Jazzbo

I’m curious — why do you say that? We are booked on a Princess Alaskan cruise tour late August 2025 for my husband’s 80th birthday. It will be our first time sailing Princess and several family members will be joining us.

Jim — I am finally caught up. First, a very belated happy birthday to you. 🎉Second, thank you for sharing another “live from.” I thoroughly enjoy your photos and observations, and yours and Iain’s love story warms my heart. ❤️ My husband and I celebrated our 39th anniversary in August — 2nd marriage for both of us and I am blessed to have his kids, grandkids, and great grandkids as my family. Finally, you have convinced me to start researching a trip to Bali and Australia. One niece and her husband and son live in Bali, and her sister, husband, son & daughter live in Gold Coast, Australia. Maybe next year. 😊

Sherrill — I am so sorry for your loss. May your memories bring you comfort. — Vivien

@Norwaylady I will add my thanks for taking the time to do a live review. I appreciate your honesty about your experiences with the good and not-so-good. But you and Mr always make the best of it! 😊 Safe travels home, and may your journey be uneventful.

I love your live reviews, Jim. Your Covid review sticks in my mind — making memos into lemonade! I am looking forward to following along. Bon Voyage to you and Iain. 😊🚢

Late that afternoon it was time to pack. After 2 weeks and a few purchases, it was more like unpack everything and repack with the luggage scale at the ready. At my cousin’s suggestion, I had bought a lightweight duffel bag that folds and zips into a small square. We stuffed that with clothes as an extra checked bag. Fortunately, I had not used all my Delta credit from my Amex, so the $99 extra checked bag fee was credited back to my card. My cousin and I went to the gourmet food store around the corner from our apartment. We both bought parmigianno reggiano; they vacuum packed and sealed it for us. My cousin bought some wine and we both bought pasta. My cousin said the gluten free pasta in Italy was outstanding. Side note: menus in Italy are marked for allergens: gluten, dairy, nuts, etc. Our last night in Rome — we walked to another great trattoria with outdoor tables. I had stuffed zucchini flower again (like the night before, stuffed with buffalo mozzarella and anchovies), and the best pasta I have ever had (and I’m half Italian). It was pasta Gricia — spaghetti, pecorino, black pepper, and guanciale. As you can tell by the photos, everything was delicious. The next morning, we had a car from CabRoma pick us up at 4:30 am to drive us to Fumincino airport for our flights home. I don’t remember the name, but the Priority Pass lounge near our gate was good. There was plenty of seating and lots of food choices. We said our goodbyes as we went to our gates for boarding. We all agreed it had been a fabulous vacation!

@sabreline Thank you for posting your experience; you have provided a wealth of valuable information. We started purchasing travel insurance many years ago after my Dad had unexpected triple bypass surgery and my husband had a (fortunately minor) heart attack less than three months later. One thing I had not thought about was having access to $100,000+. It makes me think it would be a good idea to contact Vanguard (where we have most of our retirement accounts) in advance of travel to find out how we could access those funds in an emergency. As others have said, ignore the rudeness of the "Ugly American" comments. I am glad your husband was okay after that traumatic experience for both of you.

We walked back to our apartment and decided to have lunch at the cafe where we had coffees and pastries the day before. We aren’t vegetarians, but Larry loves eggplant (melanzane) in any way. Our server recommended the special, a spinach dish. I’m not a huge fan of spinach, but I’m glad I listened to our server’s recommendation. It was delicious! There was a fabulous gourmet store right across the small plaza.

Day 2 in Rome: My cousin and her husband had a tour of St. Peter’s and the Sistine Chapel. We had been before, and I visited with my family when I was a teenager; the Sistine Chapel had not been restored and we could actually touch Michelangelo’s Pieta. Larry and I took the opportunity to walk around. We wandered to Campo du Fieri, then looked for a place to have a cold beer. After waiting to be served in a couple of places at the market, we left and found a cool little bar on a side street where they played vinyls. The young woman who was working there was in Rome to study singing. She got the job when she played a gig there. She plays guitar and ukelele and sings, of course.

