Friday, November 4, 2016

Livorno - Port Stop for Florence and Pisa

We sleep in.  Oh it feels so nice to know we are settled for a few weeks.  As much as I love to travel the living out of a suitcase and figuring out each destination is exhausting. One reason we love cruising we can unpack once, stop in various places, tour and then come back to a beautiful resort.

We sleep well.  But.... there is this emergency light that keeps flashing. I don't remember them before so not sure if this is new since the drydock or not.

They emit a strobe of three flashes of light then nothing for about a minute then three flashes of light. Needless to say at night when the room is totally dark this light lightens up the entire room and is alarming. We have to wear our sleep masks (thankfully we brought them). We report it tour our steward first thing in the morning.

this is a standard setup

We try to call room service to trade in our mini bar - but we can't get thru. We tried yesterday and for quite a few hours this morning but we have no success. This is an area I feel Princess could improve on. 

As Elites you get a mini bar setup which we love.  You are able to trade off items in the bar for other items or even trade off entire bar for a bottle of wine or two coffee cards. But to do this you have to contact room service which on the first day is impossible and often difficult the second day too. 

My thought is that when you are filling out your cruise personalizer for the voyage you should be prompted to change up your mini bar. This way when they are preparing the mini bars they can customize it the way you want. Sure it may take a bit longer initially but it would save in time with them having to answer the phone, take note of change and then deliver change. Not to mention the frustration we all get trying to get thru to the Room Service Line.

When we finally do get thru to them we find out there is limited supply of some things and we make due with what they have.  This is not surprising since this is the final voyage from the Med. and they will probably be restocking the main things in Florida.


Today breakfast is up in the Horizon Court (HC). We love the HC on the Royal. So many options, spread out, with lots of food stations and lots of places to sit. Plus the food on board is usually very good. Sure there are some items that may be a miss or not hot hot but we certainly did not go hungry.


I head down to Wheelhouse Bar to play Speed Sudoku and win (well there was only two of us). I am given a lanyard as the prize but give it to the gentleman who played with me as I am happy just playing.

We both decided before we went to sleep last night that today we would stay on board. Initially our plan was to catch the train and go to Lucca -- I have always wanted to visit there.

But after a week of touring Italy and then a busy day of travel and boarding the Royal yesterday we agree we need a restful day today.

Sure we are here in Italy and I know we should take advantage of it but I think it is important to do what your body and mind tell you and today for both our sanity we need a day to relax and enjoy the ship.

Lunch is back up in the HC where we run into Michael who is with Captain Craig Street and his wife Leanne.

It is great to see Craig again and this is the first time we meet Leanne. They are also good friends of Bruce and Sharon! 

Michael comments that tomorrow is Thanksgiving and would like to invite us for dinner to celebrate in his cabin.  We are all looking forward to it.  


 
The ship is quiet, many are off exploring Florence, Pisa and Livorno.  

There is an indepdendent shuttle service being offered here in Livorno -- 5E each for roundtrip service to downtown Livorno and 12E each for roundtrip to the train station. To read more about the Port of Livorno and travelling to Pisa or Florence read my past blogs about the port here.

It is overcast and a little cool.  A sweater or light jacket is required.

We are here until 7 pm so people are slow to return.
I seek out the Platinum Elite Lounge but it isn't in Club 6 (I know we received the invitation and menu but I really didn't look at it clearly to see where exactly it is being held.)  My next thought is Vista Lounge and I am right.  Makes sense, with so many Platinum and Elites on board Club 6 would be just way too small.  But Vista Lounge is huge and certainly can accommodate us but it is much more impersonal and not much mingling goes on.


I forgot to mention a lovely lady -- Mary, approached us in the International Cafe.  Mary follows my facebook page (Cruising Princess Cruiseline with Vickie) and blog came to introduce herself. So nice to meet her. It is always great to meet my followers and even better to hear her cruise stories. 

We are meeting Marty and Sanja tonight in Vines but boy it is busy in the Atrium. We head to the Symphony Dining Room and are sat at a table for 4. Tonight's menu is the Mediterranean Dinner.

I get a green salad, fettucini (but no parmesan basket anymore) and then the surf and turf entree.  Everything was excellent.

We get champagne and wine and because of the drink package it is 40% off and a great deal.


After dinner we are back in Vines and enjoying Sicilian Kiss drinks. We end up in Club 6 to dance to Anna who is Dj tonight. She is beautiful, and we give her big hugs. We all dance the night away until 1 am!

But so much is going on.  Kory Simons @ Piano bar in Crooners; John Evans comedian @ 8:15 and 10:15; Yes No Game Show, 70's Night; Tribond Trivia and so much more.


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