ausjackaroo sailing: Majestic Princess Rome to Dubai May 2017

To get to Rome we flew 22 hours with Qatar Airlines departing Saturday night from Adelaide Airport to Doha, then connected with another plane to Rome. We were fortunate to share a row of three seats between the two of us and these seats were wider and offered more leg room. After our meal I popped a sleeping tablet hoping to achieve a few hours sleep. Well I did manage some snippets when the aircraft's lights were dimmed but not as much as had liked. My new travelling companion, Jillian and I found this sector quite easy but the section from Doha to Rome was in a plane with smaller seats and less room. Oh not so happy Jan! The 5 and half hours draged, I spent most of that time wriggling my toes and feet in cramped conditions. Even the in flight movies had little to distract me!

I was so relieved to land at the under re-construction Rome airport and pass through customs and immigration. I didn't mind the waiting in lines, I found it so wonderful to be standing again!. An hour transit to our ship went quickly enough and we had an easy embarkation onto the biggest ship I have ever travelled on. This ship is on its' maiden voyage through the Med., Indian Ocean to Chine where it will be based at Shanghai. Princess Cruises is calling it 'Maritime Silk Road'.

Once we refreshed ourselves in our semi obstructed balcony cabin we headed up to the 16th level to the buffet section. What a new experience for us. Instead of wiping our hands with a sterilising lotion, the ship had several hand basins at the enterance of each entery for passengers to wash their hands before entering. There were many islands of food collection areas, all offering different foods. The food offered is also catering for the chinese passengers but there certainly was plenty of choices for us to tempt our paletes. The place also seems quieter than on previous ships, maybe it is due to the seating arrangements are more in sections, I will work it out in time to come.

We managed to stay up for a concert of Chinese Children dancing Traditional Chinese movements. Princess had flown the group out from China for this special sailaway. Staying awake certainly payed off as the performance and the music afterwards got us dancing and pleased we managed to stay awake.

We headed off the bed and welcomed our late hour sleep.