I suggest you check out Ports of Call on Cruise Critic and see what others say. Also, you should check out independent tours. Trip Advisor has a lot of reviews. Our second favorite was probably the Tuscan farmhouse tour. I think kids would like the horses, but sitting around the tables eating and drinking would probably be boring for them. But they can run around outside on the farm. We did not see many families with kids on the cruise, probably because school had started weeks before. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful.

We headed back to the apartment. We stopped by a grocery store to pick up a few things to take back to the apartment. Our apartment was located on Via Corallo, and right next to the entrance was the Corallo restaurant. It had excellent reviews. We headed down there and there was a wait. The owner, a lovely lady, brought us Prosecco while we were waiting. We sat outside. The tables were set up on the street. I don’t remember what everyone had, but I remember my stuffed fried zucchini blossom. Larry enjoyed his fried calamari and shrimp! My pasta did not photograph well, but it was delicious. Porcini mushrooms were in season; the pasta with fresh porcini was to die for! We couldn’t resist the tiramisu and after dinner coffee. We were served complimentary limoncello too. The street is so narrow that cars and vans drive within inches of the outdoor tables! I highly recommend this restaurant. IMG_2727.mov

Alice, our Liv Tours guide, recommended a couple of places to go for a drink before we headed back to our apartment. We decided to go to the American Bar rooftop bar at the Hotel Forum. What a lovely place to rest after our busy morning and afternoon. I highly recommend it!

Sorry about the long pause, but work… I had just written a very long post on my MacBook Air and lost it! Oh well, the phone it is. Disembarkation in Civvitavechia went smoothly. We had a bit of trouble meeting up with our CabRoma driver, but we texted with him (on WhatsApp, I think) and met up with him. We booked a van because of our luggage. I had booked a 2br 2ba VRBO apartment in Rome City Center, Parione Apartament. Silvia is the host. Check in time was 2:00 (or maybe 3), but we would arrive there about 10:15. I texted Silvia and she said it would be 11:30 before we could drop our bags at the apartment, and she gave us the address of a luggage storage place near the apartment. Our driver dropped us there and we stored our bags. We walked to our apartment (about 2 minutes), then around the corner to a cafe. We sat outside and had coffee and pastries (and maybe an Aperol spritz). We headed back to the luggage storage place about 10:15 and started taking the luggage to the apartment in stages. The apartment is in an old building with a small elevator. It took us several trips in the elevator to get it to the 3rd (4th to us) floor. The elevator landing was on a step and you had to be careful not to slip down the to the next step. The location is great — shorty walking distance to Piazza Navina, Campo Fieri, the Pantheon, etc. We changed into cooler clothes (it was hot) and comfortable shoes and took a taxi to our Colosseum tour. Our meeting place was the Colosseo Metro station where we met our guide, Alice. My cousin booked the tour with Liv Tours — highly recommend! Only the 4 of us were on the tour. We were able to skip the lines. We had been to the Colosseum on our own many years ago, and I had been with my family as a teenager, but Alice gave us so much history. She took us all around the Colosseum (we opted not to do the tour that included the underground). I did not know that they used to flood the Colosseum for naval battles. Even though we know about the gladiators, slaves, Christians, and animals, Alice’s explanations of what went on where we were standing brought home the brutality that ancient Romans treated as entertainment.

@papemelroti, I would think they have life jackets for the kids and they would probably enjoy the boat ride. If all 20 of you go, you would be on 2 boats.

@hcat, thank you! That means a lot coming from such an active Celebrity cruiser and Cruise Critic member. 😊 I took the pictures with my iPhone. The cameras on these smartphones are remarkable. I have a 14 Pro.

You’re very welcome. Thank you for spurring me to relive a fabulous vacation! Santa Margherita looked lovely. Walking, shopping, and having lunch should be great there. The pastry and coffee I had at the cafe were delicious!

