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Rome Day 1 Continued After lunch, we continued to explore the area near our hotel. There were several interesting shops down the street as we moved away from the fountain. The streets are narrow, and you have to watch for cars and scooters. The streets are made from stones and some people might find this difficult to walk. A good pair of walking shoes are needed to navigate the streets in this area. We went to the Victor Emmanuel Monument which is a monument to Italy’s first king. It houses museums and has a lift for a panoramic view of the area. It is free to explore this monument. The panoramic lift does have a fee. We climbed up the steps and to the top and had a great view of the city. There were guards at the top. They would not let anyone walk back down the steps. We had to go inside the building and walk down through the building. We were able to see some of the displays as we went back down. There are also restrooms available in this building. After exploring this monument, we went back to the hotel to see if our rooms were ready. Our bags were already in our rooms. We were able to freshen up and then went back out for our next adventure. We had booked a food and wine tour of the Trastevere area through Devour Tours. The meeting point was across the Tiber River. We debated about taking a taxi or walking. We decided we would see more if we walked. It took about 25 minutes to reach the meeting point. There were about 12 us on the tour. Our guide was a local who had grown up in the Trastevere neighborhood. Her name was Manuella and she shared a lot of information on the history and culture of the area. Our first stop was at a wine, cheese, and meat shop. We sampled two types of cheese, two types of meat, and a glass of prosecco. We traveled to the next stop where we sampled a fried rice ball with a red sauce. It was good but was a little too heavy of a food to eat in the heat. Our drink was an Aperol Spritz. Our next stop was in a restaurant where we sampled three types of bruschetta and two types of wine. This was a nice relaxing place and we were able to get to know our tour mates a little better. Our next stop was a family run restaurant where we tried three types of pasta and a couple of wines. The pasta with the pork was amazing. Our last stop of the evening was for gelato. Our guide told us when choosing a place for gelato look at the color of the pistachio gelato. If it is a green color, it is not the best place for gelato. We thoroughly enjoyed this tour and would take another food tour through this company. We asked our guide if she could recommend some places for our next day in Rome. She sent a list of several restaurants in several different neighborhoods. After walking all day and evening, we decided to call an Uber to take us back to the hotel. We finished off the evening with a drink at the Roof Top Bar of our hotel. On the steps of the Victor Emmanuel Monument First stop on the Walking Food and Wine Tour Our guide Manuella Sampling pasta and wine

Rome – Day 1 We checked into the H10 Palazzo Galla hotel in the morning. Although the rooms were not ready, we were able to leave our luggage at the front desk. Reception provided us with a map of the city and were very pleased to find that the hotel was within walking distance of many sites. Trevi Fountain was a four-minute walk from the hotel, so we decided to walk there first. It was very crowded, but we were able to snap a few pictures. If you want to avoid the crowds but still want a view of the fountain, you can go into the United Benetton store. On the second floor are two windows with good views of the fountain. We had been warned about pickpockets and people trying to sell things, such as bracelets, while near the fountain. We did not have any problems with pickpockets; however, both my husband and brother-in-law ended up with bracelets on their arms. They shook them off and the guy selling them moved on to another victim. The best advice we received was to not make eye contact or engage with them. There was a church on the corner near the fountain. The doors were open, and we were able to go in and look around. Many of the churches in Rome have amazing artwork. While they may not all be painted by famous artists, they are still beautiful. After exploring the fountain area and church, we decided to stop for lunch. We didn’t want to eat too much because we had booked a food and wine walking tour for the evening. We went to a place the hotel had recommended. It had both indoor and outdoor seating. We sat inside so we could cool off in the AC. Temperatures outside were in the mid 90’s. We ordered Quattro Formaggi pizza and some focaccia. Both were very good.

This was an amazing trip and very different from sailing in the Caribbean. We love Celebrity and I hope you will too!

Before boarding our plane, we contacted our TA who had arranged for transfers and hotels. She let the transfer company know that we would be arriving at least an hour late. They were monitoring the flight so we had peace of mind about not having them leave us at the Rome airport. We flew overnight to Rome. The flight was full, and they were offering several hundred dollars credit for volunteers to change flights. We were trying not to overspend on this trip, so we opted to fly in Economy. I really wish we had upgraded to Premium Economy. A few extra inches of space makes a big difference. I also made the mistake of getting an aisle and middle seat. I felt like a squished sardine the whole flight. Our next trip I will plan to get two aisle seats. Usually, I try to sleep or at least rest with eyes closed on an overseas flight in the hopes of not experiencing much jet lag. On this flight, none of us were able to sleep very much. Maybe one to two hours each. I guess it was the excitement of going to Rome! We arrived in Rome around 9:00 a.m. Going through immigration was very easy. The line looked long, but they kept it moving at a good pace. Our driver for the transfer was waiting for us as we exited the baggage claim area. The fine print on our transfer voucher said we were each allowed one standard bag and a small personal item. Between the four of us, we had three bags, four carry-ons, and four personal items. The driver loaded everything into the van and did not charge us extra.

This was our first time on the Edge too! We had several people on our cruise from Florida. We did a wine tasting on the sea day and ended up at a table where everyone was from Florida.

This was a first time on an Edge class ship. We have sailed on M and S class ships several times. This was a different experience but very enjoyable.

Waiting at Chicago O'Hare Airport to board plane bound for Rome.

Our flight plans were to fly from Orlando to Chicago to Rome. We were meeting my sister and brother-in-law at the O’Hare airport in Chicago. We used Flights by Celebrity as they were offering $500 off flights at the time of booking. Our flights were through United. I was concerned because they only gave us 1 ½ hours between flights. There have been so many delays and cancellations in the news recently. Our flight experience started out a little rocky. As our boarding group was called, they announced that there was no more room for carry-on luggage unless they would fit under the seats. We had to check our two carry-on bags at the gate. Fortunately, we did have air tags in the bags, so we were able to track them. They were not put on the plane until the very last minute. Our flight out of Orlando left on time and was a smooth flight until we came close to Chicago. There were storms in the area, so we were not allowed to land. We circled the airport four times before we were cleared to land. We disembarked two gates away from the gate for the plane to Rome. Due to the storms, the flight to Rome was delayed about an hour and a half.

I have enjoyed reading many live reviews and trip reports on this site. I decided to try to write a trip report on my recent sailing on the Celebrity Edge Hopefully, someone will find some of the information useful. My sister was celebrating her 60th birthday and her 40th anniversary and asked my husband and I to join her for a few days in Rome and then a sailing on the Celebrity Edge to Italy, France, and Spain. Itinerary: July 8th – Port Civitavecchia, Italy (Rome) July 9th – Ajaccio, Corsica, France July 10 – Portofino, Italy July 11 – La Spezia, Italy (Florence/Piza) July 12 - Cannes, France July 13 – At sea July 14 – Palma de Mallorca, Spain July 15 – Barcelona, Spain We usually sail on the Caribbean and often stay on the ship. For this cruise, we were going to ports we have never traveled, so we were exploring each day, Sallie

We are going on the Celebrity Reflection Thanksgiving week. We are thinking about booking the Chef’s Table Dinner. I’d love to hear from people who have done one of these. Sallie

We are sailing on Celebrity Reflection in November and are interested in the week pass to the thermal spa. Are you required to reserve a time each day if you purchase this pre-cruise?

Today I received a small credit on my credit card from NCL for a July cruise. When I went to the NCL website, I found out my free at sea perks were removed and they want full price for everything. I used the Chat feature to find out what happened and was told they were removed on the 12th and I would need to contact my travel agent to get it fixed. My travel agent is working on it. Has anyone had this happen before?