Live and Solo: Dustin's European Adventure (Explorer May 8)

[DandDM]

Greetings from the eternal city!  Arrive in Rome last night to start this adventure; hope the mods don't mind if I start reporting early!  It will be a 15 day trip and only six on the cruise...so mostly a land report, but I hope to keep it interesting and informative.  Did one previous live report on my first solo cruise and other than posting issues while on board, enjoyed the experience. Just to put it out there, I have a couple selfish reasons for doing this: One- I enjoy being able to share the trip with someone, and two - I am hoping that by trying to keep the trip report exciting, I will do more stuff and get out of my comfort zone more often than otherwise.  In other words, you guys will help fill part of the role my wife played on other trips! Hoping you all also get some benefit and either enjoy or learn from some of my experiences.

 

Enough of that, on to the planning.  This started with booking a Transatlantic on the Explorer about a year and a half ago. Without going into details, my wife passed away since then. I initially planned on cancelling, but friends told me not to do anything drastic, so I sat on the reservation.  That was good advice as I later got my travel nerve back and decided to go.  The original plan was to cruise over to Rome, then do a two week land tour after. Being solo, I decided to book the next leg of the cruise instead of the land tour.  But now you are probably asking why this report is only on the May 8 cruise? Well, a few months ago realized that being away from home for a full month was not going to work out, so ended up canceling (actually moving) the TA portion and keeping the shorter cruise, then adding a few days on either end.

 

To the trip: I flew out of Portland Oregon Wednesday and arrived in Rome Thursday (with a short Amsterdam visit I'll report on later).  I'll be here until boarding the Explorer on Monday on a six day cruise to Venice, then in Venice through that Thursday. The cruise is has four ports of call: Naples, Dubrovnic, Split, and Kuper. Both ends of the cruise require transport to get to/from the cruise terminal (Civitavecchia and Ravena) and will be taking trains. Have tours planned in all ports (most all organized through the roll call) and have a lot of stuff booked for Rome and Venice.

 

Now that you know the story, I'll start with the actual report... in my next post. Stay tuned!

 

 

[DandDM]

Flight to Rome.

 

One benefit of going solo is that I only had to buy one plane ticket. Don't get me wrong, I would very happily pay for the second ticket, but by not having to multiple the plane fare by two, I had more options within my budget. Therefore I was able to book Premium Economy seats each way through Delta. Very much worth the extra money, the seats were comfortable, food was good and plentiful, and drinks were included. Specifically to the fares (and I shopped this a lot), the fare from Portland to Rome was $1200 and from Venice to Seattle (yeah...I did that) was $1500. First class (Delta one) was around $5000 and economy $400 to $600 each way.  

 

Here are some photos from the flight: my seat, legroom (the seat had a deep recline and leg rests), food and the very important drink menu.

 

Ended up watching moves most of the flight. Had wanted to get sleep, but as I left at 2PM local time, it was only 11PM when I arrived in Amsterdam, so the body just didn't need any sleep.  Got maybe a couple hours of sleep. But not because of the seat - it was very comfortable, and they set me up with a pillow and blanket.

 

Had two meals: the first was a choice between chicken (my choice, photo attached) and a vegetarian lasagna. They started with sparkling wine, set up my tray table with a napkin, then served the food with either a white or red wine. Finished with a lemon desert.  The meal was very good! Throughout the flight, but brough a snack tray around and took drink orders regularly. Second meal was a breakfast with a cut fruit bowl and a cheese muffin sandwich.  This one wasn't as good; the fruit was fine, but the sandwich was not great.

 

Large variety of movies and tv shows to choose from - they provided noise cancelling headphones to use.  I was almost sad when the flight ended!

 

[DandDM]

The flight ended in Amsterdam and I had a little over five hours on the layover.  I had researched this and found that this was enough time to visit town.  Here the hesitation set in...it was around midnight per my body and I knew I had a long day ahead, so almost talked myself out of doing this.  But after looking for other options, realized that I was going to go crazy in the airport for that long (I failed to get access to the KLM loyalty lounge!) so went on my way.  It ended up taking me about an hour from when the flight let out to getting on the train; if I hadn't been messing around, could have gone through passport control and got there is about 30.  

