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Dr. rdsqrl's Renaissance Passage: Review of the Pacific's Rome to FLL


rdsqrl
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The short version:

Perfect ship.

Perfect itinerary.

Perfect weather.

 

Wait, you want more? Okay, you asked for it.

 

I’ll arrange this review topically and try to avoid a day-by-day thing, since so many of the days were sea days and plus I don’t want to bore you to tears, especially if you read my live thread (copies of which can be purchased in the Gift Shop). So, there will be a Prelude, a Pre-Cruise, a Meet the Pacific Princess, Ports sections, and Summary, in which I'll include all the stuff I forgot to put in earlier.

 

I can guarantee you I’ll finish this faster than the cruise itself; I can’t guarantee it’ll be as entertaining. And I will include photos, with my usual disclaimer: I have only had my digital camera on one “real” vacation (this one) and have maybe used it before this to take a grand total of perhaps 60 photos. So I’m barely novice level. And I think the Auto setting was off for many of the first photos, so they look a little wonky, dark and maybe even blurry. And slanted. Or else my camera got jet-lagged. So, adjust your expectations downward re photo quality. They’re images of what I saw, not great art.

 

Prelude: My age and marital status are not germane (why on early do people include those?). Those of you who don’t already know me only need to know that I’m incurably snarky and do not take myself too seriously. Especially not on holiday. I will never lie or intentionally misrepresent anything: the improbable only sounds that way because other people in this world are very odd.

Pre-Cruise: I flew to Rome on USAir using United Mileage Plus miles (no, it doesn’t make any sense to me, either). Suffice it to say, there’s a reason business-class seats were available on USAir but not UA. Also, the Philadelphia gate agents have no idea how to control a crowd. When they called for pre-boarding for business class, every single person in the lounge got up and stormed the podium. Unbelievable; I’ve never seen such pushing and shoving – but, in fairness, they were standing between me and my pre-take-off glass of champagne.

 

The flight itself was okay, although now I know which airline gave airline food its bad reputation. Luckily, post-traumatic stress has caused me to forget the menu particulars, but you know it’s bad when the best part of the meal was the salt and pepper from the little shakers. They had some television programming, which I always prefer over movies on planes. The sound is never good enough or the screen large enough to follow a movie’s plot, but a telly program doesn’t require the same level of commitment and attention. I watched an episode of “House Hunters” during dinner, then found a movie I’ve seen already, so it didn’t matter if I couldn’t hear all the dialogue/see the tiny screen properly. Then I actually fell asleep for a couple hours, much to my surprise.

 

My seatmate was a priest. In Business Class. I think someone missed the day in seminary when they went over the whole "vow of poverty" thing.

 

We landed in Rome on time, my luggage appeared very quickly, and the line for passport control was tolerable. Once through, my driver from RomeCabs was right there where they said he would be, a cheerful guy named Bob, who spoke excellent English and happily pointed out some sights as we drove into the city. I also used RomeCabs for the transfer to Civitavecchia (although that driver was not as cheerful or fun as Bob). I highly recommend them – both cars were right on time, both were safe drivers, and the booking confirmation process was easy and efficient.

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I’d been to Rome before on a cruise, but this was my first actual stay in the city. I was at the Albergo del Senato. Fantastic. Really, I have nothing bad to say about it at all. The location is phenomenal – this was the view from my window (room 306):

 

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And the room itself:

 

 

 

 

Be warned if you’re nitpicker about noise: there is noise. It’s on a busy piazza, which the days of my stay featured vociferous political demonstrations between what appeared to be rival gangs of older people: the AARP v. the Gray Panthers?

 

 

 

 

Anyway, the utter charm of the hotel and the million-dollar views plus the feeling of being a resident of Renaissance Rome are worth any amount of noise. I wholeheartedly recommend it, and would happily spend twice what I paid to stay here again.

 

It even has a nice little bar in the lobby, open until 11. I’m not sure why that sounded so late to me, but I guess I wasn’t expecting one at all. I will say that as a solo woman traveler, I have absolutely no hesitation in doing almost anything or going almost anywhere by myself, except going out drinking alone after dinner. So a hotel bar is always welcome. But it’s all about location, really, and del Senato is easily walkable to nearly everywhere you want to go, from the Piazza Navona to the Spanish Steps to the Forum/Coliseum.

