We flew into Fiumicino airport (Rome) and stayed 3 nights at Courtyard by Mariott hotel by the airport. The hotel provided a shuttle at a charge of 6 euro. The hotel was a good place to stop just to relax. Breakfast was provided and the pool had a lovely green area surrounding it. There were a few restaurants and pizzerias within walking distance.

On the Sunday morning we took the shuttle back to the airport. We then got the train from the airport to Trastevere and then changed for Civitavecchia. It was then about a 10 minute walk to the port gate. It is necessary to get a bus provided from the port gate to the pier. We felt this was a poor start to the experience - loading your own luggage and then sitting in a non air conditioned bus whilst waiting for it to be overloaded with people standing. At the port gate it did not improve by much! We already had our labels on our cases but lots of others didn't. We then had to fill in a health questionnaire which was a bit of a challenge to get one in English. On previous cruises we have been used to a port building unlike here which was like a big marquee with limited air conditioning and long-ish queues.

On board we went straight to the cabin as we had been travelling for a while and we were both extremely hot. At the cabin we found that neither of our keys worked so we went and stood in the line at guest services. The keys were replaced but again they did not work. In the end we had 5 sets of keys, the stateroom attendant had tried his key and also the man from guest services. They were trying to help and called maintenance but we waited outside our cabin for 40 minutes for them to arrive. On a positive note we were called by guest services the next day and given $40 compensation. Unfortunately by the time we had got into our room food was no longer being served due to the muster drill due. Read more