It's been a week since returning home from our Eastern Mediterranean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas. This was our 13th cruise, second aboard the Mariner and third in the Med. Rather than write a terribly extensive review of the ship, I thought I'd highlight aspects of the cruise that we liked/disliked in hopes these things might benefit future travelers. We had four cruisers on this trip ... me, my wife, our recent high school graduate daughter, and my M-I-L who was celebrating her 70th birthday on this - her second cruise. This also represented a return to her family's homeland of Sicily and the first time in her 70 years she's traveled abroad.

We spent three days in Rome prior to the start of the cruise. I booked a single hotel room in Rome for these three nights (not easy finding a hotel room near Termini that will sleep 4 adults). After consulting TripAdvisor, I booked the Yes Hotel and it lived up to its lofty expectations. The staff was helpful and the location was fantastic given my desire to have as little hassle as possible wheeling several luggage bags around the city! We each bought a 3-day Roma Pass that included free admission to two Museums or certain historical sites. These passes also allow you unlimited transportation (within a certain radius of the city) via bus and/or Metro. We purchased these passes at the Termini station location, adjacent to platform 24, near the rental car desks.

As with prior trips to Civitavecchia, we purchased tickets at Termini for the train to the port. The trains seemed to be running to the port about every 30 minutes - just make sure you check the departure boards/screens because they can and will change the departure platforms VERY CLOSE to boarding time. This can be a real delight when you've got bags for a 12-night cruise and your new platform is several hundreds of yards away! The trip to the port takes around an hour, depending on the number of intermediate stops your particular train makes. My first time to the train station in Civitavecchia was back in 2005. Not much, if anything has changed! This is perhaps not surprising, however, I can tell you that transporting bulky bags up/down stairs and through tunnels, due to the arrival platform being quite a distance from the main station, is not fun. Do not expect escalators or elevators at this station (although I would think there are elevators there somewhere). With the amount of cruise traffic that arrives and departs from the Civitavecchia station, you would think someone would've thought about customer convenience ... apparently not. Read more