Raschueler

We stopped and got some lunch at this place that pulled me in with their daily special.

I got the daily special, while Matt got some sort of pasta. The waiter encouraged Matt to try the buffalo mozzarella, so we just got it. Matt was quite surprised when it came out!

Matt was also surprised when he saw what color the Fanta was. I had told him that it is a lot lighter than at home and tastes more like actual oranges, so he had to try it. He’s not a big soda drinker, so he just had a bit to try and didn’t finish the rest. Definitely couldn’t say the same about me and my wine!

Thanks for your kind words, everyone. It was disappointing to see the Trevi Fountain like that, but at least it is being maintained so we all can enjoy it for years to come. I forgot to post that the fountain near the Spanish Steps is also under construction. I have one more day in Rome to tell you about, our train ride from Termini to the port, and then the cruise!

After our delicious dinner, we headed to the Spanish Steps. We managed to come in from the top somehow which was great because I had no intention on walking all the way up there! Last time I was in Italy, my friend and I just walked up a few steps, got our pictures, and left. This time I got to see much more. I noticed all of the gypsies with their fake purses, belts, bouncy-light up balls, and roses as usual, but this time I got to see even more excitement. Some sort of law enforcement pulled up and they grabbed their sheets full of junk and went sprinting up the Spanish Steps. It was incredible! I’ve never seen anyone run so fast with so much stuff!

Once all that excitement was over, we noticed singing and dancing going on a little further down the steps. It was a fun environment. Matt really had to use the bathroom which was surprising because that man never needs to go, meanwhile I’m one of those people who thinks that I might need to see the doctor for some sort of bladder control! We found a McDonald’s and were prepared to just buy something to get the bathroom code. We walked through the McDonald’s and realized there wasn’t any sort of code needed. Yay! I went too for a “just in case” bathroom break. Bathrooms are hard to come by in Rome!!

Matt decided to try some of McDonald’s gelato. He got chocolate and loved it!

Time for a nap and showers again to prepare for our evening out on the town. Our goal for the night was to see the Spanish Steps. Once refreshed, we went back to the bus and got off around the Spanish Steps. The last bus was at 8 or 8:30, so we knew we had to get dropped off somewhere that was in walking distance of our room. We knew taxis were always an option, but I can count the amount of times I’ve been on a taxi on one hand, so I’m not all that comfortable with it and would rather save our money! We walked around checking out menus, and found a nice place with live music on a quiet street. We ordered a giant beer along with dinner.

I forgot that beer in Italy is not ice cold like it is back home, but we paid a lot of money for that beer and we were gonna drink it!

Being very un-Italian, Matt ordered lasagna for his main entrée. But being very American, Matt loved the dish and we were stuffed! I don’t know how Italians can eat so much food and stay so skinny! Of course, there are exceptions to that. Maybe it’s the dinner-like lunch combined with all the walking? I know all the walking Matt and I did on this trip definitely saved us from gaining weight.

We still wanted pizza, and the lowest priced pizza I saw was 7 euros. I asked the waitress if one pizza was usually enough for two people, and she told me that one pizza was a serving size of pizza, so we should get two. When both pizzas came out, we were stunned! There was no way we were eating all of that. I forgot that Italians basically eat dinner for lunch. I ate about one-fourth of the pizza, and when we asked for the check, she said, “Aw, too much?! We eat that easily.” I could tell she sincerely felt bad about recommending the two pizzas.

By now we were tired and stuffed, so we made our way to a bus stop and headed back to our room once we figured out where we were!

On our walk back from Termini, I found at least six keys just sitting on a ledge, so I had to take a picture with them. All of the keys there are so interesting, not like our boring little keys at home!

We awoke the next morning, got ready for our day, and the lovely innkeeper arrived with this delicious tray of breakfast. After breakfast, we headed to Termini to buy a 2-day bus tour pass. We were only tricked once on this cruise. We were told that for 5 euro more, we could have access to the Archeobus that would take us to 10 more sites. Sounded great! We decided to do that. The part that we didn’t know was that the Archeobus only ran from Friday-Sunday. By Friday afternoon we would be sitting on the Reflection waiting for sail away! Matt was not happy when we realized this, but even worse, we didn’t realize it until after we sat at the Coliseum for forty minutes while being offered waters, hats, umbrellas, ect. We weren’t upset over losing 10 euro, but we were upset about wasting 40 minutes waiting for a bus that wasn’t even running!!!

We gave up on the Archeobus thinking that maybe we just didn’t see it pull in, and got back on the regular sightseeing bus. These tours are pretty worthless and we didn’t even bother to plug in the headphones, but we liked it for transportation. We would pick a stop we felt like getting off at, see whatever sights we wanted to, and then walk to the next stop. We covered a lot of Rome this way!

We rode the bus around for awhile until we found a stop we wanted to get off at. After walking around, we were already hungry again. We tried to find a small pizza place to just grab a slice and go, but couldn’t find any. We ended up sitting down at a restaurant. Restaurants post their menus on either the wall or in a binder on a small table, so you can check prices before you sit down. For lunch, if I could find something under 10 euros, we’d eat there!

