Part 2 of Celebrity Millennium European Cruise Review
Part 3 of Celebrity Millennium European Cruise Review
CIVITAVECCHIA, ITALY (Casual Dress)
Shore excursions offered by Celebrity:
Eternal Rome - Full Day, $168, including lunch
A Walk in Rome - Full Day, $140, including lunch
A Taste of Rome - Full Day, $93, partly guided, lunch on own
Rome All Day On Your Own - Full Day, $70, transfer only, lunch on own
Tarquina and the Etruscan Tombs - Half Day, $62
Exclusive Best of Rome - Full Day, $340, mini-busses, including lunch
For the first time on this cruise the seas finally got a bit rough last night - now we know we're on a cruise! Millennium arrived just outside the Civitavecchia harbor in ample time to make our scheduled 7:00AM arrival, but for some reason–that was never explained–just positioned herself there and didn't move. Thus we were more than an hour late when we finally docked, and of course a majority of the passengers spent a great deal of that time crowded into the Celebrity Theater where they started to meet for their excursions as early as 7:15AM.
Our smaller group boarded our private tour bus at 8:30AM and we were about the very first off the ship to do so. We thought that Paris was crowded, but it turned out to be picnic compared to Rome. This is a special Holy Year (the millennium) and The Eternal City was just packed with tourists. When we entered the Sistine Chapel, it was a wall-to-wall mass of people and we had to literally elbow our way from front to back. St. Peter's Basilica was almost as bad, and the courtyard was full of chairs so people were channeled along specific walkways and paths. We had visited the Colosseum first and thought it was crowded, but revised our opinion after seeing the Vatican! Although we got to see a great deal, the crowds and heat spoiled the day. Fortunately, Tommie and I have more pleasant memories of Rome to reflect upon.
We returned to Millennium just before 7:00PM, as did a great majority of the other tours busses. The ship was originally scheduled to depart at 7:00PM, but ended up leaving about ½ hour late, as soon as the last excursion returned. Then at around 8:20PM the ship's emergency alarms started going off, and people were scurrying around wondering what to do because we were still cruising along. A short time later an announcement informed everyone that it was a malfunction in an electrical panel on the bridge, and that all was okay. Went to dinner as usual and once again found some late arriving 1st seating passengers being accommodated at the 2nd seating. However, the numbers were minuscule compared to last night. Dinner was very good again, and during dessert a couple of our 'Net Buddies' dropped by the table to say hello.
LIVORNO, ITALY (Casual Dress)
Shore excursions offered by Celebrity:
Florence and Pisa - Full Day, $155, including lunch
Splendor of Florence - Full Day, $160, including lunch
A Taste of Florence - Full Day, $90, partly guided, lunch on own
Florence On Your Own - Full Day, $68, transfer only, lunch on own
Pisa - Half Day, $50
Tuscany Wine Country - Half Day, $59, wine-salami-bread
Exclusive Florence and Pisa - Full Day, $340, mini-busses, including lunch
And the problems just keep on happening .... The seas were even rougher last night than the night before and we were rockin'-n-rollin' pretty good. We were scheduled to arrive at 7:00AM, but when Tommie and I awoke at 8:00 we found the ship just 'treading water' outside the harbor with plenty of other ships keeping her company. While we were eating our breakfast an announcement was made that the port was currently closed due to heavy winds and high seas, and that Millennium would stay in the area for another few hours in the hope the winds might die down. Tommie and I didn't hold out too much hope, so just lounged around for a good part of the morning and wondered how we should spend the credit from our soon-to-be canceled shore excursion. To our great surprise the ship did pull into port just after 11:00AM and it was announced that all tours, except our Tuscany Wine Country tour, had been canceled due to insufficient time. Effectively, there went yet another port for many passengers who would not get to see Florence, another of the major sights on the itinerary! Celebrity did arrange for extra busses to transfer guests back and forth to nearby Pisa ($30 per person), but this was small comfort to those who missed out on Florence.
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