Last fall my best friend with whom we regularly cruise told us that his two sisters insisted on a big family vacation. They were all asking their friends to join as well. We ended up being a group of 13 with 8 married adults and 5 "kids" in the 19-29 year old range. They chose the Ruby Princess June 22 thru July 4 and we choose to join them. (Side note - my DW and I did a similar cruise in 2007 on RCI and our granddaughter - RUBY - was born back in Chicago when we were between Florence & Naples. So taking a cruise on the RUBY Princess 3 years later seemed somehow very appropriate.)

With a debark day of Tuesday, it was a 'no brainer' for us to fly to Rome over the weekend. Wrestled a pair of tickets from Delta using a lifetimes worth of Sky Miles. Disappointed that it took 75,000 miles each for coach seats - but such is life these days.

Flight over was uneventful. Actually a bit better than we expected. Arrived on time in Rome and after a small delay awaiting the driver the hotel had arranged, we were on our way. We stayed at Hotel Genio in Rome. Its just a few steps from Piazza Navona and the location could not have been better. Its very old, and we saw conflicting reviews on Trip Advisor, but we were very happy with the arrangements. Much less costly than many other hotels we saw, and while it was not the lap of luxury, it was completely acceptable. Our room was not ready when we arrived, but they held our bags right by the check in desk, and we were off to explore Rome. Read more