Thank you, H2OH!

Thanks, YVR Cruiser. Those pictures were only the sneak peak from our photographer, so I am impatiently awaiting the rest of the photos!

Hi, Tom. Thank you! We loved the Reflection as well. How did you like Istanbul?

We decided to eat at La Famiglia mainly because it was right outside of our B&B, we were starving, and I thought it looked cute. Yes, this is how I decide where I am eating. I couldn’t tell you what we had for dinner, but I remember everything was fantastic.

At the end, I ordered lemon gelato for us as I had seen it on the menu. The waiter misunderstood me and brought out limoncello. We got a good laugh out of this. Learning how to speak Italian is definitely on my bucket list!

We went back up to our room to return the leftover wine, and the lift wasn’t working! The B&B was on the 4th floor. That afternoon when we checked-in, it was working fine. We walked up the steps which wasn’t the end of the world, but I was worried it would be like that for the rest of the week.

We put the wine away, and were heading to the Trevi Fountain.

I was SO EXCITED for Matt to see it, and I was excited to see it at night because I only saw it during the day last time. We make it there and this is what we found…

I was so disappointed. I wish I would have known it was like this. Oh well. We kept walking and eventually ended up at the Capitol. What a gorgeous building.

We headed back to our B&B and called it a night!

We kissed our children, Doodles and Maestro, farewell and headed to the Philadelphia airport Monday afternoon for our evening nonstop flight to Rome. Having a nonstop flight was really important to me because I am an extreme worry-wart about my bags being lost. I know they could still get lost, but knowing that they don’t have to switch planes makes me feel better. Anyways, the nonstop flight was actually cheaper than the flights with connections, so it all worked out perfectly.

My husband, Matt, was asleep before take-off. I was much too excited to sleep, so I watched every episode of Scandal available on the seatback screen. By the way, we flew US Airways. We had no problems and enjoyed our uneventful flight.

We stayed at Freedom Love B&B which was about a five minute walk to Termini. I originally planned on taking the train from the airport to Termini, and then walking to the B&B, but reviews said it was hard to find. I was still up for the challenge of finding it, but when the inn keeper emailed me Monday morning asking if we would like a private car to pick us up for 45 euro, I quickly agreed! Our driver was waiting for us at the airport and once we got going Matt was stunned by their driving. We made it to our little B&B which we never would have found on our own. Our three days in Rome consisted of walking seeing the sights and eating along the way.

The B&B was great for us. The innkeeper showed us around the room, and gave us the 4 keys needed to enter the B&B and our room! We felt very safe there!

Breakfast was ordered by way of a post-it that we would tack up on a small bulletin board in the hallway. I thought this was an adorable way to get breakfast. Clearly, it doesn't take too much to make me happy.

We walked around for a bit, found a great, cheap pizza place down the street, and then returned to our room to get cleaned up for dinner. We ended up napping which was great because I definitely needed one!

See you for dinner in a bit!

Thanks, Cathy! Had I known he was going to propose, I would have fixed my hair nicer!! He had me completely by surprise. I was so worried about the wedding weather. It was around 80 for the ceremony, but then cooled down to the low 70s for a night of dinner and dancing.

Jamona2311, we owe my dad big time! Thank you for the kind words.

Eddie's Girl, I'm about to post some more in a few minutes. Stay tuned!

I’m a 21 year old nursing student/cruising addict. This cruise was my first on Celebrity as I was “Loyal to Royal” before. My RCI cruises included Bermuda and Caribbean cruises, so it was also my first Mediterranean cruise. Although I really enjoy RCI, I was excited to try a different line. I have been to Europe before, so it was nice to know a few things before heading over there for such an important (and expensive!) trip.

I traveled to Italy a few years ago with a friend. We stayed in Rome for a few days, and then stayed with some of her Italian family further south. I was enchanted by Italy. I loved the sense of community, the sights, the food, and the people.

I met my (now husband) Matt about a month before I went to Italy with my friend. We were already head over heels for one another, so leaving him was tough. I wished he was coming with us, and I especially wished he was there once I saw how romantic Italy was. Sharing that experience with your goofy best friend just isn’t quite the same!! Even though I really missed Matt, we had a blast.

 

From the moment Matt proposed to me on the Explorer of the Seas, I dreamed of going to Italy for our honeymoon. I didn’t think it would be feasible with all of the wedding-related expenses, but when I was talking to my dad about it, he told me he would give us our honeymoon as our wedding gift. I cried. What a generous gift on top of throwing us a fabulous wedding!!

Our wedding was a perfect, gorgeous day in Chestertown, Maryland. We had a wonderful day surrounded by family and friends. After all of the planning though, I was definitely ready for our honeymoon!

I have a feeling you're ready for our trip too, I'll be back later today to share it with you all!

I'm 21 years old, and I wear slips! They aren't the terrible, ugly, uncomfortable slips my mother used to try to make me wear as a kid, but they are sleek Victoria's Secret slips. I try to buy dresses that aren't see- through, but sometimes can't resist knowing that a slip will solve the problem. I also like wearing slips to cut back on clinging. But, most of all, I feel sexy in my slips and my husband LOVES them!

