I have been on 2 Mediterranean cruises with 2 different cruise lines: Costa and MSC. Both cost about the same amount, between $500-$700 per person, depending on when you choose to cruise the Mediterranean and which stops you choose. Both of the cruises I purchased through the Vacations-to-Go website, which I actually also used to book my Carnival cruise to the Western Caribbean more than ten years ago. Of the two, MSC and Costa, I definitely prefer MSC, although there were pros and cons to both.
Costa:
We were almost the only Americans on the Costa cruise. We went on the Smeralda ship. We met two couples from America, and both were originally from other countries before immigrating to America. We heard almost no English the entire time we were on the ship, although the performers usually sang or danced in English, which I thought was interesting given that most of the people on board spoke other languages.
The food looked very fancy and perfectly made, but it was not at all American-ized, and I am a pretty picky eater. Another thing that I didn't like about the food was that it was only available during limited hours. If you wanted food when it wasn't a meal time, you had to pay for food at one of their specialty places like their pizza place or their gelato shop.
The service was very good on the Costa cruise. We really liked the man who cleaned our room, and our two waiters. Our room was always clean, and we really enjoyed the small balcony even though we had only ordered a room with a window.
I liked their Costa app and it made it convenient to communicate between cabins and to know what the schedule was each day, including the meal plans. We had to purchase an internet package, which was over $100, but was necessary because we couldn't communicate with the outside world otherwise. One nice thing about their internet package was that we could switch between devices. If I wasn't using my phone, I could access internet on my laptop, and vice versa.
MSC
We cruised MSC in 2025 and I preferred it over Costa because the food was quite a bit more American-ized. There was something that I could enjoy for dinner every night, even being a picky eater. We were on the MSC Lirica. It is an older ship, so their MSC & Me app did not work on the ship, which I did not like. On this ship, we also had to purchase an internet package, which again was over $100. And it would not allow switching between devices, so I had to purchase a package for 2 devices, my phone and my laptop. Also, their internet is not terribly fast.
The service on MSC is not quite as good as on Costa. We went without soap in the soap dispenser in our room for half the cruise, until I finally left a note for the employee that cleaned our room and she filled the soap dispenser. Sometimes we had to sit and wait for a while at dinner until our waiter had finished with other tables. The workers may have just been spread more thin than on the Costa cruise. Having said that, though, the employees were very kind to us and got to know us just as they did on the Costa cruise. The lady who cleaned our room saw that we had washed some of our clothes in the sink and hung them to dry, and she very kindly hung them in the shower for us and set the hair dryer in the room to dry them until we got back. We didn't ever come home to any towels shaped like animals, but that was alright.
The very nicest thing about MSC is the buffet that is available almost all the time. It has a wide variety of food and I was always able to find something I wanted to eat. As with Costa, we had to purchase a drink package to drink anything other than water (except, like Costa, they had drinks available at breakfast). Their food was pretty good, and the buffet would even make a specialty omlet for you for breakfast with ham, cheese, tomatoes, peppers, and onions. I admit that by the end of the week I was pretty tired of the buffet, although I was still able to find something I liked to eat each time I ate there.
Another nice thing about MSC is that there are American outlets in the ship cabins. There are also European outlets, but at least you don't have to bring a million converters and can use the variety of outlets available.
One disappointment we had was that we had purchased an ocean view room. Our room did have a very large window, but our view was completely blocked by the life boat that hung outside our room. I believe that I could have logged in after my cabin had been assigned and request a different cabin, but I had no idea they would put someone with an Ocean View room into a room with a completely blocked view of the ocean.
We met quite a few English-speakers on our cruise, including a couple from New York who sat next to us at dinner, and several people from Canada that we met throughout the cruise. Entertainment at night was usually in English, although also contained a variety of songs and dances from Spain, France, and Italy. I enjoyed the shows at night much more on MSC than on Costa.
Our "ocean-view" room was very small, with only enough room to walk between the wall and the bed on each side. It was definitely smaller than our room on the Costa Cruise.
I liked the entertainment much better on MSC than on Costa. Especially the "Journey" night where the live performers sang and danced to songs from Spain, Italy, and France. My very favorite night, by far, was the "Show Stopper" night where they performed songs from a variety of Broadway musicals, including Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, and more. They had some pretty amazing singers and dancers!
