Off To A Sm-ashing Start

You may be wondering how the volcanic eruption in Iceland has affected our planned trip to the Mediterranean. The bottom line is that we are onboard the ship but are still waiting to leave port.

We drove, as planned, to see Betsy and her family on Friday. We enjoyed playing with Henry and Clara and visiting with everyone through Saturday morning. News reports were making me quite nervous, since the ash clouds seemed to be drifting further south and had resulted in some airport closings in northern Italy. Rome was still open, however. Also, Holland America sent an email that morning to announce their plans to move departure back an additional five hours to provide more options for those trying to reach the cruise on time.

We decided to head for the airport a little early in case there was anything that needed to be done there. However, my worrying was for naught, as our Alitalia flight to Rome departed almost on schedule and got us to Rome on Sunday morning as planned. The captain did announce that we would not fly the usual route, instead flying further south, below the Azores, to avoid the ash. In Rome, we checked into our hotel, proceeded to get ourselves time adjusted, and found a very nice restaurant nearby that served excellent Italian pizza.

Monday morning (yesterday), we put our bags out for the transfer to the ship. A bus full of fellow cruise passengers gathered in the lobby with us. Then we learned that the cruise departure time was being further delayed and that one port of call (Corfu—planned first stop in Greece) would be eliminated. We were driven to the port of Civitavecchia and were allowed to board the ship at the original planned time but the ship has stayed in port overnight and will be departing tonight (Tuesday) at 6PM, a bit more than 24 hours beyond schedule. Of course, this is to allow more passengers time to get here if at all possible.

We enjoyed our first dinner on board last evening and met the two other couples who will be seated with us during the cruise. They were delightful. One couple is from Australia and had little trouble getting here. The other couple is from Spokane and had quite an adventure getting here. They were scheduled to fly to Rome on Thursday via London. Their plans included a few days of sight-seeing in Rome prior to the cruise. However, they were on one of the last jets allowed to land in London and then spent the next several sleepless days on a bus to the English coast, a ferry across the channel, and then trains to Paris, Geneva, Zurich and finally, Milan. A commuter flight from Milan to Rome got them here in time to board the ship yesterday, quite sleep deprived but happy to be here.

This morning I’m enjoying sitting on our cabin room veranda, looking out at the Mediterranean, watching ships go by and construction crews working on improvements to the port. We could walk into the city of Civitavecchia, but we’ve been told there isn’t much to see. We watched a very funny movie (Old Dogs) yesterday in the onboard movie theater, and I expect we will find lots more to do today. We enjoy reading and visiting and napping too, and the activity level will pick up as 6PM approaches and departure finally occurs. There will be music and drinks and laughter up on the Lido deck at that time. Life is good. More later.