Symphony Of The Seas 23-30 April Mediterranean cruise (again)

[Traveler]

Day 5 - Rome.

The ship is arriving the port of Civitavecchia which is 1 hour from Rome. We had train tickets to Rome which we ordered online a month ago, they where for 9:15 am which meant we had to wake up early. Quick breakfast at the diamond club and we done our way to Rome.  There few ways to get to Rome , one by shor excursion,  second by train and third by external company bus. We took the train option, the cost for return fast  trains was around 15$ if you want you can pay 10 Dollars for slower train . To get to to the train you get hope on a 6$ shuttle to the tray  station but the line was long so we took the free port shuttle to the port gate and walked 15 minutes to the station.  In the port gate you cam also take a 25E bus that takes you to Rome it's once the bus is full it will start going to Rome and drops you near the Vatican city. We arrived to the train station on time and went on the train for 45 minutes ride, although we had seat assignments our seat were taken and it's seems no one followed the assignments so we just took a seat like everyone else , at the first 10 minutes people were still standing but after that everyone got a seat , I guess there is some logic in the Italian system.
We arrived Rome Termini station and went the most important place in the station,  the bathrooms, you see in med itinerary you go to the bathroom when you can not when you need , important rule. The bathroom cost 1 E and it accepting CC . We started to work to Trevi fountain. Nice thing about Rome, no matter were you go in Rome there is something to see , we passed several church,  went inside some of them

We arrived the fountain , this is what you hope to see

This is what you see most of the time although you can still come near it with some patient.

We continue to the  beautiful Spanish stairs.

We went to take our first espresso,  the way they do it is different and we like it very much. We started  to feel hungry and went for searching for a nice resturant. We decided on a restaurant that had nice interesting salads and traditional pasta , it was good. Next we did our way to the Vatican city area visiting some interesting places.

 

We started  our way back stoping in the Pantheon

We stopped in a shop or two and by 4:30 we arrived the station to take our train back. This time our seat was available and we arrived after 50 minutes back.
Total steps 35000 , weather was just perfect for such excursion.

[Sweety]

Thanks for the memories. I spent 3 months in Rome. 

[Traveler]

If anyone have any questions about the ship or port of calls let me know tomorrow sea days finally I will have some time to check .

[Traveler]

The quest is in the house by surprise!

[SweetPea]

I love your fountain pics: idyllic v reality!

[Traveler]

Day 6 - Napoli.
There are so many things hs to do in this port of call,  the city , Amalfi cost, Sorento , Pompeii and Capri are just some of the options. We decide on Capari , cheapest way to get there is to just exit the ship, walk 5 minutes and buy tickets to the ferry ride . Few month ago I catch a cheap excursion from RC to go to Capri , it make sense as it contains the small busses and also the chairlift. The funny thing was that the self guided excursion cost 1 $ less , go figure. The issue was that this excursion started very late at night around 7:15 am  , this should be banned by by Geneva low or something like that. We were ready on time with even few minutes to grab something to eat from the DL. Some how we got the same guide as we had four years ago so we already knew all the jokes:-) . The ferry ride took around 50 minutes and we were waiting for our turn to go on the minibusses,  this took 15 minutes and we were doning our way to Anacapri . At Anacapri you get to choose between a museum and a chairlift all the way up the mountain. We love the chairlift as it's a 15 minutes ride in a very beautiful  and tranquility scenery.

On the mountain you can have a view over Naples bay and the famous mountain Vesuvius.

Post Anacapri we took the minibus to Capri were we had some free time which we used for walking  around (it was a very busy day)  and eat a good overpriced pizza with a fish plate for starter.

For dessert we bought some local made cookies and a cannoli which was very good. We had a 30:30 ferry ride that brought us back to the ship. Yesterday we went first time to the main dining room. Food was good and service was excellent. I might add that no lobster night  during this cruise. After dinner we went to watch the battle of the sexes game show follow by the quest that was run by the new cruise director that was just replacing the previous one, she did a very good job .

 

[Traveler]

Thry are making sure we will plan our next cruise 

[SweetPea]

Congrats! Nice haul!

[Ampurp85]

Oooh nice, I love when people win in the casino.

[Traveler]

Day 7 - Sea day.

