After five days we bid a wistful goodbye to Rome and Fiumicino. The Hotel Seccy was kind enough to allow us a late checkout which, in turn, allowed us to sleep in this morning. I finally opened the curtains just before 9am……It was not a pretty sight.. For the first time since our arrival, we awoke to overcast skies and rain. It was a great excuse to kick back and actually savor the cappuccino and pack up for our 40 minute trip to the port city of Civitavecchia. We arrived at the port late this afternoon. Embarkation was a breeze for this cruise. The Royal Clipper is a 439-foot, five-mast sailing vessel with a compliment of 233 passengers and crew. The mast height measures 197 feet with 42 sails. It is a sight to behold when all the sails unfurled. This will be our third cruise on the ship, and we’e been looking forward to our return since last year’s cruise. We set sail this evening around 8 pm, and we are heading for Naxos, Sicily. Tomorrow is one of the two “sea days” for this cruise. I treasure these days, and I could happily spend all 14 days just enjoying the experience of sailing the open sea, enjoying the sun, and chatting with our fellow shipmates. Charlie, on the other hand, has mapped out a plan to keep himself occupied every second of the day as he finds sea days about as exciting as watching paint dry. He was happy to recall that the ship has a small workout facility, and he actually mumbled something about working out at 5:30 tomorrow morning. Wrong…..so wrong……….
The Royal Clipper