At Sea

We were in port at Civitavecchia until 6PM yesterday. Slept late and then had a nice breakfast. Spent time in the Crow’s Nest most of the remainder of the morning reading our books and enjoying the leisure. The Crow's Nest is just below the ship’s bridge and offers a wonderful 180º panoramic view with comfortable lounge seating all around. Also located there is an Internet café, an array of games, including a daily trivia quiz and Sudoku challenge, magazines, daily news briefs, and a lending library. We continue to meet interesting people from all over the U.S. and elsewhere. The weather is warm, sunny and very comfortable.

At 5:15PM we attended the mandatory lifeboat drill and then moved to the aft pool area, outdoors in a warm sun, to hear music, drink margaritas and watch the process of departure, including harbor pilots, tug boats, the casting off of lines and so forth. After leaving the port, we turned south to travel along the western coast of Italy through the night. We are making about 20 knots. This big ship is very smooth—one hardly feels the sea. She is 936 feet long (more than three football fields for those who think in those terms) and 106 feet abeam. This makes her quite a bit bigger than Titanic was but not as big as some other modern cruise ships.

At last we are on our way. Last evening the cruise director told us that just over 1800 passengers are aboard. That is about 300 below capacity. We think the cruise was originally sold out, so these 300 may represent the “casualties” of the Icelandic volcano and its ash clouds.

The food, as has been our experience on prior cruises, is outstanding, and the service is top notch. After dinner last evening, we attended our first stage show, with funny skits and a very talented group of singers and dancers who will entertain us regularly. The theater is in the lower bow of the ship and has a balcony and large stage. It is fancier and larger than the old Englert Theater in Iowa City, for those familiar with that space. After the show, the casino was open, so we spent just a few minutes there before turning in for the night.

This morning, we passed by the Stromboli volcano, which you may want to check out on Google. I had just finished preparing for the day and went to our veranda to see the volcano jutting up out of the sea on our port side. (I’m into nautical jargon now.) I keep wondering if it was the motivation for the evil character in Pinocchio. The volcano appears to form an island far out from the Italian coast, which I cannot see at the moment. A small village seems to cling to one of its lower slopes. Some people will live anywhere! We are approaching the Straights of Messina between the toe of the boot of Italy and the island of Sicily. We spend today at sea, passing around Italy and heading north to Croatia, where we will be docked at the city of Dubrovnik when we arise tomorrow morning.