International Harbors
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International Harbors Maritime Heritage Travel Maritime Heritage Project PO Box 2878 Sausalito, CA 94965 eMail PLEASE READ Don't Do This While Traveling . . . And if you smoke or if you have friends who smoke . . .	Star Princess Mediterranean Cruise Drift Through the Night and Wake Up in a Different Port On October 2nd we left San Francisco to fly to Rome and thence to Civitavecchia to board our first cruise. This was a trip of "firsts": Although we had visited more than 20 countries through the years, we had never been to Italy, Greece or Turkey. We were excited. Through this website, we booked a night in an Expess by Holiday Inn in Rome. While we can't recommend the location as it is inconvenient to the city (unless you rent a car), the price was excellent (low as compared to most accommodations in Rome), the Inn clean and very quiet. Also, the complimentary breakfast was the best complimentary breakfast we've ever had. It was a full breakfast, not just Continental, with great coffee, fresh fruit, eggs, home-made rolls . . . (Rome-East Vio Giorgio Perlasca 50, Rome 00155 IT 39-06-252172. Approximately 5 miles from downtown Rome, 9 miles from Ciampino Airport, 22 miles from Fiumicino International Airport.) We took an early morning bus/walking tour of Rome that included the Colosseum This grand monument is an elegant reminder of the mighty Roman Empire. Seating 50,000, the arena was flooded for naval battles, then dried and sanded in just a few hours for battling gladiators. On October 4, a 2-hour drive in a private limousine delivered us to the Star Princess berthed in Civitavecchia, an old seaport and gateway to Rome. Princess Cruise's extremely efficient operation moved 2,000+ passengers with great ease into their staterooms. The ship is enormous . . . it is a floating city . . . and it often looked out of scale compared to the small ports we sailed into. Our room, E711, was an oceanview double on the Emerald Deck (8th floor -- the ship is 14 stories high). The room was a disappointment as we were assured by RCI Travel that we would have a large picture window with an unobstructed view of the Mediterranean; we did have a large picture window, but the view was very obstructed by rigging. Other than that, the room was comfortable, quite roomy, and we had a fantastic time on board; however all future cruises will be with a balcony to enable us to escape air conditioning, which is really cooled, recycled, stale air. STAR PRINCESS FACTS Launched: 03/16/2002; Registry: Great Britain; Officers: Italian Crew: International Cuisine: Continental, room service, International Dress Code (which is sadly ignored by most people) 4 Outdoor Pools, 9 Whirlpool spas, a state-of-the art fitness center with trainers, a beauty salon and the Lotus Spa with the latest in health care, wraps, aromatherapy. Sophisticated, high-tech theatre (with performances choreographed and performed by Princess' staff), 17 bars/lounges, a huge casino, a nightclub suspended 15 decks above the ocean, shops, drugstore, library, game-room, self-service full laundry room (with irons and ironing boards), elevators. Suites: 208; Outside Doubles: 938; Inside Doubles: 362; Verandah Cabins: 710 Date Cities In Port Oct 5 Monte Carlo, Monaco, Nice 7:00am-6:00pm Oct 6 Livorno, Italy for Florence/Pisa 6:30am-6:00pm Oct 7 Naples for Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri 8:00am-7:00pm Oct 8 At Sea (A Day spent in the Spa) Oct 9 Santorini, Greece 7:00am-6:00pm Oct 10 Kusadasi, Turkey for Ephesus and the Resting Place of the Virgin Mary 8:00am-5:00pm Oct 11 Mykonos, Greece 7:00am-6:00pm Oct 12 Piraeus for Athens, Greece 6:00am-5:45pm Oct 13 Katakolon for Olympic, Greece 8:00am-5:00pm Oct 14 Corfu, Greece 7:00am-5:00pm Oct 15 To Venice, Italy (at sea all day) 10:00pm arrival Oct 16 Venice Our lifetime goal is to visit every port sailed into by our ancestor Captain James H. Blethen for whom The Maritime Heritage Project was started. Cruise Direct has excellent selections. And among their offerings, we recommend Royal Caribbean Cruises or Princess Cruises. We repeatedly have heard that Royal Caribbean is the best line, and we found Princess Cruises to be delightful. We loved our cruise.
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Reading departure signs in some big airport Reminds me of the places I've been Visions of good times that brought so much pleasure Makes me want to go back again . . . Jimmy Buffett © 2007, 2008 All rights reserved. All writing and images on this site are the property of Dianne Levy. Photographs by Dianne Levy and Gary Levy. Permission to Reprint.