Goodbye Prague, Hello Italy

 After a very busy two weeks it was time to say goodbye to Son #1 and Son #2.  We left them sleeping in their beds - our flight was early morning and theirs (back to Canada) was much later.

When we booked our flight to Rome we found a cheap flight and jumped all over it.  It wasn't until a month later that we realized that the flight landed in Rome's regional airport of Ciampino. What that meant was we had to rely on buses and trains to get us to the port of Civitavecchia as the cruise only had transfers from the international airport, and taking a taxi would cost an arm and two legs to get to the port that was over an hour away.

After what was a very overwhelming plan of how we would get to the port, ended up working out well. We had to take a shuttle bus from the airport to the train station.  It was direct, lots of space for luggage, and comfortable seats - perfect! With the help of several people we were able to purchase our train tickets, find the right track, and get onto a car with few people so we had space for our luggage - ok, now I could breath a little. Once we got to Civitavecchia, there were shuttle buses outside the train station to take us to the cruise port - we were exhausted after the trip, but so happy to be there.

Because of our trip the previous two weeks with two of our sons, we decided to skip spending time in Rome before the cruise.   Having been to Rome twice before, we didn’t feel the need to shorten our time in Prague to revisit the city.  As we drove from the airport in the shuttle bus, we passed several ancient buildings along the way. I was struck by how the locals seemed to go about their daily routines, hardly noticing their historic surroundings.  For them, these ancient structures were just part of everyday life, their significance almost lost over time. For us, coming from a "new country" like Canada, we remain in awe of every ancient building and artifact we encounter.

Check-in was very smooth and before long we were sitting having our lunch onboard.

The ship is the Norwegian Prima.  We have sailed Norwegian quite a few times, but this was our first time on the Prima.  Our first impressions were great.  She is a beautiful ship. In a later post I'll do a full ship review.

The remainder of that day was spent settling in, wandering around the ship, and meeting up with our friends, Roger and Val, who had also decided to take this cruise. We enjoyed our first dinner in the main diningroom with them, and then ended our evening early as we all were very tired after a busy travel day.