Day 2 - Monday, June 12th, 2023 - Rome
Our morning was an early one. We woke up at 3am, quickly got ready, & then packed everything up so we could catch the shuttle from the airport hotel to the airport by 4am. In the lobby of the hotel they had some ice cold water & orange juice as well as some butter croissants set out for us before we left which was super nice. We hopped into the hotel shuttle, & were on our way for our week long adventure on board The Enchantment of the Seas cruise ship by Royal Caribbean.
We checked into our flights & checked our luggage (since our flights were so cheap, we were only allowed 3 suitcases for all 7 of us so we had to pack as light as possible), & went through security. The Cologne/Bonn airport is bigger than most airports that fly Ryan Air flights, but at 4 in the morning it wasn’t bad at all. We grabbed some chocolate & maple donuts from a bakery inside the airport, then at & waited for our flight to take off for Rome. The flight was pretty empty which hasn’t happened for us in a while so we were all able to move around & find some seats near each other. (We’re usually always separated.). I got a window seat which was amazing. I love looking out the window of flights around Europe. This flight we flew directly over Switzerland & the Alps. They were GORGEOUS. For the first time in forever, our Ryan Air flight took off on time & landed 30 minutes early. It was perfect.
We arrived in Rome around 8:30am. We had to board the ship at 2:30 so we had plenty of time to get from the airport to the actual port which was a little over 2 hours away. We made our way to the train station & hopped on 2 trains towards the port. The kids always love riding trains when we can. It was hard lugging those suitcases & all those backpacks back & forth to & from the train stations, but we always laugh at how we always seem to manage. We arrived in the port area around 11 am so we had a lot of time to explore. First we stopped at an adorable gelato shop & all got big scoops of our favorite flavors. Then we found a McDonald’s & grabbed a quick lunch because we hadn’t had anything to eat since 4am. We explored the port area with their many shops & even found a castle right on the water.
At about 1:00, we thought we’d make our way to the port & see if they’d let us on our ship early. It was a long walk & there were so many cruise ships ported there, we couldn’t tell which one was ours. We finally found a little tent with a sign that said “Royal Caribbean Bus Shuttle” so we hopped onto the bus parked there & started our way to our ship. It was SO exciting. We dropped our luggage off with the ship crew before we got on, then went through a line to show our tickets, passports, etc. My kids’ favorite part of that were the people with the ice water. My kids LOVED having ice water on that hot hot day.
Once we cleared passports & entry, we hopped up onto the boat & went straight to our muster stations where we got our safety briefings & “checked in” with our staff members. After mustering we made our way to the theater on board (YES, there is an actual 800 seat THEATER on the ship!) for the welcome aboard meeting where we learned all about the ship, activities, food, & more. We each got a raffle ticket & laughed really hard when I actually won the grand prize. My kids were mortified when I stood up & yelled “That’s ME!” When they called my number. I won a dinner for 2 at the fanciest restaurant on the ship. Most of the restaurants are included in the price of the cruise, but 2 aren’t. I was excited that we would get to try the fancy one.
The ship was amazing. We had 11 floors total. Floor 1 was the “medical bay” & decks 2-4 were all rooms. We were on deck 2. The boys were in a 4 person room (2 beds on the ground & 2 beds pulled from the ceiling like bunk beds) inside the boat, so no windows. The girls & I were in a sea view room for 3. Lorien got the bunk that came down from the ceiling & Taya & I shared the double bed. The rooms are small, but great. They had beds, a closet, & a bathroom. That’s all you need. Decks 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, & 11 all had the fun things. 7 & 8 had more expensive fancier rooms, but all of those decks had activities for us to participate in. There were 3 floors of the main dining restaurant, a cafe, a buffet restaurant, & about 6 or 7 lounges & bars. There was a big central area that was open from decks 4-8 where a lot of parties took place. There was alway live music there. There was an art gallery on 2 of the decks, a shopping mall area with several fun shops, a huge casino, an arcade for kids/teens, an area (Ocean Adventure) for kids ages 0-11 to hang out (you just sign the kids in with the staff & they do activities with them all day), & a teen room where there were 8 hours of activities planned for teens each day. The theater was amazing, & then there was deck 9 which was my kids’ favorite: The Pool Deck. We had 3 large pools & 8 jacuzzis. But the highlight of the entire ship was the all you can eat soft serve machine. Our friend Frank (yes we were on a first name basis by the end of the week) was there from 9am-10pm every day making ice cream cones for you. Sometimes it was vanilla, sometimes chocolate, & sometimes strawberry, but it was always delicious. My kids LOVED Frank & they LOVE ice cream. We averaged at least 4-5 ice cream cones a day. It was heaven. Deck 9 also had shuffleboard & ping pong as well as a few bars. Deck 10 had the running track, a climbing wall, the huge gym, & the spa. Deck 11 was for the high rollers & cruise repeats. It was very exclusive so we never made it up there. But it was incredible. The whole ship was insanely cool. It was going to be a great week.
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