So, like I said, there are pros and cons to each, but if I were to do a Mediterranean Cruise again, I would choose MSC over Costa. Here are detailed reports about each cruise:
Costa Cruise in 2024:
In 2024 I went on a seven day Mediterranean cruise with my husband James and my mom. We started and ended the cruise in Rome, Italy (Civitavecchia), and visited the following cities in between:
- Savona, Italy
- Marseille, France
- Barcelona, Spain
- Palma de Mallorca, Spain
- Palermo, Sicily
We had one day at sea before reaching Palermo.
Here are my blog posts about each city:
Our cruise was provided by Costa Cruises and we traveled on the Costa Smeralda. It was a huge cruise ship, 20 decks high. Our cabins were on the 9th and 10th floors. We were both in balcony cabins, and they were very nice and had plenty of space, despite being a cruise ship. Our bathrooms were modern and our beds comfortable.
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| The Costa Smeralda behind us at the dock in Civitavecchia, Italy |
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| my mom's cabin on the 10th floor |
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| our cabin on the 9th floor |
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| walking deck 17 where the water slide was located |
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| view from the ship of Civitavecchia |
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| the water slide on deck 17 |
Costa is owned by Carnival, so we thought the cruise would be the same as a Carnival Cruise. There were some distinct differences, the main one being the food. We were used to being able to eat whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. On the Costa cruise, meals were during certain hours and at specific places. If we wanted to eat during off-times, we had to pay for our meals at the pizza restaurant or gelato shop. Our dinner was assigned each night at 6:30 at La Colombina at a specific table each night. We had the same waiter every night but one. The same people sat around us every night. We became friends with the couples sitting near us. One was from Switzerland and the other lived in California, although they were originally from Russia. Our waiter spoke 7 languages, which I'm sure came in very handy working on a Mediterranean cruise! The attendants who helped him serve us paid attention to what we liked, and within a couple days into the cruise we would arrive with things he knew we liked already on our table, such as butter, and oil & vinegar.
The food looked amazing -- each plate an absolute masterpiece, as if they had spent a great deal of time on every single plate. It was not the type of food that we are used to in Wyoming, though. One night we asked our waiter what beef tartare was, and he told us, although we must have missed it when he said the beef would be raw... He ended up taking back mostly-full plates from all three of us. By the end of the week he could easily tell us, "you won't like that." And my mom would ask him by the end of the week, "what will I like?" This country girl definitely liked the food better on the Carnival Cruise, but we were almost the only Americans on the cruise, so they were definitely catering to the majority of their guests. One night all of the children received hamburgers from the kids' menu. My husband asked our waiter if he could have a hamburger off the kids' menu. The waiter said no, and then with a twinkle in his eye said, "then everyone will want one!" We did want a good old American hamburger! In fact, as soon as we arrived back home the first thing we did was head to Arby's, and I don't think my roast beef sandwich and curly fries have ever tasted so good!
We heard many languages all week long on the cruise. It was unusual to ever hear English while on the ship, unless someone was talking directly to us. Somehow they always knew that we were from America and they should speak English to us. The young man from the Philippines who cleaned our room every day was very polite and very kind to us. On the last day of our cruise he left us a bear made of towels, sitting on a heart on our bed. A couple days before our cruises ended we found a note on our bed talking about a train strike that was taking place the day our cruise ended. I was very concerned about how we would get to Rome from Civitavecchia, over an hour by car or train. He tried to be helpful, and was understanding as we were stressed about the situation. He did a great job cleaning our room also.
The cruise itself was affordable, but as with any cruise, the additions make a cruise much more pricey. One key addition was internet access. In order to use the internet while on ship we each had to pay for an internet package (we couldn't share one) at about 100 euro each. Another thing that costs extra on a cruise is drinks - not only alcoholic drinks, but soda as well. We opted to just drink water, although at times we were charged for the water as well. We could have just carried around a water bottle all the time and filled it up in our room (the water dispensers in the dining rooms specifically say not to fill up water bottles there). At breakfast we were able to drink juice in very small cups, which we took full advantage of, but most of the time we drank water the entire week. Photography is another way to increase spending on a cruise, although I wasn't very impressed with many of our photos and only purchased one of them.
