Cruise from Civitavecchia

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We start our cruise/passage on the Jewel of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship at port in the Terranean Sea, leaving from Chitevecchia, Italy. It’s about 30 miles from Rome so we pool our resources and hire a van to drive all of us, directly to the ship. We hear it’s a nice seaside town but we didn’t manage to make it early enough to wander around too much before boarding the Jewel of the Seas.



Embarking at 1800 (6:00pm) under cloudy skies, Captain Justin introduces himself over the ship’s PA system and we cast off for our trans Atlantic crossing. The coolest thing about being on a cruise ship is that we don't have to worry about piloting or navigating all the time. We get to watch as land slips away, visibility increases to 360˙ and there's always at least a 20 knot breeze from being underway. It was pretty choppy with heavy winds leaving Rome so instead of our planned route, we head north in the Tyrrhenian Sea, around Corsica and Sardegna, staying closer inland.











There is nothing in the world like being on a cruise ship, especially one making a long passage. You have unlimited time to relax but you’re on a vacation with 2000 other tourists along with at least 600 staff of sailors, housekeepers, servers and managers at every level. Mind you, the ship is huge, in our case, a 13 story, 975' long vessel (almost 3 football fields) so there's plenty of room and endless gathering spaces, for all of us.

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