 

Once I decided to go, ended up being easy.  The train station is attached to the airport, bought a round trip ticket to city center for 11.8 euro, and was on my way in no time. Below are some photos of the train platform (downstairs in the airport), the train, and the downtown Amsterdam train station.

 

Wow, time is flying by while typing this!  I need to head out for a tour of the Roman forum and Palatine Hill; will report back later with some photos of Amsterdam and finish my report on getting to Rome.

 

Cheers,

[Havin'fun]

looking forward to this review - have a wonderful time!

[molly361]

I'm sorry for your loss.  I lost my husband just about a year and a half ago and I have continued cruising solo but as adventurous as your trip.  I keep telling myself to get out of my comfort zone but so far I'm not very good at it so I will follow along on your adventures

[kernow]

Look forward to hearing all about your trip. I sometimes do a live and even though I travel with my husband I enjoy having others along too on here.

Sorry to hear about your wife and well done for getting out there.

[DandDM]

2 hours ago, Havin'fun said:

looking forward to this review - have a wonderful time!

Thanks, will do my best!

 

2 hours ago, molly361 said:

I'm sorry for your loss.  I lost my husband just about a year and a half ago and I have continued cruising solo but as adventurous as your trip.  I keep telling myself to get out of my comfort zone but so far I'm not very good at it so I will follow along on your adventures

 

Appreciate that!  The Amsterdam 'excursion' was definitely out of my comfort zone as I get so worried about missing flights..

 

2 hours ago, kernow said:

Look forward to hearing all about your trip. I sometimes do a live and even though I travel with my husband I enjoy having others along too on here.

Sorry to hear about your wife and well done for getting out there.

 

Thanks for the kind thoughts. From my one report ...found out it can be a bit of work, but well worth it!

[StanleyandGus]

I’m looking forward to hearing about this trip. I’m sorry about losing your wife, but I admire you doing this at all!

 

Have a great time!

[DandDM]

So where was I...oh yeah, Amsterdam!

 

As I mentioned, was slow to make up my mind in the airport so was a little behind schedule, but the train trip was easy and took 15 minutes from boarding to get downtown. As I left the terminal, found the tour boats (dozens of them) directly across the street. Per the info I had read, taking an hour tour was highly recommended to quickly see a lot of the town.  However, it was still pretty early, chilly out, and I had been stuck in an airplane for the last ten hours, so an hour on an open air boat didn't sound fun. It would have been pretty easy to buy and ticket and take part, from the signs, tickets were 12 to 14 euro.  

 

I explored down the main boulevard for a while until I got the idea to find a Hard Rock cafe to add a new shot glass to my collection. Definiately not the reason for the trip, but it gave me somewhere to go. The cafe is about a mile from the train station and I found different ways to go there an back, basically making a large circle (or more of an oval). Amsterdam is very pretty and I would like to go back and spend more time.  I'll attach a few photos.

 

I made it back to the train station about 2.5 hours before my flight was scheduled to leave, but was very worried about something going wrong with the trip back or with delays getting through security. While there as a 15 minute wait until the next train to the airport, and it was a local that had three stops before it got there, still had plenty of time. Security was very easy (easier than US flights, IMO) and was at my gate a full 90 minutes before take off.  At that point was bummed that I didn't linger downtown longer, even just to get a cup of coffee on the canal...

 

Photos are below; don't ask me what they are specifically, I just liked the buildings!

[DandDM]

8 minutes ago, StanleyandGus said:

I’m looking forward to hearing about this trip. I’m sorry about losing your wife, but I admire you doing this at all!

 

Have a great time!

Thanks, already having a blast!

[DandDM]

The next (and last) leg of the flight was two hours and by time we boarded, I was very tired and ready to sleep!  As soon as I got on the plane I got as comfortable as I could...but that was relative. The seat was titled 'comfort plus" or something like that, but the cushions were thin and wore out and the sleep I did get was pretty light. But it did make the flight go fast.

 

Let me digress for a moment and talk about luggage. I feel that packing is a choice and that there really isn't a right or wrong way to do it (as long as you have a plan to handle said luggage). So I pack for the trip and if there is a reason to bring more stuff (like for formal nights and cold weather) I don't mind packing heavy and then planning for the luggage. However on this trip, I gathered together what I thought I needed, and was able to fit it all in a carry on size roller. This was possible because I do not plan to dress up on the cruise (I did bring one pair of slacks and a few collared shirts) and the weather reports were looking good so cold weather apparel not needed.

