11/5–On to the Silhouette

We are up and out very early (unfortunately!). We’d prefer to hang out here longer, but the car must be back before 10am so we aren’t charged an extra day.  We’re already packed and ready – so we quietly lock up and walk down to the elevator (carrying the suitcase because it makes way too much noise on the cobblestones) then into the car and out of the garage.  I walk the parking pass back to the cashier and we’re off – heading up in the Umbrian hills, and out to the coast and our ship.

The drive is actually lovely, on little lanes through countryside and farm land then into bigger villages and towns, finally hitting the new auto-way – new at least to Alice who doesn’t recognize the road and thinks we are driving in the middle of the fields.

It is an easy hour and a half, and even though we miss the first exit for Civitavecchia (again, because it is new and Alice instructs us to take the exit 1 KM past where it actually is), we make it to Eurocar without any real issues.  Except parking!  Thank heavens for small cars.  Ed is able to masterfully stuff the little Fiat Punto into a space right in front of the rental place.  Then we wait…in line…for a while.  There are 7 ships in port today, so there are many folks here picking up cars after their cruise, and probably for day trips.  There are 3 of us dropping off, and we finally are able to turn the car in and wheel our way across the street to the shuttle.

It all works out perfectly! Including the fact that just as we reach the shuttle bus, that is ready to leave, it starts to rain. Perfect timing – we barely get wet.  I just love it when a plan works!

At the port, all goes smoothly. We are one of the first groups to check in and to board, we only wait maybe 30 minutes total – and we are aboard before the Oceanview Cafe is even open for lunch. That’s a first.

We eat, hang out, finally get to go to our cabin and then just hang out, enjoying the balcony and waiting for the muster drill and sail away.

A seamless embarkation day.  Onward we sail toward Florida.