GOODBYE MSC – HELLO CONTIKI

WEATHER: BEAUTIFUL DAY – NO IDEA ON THE TEMPS

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY :  BAG UNDER WEIGHT FOR AIR TRAVEL

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Leaving our MSC home for the last 7 nights

BUYS OF THE DAY: Internet at Rome airport for 5EUR

WORD OF THE DAY: - Would have to be CONTIKI

Well the time has come for us to farewell MSC Fantasia, and what a great night to say goodbye last night.  Like any ship, unless you have flights or transfers, they disembark you by decks.  Each deck is allocated a departure time and this way they save on a mass exit of people all at once.  Our disembarkation time was 8.30am, but as our flight wasn’t until 5pm, we were in no immediate rush to get off the ship.  MSC don’t care too much, as long as you are out of your cabins by 8am, you can mosey on the ship for a bit longer.

Our bags had to be popped outside our doors at midnight, and upon exiting the ship, they could be found in your deck colours in customs.  We then had to get a shuttle transfer from the ship to Citavechiia town and then we walked the 5 minutes from there to the railway station.  The trains from here to Rome Termini depart pretty much every 30 minutes, so we didn’t have to wait long for the train to come.  The trip is 1 hour and we arrived into Rome Termini at 11am.  We were lucky the Leonardo express departs directly opposite the Cicavecchio platform, so we purchased 2 tickets which cost 15EUR each for the 30 minutes from central to the airport.

We arrived at Rome International at 11.50am with 3 hours to kill before we could check-in; we had to kill some time.  Rome International Airport is a little daggy and needs a bit of work, as it looks like it was built 70 years ago, and there are hardly any seats to be had.  So do not get there any earlier than you need to, as they don’t really encourage this I don’t think.  The airport doesn’t offer free internet, but you can purchase 5 hours for 5EUR, which after paying the massive prices on the ship this seemed extraordinary value!!!  And it kept me busy for the 2 hours before we could check in.

My bag, I am happy to report is still, under the required 23kg, coming in at 22.8kg, so another fist pump at the check-in counter.  Thank god they haven’t weighted my hand luggage, as I rekon I am carrying another 11kg spread over 3 hand luggage bags!!!  Touchwood.  The rest of the afternoon and process is the usual airport stuff.  Security, customs, eating overpriced airport food, catching air train to the gate, waiting for the boarding call etc……  There was another ship of old people that was also at the port when we came in, and you guessed it that they were all on our flight to London.  No exaggeration, the flight was 85% full of people over 80!!!  But from the sounds of it they all had a grand ol’ time on their cruise and good on them for still getting out and about.

As we were arriving into London on the biggest day of the English calendar since the Princess Di’s wedding in 1981, we were unsure of what the traffic would be like getting in at 7pm.  It was a tossup between catching the train and paying 15EUR or hoping the traffic would be okay that late and paying 22EUR for a transfer.  After speaking with the transfer people, we decided it was worth paying the additional 7EUR and got the transfer you the Contiki hotel of the Royal National arriving at 9.40pm at night!!! 

The Royal National is not much to write home about.  But it has the Contiki head office, ATM’s, several restaurants etc… the beds are comfy and the water is hot, so it isn’t the St Regis, but we are now on Contiki and this is what we need to expect.

What a massive day for a 3 hour flight.  To get from the ship, to catch the train, to catch the plane to catch the coach in the morning for day one of Contiki Discovery.