Roma!!

Okay, so I know that I told you my next blog would be about life learnings from performing, but I have to catch you up on what's been happening since I last wrote. When I wrote last we were almost halfway through a cruise that took us back to Barcelona. These 12 day cruises are great as far as work goes, but you kind of get lost in them sometimes. The way they are scheduled is a 12 day cruise from Barcelona to Venice and then a 12 day cruise from Venice to Venice, and then another 12 day cruise from Venice to Barcelona…so 36 days later, we finally made it back to Barcelona for the first time since boarding the ship. When you think about it that way, it seems like a lot has happened!

I think one of the most eventful days I've had on the ship so far was right before we got to Barcelona. Three days before we arrived, we were in Civitavecchia which is the port for Rome. Now, 4 years ago on my cruise contract, if I remember correctly, we had a total of 3 days in Civitavecchia. The 1st was during install. The 2nd and 3rd were show days and so we weren't able to go to Rome. Lucky for us on this contract, they are wise to the fact that Rome days are long and so our shows would be wasted as all-aboard is merely 30 minutes before our 1st show.

That being said, Jaclyn and I decided we needed to see Rome! And see it we did. My friend, Joey, had a drill in the morning so we told him to meet us at 2 in the square in front of St. Peter's Basilica. In the meantime, Jaclyn and I took a train, had some espresso and a bathroom break, walked to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum, actually got on a tour to go into and through the Colosseum, took the metro to St. Peter's and met our pal, Joey (musical theatre reference!!)

We then continued on with him to see the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain (where we tossed a coin in) and at 4pm headed back to St. Peter's (San Piedro) station to hop on the train to take us back to Civitavecchia. Now mind you the walk from where we were took about 45 minutes…but even then, according to the schedule, we could still catch a train that would get us back to the port by 6:30 which then gave us an hour to get back on the ship - plenty of time!! Right?!

One would think……

We made it to the station a little before 5, but with a bathroom break for me and buying a ticket for Joey, we missed the 5:02 train. According to our train schedule there were to be 3 more that would give us ample time to get back. Around 5:30 with no train we were wondering if one was coming at all. Around that time someone told us that some man was laying too close to the train tracks and that that was causing the delay. Great…some crazy, drunk, and/or suicidal man is holding up the trains. I couldn't believe this was happening to us. So by 5:45 we concurred that we needed to take a taxi. 120 Euros and 50 minutes later I can see the ship!! But what I didn't count on was traffic in town. With that to deal with plus the most direct road to the port blocked off, our taxi driver took us the most round-about way to the port. I was sweating bullets and having a mild stroke at this point.

We finally made it to the port with 15 minutes before "all aboard" but the cab driver could only go so far and we followed the last shuttle to the gate…so there was no other way but to run. We were due to depart at 8pm, but all-aboard was 7:30. If you've never been to Civitavecchia, let me tell you that 45 minutes MIGHT be ample time to briskly walk to your ship, but if your ship is over halfway down a pier that can easily accommodate 4-5 BIG cruise ships, 15 minutes is pushing it if you are full out running. As we sprinted past the Pullmantur Sovereign, they were casting off and their decks, full of people, cheered us on as we ran. Next was Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas. About this time, we were running out of juice from having walked around all day in the heat, having only sporadically eaten and wasting all of our adrenaline through taxi ride anxiety.

Thankfully, right at that moment, the shuttle bus that had just left our ship spotted us and picked us up…and kept going in the opposite direction. We shouted, "NO NO NO!!!" "We have to be on by 7:30." "We have to go that way - just let us out, please!" He merely kept repeating "It's ok." What we didn't realize is that the family that we sprinted past when we got in the gate was also on our ship and needed assistance as well. So very shortly they got on and we made it onto the ship by 7:27…the closest I have ever been to all-aboard (and the closest I hope to ever get!) So that's my Roman adventure. Pretty crazy, huh?

I suppose the moral of the story is to never rely on Italian public transportation. One of our cast's dancers, Jenna, lived in Rome for 7 months for school and said she had the same problems with Rome's public transportation system. Lesson learned!!

Here's some pics, btw!

top to bottom - Day in Santorini, Day in Dubrovnik, the sea in Dubrovnik, and me cliff jumping in Dubrovnik