 

But I still checked my bag, just because I didn't want to deal with it during the layover. Based on advice from others on the forum, I put an apple airtag in my bag, and was able to check that it was on the plane before we took off, both times.

 

Where that got a little unnerving is that I had set up transportation through my hotel.  They had offered a private driver for 55 euro, and based on what I saw for private transport (starting at 80) and cabs that could cost up to 50, that seemed like a great choice.  When I landed, had a message from the driver that he was waiting. However bags took forever, and got a polite text from the driver that he couldn't wait much longer. Meanwhile, my phone was not updating the location of my bag. So while encouraging the driver to wait a little longer, I really had no idea if my bag had made it.

 

Ended up being a non-issue, just was one of the last bags unloaded and the driver was still waiting. Turns out he was driving a huge, 12 passenger van, so while I felt a little odd being the sole passenger, it was a fine drive.

 

One interesting thing from the drive - as we got closer to the hotel, roads were closed, and we had to divert to some side streets.  The driver blamed something called the "manifestation".  When I got to the hotel, the guy there also referred to the manifestation. Later I figured out that there was a demonstration/protest going on with a large police presence. I don't understand the translation for that to a Manifestation, but maybe that is referring to the specific issue they were protesting? If I'm having a drink with an English-speaking local over the next few days, I'll try and figure it out!

 

Next up: the hotel

Edited May 5, 2023 by DandDM

[DandDM]

The Hotel: Colosseo Panoramic

 

I find searching for a hotel in Rome to be intimidating.  There are so many choices, neighborhoods and pricing options that I have historically spent many many hours researching hotels. I also thing the basic concept of a hotel is very different between Europe and the US... many things we take for granted, like one hotel = one building and standard room sizes, does not translate.  

 

So when I started to search, I saw a good deal for a hotel we stayed at back in 2017 and jumped at it. Really like the location and rooms were modern and in good shape. Might have jumped too quick, however, as I didn't look closely at the room type (or if I did, had since forgot).  The room we had on the previous trip had a partial view of the coliseum and full view of Palatine hill; this time I had selected the "courtyard view", which has just that: a small patio overlooking an internal courtyard. The place only has four rooms and you work directly with the owner, plus I still like the room and location, and it costs less per night than it did six years ago, so I'm done complaining.  

 

I'll attach photos; the one with the desk thing in the middle is the lobby (I think it is the first one).

 

 

 

 

[DandDM]

A couple more photos: the view from our previous room (bottom), and the building that houses the little four room hotel, as viewed from Palatine Hill (top).

 

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by DandDM

[DandDM]

Oh, good, I am almost caught up! 

 

As this is 'cruise critic' and not "any vacation critic" I am intentionally going to limit my report of the land based portion to the highlights. Thought the trip over the pond would be interesting for anyone contemplating a Europe trip, so went all out on that...I won't be disappointed if I find out folks scan over some of the fine details and wisdom provided.

 

Anyway...by the time I got to the hotel I was dead tired (been up about 30 hours at that point with just a few hours of napping) but wanted to keep going a bit longer to try and get into the local time zone. So unpacked and walked around a bit. Found the demonstration (or manifestation) going on not far away; seemed like there were almost half as many police/military as attendees.  Bought some groceries and took a photo I thought was nice of an old church at sunset. Oh, yeah - forgot to bring a power converter to work my US devices so found one for five euro (seemed cheap, maybe it will blow up my stuff).  

 

Will also share a picture of the dinner I picked up at the store. After the odd variety of food and drink from the plane, my stomach was a little tied up. Don't judge..I thought smelly cheese, chocolate chip cookies and red wine was needed to sooth my update stomach, but others may have chosen differently. The smelly cheese is actually a tradition my wife and I started in Paris, so I was obliged to have some in the room. For those who haven't tried it, once you get past the smell, it is actually very good!

[Kathscof]

1 hour ago, DandDM said:

So where was I...oh yeah, Amsterdam!

