Well, this was our last “early” start port for the trip, and at 5:30 AM, we were up and getting ready so we could depart the ship as close to the 7:00 AM posted disembarkation time as possible for the long day in Rome. We went to breakfast at about 6:15 AM, and the ship was still moving toward the port, which was common for a 7:00 AM port arrival schedule. Once we were back at the room, and fully packed to go, we looked out of the sliding glass door and realized we were still quite a ways out of the inlet to the port. It was just getting daylight, so this was our first opportunity to see how far we still were from the port, and that the 7:00 AM scheduled arrival was not going to occur.
Waiting Outside The Harbor
Shortly thereafter, the Captain came on the loudspeaker and informed us that it was too windy to enter the port, the winds were gusting over 50 knots. Initially they thought we would be delayed until around 8:00 AM, then it was 9:00 AM, and at 9:30 AM, we were still in a holding pattern outside of the port entrance. Finally, around 10:00 AM, we started toward the port, and by 10:45 AM, the ship was secure alongside the pier.
Of course, all of the tours were now close to four hours behind schedule, and everyone was impatiently waiting to get off the ship, and all at once. Normally, with the early arrival time, not many people are ready to get off as soon as the ship is cleared for disembarkation, there are usually just small staggered groups ready to go ashore that early. We usually only have about 20 people waiting with us to get off the ship that early, which makes it nice, there are no lines and getting off of the ship is quick and easy. Today, however, was a totally different experience.
People were lined up and waiting by the time we were secured to the pier, and the gangway was lowered. We had about 200 people ahead of us waiting in line to get off, and to then board the free port shuttle buses that dropped passengers off at the port entrance. We were informed that the ship was not going to depart until 9:00 PM, which was two hours later than initially scheduled. However, the additional port duration time was not much benefit since sunset is scheduled for about 4:45 PM today; making it hard to see many of the sites in the dark.
Once off of the ship, it was a mad rush to the train station to get the first available train into Rome. The next train scheduled for arrival was already running 15 minutes late by the time we had our tickets and were at the platform, which did not help the situation. Then, due to normal local crowds, and the release of several hundred cruise ship passengers that were all trying to get to Rome at the same time, the train was VERY crowded. We were able to get seats, but they were not together, and the aisles were jammed with people standing right over you for the 50 minute trip into the Rome San Pietro Station, the train station for St. Peter’s Basilica, our initial destination. Of course, it seemed like everyone standing over us and sitting around us was coughing and sneezing for the entire train ride in the very crowded conditions. We surmise that with the changes in the weather this time of year, a lot of people are dealing with colds, including me. The weather had been sunny when we left Civitavechhia, but unfortunately was turning cloudy by the time we arrived in Rome.
Waiting In Line To Enter St. Peter’s
We walked the familiar few blocks to St. Peter’s Square, but as we approached, the normal entrances were blocked off, and there were a lot of policemen on the streets, as well as barricades to direct the pedestrian traffic away from the main street. We finally found an opening in the barricades to cross into the square, and got into the long line for security screening to enter the Basilica. We were not sure what was going on, but even the crowds seemed larger than normal. About 20 minutes later, some type of motorcade drove by with several police cars in front and behind, and then it was over, and the police left, and the barricades were taken down. We were not sure who it was, but certainly it was someone important, thereby requiring all of the additional security. We do not think it was the Pope, more people would have been lining the street next to the barricades.
After about 45 minutes of waiting in the long line, we went through the security screening and then walked into the Basilica, It had gotten even more cloudy by this time, so the natural sunlight illumination inside the Basilica was not as good as it could have been for photos. However, it is still an impressive sight, as it had been when we were here before. Unfortunately, since we were so late arriving, we were unable to attend Mass inside the Basilica as we had planned, masses are only held in the morning, and by now it was about 12:45 PM.
Inside St. Peter’s Basilica
Stephanie had wanted to get some holy water from the Basilica, so we headed over to the Sacristy entrance, which was where we had read online that we needed to go to accomplish that task. There was a small gift store there and we purchased a small bottle to fill from the font. Unfortunately, by the time we got to that part of the Basilica, the Sacristy had just closed, and was not scheduled to reopen until 4:00 PM. Fortunately, there was a holy water font outside, and we were able to fill the small bottle from that. There were several other people doing the same thing. We were fortunate that by the time we got into the Basilica, even though the lines were long, there were really not many people inside. It appeared that we were in between the morning and afternoon “tour group time zones”
Chuck & Stephanie – St. Peter’s Square
After walking inside the Basilica, we went downstairs under the Basilica to the Crypt, where many of the past Popes are interned. This was also one of the exits to the Basilica, over toward the location of the queuing area for going to the top of the dome. However, since I have had a head cold for a couple of days now, and it was getting very cloudy, we decided to skip that on this trip. Too many stairs to climb feeling somewhat under the weather, and with skies looking more and more like rain.