Our last port before disembarking in Rome was Naples. I watched our approach to Naples before dawn, with Mt. Vesuvius in the background. My cousin’s husband woke up with a fever. Fortunately, he was negative for Covid, but he stayed in their stateroom that day and night. He felt much better the next morning when we disembarked in Civvitavechia. We had booked an Amalfi coast and Capri excursion. My cousin, my husband, and I had an early start. We headed toward Capri by ferry. When we got off at the port, small buses drove us up too close to the Piazzetta. We had about an hour and a half to walk around before we had to meet at the funicular, which we took back to the port. Capri was very crowded, which made sense, because there were 3 cruise ships in port in Naples. From there, we traveled by ferry to Sorrento, then a forced march to another a coach bus to Positano.

The next day was my favorite day of the cruise. We had never been to Sicily. We docked in Messina and did an excursion to Taormina. They took us by bus to Taormina. We stopped at a gas station and store on the way for a restroom break and a little shopping. I mention this because it worked much better than the day we went to Positano. When we got to Taormina, we went on small boats (10-12 passengers) and they took us out to Isola Bella. The hotel where the second season of White Lotus was filmed (we haven’t seen it). We went into some caves with beautiful light and colorful coral (not Caribbean colorful). The water was crystal clear. Then we had an opportunity to swim in the beautiful Ionian Sea. After our time in the water, we had some time in town where we had fantastic pizza. We barely skimmed the surface of Taormina. Now we want to go to Sicily for a week or two.

We preferred the Amalfi coast, but I thought Portofino was pretty. It’s a one on done for us, though.

The next day was our one and only sea day. Hubby & I had breakfast at the Captains Club Coffee Lounge (for Elite & above) in Tuscan. I love watching the wake. We each had the smoked salmon plate and shared a fruit plate. We lazed around by the pool for a few hours. They had chefs grilling fresh fish on the flattop in Oceanview for lunch. Delicious! The four of us had dinner at Murano. My cousin and her husband celebrated their 30th anniversary and we celebrated our 39th in August, and this cruise was a celebration. We knew we didn’t want to do this cruise in August, though. I had the phyllo with Roquefort and Anjou pear starter. Hubby had the scallop starter. My cousin had the risotto and I think her husband had the lobster bisque. Both couples had the Chateaubriand for two. I think we all had Grand Marnier soufflé. Everything was delicious and the service was exceptional.

The air quality was really bad the day we were in port in Genoa. My cousin had an asthma flare and coughed the rest of the trip. You can see how bad it was.

Our tour guide was wonderful. She was very informative about the history and traditions of the places we saw. She also talked about day to day life and the food in the area. We needed a pharmacy to fill a prescription for my husband’s eye drops. He had run out and his ophthalmologist emailed a prescription. We found one open in Portofino, but the pharmacist would have had to order the eye drops from another pharmacy and she wouldn’t have them until after we had left Portofino. Our guide called a pharmacy in Genoa, had the pharmacist set them aside, confirmed the pharmacy would be open, directed the taxi driver to the pharmacy, came with us, had the taxi driver wait, and made sure we got the prescription! I went to the shorex desk, gave them her name and the name of the tour company, and told them how she went above and beyond.

We arrived in Portofino and had a couple of hours there. Beautiful!

The next day was Genoa. Genoa was substituted for another port, but I don’t remember what it was. The 4 of us did the excursion to Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino. It was a long bus ride to Santa Margherita and when we got there, we had about 30 minutes. By then, everyone needed to use the restroom. There was a very long line at the public toilets (and we didn’t have coins — you had to pay). We went to a cafe and I ordered a coffee and pastry while my husband stood in line for the single bathroom. By the time I finished my coffee and pastry, there were only a couple of people left in line, so I was able to use the bathroom just as it was time to go back to the meeting place. That was poorly planned; there should have been an earlier stop. Then we all boarded a boat to Portofino. The scenery was beautiful.