stayed calm and offered to go to guest services WITH them and figure out what needed to be done--meanwhile I could grab my shower.
They said okay but wanted to stop in the daughters room to grab paperwork. Dave waited over 5 minutes in the hall and they never came back out so he gave up and came in and we figured if they cared they could go to guest services and if not, it was not our problem. We never did hear from them again--and I noticed the room number the daughter mentioned seeing their luggage go to was a grand suite--so I am guessing that once they realized they had been upgraded, being connecting to their adult kids was no longer an big deal to them.
We went ahead and got packed up and continued with our evening. I will comment here that we were surprised that out stateroom host, totally dropped the ball on taking care of our room that last day--something we have NEVER had happen before. That morning he had made the bed, but left the decorative cover balled up on the sofa, never replaced the towels or toiletries and not refilled the ice. When we left the ship we figured he was running behind due to the change over day and would be back. None of that was done when we returned either--and he was standing in the hallway talking to another host down the hall every time we went down it that afternoon. I did stop and ask him to bring us some more lotion and conditioner since we were out of both--those were dropped off on our desk, but nothing else was done at that time. Later in the evening, the bed was turned down, but towels were not replaced, no new ice, bathroom not cleaned, etc. We DID have an envelope on the bed that could be used for extra tips though--he did not forget to do that!
We knew when we moved up to the junior suite that suites usually have to pay a slightly higher per day tip. Our intention was to check and be sure we were charged accordingly, and if not make up the difference to Jesus in cash. However, this was the poorest service we have ever had, so we did NOT make up the difference after all. It was tough filling out our survey when asked about the stateroom host because Irene, from our first half of the cruise was EXCELLENT but the Jesus was just fair. I ended up writing a note explaining instead of filling in one of the bubbles.
Anyway, that was not a big deal to us at all--just sort of odd. But, we were thinking it was a good time we were not first time cruisers or first time on RCI--between the maintenance issues in the first room and then the people being given keys to our room and then the room steward falling down on the job on the last day, I could see how a new cruiser could easily focus on those negative and have a bad experience and not return.
For us, they were all just silly little things that we laughed off or shrugged off and didn't put a damper on our good time at all.
We headed out to the same welcome abroad show as last week, and enjoyed it again, then had a nice dinner and said goodbye to our tablemates. We ended our cruise with a fun "Crazy Hat Game" (which we dubbed the "share your lice" game). The cruise staff was short on volunteers and asked all 4 of us to play.
It is basically like musical chairs, except that you are taking peoples' hats, moving right or left depending on what number is called.
Early in the game, a very short, older and very drunk Italian man struggled to understand the rules (in spite of the Italian activities host explaining it all in his native language), then got knocked out in the first round but refused to leave (he kept coming back and taking people's hats, pushing into the circle, took the mike at one point and sang a song, etc). On the one hand it was pretty funny and he had the whole Centrum laughing a few times, on the other hand he went too far and it was uncomfortable at times. You could clearly see the cruise staff struggling to handle it in the least disruptive and most positive way and being a bit unsure of themselves.
Here are Rio and I, as part of the final four (started with 22):
The fourth person, who you cannot see in the photo because he had gone up to the stage to try to take his own prize, was the drunken man. Oh my gosh. He had made it through some rounds by literally pulling hats off of others to the point that he ripped holes in a few of them.
At that point, Rio was next to the man in the circle and the man complained and complained about how tall Rio was (he ought have had to be by Dave!). He also started to hold onto Rio's arm during the game--which I saw but did not realize how HARD he was squeezing until later--Rio had bruises! Poor Rio didn't know how to say something without causing a scene (and half the ship was watching this game by then), poor kid.
Anyway, once it got own to Rio and the drunk man--the staff declared both winners. Rio did a great job hamming up, falling over in exhaustion and getting people to laugh. Then the man came up to shake his hand while we sat on the side, but then grabbed his arm and tried to bite it! Seriously.
So, yeah, we high tailed it out of there and Rio was tired enough and stressed enough to be done for the evening and kind of weepy going to bed (though he was fine the next morning--just a little bruised). Sooo, that made for a different and memorable final evening. Kind of funny and kind of stressful.
Next up--yes the car was fine, and a gorgeous drive home.
--Hadley
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