Italia shopping and boarding Connie

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Geo: 42.0912, 11.7968

I sleep really well but still awake early. BA have tweeted overnight basically telling us there was a 'glitch' with the baggage system at Heathrow yesterday...no shit? But they will do their best to repatriate our bags as quickly as possible. Our disadvantage is that from today we are effectively moving targets hopping from port to port for the next 8 days. I receive an email to advise my case will be onboard an Alitalia flight from Rome to Naples so hopefully will reach me in nearby Sorrento on Friday. No update on Peters yet. Still one case is better than none and as we cross pack would mean we would have some items.

In the BA tweet they advise us to purchase what we need for the cruise and keep the receipts and they will reimburse. So we head out into Civitavecchia to get some toiletries and clothing. Not as easy as you would think. Firstly it takes ages to find a supermarket. Even though the hotel reception advises where to find it takes a while. The stores range is limited, this is no Tesco Extra, but we get what we need. Clothing is even harder. There seems to be 2 types of clothing shops in town. Cheap souvenir type or expensive boutique style. Confident our bags will reach us by tomorrow we buy a couple of cheap shirts. They look ok but the material means we should stand well clear of naked flames.

Exhausted we head back to the hotel. The free shuttle to the port is leaving but we need to sort our stuff out first so we decide to miss it and get a cab. Reception ring the room shortly after to advise the hotel minibus is back and will take us for nothing. Very nice of them. We load our limited belongings into the bus and 10 minutes later we are at the ship, Celebrity Constellation or Connie as she is affectionately known.

As on our previous cruise from Civitavecchia aboard Mariner of the Seas in 2012 check in is very quick and we are soon being greeted onboard with Champagne and Mimosa's. We head to the Oceanview Cafe for lunch. Being familiar with the boarding day scrum that normally greets us in the Windjammer on Royal Caribbean ships and where seating is at a premium it's refreshing to find plenty of tables and seats available. Our first impression of Celebrity cuisine is Wow. The salads are amazing, delicious curries (I'm a big fan and the butter chicken is gorgeous) so much choice as well. Comparisons with Royal are inevitable. Their dessert options are pretty lame. Celebrity's are again wow. Peter can't resist the Red Velvet cake.

After lunch we sit out on the gorgeous Seaview Cafe at the back of the ship and enjoy a glass of wine before heading to our cabin at 2pm. It's very nice and pretty much the same as most other verandah cabins we have used on Royal. A couple of notable and better difference are the shower which is bigger on here, a nightlight for the bathroom which is a godsend when you need the loo at 4am and don't want to be blinded with the main lights. We also have one of the Sweet 16 cabins. These 16 cabins towards to front of the ship have extra large balconies, twice the size of the other cabins in our class.

As we boarded the ship we booked our premium dining options at a discounted rate $75 for The Tuscan Grille, Ocean Liners and the Bistro on 5. Would normally be $110. We opted to eat in the Tuscan Grille tonight thinking it might cheer us up slightly...it did. The food and wine were excellent and so was the service. Nice to have a Sommelier too. We drink a lot of wine but are no connoisseurs. We do know our Chardonnay though and enjoy an excellent Californian variety.

The Martini Bar is our next stop. It's a fun lively place that everyone seems to enjoy. The cocktails are great. Peter enjoys a Sapphire London but I stick to my Jack &Coke. Not quite ready for bed we head back to the Seaview Cafe. It's nice to sit outside in the cool breeze as Connie makes her way south towards Sorrento and hopefully a reunion with at least one of our cases.

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