It was a very early start for us today, leaving the house just before 2:30am for the drive east to Heathrow’s terminal 4. Our Alitalia flight to Rome was late leaving by 25minutes but as usual when these things tend to happen to us we arrived on schedule. The big shock for us was the weather, we had anticipated that it would have been really nice and sunny but were very surprised to land and find it was very wet and extremely muggy.
Our pre booked transfer to our hotel in Civitavecchia was exactly where the instructions said they would be waiting and in no time we were making our way along the dual carriageway to the Italian coast and the port of Rome.
We arrived shortly after midday and although the booking document said the rooms would not be ready until 2:00pm the receptionist managed to find one which was ready and we were shown up to the first floor room which I have to say was beyond our expectations. Having recently read a few negative reports about the hotel I was a little worried it was going to be a bit of a let down but the sun shined on us today. Our room has a large balcony which looks out to sea and this was made all the better when the sun came out shortly after our arrival and we have had glorious weather all afternoon.
After a really delicious lunch in the hotel restaurant we left our young companion to have a nap and wondered off for a quick walk to the promenade to see what was around. Our walk took us up to the port gates where we could see 2 ships in port today, the Costa Favolosa and MSC Musica which weirdly was the last ship Alex was on with us.
This evening we will again be eating in the hotels restaurant as there is a good chance we may not last the distance due to the long day and plus the food is fantastic. I am going to sign off now so I can have a shower before going out. Tomorrow we get on the ship!!!!