Europe by the Seat of Our Pants. Part Cinco.

Tuesday, March 10

Monday evening we had eaten dinner in the dining room with most of the group. When we finished, a few of us went upstairs to play cards and listen to music. There was an indoor pool on Deck 16 with a stage at one end. The pool shut down early, but music was played until around midnight. Brent and Janet (The Card Shark) are the game masters. They can always be counted on to have some type of game going on. We played until just before midnight and headed for our stateroom.

I checked my phone for messages, and saw a google news story about the whole country of Italy being on lock down. I turned on the TV and searched until I found an English speaking news channel. Sure enough the big news was that the Prime Minister was closing the borders and that people should stay home. A doom hovered over me. We were to dock in Palma de Mallorca in the morning and then Wednesday was a sea day back to disembark in Rome on Thursday morning. I didn’t want to go back to Italy.

I went downstairs to the Customer Service Desk. There were a couple of attendants and a few people in line. It was after midnight. I talked to a young lady and asked if it was possible to leave the ship at Palma de Mallorca. She said that all we needed was our passports, paperwork and to close out our accounts on the ship. I wasn’t clear what she meant by paperwork, but it didn’t sound difficult. I asked what would happen when the ship got back to Rome, now that the whole country was on lock down. I was told that they had no idea. The news was too new.

During the trip, the entire group had been using Facebook Messenger to keep in touch. Some didn’t have cell phone service, but had purchased internet on the ship. During excursions, internet wifi was available at many locations. I sent a message to the group..

“We are probably getting off the ship tomorrow. Italy on 100% lockdown.  I don’t want to get stuck there.  I have emails into Cruise Builders, but don’t expect much help.  I went down to the Service Desk, but the news is so new that they said they don’t know what will happen when we get back to Rome.  They said we can disembark tomorrow if we want.  Just have to bring travel documents down and make sure our bill is paid 100%.”

There were 16 in our group. Our air travel had been booked in groups. Rask, Cotten, Haggard and Mueller were all under the same confirmation number. The Larsens were on another number, though the 12 of us were on the same flights. Eunice and Teresa were separate and were to leave Rome on Friday. My mother and sister had been booked on completely different itineraries and were also leaving on Friday. Our flight home was scheduled to leave Rome on Saturday morning.

I had done all could until I was able to speak to the others and no one was responding. Everyone was asleep. I might as well do the same. It was 1am and it appeared that this was going to be a long day.

I was up at 6:30 and headed for the buffet at 7. I ran into numerous couple of the group and explained my thoughts. Larsens were definitely staying as was Eunice and Teresa. Mom and RoAnn didn’t have the ability to make changes. They never purchased internet on the ship and their phones weren’t set up with international plans. Haggards were absolutely in with my plan. Cotten and Muellers seemed interested, but wanted more information.

Our trip home connected through Paris, so my plan was to get to Paris to meet that flight. I needed to talk to Delta Airlines to make sure that if we didn’t check in at Rome, our whole trip wouldn’t be cancelled. That is typical protocol. I called Delta and was routed to give my name to be put in line for a call back. The estimated time was 6 hours. That was not a good thing.

I walked down the hall to the Nuccis room. Brad is a frequent Delta flyer. I think he has Super Duper Platinum Good Guy Status, or something. He had just got off the phone with them and changed his Sat flight out of Rome to Friday. I told him about my 6 hour wait, so he called back with his secret number. He was put on hold, but said it wouldn’t take long. I went back to our room and started to look at flights from Palma to Paris. I didn’t want to click the “buy” button until I knew that our Rome flight could be cancelled without affecting the Paris flight.

A few minutes later, Sandra comes in and hands me Brads phone. I explain my desire to the representative after giving him the confirmation number. He states that he will need to call Air France, since the first leg is flown by them. After a few minute wait, he comes back and says that, yes, we can cancel the first leg without any penalties or fees. “What do you want to do?” Crunch time. I need to make a decision now… for all eight of us. Four haven’t completely signed on.

“Do it”, I tell the representative. He tells me to hold for another moment. The wheels are spinning in my head. “Am I doing the right thing?” The answer that comes back from myself is YES. A few moments later, he returns and tells me that it is done. I will receive an email confirmation soon. I hang up and tell Rhonda that we need to let the others know that the plan is in motion.

We had been looking forward to today’s excursion, a visit to the Drach Caves and then Majorica Pearls. I tell Rhonda that it may be best if I stay on the ship to try to get things organized. Ever the optimistic one, she tells me to come on the trip. We will be back to the ship by 3pm and the ship isn’t scheduled to leave until 6. I am already scouring the Kayak app and other European airline sites looking for the most affordable flight to Paris. I figure the best route would be to stay in Palma tonight and fly out on Wed. That means we need to find a hotel. It is also obvious that the easiest way to do this is for me to make all the reservations so that everyone is on the same flights, and in the same hotels.

Brett and Clint are a little upset at first when finding out that I had made the decision on my own. That is understandable. We are going to embark on a completely uncharted journey for the next five days. We don’t have airline tickets or hotels. I understand the uneasiness. The Cottens had left their room with a bag of laundry to go out during the day. Now they need to make sure that doesn’t happen. They make calls to customer service, but have no idea if it will get stopped.