 

As I mentioned, was slow to make up my mind in the airport so was a little behind schedule, but the train trip was easy and took 15 minutes from boarding to get downtown. As I left the terminal, found the tour boats (dozens of them) directly across the street. Per the info I had read, taking an hour tour was highly recommended to quickly see a lot of the town.  However, it was still pretty early, chilly out, and I had been stuck in an airplane for the last ten hours, so an hour on an open air boat didn't sound fun. It would have been pretty easy to buy and ticket and take part, from the signs, tickets were 12 to 14 euro.  

 

I explored down the main boulevard for a while until I got the idea to find a Hard Rock cafe to add a new shot glass to my collection. Definiately not the reason for the trip, but it gave me somewhere to go. The cafe is about a mile from the train station and I found different ways to go there an back, basically making a large circle (or more of an oval). Amsterdam is very pretty and I would like to go back and spend more time.  I'll attach a few photos.

 

I made it back to the train station about 2.5 hours before my flight was scheduled to leave, but was very worried about something going wrong with the trip back or with delays getting through security. While there as a 15 minute wait until the next train to the airport, and it was a local that had three stops before it got there, still had plenty of time. Security was very easy (easier than US flights, IMO) and was at my gate a full 90 minutes before take off.  At that point was bummed that I didn't linger downtown longer, even just to get a cup of coffee on the canal...

 

Photos are below; don't ask me what they are specifically, I just liked the buildings!

That's awesome that you were able to go into town for such a short layover, I only have extra long layovers that would take me an hour to get into town and another back, and then the getting AROUND that town.....that would take time too....

 

but I DID have 9 hours in Philly once that went quite well! hahaha

Edited May 5, 2023 by Kathscof

[DandDM]

Managed to stay up until 10PM local time last night and then was out. Slept very well until the folks in the neighboring room moved their stuff out. I recall thinking that they must have a very early flight to be going so early, however my clock said it was seven AM already. I probably could have kept sleeping some more, but figured nine hours was enough. 

 

Had a wonderful breakfast at a restaurant on the ground floor of the building; took a picture of the Capuchino, but forgot to take one of the food. Not missing much, just an omelet and some slices of baguette. 

 

After breakfast had to walk all the way around the forum (over a kilometer away) to wait in line to get my ticket for the forum and Palatine hill, then walk all the way back as the entrance is across the street from the hotel. It was actually a pleasant walk as the weather was perfect and some very talented street musicians were playing. 

 

Took a short break (and did some posts) before getting in line, below is a photo of the line at 10am...  Only good thing is that it went quickly; between when I took the photo and getting inside took just over 20 minutes. And could still hear the street musicians.

 

I'll post some photos from inside; probably took 200 pictures so need to find my favorites!

[DandDM]

12 minutes ago, Kathscof said:

That's awesome that you were able to go into town for such a short layover, I only have extra long layovers that would take me an hour to get into town and another back, and then the getting AROUND that town.....that would take time too....

 

but I DID have 9 hours in Philly once that went quite well! hahaha

Yeah, Amsterdam is one of the few places where I think it would work out!  Have 3.5 hours in Paris on my way back and won't even be thinking about it there...

[DandDM]

Roman Forum/Palatine hill.  

 

As (I think) I've mentioned, I've been to Rome a few times before, but never get enough of this place. When we've done tours, they will spend 90 minutes in the Coliseum, then 30 in the forum. So I wanted all the time I could get, so just bought an entrance ticket. When I started to research this, could only find tickets combined with the Coliseum - and the Coliseum was not available to pre-book online.  More research and figured it out, just had to go out of the way to pick up the ticket.

 

Two "pro-tips".  Both were accidents...One: they have a bunch (Maybe six) areas closed off and you have to have a 'super pass' to get in.  Those included access to Agustus's rooms, a eight century Church with amazing art remaining, a museum and...three others.  Apparently my ticket was super so I got in and they were pretty cool.  Second, is that if you keep taking random paths to the north corner of the site, you eventually get to some old passages that takes you under the road and gives you access to the area on the other side. I've looked down there before (from the road) and figured it was closed to the public. Nope, just super hard to find with no signage.

 

Spent over five hours on the site and saw everything that I could find. One of the great things about traveling solo is that I don't think there are many others that would be willing to have spent that much time in that place. My wife probably would have put up with it, but I wouldn't have asked her to.