Check out some of these :)

https://www.victoriassecret.com/sleepwear/babydolls-and-slips

Santorini is SPECTACULAR! I was just there the beginning of July. We took the donkeys up the cliff which was definitely an experience!!! I would just take the cable car up next time if I ever get the opportunity to return to Santorini, but I am glad we did it. We then walked around Fira until we found a 4-wheeler rental store. We quickly had a 4 wheeler and got to explore the island at our own pace. We traveled from one end to the other! We went and saw the black volcanic beach. The sand was really hot because it's black, and the water was a bit chilly for our liking, but we didn't really feel like having a beach day when we had the ATV waiting for us and so many gorgeous sites to see. We also passed many other beaches. We checked out the bay whose name is escaping me below Oia. and then found a nice restaurant with incredible views in Oia. All of this was found by just driving around. The roads are very easy to navigate. We also passed Santos Winery, but decided not to stop since we were having such a great time riding around taking in the views. To top it all off, our ATV only cost 25 euros!!!

Thanks to all for your comments.

 

We have only just started discussing this and of course, plan to talk with our oncologist. It is my husband who has pancreatic cancer stage iv. He does tolerate chemo pretty well and has just completed his 3rd month of three weeks on one week off. The cruise leaves on the Sat of the off week so it is at the time that he feels his best. The normal routine (without the cruise) would be that he would get chemo the Wed after the cruise leaves and usually does not start feeling bad until Fri night. The cruise ends Sat morn. He feels the cruise is doable as far as side effects. We do not know the ramifications of altering the chemo schedule and obviously that is a question for our docs!

 

We are focused on staying positive and trying to maintain some normalcy. traveling has always been our passion and will continue to be.

I am loving your positive attitude! It seems as if you have thought it through well to schedule it during his good week. I hope you are able to go and have a great time pending what the oncologist says.

This is exactly as we felt! I visited Rome a few years ago with a friend, and was so excited to show my husband the Trevi Fountain. I wasn't expecting it to be under construction, so thank you for this post to prepare others!

Interesting! What brand of spray tan did you work with?

 

Down here in Australia it's quite common to get spray tans before beach holidays, especially if you're going from the colder south to the warmer parts of Australia during our cooler months. And the Australian sun is probably the fiercest in the world due to a hole in the ozone layer and less pollution.

 

I've never had a problem with my spray tans. I only expect them to last a few days, just long enough for me to get a little natural colour to replace them.

I'm glad it works for you! Spray tanning is a nice way to get quick color. I used Norvell solution at the salon. Usually the airbrush lasts between 7-10 days under non-beach conditions, so customers would be disappointed when it only lasted a few days on their vacation.

I used to work as an airbrush tech at a salon, and we never recommended it for people to do before a cruise or any type of beach vacation. I'm assuming you're heading to the Caribbean or somewhere warm! :)

Salt water, chlorine, and sand are not good for spray tans. As you lose layers of your skin through exfoliation, you can also kiss your spray tan goodbye! Personally, when I got airbrushed a lot, it would start to come off on my neck and chest area when I would be sweaty or after swimming and it looked awful. Luckily I could exfoliate it all off and get a co-worker to touch it up for me, but you are likely to not have that luxury while cruising.

Some people also complain about how they smell when they sweat while having a spray tan, so that is something else to consider.

One more thing we would always tell people is that a spray tan does not protect you from the sun. Some people believed that just because their skin was dark, they would not burn :confused:

I don't know how you feel about tanning beds, but I always like to get a base tan to prevent myself from burning and to have some color!

Thanks for the review!

Thanks for this great trip report! I really enjoyed reading it. I'll be on the Reflection in July for my honeymoon and am already thinking about more cruises as I am considering the Equinox for Jan 2015.

Congratulations on your wedding and on choosing a great cruiseline and itinerary for your honeymoon! Glad my notes are helpful. In July, be sure to bring plenty of daytime clothing as it was really hot in certain places (Acropolis, Ephesus especially) so you sweat a lot :)

 

Enjoy!

Thank you! We are very excited for our wedding and fabulous honeymoon. I just finished picking out my evening/dinner outfits, and now am working on my port clothes! Looks like I have some more shopping to do (:

Thanks for the great review! I will be sailing on the Reflection in July for my honeymoon, so I found your pictures and reports very helpful!

I don't know if you use a straightener/flat iron for your hair, but I've used mine before to get wrinkles out of my clothes! Just make sure that there are no hair products on your straightener before doing this.

What a great honeymoon! My fiance and I loved the Allure. It was his first cruise as well, and he loved it! He is now completely spoiled by the Allure though in comparison to other ships.

We had a balcony that we enjoyed breakfast on pretty much every day, so I'd say room service breakfast is a must! We also loved going to all the shows. We rock climbed (watch out the pegs can be hot!) and zip-lined on the ship which was a lot of fun. Make sure to take lots of pictures!

Gorgeous dresses! You all will look fabulous. I also love your son's tux! He's going to look so cute. Have a great trip!

Cruisinggatorgirl, I love your sequin dress! It's gorgeous, an you rocked it!