Rome Arrival, Day One on the Constellation, Sunday, 11/11/18

Sleep for me was intermittent during the night on the plane.  I couldn’t seem to put more than 30-45 minutes together at any given time, and that only happened a couple of times.  Judy seemed to sleep better.

We arrived at the Rome airport around 9:00 am.  Immigration and Customs were quick.  Luggage was on the carousel when we arrived at Baggage Claim, and we found a Celebrity Cruise person checking on everyone.  We received instructions on where to go next.  We should have listened more attentively.  We ended up walking an extra half-mile searching for our Celebrity bus contact.  We had walked right by them just before we exited the terminal.  They were stuffed in a corner of crowded meeting area.  We dropped off our bags and waited for bus to arrive.

We boarded the shuttle bus around 10:30, and began the drive to the port of Civitavecchia, arriving around 11:50.  Check-in was quick and we were onboard quickly, searching for a place to settle until the staterooms opened up.  The rooms opened around 1:30, and we found our cabin, up on Deck 11, near the back of the ship.  It’s a great place to be.  We’re one deck above the Oceanview Café, where the ship’s buffet is located. We’re close to the elevators, which take us down to “Blu”, on Deck 5, the restaurant for Aqua Class cabins. It’s just what we need, close proximity to lots of food with minimum exercise.

After trying to settle in a little (our luggage hasn’t been delivered to our room yet), we attended the required Emergency Procedures exercise.  It’s 20 minutes of standing quietly while various staff in the room or over the PA exchange turns giving us instructions if there was ever a problem. After the meeting, we attended an informal sail-away “Cruise Critic” gathering where we exchanged greetings with several of the people we’ve been corresponding with.  Several of our early excursions were organized by Cruise Critic contacts.  We met our tour organizer, giving them the cash for our portion of the upcoming tours, and getting instructions for when and where we meet tomorrow afternoon for our tour of Siracusa, Sicily.

After instructions, we head to “Blu” for dinner.  It’s a great meal, but by now, we’re so tired (29 hours since we waked up in Fort Worth yesterday), we mostly just want to sleep.  After dinner, we head to the room to unpack (luggage has been delivered).  We finally find a place for everything, and zonk out.  I think I was snoring before my head even hit the pillow.  Poor Judy!

Moon over the ocean

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