Excursions are, of course, the main expense that can be added on to a cruise. We opted to pay for one excursion (in Marseille), and for a hop-on-hop-off bus in two cities (Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca), but in Savona and Palermo we planned our own day and didn't pay for an excursion. If I were to do the cruise again, I would again pay for a cruise in Marseille because the destinations are too far apart to walk between them. I would still buy a hop-on-hop-off bus ride in Palma, because it is also too spread out to walk between the sites. I would not buy the hop-on-hop-off bus ride in Barcelona again. The route only went to a couple of the places that I wanted to see, so we ended up paying for taxis or walking everywhere, and only rode the bus between Sagrada Familia and Park Guell, and not anywhere else.
I enjoyed listening to all the different languages and seeing the many different ethnicities on the cruise. We witnessed two older women shouting at each other in Spanish and shoving each other on the elevator. We saw many children and families on this cruise, something that was quite different from Carnival, where it is mostly adults on the cruise. We also saw several parents with disabled adult children on the cruise with them. One of my favorite memories from the cruise was on the night we all dressed up for dinner, seeing a mother push her adult daughter in her wheelchair onto the elevator. They were both dressed up beautifully in fancy dresses and with their hair done. I was impressed by the parents on the cruise, those caring for adult disabled children as well as those patiently caring for small children. There was one little boy who was quite a handful each night at dinner and we watched with a smile as his parents took turns chasing him each time he escaped from their table.
The entertainment provided on the cruise was mostly live singing, dancing, or acrobatics. There was a theater with a huge screen, and I would have loved to watch a movie in there. But they didn't ever show a movie, they only have live entertainment every night. I thought it was interesting that most of the music they danced to was in English - yet whenever the entertainers spoke, it was usually in Italian.
Since the seven day cruise went in a circular route from Rome to Savona to Marseille to Barcelona to Palma de Mallorca to Palermo and back to Rome, over and over again, the guests began and ended their cruise at all different cities. Many, like us, began and ended in Rome. But others began and ended in Marseille, and so on. It was interesting to see the slight cultural shift each night at dinner as some of the guests would have left, and new ones would have arrived.
I highly recommend going on at least one Mediterranean Cruise in your lifetime. Expect to be one of the only Americans there. Expect beautiful food that is not catered to Americans, as to be expected in the Mediterranean, and maybe you'll be more adventurous than I am. Take the time to talk to the people around you and get to know them. We became great friends with the Russian couple who shared a table with us. It was interesting to hear how different our perspectives were about the same experiences. For instance, Palermo was my favorite destination of the cruise. But it was our Russian friends' least favorite destination. Additionally, she remarked repeatedly on how much she loved the food. The food was perhaps my least favorite part of the cruise. But all the differences in the world make life more interesting and rich! Expect to hear many beautiful languages and just enjoy the experience!
Here are some helpful links for planning a Mediterranean Cruise with Costa:
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| one of the many dessert masterpieces that we enjoyed on the cruise |
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| our usual table on the cruise |
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| breakfast one morning in one of the other restaurants |
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| The ship provided this letter a few days before we disembarked, warning us about a rail strike the day we finished our cruise |
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| towel animal left by our housekeeper |
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| one of the large gathering places for entertainment |
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| having a little bit too much fun on the ship furniture |
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| beautiful Mediterranean Sea on our Day at Sea |
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| We had to pay to eat at the pizza place on the ship. The pizza was pretty good, though. |
MSC Cruise in 2025
We also purchased our MSC Cruise through Vacations-to-Go. Their website is here:
Our Mediterranean Cruise with MSC began and ended in Civitavecchia (Rome) and was in March of 2025. I went with my adult daughter. We were on the MSC Lirica. I discovered that the Costa ship docks at a very different spot in the port than the MSC ship. In fact, I would venture to guess that they dock at opposite ends of the port.
When we arrived by train from Rome to Civitavecchia, there were buses and taxis waiting to take people to the port. A taxi driver told us he charged one euro less for the ride to the port than the bus/shuttle did, so we opted for the taxi. Another couple rode the taxi with us as well. The driver charged per person, which I wasn't used to from a taxi.
