Monday morning started bright and early for Brian and Abby as they set off at 5am to be first in line at the US Embassy to hopefully be granted emergency passports. I'm thankful they are early birds, and they got there to be first (even though the line eventually got a little chaotic before the doors opened at 8:30am).
Meanwhile back at the apartment, I finished packing everything up and staging everything for a quick pick up later if everything went according to plan.
Ben, Emily, & I took a taxi to meet Brian & Abby in line at 8am, but not before a quick picture to remember all of the graffiti we'd become used to in Rome... There is so much ancient history & some very cool sites here, but it is NOT a clean city, and after this experience, is definitely NOT a family favorite!
Once we got in the embassy, they took all of our electronics away (phones, laptops, watches) as a safety measure, which made the process a little more difficult, as I had photos of all of our documents saved on my phone. The only thing I had a hard copy of with me was our cruise itinerary proving we had to be at the ship that day, which ultimately expedited our passport process. While we waited, we met many other unfortunate American travelers in similar situations as we were, and while it was frustrating and disappointing, there was a sense of comradery there and we were all pulling for each other. We finally figured out all of our paperwork, and while the process didn't seem speedy at the time, 3 hours later, we walked out feeling victorious with 3 new purple emergency passports, and the "mad dash to the ship" was officially on...
While Brian scootered again since our family is too big for a taxi, the rest of us grabbed a car back to apartment to grab luggage and run to the train station. When we got there, it was mobbed, and very difficult to figure out how to get tickets for the right train and where the right tracks were due to everyone speaking Italian. We found a few Americans who pointed us in the right direction, and we made our way down the insanely packed platforms and pushed our way through to make the train with a minute to spare.
I didn't get any pictures of the mobs of people because we were so focused on not missing the train, because there was only one more that could possibly get us to the ship in time. Relieved that we made it, we were fine to sit all over the place with our huge luggage practically in our laps for the hour long ride to the cruise ship port.
Once the train let us off, we happened to find a taxi van that took us (and a few others) directly to the cruise port instead of having to walk the 20 minute trek in the blistering sun with all of our luggage. Once we made it to the terminal, checked our bags in and made it through security with our new passports, we only had 30 minutes left before they closed the boarding process, so we were all SO relieved and quite proud of our accomplishments for the day!
I really never expected to be so happy to see our ship!
We all looked terrible, were exhausted, hot and sweaty, but of course we stopped for our first official pictures before getting on the boat!
This just about sums up how we felt at that point... Just ready to get on the ship!
When we finally boarded, we were greeted with the day of the week on the elevator floor & got some awesome views of the inside of the ship which would be our home for the next week.
We were starving after our morning adventures (especially since we didn't even have time for breakfast), so we headed straight to the buffet, where Ben showed us how much a growing teenage boy could actually eat, and followed it up with an impressive dessert plate!
A stop to our rooms was next, which didn't feel too cramped with our big picture windows and adjoining rooms that gave us extra space to walk around.
The kids got their own room, and Ben's bed pulled down into a bunk... They enjoyed goofing off, but Abby wasn't thrilled when all of Ben's pillows and blankets fell on her head each night.
Meanwhile back in our room, Brian finally crashed and got in a well-deserved cat nap before heading out to explore the ship. Ben & I took that time to go to guest services and get him a new Sea Pass card (his key, ID & money on the ship), because somehow it got misplaced in the first 30 minutes of being on board! Thankfully, we shut down the old one in time, and didn't have any problems- maybe he was feeling left out that his passport and identity never went missing... 🙈
Dinner every night on the ship was in the Main Dining Room at 7:15pm, and we LOVED our waiter, Gerald, who got to know our family well by the end of the cruise. The choices were awesome, and Brian loved ordering escargot nearly every night...
While Abby & Ben headed back to the room after dinner (it was a LONG day), Brian, Emily & I checked out the headliner show that evening, which was a dancer and a foot-juggler!
It was quite impressive, and a great way to wrap up this crazy day and celebrate our successful "mad dash to the ship"! (Truthfully, I was SO excited to be able to go back and get my first good night's sleep since leaving home!)
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