Saturday, August 8 - Genoa and start of cruise

Day 1 – Embarkation in Genoa In order to stick with our original one-carry-on-each plan, we planning to dump some of the old cold-weather clothes in our trek to warmer climes. Having already gathered so many treasures, I suggested that maybe we should purchasing a little suitcase for the last leg of the trip, to avoid the cram factor (we had already pulled out the duffle bag that I packed for that…) As luck would have it, Austin and I spotted a cast-away suitcase on our last night in Vernazza. It was a huge, black and red monstrosity, with chrome (yes chrome!) piping. After Mike and I scoped it out again, he dragged it back home in the cover of the night. However, it must not have been dark enough, since as he was dragging it away, a woman approached him speaking only Italian and giving him the impression she thought he was stealing someone’s luggage. He had to demonstrate to her how it was broken before she would leave him alone. Upon closer inspection, we could see it was severely disabled - with one wheel worn to the plastic and the retracting handle decapitated; thus the reason it was left for dead next to a restaurant garbage bin in the first place. But being ever resourceful, a little bit cheap, and even more desperate, Mike was able to bend the wheel rod back into place, and replace the broken wheel with one of the surviving 5. As far as the two handle poles poking out the top, the luggage strap I insisited on purchasing at the Pound Store worked perfectly to cinch it into place. Viola! I was giddy at the thought of the purchases I could now make, what with all the room we’ll have! Saying goodbye to Vernazza with our new find and hoping no one decided to claim it back, we sheepishly dragged The Monster up the road to the train station and hopped on the 11:30 train to SL, transferring to Genoa Principale. You can get glimpses of the famous Portofino from the train, and we saw our first rain since arriving in Italy. The MSC ship dock is right off the train station, and we rolled right up with all of our bags, plopped them on the check in trolley, then headed inside for customs and boarding. It couldn’t have been any easier! It was certainly the easiest embarkation we’ve ever encountered. The ship we’re on is the MSC Splendida, and it is splendid, indeeda. Our cruise is only the 5th sailing of the ship. It is HUGE, and decorated beautifully - not all corny cruise style. After taking care of some business, such as our seating and the trace of smoke smell in our room, we made off to the lunch buffet. After stuffing ourselves, we headed back to the room to change for the pool. Our luggage was waiting, and I couldn’t help but open The Monster to see if my Limoncello made it through…yea! And so did Mike’s Gin. Now if we had only had time to purchase some pop before checking in today, we’d be all set! (pop even costs extra).