As the bus heads toward the Dragon Caves, I decide on airline tickets for Wed afternoon late and purchase them for the eight of us. We will fly through Madrid to Paris. Next, I start to look for a hotel with four rooms. I always read reviews before booking anything, and I find a highly reviewed place close to the beach about a fifteen minute drive from the cruise terminal. With those two major tasks taken carefully, it’s time to enjoy the day.

Drach Caves was very cool. A huge under ground labyrinth of caves that were formed by water from the Mediterranean Sea being forced in through an entrance. A large underwater lake over 100 yards long lies inside. Toward the end of the walk there was a large seating area overlooking the lake. A small boat passed from one side to the other with four musicians playing classical music on a cello, harpsichord and two violins. It was very serine and beautiful. We then loaded into boats and were paddled to the other end of the lake and the path to the exit.

After loading back on the bus, we headed to the tourist trap that trumps all tourist trap. Majorica Pearl. Of course Rhonda was excited to see this company that has been making pearls since 1890. They are considered to be the worlds leading manufacturer of cultured pearls. After digging the credit card out, I headed back to the bus with a happy wife.

Another nap on a bus and we were back to the ship. After some lunch, it was time to pack and get ourselves off the boat. We all agreed to meet downstairs at 4pm to discuss the plan. I stopped by Customer Service again to clarify what would be needed and was told our passports and travel plans. At 4pm we would start the disembarkation process, not make plans… Luckily I had made the flight and hotel reservations that morning. Rhonda had headed upstairs to start packing her suitcase. These rooms don’t have enough space for both of us to pack at the same time, and by the time I got to the room from Customer Service, thankfully, she was almost done.

We made sure that everyone understood that we all needed to be downstairs ready to go by 4:30. After we were all there, we met with the rep. Each couple had to fill out paperwork with our personal information. They needed copies of all the passports and then it got fun… Even though Palma de Majorca is a part of Spain, because it is an island, there are stricter regulations for non Europeans arriving. Especially from a cruise ship when we didn’t board from there. By email, I had to send the boarding passes for both flights for each of us. I also had to send the confirmation for the hotel that night, listing each couple individually.

While we were in the process, an announcement came over the loudspeaker. Because of the lockdown in Italy, when the ship arrived to a Rome, only disembarking passengers would be allowed to leave. No new passengers would board. All others would have to remain on the ship. That would be also be the case when the ship docked in La Spezia and Savona. Essentially, when the ship returned to Palma de Mallorca in a week, it would be empty of passengers.

The clock moved past 5pm, then 5:30. The departure time for the ship was 6:00 and we started to get nervous. Would the ship just untie and leave if we were still not cleared to disembark? Some of the emails I sent didn’t have the right info, so I had to send more. The stress was mounting.

Finally a little before 6, I was assured that the ship wouldn’t leave until everything was done. We weren’t the only ones trying to get off. I talked to a couple from Texas that were trying also. There was other luggage in the area from other passengers. The rep came over again with more requirements from immigration. They had our flight info off the island the next day. They had our hotel reservation for that night. They had our flight info from Paris to LAX. What they didn’t have was our accommodations in Paris for the three nights we would be there. I hadn’t made those reservations yet. I was going to do it on Wednesday without the stress. Now we needed it.

I asked if there was something else that would suffice and was told my bank account. If they could see that I had enough money in my account to purchase 3 nights in Paris, that would work. I thought it odd since there were 8 of us, but I guess since all the flights and hotel rooms were booked by me… I opened my bank app and found a page with the info they wanted. Making sure that it didn’t show account numbers, I sent to the rep. Within 5 minutes, we were handed our passports and told we could leave.

We headed down to deck 3 and walked off the gangway onto the dock. It was twilight, with night lights just turning on. There were a few attendants inside the otherwise empty terminal. We were asked if we needed transportation. Si. We asked them to send 3 taxis. We each had a large suitcase, some had a second small one and then there were Amy and Joe. They had enough luggage for four people.

While we were waiting for the taxis, a couple came up with their luggage. It turned out that they had boarded the ship just the day before in Barcelona. When the announcement came about the ports being closed in Italy, they had decided to jump ship. He said they would spend their vacation on the beach in Palma. In the end, I’m not sure how many got off, but it was under twenty, including our eight. As I look back now, I realize that when I left the ship, I never turned around to look back at it.

A fifteen minute ride later, the taxis pulled up to the JS Palma Stay hotel. Inside, a clerk who resembled Tony Stark, a fact that he knew and seemed to relish, worked on the details of our rooms. A short time later we were on the lookout for food. It had been a long, stressful evening.

There was virtually no traffic outside as we walked the block and a half to the shore from the hotel to the restaurant. As we walked by the shore, the Costa Smerelda could be seen in the distance, leaving the island. It was a strange sight to see the ship from a distance, all lit up. It was close to 9pm when we walked into the empty restaurant next to the beach. No doubt they were elated to have 8 people come in late. The food was great and the staff was fun and attending. The four guys felt comfortable as we all spoke Spanish.