Finally we could both sleep the extra time until almost 10 am , it was needed after the early late days. We rushed into the diamond club to grab something just to see that they already collecting the food and going to throw it , so sad to see all the berries goes to the trash but we did missed the deadline so no complaining.  We decided to went to to the Solarium as it was or that or the WJ and nothing reminds me it is the  last days as WJ mornings. Food was the same nothing to talk about. We tour the ship for a while , went to choose the pictures we wanted , it was not a warm day but still the sun was out and people used the pools and the water slides. I stood in the line to pay some of the bill with cache , as it was the last day and the casino was not bad. For lunch we decided to go to the Park Caffe for a salad and a sandwich. Salad station was very basic , not many addons like it used to be, not sure if it was some seasonal issues or cutbacks. In general I felt that the free food option went down a notch , if it is the park cafe with less veg options, the Sorento that did not served the antipasti anymore or the El Loco fresh with a very diluted guacamole. I do hope it just because it was the second cruise in the region and its not a fleet wide. Post dinner we went to watch the love and marriage show which was so funny , well maybe not such funny for the cupule that had a very interesting story about the place you tell at such game show just to quickly notice that there 12 years old daughter entered to the theater and was in the audience. That is the issue with only one sea day itinerary , you need to squeeze all the game show in the last 24 hours even it means some of them will be at the middle of the day. We continue our ship tour and went to the casino , nothing to report , it was OK , post that we went to catch some sleep which was interrupted twice by the shore alcohol distribution, at first time they brought only two of the bottles , second time they came with the rest. Dinner was again in the MDR , service was very good and quick , it was the royal theme night but no lobsters just jumbo shrimp. We went to see Flight which is our favorite show in Symphony and went to finish our packing. I went down to use my free play in the Casino , you saw what happened , a nice surprise for the last day.  

[Traveler]

Day 7/8 

We went back to complete packing. At first we wanted to do self disembarking as we had an 1045 am flight but then we got our luggage number which was exactly for the same time we thought to go off the ship anyway. We also had one duffel bag which was quite heavy so we thought to do the regular process. After getting the luggage out we went to find some food to be stored for the early morning.  We got some sandwiches and pineapples and put the in the refrigerator,  it was very useful later. I went back to the Casino to make sure all the points are added including the table games , the host told me I am missing some points for the next instant offer so we went to do what usually I recommend people not do , played  to get reward points. Surprisingly it was working well (at least the end of it) but at the beginning of this session I thought I will give it up as it seems the money I will spend might be more than the benefits I will get. Once got to the required points I went to get the certificate. It was quite late so we went to sleep what left from the night. At 6:30 am the alarm clock went on and we started to get organized and eating the sandwich we stocked last night. Once we were ready and our number called we went down to terminal just to wait 15 more minutes for our luggage, why to call if it's not ready ?  We collect our luggage and went outside to catch a taxi, there were no lines for the taxi. At 7:45 we already in the airport which concluded another cruise.

Regards , Yuliya&Assaf

 

[SweetPea]

Thanks for taking us along on your amazing trip! Beautiful pics and great review. Thanks again!

[Sweety]

Wonderful blog.

[She Sails Away]

Thank you for the adventure and the photos! Can't wait to go in a few weeks!

[WAAAYTOOO]

So nice to see your smiling faces and know your names !  

[FireFishII]

Thank you for the blog.  Congrats on the wins.

[AKM]

Great post and pics are amazing. We are on the same itinerary starting this Sunday and after reading a lot of comments about poor food in MDR it was good to hear some positive comments. 
 

This will be our 5th cruise with RC and our first in a Grand Suite (via Royal Up). Seriously got us in the mood after reading this post.

[Chaitali]

Great write up!  I enjoyed hearing about the ports as we’ll be doing this itinerary next year.

[Nicki 72]

On 5/1/2023 at 7:05 PM, SweetPea said:

Thanks for taking us along on your amazing trip! Beautiful pics and great review. Thanks again!

thanks for the blog, i am going on the same cruise in june,  just wondering if you know is there anywhere to store luggage in the port?  we disembark early but our flight is not till 11pm ? 

[Traveler]

On 5/19/2023 at 4:24 PM, Nicki 72 said:

thanks for the blog, i am going on the same cruise in june,  just wondering if you know is there anywhere to store luggage in the port?  we disembark early but our flight is not till 11pm ? 

One option will be to take RC excursion,. Another will be to use this service which will take your luggage and drop it later in the airport https://bagsandgo.com/en/booking/luggage-transfer-spainbookers/

I never used this option before