 

Plus, there are lots of cute little restaurants nearby. Here are my two picks: La Sacrestia, Via Seminario and Osteria Agrippa, Via dei Cestari – both are within a couple blocks of del Senato. The latter featured a special of mushroom and truffle pasta which was superlative. I also had gelato at San Crispino, which is a block north of the Pantheon. I’m not an ice cream person, but, you know, when in Rome. San Crispino was a Rick Steves recommendation and I went with it – the chocolate was delicious and I’m glad I only discovered the glories of Roman gelato on my last night there. So big ups to that annoying Rick Steves and to San Crispino.

 

So, on day one, my room wasn’t ready (well, it was only around 10 when I arrived), so I whisked into the Senato’s ladies room to freshen up, then left my stuff with the nice porter and went out to explore. I did a Rick Steves walking tour from the Pantheon’s piazza to the Spanish Steps,

 

 

checking out the Trevi Fountain (uh-oh, I forgot to throw a coin in . . . ),

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enjoying the buskers at the foot of the steps, and doing some window-shopping along the Via Veneto and then back along the Via del Corso. Someone forgot to pack her strappy sandals for formal night and was hoping to replace the boring black pumps she luckily had at her mother’s house for “emergencies” and brought with her. No luck, but I did see some beautiful leather jackets that had me drooling.

 

To be continued....

Edited by rdsqrl
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<<The flight itself was okay, although now I know which airline gave airline food its bad reputation. Luckily, post-traumatic stress has caused me to forget the menu particulars, but you know it’s bad when the best part of the meal was the salt and pepper from the little shakers.>>

 

Annie, I have never flown on US Air but had heard tell that they have some of the best salt and pepper shakers in the skies. Who was the Maitre d' on the flight?

 

I usually fly United as they own Chicago and have a very catchy jingle tune and the food on board is very good,especially in Business Class where the wine flows freely.

 

I am on board for the rest of your review-or was that it?- this is an eagerly anticipated review if ever there was one as I am booked on that beautiful little ship for a Venice to Rome in September. I will need full particulars of the Albergo del Senato hotel as I have booked two nights there in a PH suite.

 

Trusting you are going to stay up all night writing so that my lust for information can be sated.

 

Yours truly,

 

Norris

in Chicago

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I think that the whole "everyone rushes to be the first one on, regardless of boarding zone" is unique (or at least amplified) for international flights. I've seen it several times at Dulles for international flights and while people may crowd around the gate for domestics, they're pretty good about waiting to board until their zone is called. I also found it strange when SAS announced that people should not lay down and sleep on the floor of the plane. And then the woman across the aisle did so.

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I'm gonna love this thread, since I have booked the same (or similar) itinerary on the Ocean for next year, and also, I sometimes travel solo. Doing so in Eurorpe was rather intimidating at first, but I'm getting better about it.

 

I'm more than ready for the next installment!!! And I need to find your "live from"!

 

Mary Lou

Edited by flamomo
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I had to pull the photos because they posted with a tag line that I couldn't delete, which linked to my Flickr account. I love you guys, but my entire photo collection is not meant to be shared with the whole world. So unless someone can tell me how to post without having that tag, I'll have to create a whole new Flickr account and transfer in just for the photos I choose for this review. And that will take time. So bear with me, 'kay. I shall resume reviewing once that is done.

 

I hate technology; it never works for me the way it's supposed to. And I do miss Webshots . . . never had this drama with them.

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Okay, here are the missing photos (I hope):

 

Albergo del Senato Room 306:

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View from room 306:

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Trevi Fountain, featuring random guy's bald head. He literally waited until he saw my finger pressing down on the button and then leaned forward deliberately. :

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The next day, I explored the Pantheon, which was beautiful. Yes, the hole in the top is open in all weather, and there are drainage holes in the floor, as pictured below.

 

 

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This is one of my favourite photos from Rome:

 

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I had an early lunch -- a delicious tonno panini from a stall in the Piazza Navona.

 

My seat for lunch:

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The whole piazza was lined with stalls, I think it must have been a Christmas market or something, because I don’t recall them being there the last time I was in Rome. These candies looked too lovely to eat:

 

 

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After my quick Panini, and deliberately ignoring the Rome Museum at the south end of the piazza (I love museums, but not at the expense of time spent walking the streets and seeing the outdoor sights), I walked to the Forum. What seemed like it might have been a long walk was actually not bad. I paused halfway at the Largo di Torre Argentina, which is a site uncovered in the 1920s, I believe, when excavations began for a new apartment block. Among the goodies it features are first-century temples and the site of the theatre where Julius Caesar met his untimely end (between Caesar and Lincoln, you'd think rulers would learn how dangerous it is to frequent live theatre. Much better to stay home and watch Frasier re-runs.)