Inside St. Peter’s Basiica
We visited the Basilica gift shop and Stephanie purchased a few items while I waited outside. Since the threat of rain seemed ever increasing, we decided that it would be better if we just headed back to the ship early. On the way out of the square, we did stop for some pictures in front of St. Peters before walking back to the train station. On the walk back, it did start to drizzle some, and was getting cooler. It was about 2:45 PM, and seemed even later with the cloud cover, almost like it was already starting to get dark. Of course, we were not too far from sunset scheduled for 4:45 PM today.
High Dynamic Ramge Photo – St. Peter’s
We boarded the 3:00 PM train back to Civitavechhia, and it was a much more relaxing return ride than this morning’s train trip had been. In anticipation of the large number of commuters heading home for the day, the train company had already switched over to the double deck train cars for the start of the afternoon commuter crowds. Since we were early for the commuter passenger peak time, there were plenty of seats available, another benefit of heading back early.
The return train made a few more stops than the morning train had made, I guess another change due to the anticipated increase in passengers starting to return home from their daily commute into Rome. We did notice that it was starting to rain more heavily at times during the one hour return trip to Civitavechhia, but once we got there, it has stopped.
We started the walk back from the train station to the port entrance to catch the port shuttle bus back to the ship, but decided we would try and find the grocery store we had visited when we were here in 2008. We made a few wrong turns, but eventually found our way there. We were looking for some Vicks for my cold, and some hot chocolate for Stephanie, neither of which they had in the somewhat small store with limited selections. We ended up going to a pharmacy for the Vicks, being somewhat astonished by the price of Euro 16.00 for a container of Vicks and a Vicks inhaler. It was a larger container than we normally get, but since these types of items can only be purchased from a pharmacy in most areas of Europe, they are probably priced higher than we are used to compared to when we purchase them at a WalMart of Target at home. These items are not typically stocked at normal stores here. We should have looked yesterday at the Toulon “WalMart” equivalent Carfore, but we did not think about it then.
Our Last View of the Dome of St. Peters
We walked the few blocks back to the port entrance and got onto the free shuttle bus back to the ship. Once back on board, we headed to the buffet for another late lunch. With the late timing of our arrival in Rome, the wait in the line at St. Peter’s, and the time it took to walk around inside the Basilica, we never really had an opportunity for grabbing a bite to eat, and there were not really any places to eat around the areas where we walked to and from the station in Rome.
After lunch, we headed back to the room to relax and have a glass of wine, and to do a load of laundry to wash whites/light colors. We thought since we were back on the ship earlier than many of the tours, the laundry mat would not be crowded, and we were correct. In addition, the laundry mat is only a few cabins down the hall, so it is really convenient. We had some wine while we waited for the clothes to wash and then to dry, yeah for clean underwear!
After finishing the laundry, we got ready to make our daily visit the hot tubs near the spa, but when we arrived, we found that they were closed. Apparently, due to a forecast of rough seas, these particular hot tubs were closed off and drained in order to avoid overflowing and flooding the spa/salon area. We have seen the flooding occur on other similar ships, but mostly from the lap pool, which had been drained for several days already. We had never seen the hot tubs drained. This was the information we got from the spa personnel when we asked. We headed for some other hot tubs near the main pool, but it was really windy there. We then walked back to the hot tubs on the stern decks, but they were not very warm, and it was also windy in that area of the ship since it was not protected. The winds had picked up again, similar to this morning, ergo the forecast for rough sea conditions once we left port. Nothing like running around in your bathing suits in the cold wind, already suffering from a cold. We went back to the main pool and tested the temperature of the hot tubs there. These were warmer than those on the stern, but not warm enough to offset the cold breeze, so we abandoned the hot tub plan for health reasons.
We went back to the room and changed before heading out to find a quiet area so our room steward could prepare the room for the night. We headed up to the Skywalkers Nightclub at the top of the stern of the ship, which is usually a quiet area until it opens at 10:00 PM for dancing. There were just a few other passengers there, and Stephanie read while I worked on the blog. The ship departed around 9:00 PM as scheduled, but with the high winds, the ship had to have assistance from two tugs to pull it sideways away from the pier. The thrusters were apparently not strong enough to push the ship sideways into the strong wind. We had not ever seen this happen before, but, prior to today, we had also never been late arriving into a port due to high winds.
We were surprised that once we got out to sea, it was not nearly as rough as it had been last night, probably due to the fact that the ship was now heading westward with the wind as we start our total of three days at sea heading out of the Mediterranean Sea, through the Strait of Gibraltar, and into the Atlantic Ocean and the island of Madeira.
To view more photos from today’s post, here is a link to the Photo Album for Rome, or you can access it via the menu on the top right.