We arrived at the MSC check-in and our check-in went very quickly. We had only brought carry-on bags and backpacks, so we didn't have to worry about a large suitcase at all. We went through security, checked in at the desk to have our photo taken and our passports checked, had our photo taken by the cruise photographer, and then went on board the ship. Our key was in an envelope hanging from our doorknob when we arrived at our room. The worker was cleaning our room when we arrived, but she allowed us to leave our bags and go to eat lunch.
The lunch buffet goes from 11 to 4, so we were able to eat lunch with plenty of time to spare once we were on the ship. Like Costa, our boarding time was at noon, so we had most of the remainder of the day to get acquainted to the ship.
The Lirica has 12 floors, so is considerably smaller than the Costa Smeralda. Our cabin was on the 7th floor and on the same side of the ship as both of the restaurants that we ate at while on the ship. We were assigned to the 7 p.m. dinner time (the earlier dinner) and always sat next to a couple from New York who had also started their cruise in Civitavecchia.
Our cabin was very small - just large enough to walk around 3 sides of the bed. It had a queen-size bed with a small desk that had a pull-out soft stool. Our bathroom was small with a tiny shower that I couldn't even bend over to shave my legs in without touching the curtain. We had ordered an Ocean View room, and our window was very large, but our view was completely blocked by one of the life boats. Our cabin had been assigned well before we boarded the ship (unlike Costa where we found out what our cabin was after we boarded), and I wish that I had logged into my MSC account to see the room. I think at that point I could have requested a different cabin. The bed was comfortable, though, and I always slept extremely well each night, although I thought the pillows were rather firm.
One thing I liked better about our cabin in MSC than in Costa was that I was able to find a few English-speaking tv channels on the small tv in the room. Our tv on the Costa ship was much larger, but did not have any English-speaking channels. The MSC ship was definitely more catered to Americans than the Costa ship.
I appreciated that there were 2 American electrical outlets in our cabin so that I could plug plenty of things in without having to use just one converter for multiple items. The lady who cleaned our room did a pretty good job, although we went without hand soap for a few days until I left her a note. She was very kind to dry our clothes that we had cleaned in the sink and hung in the shower. It would have cost about $25 to send a small bag of clothes to be laundered, and I didn't want to spend the money on that.
Because the MSC and Me app didn't work on the boat, I have no idea how any of the photographs turned out that were taken by photographers on the ship. With the Costa app I was able to look at and purchase photographs, but on the MSC ship they had a photo area where you would look at the printed-off photos and choose what you wanted to purchase. We just never made our way over there to look at the photos.
The entertainment on the MSC ship was a lot better than on Costa. They had 4 main performers each night - 2 girls from England and a man from Spain and a man from Italy. They were joined by several other dancers that were also very good, and there was also an amazing pianist that performed a couple different nights. My favorite night of entertainment was the "Journey" night when they performed dances and songs from Spain, Italy, and France -- the 3 countries visited on the trip.
The only thing that I think could have made the entertainment better would have been if they'd shown movies sometimes. The theater wasn't really used during the day, and they easily could have shown movies filmed in the countries that we were visiting. I would have enjoyed that very much!
Our cruise went to the following cities:
* Civitavecchia/Rome to embark
* Livorno, Italy (Pisa or Florence were the destinations people went from there)
* Marseille, France
* Palma de Mallorca, Spain
* Valencia, Spain
* one day at sea
* Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy
* Civitavecchia/Rome to disembark
Two of the days we purchased excursions and the rest we did our own thing. One of our planned excursions got cancelled due to weather, so we ended up planning our own thing that day as well.
Livorno
I had always wanted to visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa. This was the perfect opportunity! Some of the excursions offered by the ship included visiting the Square of Miracles and seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa from the outside, but I really wanted to climb the tower. So we did our own thing that day.
We took a taxi from the port to the Livorno Central Train station. Then we used the Trainline app on our phone to purchase train tickets to Pisa Central Train station, which was only 15 minutes away by train. The tickets only cost a little over 3 euro.
We walked from the train station to the Square of Miracles, which was only about a 25 minute walk. We crossed the Arno River on one of the many bridges in Pisa. We arrived at the Square before the buildings opened. I had purchased tickets to everything on the Square (except the palace) ahead of time. Our tower climb was scheduled for 11 am, and we had plenty of time to visit everything else before that time.