 

 

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It also features lots of homeless cats, with a little office at the southwest corner where one can go adopt a cat. Why one would want to do that is a mystery to me, but I hear there exist people who voluntarily choose to invite a cat into their homes. The cats seem nice enough, but I'm not really a cat person; however, I include a photo to make the feline-fanciers among us happy.

 

 

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I feel sure that this guy knew exactly how I feel about cats -- just look at that expression on his face:

 

 

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A bakery I passed along the way. I heroically resisted the urge to go in and taste test the goodies:

 

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At last, I see this, and realize I'm almost at the Forum.

 

 

 

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And then I see a familiar sight down at the end of the road:

 

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I've been to the Coliseum before, so was going to concentrate on the Forum this trip. However, it still is exciting and gives you chills to see it in person, even for the third or fourth or fifth time.

 

So, I’m a big fan of the Lindsay Davis novels, a series about a first-century Roman detective. Most of the books take place around 70 AD or during the time of the Emperor Vaspasian. Anyway, it was very exciting to be in the place these fictional characters inhabit. Yeah, yeah, real people/real history, too. I know all that, none better.

 

 

 

They practically had to throw me out of there at closing time. With the early sunset of winter, most of the sites close at 4.30 with last admission at 3.30, and they begin herding people out at 4, so something to bear in mind if you go at this time of year. I had plenty of time to see everything but if you’re in a group, even of two people, you might need more than four hours to do it all.

 

 

The Forum totally exceeded my expectations (which could have been the theme for this trip!). Really, one runs out of superlatives, and I still have to save some to talk about Pompeii and Herculaneum! So here are some pretty pictures instead, while I go peruse the thesaurus for synonyms for amazing:

 

 

Our unlucky theatre-goer:

 

 

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Edited by rdsqrl
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Ugh, lost the last half of that post.

 

Yes, I know the sun is at his back and you can't see any detail. I was going for an artistic effect. Ha. No, really -- My lack of photographic expertise was exacerbated by the low winter sun (hey, that would make a great title for a brooding detective television show, maybe one set in a gritty urban environment. Wait, what's that? Oh. Never mind.) which made photography challenging. Just something to keep in mind when you take this trip next year.

 

Arch of Titus:

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Built to commemorate the Roman victory over Judea in 60-ishAD, this detail from the interior left-side of the arch shows the fleeing Jews; note the menorah:

 

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From the center of the arch, looking down at the Forum:

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Just a random bit of junk. I loved this place!

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Some temple or another (okay, okay, I'll look it up. Just hold your chariot horses.): **The Temple of Castor and Pollux" -- or so say my notes.**

 

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I really liked the light in this one; too bad I got the metal fence in the foreground. Sigh.

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The most popular place in the Forum, then and now, I imagine -- the House of the Vestal Virgins. Here is the courtyard. Note the statues: these are of "famous" vestals. Not sure what one had to do to earn a statue here. I was too busy processing what happened to you if you were found not actually to be a virgin. Suffice it to say it involved bread, a lamp, and being buried alive. Unpleasant. I think I could resist even George Clooney under those circumstances. Maybe.

 

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Edited by rdsqrl
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The Pantheon at night. Well, duh. Why do photo captions always veer to the blindingly obvious? Let me see if I can liven this up. This was taken on my last night in Rome, whilst juggling my camera, my gloves (it had gotten quite chilly), and my chocolate gelato, while keeping my shoulder bag away from the nose of a very curious horse, who I think was practicing for promotion from carriage-horse to pick-pocket.

 

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I had a fabulous time in Rome. I loved it when I first went, 20 years ago, far more than I liked Florence (I know, heresy; everyone is supposed to love Florence), and I still love it. I love the history, the narrow streets, the wild traffic. I love the way you cross the street, by stepping off the curb and making firm eye contact with the oncoming drivers – so much easier than waiting for a silly little “walk” light! I loved all the little espresso bars (even though I did miss Starbucks. What can I say, I’m a coffee philistine.) and the little stalls where people do their real grocery shopping . . .

 

 

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and the outdoor restaurant seating, even in winter; and the food – omg, the food. Sigh. I want to go back. I'm really worried about that whole forgetting the coin in the fountain thing.

 

Taking a break for the night now. Tomorrow, we board the Pacific Princess.

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Annie I'm delighted you got your picture posting dilemma resolved. Now all of us seating in the orchestra section can stow our baskets of rotten tomatoes beneath our seats and enjoy the show. Your pictures are wonderful and the accompanying dialogue is well.... it's just pure "Annie" and we love it! :D

 

Barb

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