An Introduction to a Very Special Trip

An Introduction to a Very Special Trip

On October 11, Susan and I will begin a very special journey. We fly out of Columbus late afternoon and then fly from JFK in New York to Rome, Italy. We arrive in Rome around lunchtime on October 12 and will be staying at the Hotel Savoy until Wednesday, October 16. So for 3 full days we will as much of the Eternal City as we can… We have booked tours of the Vatican, of the Borghese Gallery, and of the Coliseum (and other ancient sites).

On Wednesday, October 16, we check out of our hotel and board a bus which will take us down to the port city of Civiteveccia, where we will board the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth for a 12 day cruise of the Mediterranean billed as  "Greek Isles and Mediterranean Treasures" (Voyage 325N). Our cruise itinerary is listed below as is some information about the 2^nd largest Cunard liner ever built. Yet, the QE will be the smallest of the 3 cruise ships that we have been on… The largest was the RMS Queen Mary 2 (Cunard), followed by the Crown Princess of Princess Cruise Lines (although she carried more passengers than QM2)

We disembark in Venice on Monday, October 28^th and will spend 2 nights in Venice at the Bauer Hotel and hope to see as much of Venezia as we can before an early morning flight on October 30^th from Venice to Paris (then Paris to Detroit of all places, then back to Columbus.)

We will be gone for 19 days.

It has been over 40 years since has been to Italy and Greece. I have never been to either country. Neither of us has been to Dubrovnik or Ephesus. We have both been to the Mediterranean… back in January 1995 on a seminary trip to Israel! I actually put my bare feet in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Queen Elizabeth is the latest addition to the Cunard fleet of 3 ships, having been named by HM Queen Elizabeth II in 2010. She is the 6th of the Cunard Queens and the 2nd largest Cunarder ever built (although she is by no means the largest cruise ship in service these days. She carries just under 2100 passengers at capacity. Here are some statistics:

Entered Service	2010
Home Port	Southampton, UK
Port of Registry	Hamilton, Bermuda
Speed	23.7 knots
Gross Tonnage	90,900 GRT
Guest Capacity	2,068
No. of Crew	1005
Length	964.5 feet
Width	106 feet
Draft	25.9 feet

Our itinerary is follows:

Date	Destination	Port call
16 October 2013	Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy	Embark
17 October 2013	Salerno, Italy for Pompeii	In Port
18 October 2013	Messina, Italy	In Port
19 October 2013	At Sea
20 October 2013	Santorini, Greek Isle, Greece	In Port
21 October 2013	Rhodes, Greece	In Port
22 October 2013	Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey	In Port
23 October 2013	Athens (Piraeus), Greece	In Port
24 October 2013	At Sea
25 October 2013	Corfu, Greece	In Port
26 October 2013	Dubrovnik, Croatia	In Port
27 October 2013	Ravenna, Italy	In Port
28 October 2013	Venice, Italy	Disembark