After our climb up the tower, we went to the corner of the Square of Miracles and climbed up onto the Ancient Walls of Pisa. We walked the entire route, which was exactly 1.93 miles from one end to the other. This was amazing and well worth the five euro to go up there! There are 5 towers that you can access the city walls from, and we chose the one inside the Square of Miracles, the Torre Santa Maria. We climbed down at the tower near the Arno River.
We ate lunch at Nando Pizzeria, which was very good. Then we used google maps to make our way back to the Pisa train station. We used our Trainline App to purchase train tickets back to Livorno Centrale, which were again just over 3 euro, and the train ride took 15 minutes. We got a taxi at the train station that took us back to our ship. We only had to say "MSC Lirica" and the taxi drivers knew right where to go. They charged per person, so the trip cost us 25 euro each way. We could have ridden the shuttle from the port that MSC provides, but it wasn't going to the train station, and I didn't want to waste any time, so the extra money was worth it to me.
Marseilles, France
This was my second time visiting Marseilles, and once again I was really hoping to get to visit Chateau d'If. And once again, the waters were too choppy and both of the boat transport companies that service the island of d'If were not offering rides for the day. I was very disappointed, but we made the most of it. We walked around Marseilles and visited some of the places I had seen before, and saw some new ones as well.
We rode the shuttle provided by MSC, which cost 12 euro for the round trip (charged to your room, so you don't have to worry about making payments getting on or off the shuttle). We were dropped off near the museum, and we walked to the Marseille Cathedral, or La Major. We toured the Cathedral and then admired views of Chateau d'If from a distance. We next toured Hospice de la Charite. It was built in the 17th century to house the destitute, but was converted to a monument in 1951. It is beautiful with arched porches all around. We walked the streets of Le Panier and admired the many murals. A few times along our walk we ran into the MSC Excursion group who were also walking around to these various places. Next we made our way to O'Bar A Crepes near the old Port. I remembered it from my last trip to Marseilles and how excellent the crepes were. Once again, the crepes were excellent! From there we walked to Palais Longchamp, which I had visited on my earlier trip, and which was worth a return trip! Then we walked back to the shuttle and rode back to the ship.
It sprinkled on us a little bit in Marseilles, although not like the last time when it poured rain the whole time. It is not my favorite destination to visit. I suppose I will end up going back again, though, because I am determined to make it to Chateau d'If!
Palma de Mallorca
Palma was my favorite destination of the cruise. I had been there on my earlier cruise and enjoyed it then as well. For this day I had purchased an excursion -- the Dragon Caves (Cuevas del Drach). These were amazing and definitely worth the money! We met in the MSC Lirica Broadway Theater and they announced our bus and we followed the MSC employees to the bus. We got on the bus and rode for about an hour to the dragon caves. Our tour guide handed us our tickets as we got off the bus. We waited in the very long line until the 2 o'clock opening and then everyone filtered through the cave. It was long and winding but not strenuous. It was very humid inside and not cold. We followed the large crowd through the pathway and admired all of the stalactites and stalagmites. When we got to the end of the trail we were in a large arena with a beautiful blue reservoir. We sat down on benches and waited for everyone to filter in and find a seat. Then they turned off all the lights and the concert began! A boat carrying a small orchestra rowed in from the back of the lake and played 4 very beautiful classical pieces, including Pacabell's Canon. We had been to a few other concerts & operas on this trip to Europe, and this was my favorite concert! The boat sailed around as they played, and we enjoyed the music while sitting in the darkness. It was probably the highlight of the cruise for me! After they finished playing, you could wait in line to ride in a small row boat, or you could walk along the small lagoon to the exit. Our tour guide had warned us about the long ques and suggested it wasn't worth the wait to ride in the boats that took you to the same place that you walked, so we didn't wait in line. When we came out of the caves, it was pouring rain more hard than I have ever seen it rain in Europe, including on my most recent trip to Rome when we got drenched!
