Cruise - Civitavecchia, Italy

Roxy and Jon dropped Issy off with us at 07:30, they are heading to Rome on a private tour with Rome in Limo.  We went up to breakfast in the Oceanview and enjoyed some delicious Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, followed by bircher muesli and fruit and pancakes - there is just SO much on offer... how to say no....!

After breakfast we packed our bags and set off for the beach.  We caught the free shuttle to the port entrance and then headed right, past the fort, to a beach that was part pebbles, part sand.  We hired a couple of loungers and an umbrella and spent a few relaxing hours chilling on the beach.

I was impressed with how wheel-chair friendly the beach was

I thought it was too cute - on the pier that was in front of us a group of elderly men were messing about, one by one they arrived on bicycles, stripped down to speedos (fortunately they were quite far away!) and there they were, tanning, chatting and constructing something with a hammer and wood in an area festooned with colourful flags.  It was fascinating.  You know what they say about men never growing up.....

Lisa and Trev joined us on the beach for a while.  At about 12:30 we packed up and headed back to the boat for lunch.

We had a bite to eat at the buffet and Grant then took Issy to "toddler time" in the Kid Zone, where they played for a while.

I have to say, I am extremely disappointed with the facilities for toddlers on the Celebrity Equinox.  I know that toddlers are not the demographic they aim at, but in a letter inviting Issy to toddler time it was clearly stated that there were 17 toddlers on board.  The toddlers are not allowed in the pool, they are not even allowed to play in the water fountains, they are allowed in the Kid Zone during "toddler time" but the toys provided for them are pathetic.  There are some nice Fisher Price toys, but many of them are aimed at babies, not toddlers, there is VERY little for toddlers to choose from.  There was a little toy stove that Issy would have loved, but not a single toy pot, pan or spoon for her to play with... what good is a toy stove with no utensils?  In desperation we took the box of plastic dinosaurs and pretended they were food to cook with....  A very poor state of affairs I thought!  What gets me down is that we paid the full fare for a third person in the cabin, she got no discount because she was a toddler and yet the facilities for her compared to an adult or teenager were awful.... Pathetic!  There is plenty of space on the lawn area where they could erect a small playground for little kids.  They could really do a LOT better in this regard with very little effort or financial outlay.

Rox and Jon got back from Rome at about 5:30pm.  Issy crashed at 6pm, she was exhausted!  Paula went and baby-sat her, while Rox and Jon had dinner with the rest of us.  After dinner we had a coffee at Cafe al Baccio.  Grant, Paula, Trev, Lisa and I watched the show, "Elysium", it was very good.