 

I think I'll try and limit my photos to six...and grab some from the 'secret or super' areas.  

 

Next up tonight - dinner (tbd) and then one of my guilty pleasures: an evening ghost tour.  

 

Cheers,

Edited May 5, 2023 by DandDM

[Nadey]

Enjoying hearing about your trip. I have never taken a Mediterranean cruise. I have been to Rome on a guided tour.

[DandDM]

Meeting spot for ghost tour. 

[Kathscof]

3 hours ago, DandDM said:

Roman Forum/Palatine hill.  

 

As (I think) I've mentioned, I've been to Rome a few times before, but never get enough of this place. When we've done tours, they will spend 90 minutes in the Coliseum, then 30 in the forum. So I wanted all the time I could get, so just bought an entrance ticket. When I started to research this, could only find tickets combined with the Coliseum - and the Coliseum was not available to pre-book online.  More research and figured it out, just had to go out of the way to pick up the ticket.

 

Two "pro-tips".  Both were accidents...One: they have a bunch (Maybe six) areas closed off and you have to have a 'super pass' to get in.  Those included access to Agustus's rooms, a eight century Church with amazing art remaining, a museum and...three others.  Apparently my ticket was super so I got in and they were pretty cool.  Second, is that if you keep taking random paths to the north corner of the site, you eventually get to some old passages that takes you under the road and gives you access to the area on the other side. I've looked down there before (from the road) and figured it was closed to the public. Nope, just super hard to find with no signage.

 

Spent over five hours on the site and saw everything that I could find. One of the great things about traveling solo is that I don't think there are many others that would be willing to have spent that much time in that place. My wife probably would have put up with it, but I wouldn't have asked her to.

 

I think I'll try and limit my photos to six...and grab some from the 'secret or super' areas.  

 

Next up tonight - dinner (tbd) and then one of my guilty pleasures: an evening ghost tour.  

 

Cheers,

AWESOME!  Last time we went to Rome, I did the nighttime tour of the forum (and that other side!) with projections and music in headphones....it was pretty neat....I don't think I could spend more than 2-3 hours there though HAHA

 

Love Italy, loving the report so far!

[DandDM]

6 hours ago, Nadey said:

Enjoying hearing about your trip. I have never taken a Mediterranean cruise. I have been to Rome on a guided tour.

Glad you are enjoying it! 

[DandDM]

2 hours ago, Kathscof said:

AWESOME!  Last time we went to Rome, I did the nighttime tour of the forum (and that other side!) with projections and music in headphones....it was pretty neat....I don't think I could spend more than 2-3 hours there though HAHA

 

Love Italy, loving the report so far!

Agree, Rome at night is gorgeous!  If I stay up late enough, will post more night photos!

 

Thanks

[DandDM]

It's getting late here (12:45) but wanted to post now because tomorrow will be a busy day. 

 

Took what was supposed to be a short nap this afternoon. Turned out to be not as short as I hoped and was woke up by an alarm I set, just in case that happened.  I know I said this wouldn't be so detailed for a bit, but I think this item is relevant to the story!

 

When I woke up, had just enough time to make it the tour, so grabbed a chocolate chip cookie (knew that was a wise purchase) and hit the road. The tour was a lot of fun. It was technically called "Rome by night walking tour" and the stories were about the dark history of Rome.  Not much involving supernatural.  I really enjoyed the guide, Sammy, as he acted out the stories he was telling. He really got into it.  I already posted the photo of where is started and will provide a few more along the way.  

 

Regarding the nap, it is messing up my perfect plan to get accustomed to the time zone. Since I didn't eat before the tour, I went looking for a place to eat after and the places I could find open were bars and walk up counters.  So I picked a bar and had a pizza.  Since it was a bar, also had some beers (photos attached). Wanted something with meat (hadn't had any today...and chose a prosecco pizza - trust me that it tasted better than it looked.

 

Now it is almost 1 AM and I'm not very tired; going to be a short night and a big day tomorrow.  Regarding tomorrow's plans, have a morning tour called "Crypts and Catacombs" then tickets for the Museu Nazionale Romano.  

[JessyCruises]

Looking forward to this live!  We are doing our first European cruise next month out of Ravenna on Explorer.