The bus next took us to a pearl factory. Pearls are a major industry in Mallorca. We watched them making pearls, and then we were taken to a large section of showcases where we could purchase pearls from the factory. I admit that I did purchase pearls there, and then purchased even more pearls when we arrived back in Mallorca, for a much lower price than the factory! Our bus driver gave us the option to ride back to the ship, or we could be dropped off near the Mallorca Cathedral and then ride the shuttle back to the boat later. I was excited to get to see the Cathedral again, which was my favorite part of Mallorca, so of course we got off the bus. The Cathedral was already closed, as was the Royal Palace, but we enjoyed walking around Mallorca and especially visiting film sites from the Mallorca Files, which we love to watch on tv. We did a lot of shopping before heading back to the shuttle bus and riding back to the ship.
There are 2 arches in Mallorca that I want to see someday, Es Pontas and Puente Natural, so I'm sure I will be back again someday!
Valencia, Spain
We had purchased an excursion to underwater lakes, but it got cancelled due to weather, or perhaps Fallas, that happened to be starting on the day we arrived -- March 15th. Either way, we were left to either choose a different excursion or to visit the city on our own. We opted for doing our own thing.
Las Fallas is a yearly festival held in honor of Saint Joseph (the husband of Mary). I was really glad we were there during Fallas so that we could take part in the festivities and enjoy the parades that went through the streets, the giant crowds of people, and the paper mache or wood beautiful creations that had been built to be burnt on the last day of Las Fallas, March 19th. Throughout the day as we walked around we could hear fireworks exploding. We heard music from a variety of bands that marched through the streets.
We rode the shuttle from the ship to the old city center. First we visited Les Torres Dels Serrans, Towers of Serranos. They're part of Valencia's medieval wall. They were completed in 1398. At first it was used as part of Valencia's defense system, but its purpose has changed over the years, including as a museum. I admit that I had the hardest time with my fear of heights at this location. We climbed to the highest part of the tower and looked down. There wasn't glass or grates as some of the other towers we visited have had, and we just felt very exposed. Additionally, there is a thin walkway between the two towers that you can use rather than climbing down the stairs on one side and back up on the other. My daughter went across this walkway twice and that was enough for her! I opted for going all the way down the stairs on one side and all the way back up on the other. We were able to see beautiful views of the city in every direction. It only costs 2 euro to climb the towers, and I do recommend it, even if you have a fear of heights as I do.
Next we visited the Valencia Cathedral, which is famous for hosting the Holy Grail. I don't know if it's really the Holy Grail, but Catholics believe it is, and some Popes through the years have used it in mass. Similar to the Vatican Museum tour where you have to wait until the end to see the Sistine Chapel, they make you believe you have to go through the entire tour of the Cathedral before you can see the Holy Grail. Truth be told, though, right after you enter the Cathedral, if you just go directly to your right, you will be inside the Chapel of the Holy Grail. We didn't know this, however, and went through the entire tour of the Cathedral. The Holy Grail is housed inside a glass case and is the focal point of the Chapel. I don't have any idea if it is indeed the real Holy Grail, although the story about it coming into the hands of the Cathedral, which you can read in this BBC article:
BBC Article: Is This the Home of the Holy Grail?, makes me believe this could possible be the drink that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. Either way, as I sat in the Chapel looking at it, I realized that if it truly is the Holy Grail, it is probably the closest I'll ever come to anything that was once touched by Jesus Christ.
From the Cathedral we went next door to the Basilica de la Virgen de los Desamparados, or Basilica of our Lady of the Forsaken. I wanted to explore the basilica and take photos, but there was a program going on for Fallas, complete with a beautiful youth choir. Outside the Basilica was a huge wooden structure of the Virgen in honor of Fallas.
We went to visit the Plaza Redondo, the round "square" that looks like a colosseum and is full of shops and people. Then we walked some of the most beautiful streets in Valencia, and made a stop at the Central Market, where we did more shopping. Eventually we made our way back to the shuttle and road back to the ship. I was very glad that we happened to arrive in Valencia on Fallas, and I was also glad that our excursion got cancelled!
Cagliari, Sardegna, Italy
I had planned ahead of time to see at least one of the arches/natural bridges on the island of Sardegna. I knew that the ship docked at 8 am, so I reserved a rental car for 8:30 am. I chose CiaRent Autonoleggi Cagliari because it is located only minutes from the port. Here is their official website:
We were not allowed to walk from the boat to the street, but the port provided a shuttle that drove us the 2 minute drive out of the port and it was a 7 minute walk from there to the car rental shop. No one was there when we arrived, but the phone number was posted on the door. I called the number and they were there within 2 minutes. They provided us with a car that was bigger than the one I originally had ordered. I had included GPS in the order, which came in handy. He gave us some brief instructions and then our trip began.
We were going to see S'Archittu in Cuglieri, which is a natural bridge or arch on the western side of the island. The drive was one hour and 24 minutes from the rental car place. We had some rain, but no trouble other than that with the drive. Driving on the freeways was very stress-free. The only time the drive was stressful was when we drove through a small town and tried to share the narrow road with cars and trucks going in the opposite direction. We managed to make the trip without any problems and I really enjoyed the arch very much. Since it was still considered winter in Italy, there were almost no other people at the beach when we arrived. We had the arch completely to ourselves and only saw a few other people arriving as we were leaving. It was well worth the trip!
We returned the rental car early and went to find the bakery of some friends of ours in Cagliari. Roberto and Mariella run "Ambrosia," only about 25 minutes from the port. We enjoyed talking with them and eating some ice cream before heading back to the ship.
Civitavecchia (Rome)
We were assigned to disembark at 9:10 am, although we didn't check any bags with them to carry off the ship, but opted to pull our carry-on and back pack off the ship on our own, so we went a little earlier than our assigned time. We were able to leave the ship quickly and easily and found a taxi immediately, who charged 6 euro per person to drive us to the train station. First the taxi driver filled up his car with people, to make the most of the trip. All the way to the train station, which is about a twenty minute drive, he argued with a lady in the van who wanted to go to Tarquinia. She was from southern France and was traveling on her own. She had purchased an excursion to Tarquinia that had been cancelled, so she received her money back, but she still wanted to go to Tarquinia. They were arguing about how much she should pay his taxi-driver friend to drive her to Tarquinia, drive her around for a couple hours, and drive her back to the ship. He wanted 200 euro for the trip, and she said that her excursion had only cost 140 euro and she couldn't afford any more. They argued for some time, with her insisting that she could just take a train and walk or take a taxi on her own, and the taxi driver insisting that there wouldn't be taxis in Tarquinia and that everything would be too far to walk to. In the end, they settled on 150 and she went with his taxi driver friend. Knowing how many taxis I've seen on my trips to Italy, I think she may have been swindled. I haven't ever been to Tarquinia, but I know for sure that at least the train ride would have been MUCH less expensive than 150 euro. And she might have enjoyed Tarquinia more without a taxi driver taking her around. But after we parted at the train station I never saw her again.
We found our train platform and were concerned because the train number on the side of the train was different from our train ticket, and different from what appeared on the platform sign. Both said Roma Termini and had the correct departure time, so we got on the train. Luckily when the train started and they announced the train number and destination, it was the same as on our ticket. The train ride from Civitavecchia to Roma Termini is an hour and five minutes, with several short stops in between. Both times we rode the train to/from Civitavecchia it put us on a platform that was very far from the indoor platforms. So when we exited the train station in Rome, we were a bit disoriented for a moment, even though it had said that it was the Giolitti Street exit. But we were just further down the street than we had been for our other train rides or for the metro. We walked to our hotel, Hotel Genova, to drop off our bags, and were pleasantly surprised that our room was already ready for us, even though it was only 11 a.m. We checked in and then headed out to see Piazza Navona, Piazza Venezia, the Mouth of Truth, and a Chopin piano concert at the Waldesian Church at 107 Via Quattro Novembre, which was amazing but sparsely attended. Sometimes I think that people in Italy don't realize the priceless gems that they have - if that pianist were playing in the United States, he would be playing to sold-out audiences. I don't even know his name - it wasn't printed anywhere on the ticket, and he never announced himself. But he played several very complicated numbers from Chopin and, although I've been playing the piano since I was eight years old, I could never hope to play such pieces with the talent that he has!
We ended the night with a lovely dinner hear the Colosseum and then took some beautiful photos in the dark with the Colosseum all lit up -- a definite must when visiting Rome! Then we rode the metro to our hotel (only 2 stops), and that was officially the end of our Mediterranean Cruise.
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