This was honestly the worst vacation we were ever on. So many things went wrong it was unbelievable. Our flights were nightmares we new ahead of time and I had questioned the 30 minutes for connecting from Munich, Germany to Milan, Italy but was assured by the travel agent who checked with Costa (the cruise company) that everything would be fine. Well it wasn’t. we flew from Harrisburg to DC with no problems, had a 3.5 hour layover and then found out the plane was delayed coming in from Dallas so we ended up leaving an hour late from DC. We made up a lot of time in the air but we got into the terminal with 10 minutes before our flight to Italy was to leave. I was so nervous the entire flight that we would miss the connecting plane that I didn’t sleep and felt like I was going to vomit the whole 9.5 hour flight. The plane had announced that there would be a special transfer but it wasn’t there so this lady told us to go to the gate. So jeff and I go running full speed through the munich airport, were stopped for passports and explained breathlessly that we are late for the flight they stamped and waved us on then we were stopped a security and ran through that. get to the gate and the guys says it is too late. They send us to the customer service desk – no other flight for 3 hours to Milan and then we would miss the transfer which is a 2 hour drive to the port, no option to fly to Genova which is by the port either. So we missed the plane which made us miss the boat!!

So the only alternative is to fly to Naples which is where the boat will be the following day. we call the “emergency” number for the cruise line and they will only take the info that we are missing the boat and won’t be getting on until Naples. The lady told me she wasn’t a travel agent when I said I needed them to arrange for a hotel and transports in Naples. Then she said someone would call me back at the German customer service desk. They never did so I called again and this time she gave me the cell phone number of the Italian contact guy. He never answered – phone was off, it was a Sunday so I figured maybe the next day. So the german customer service people were so nice and they sent a telex to Italy asking them to help us with hotels and cabs and to keep trying this guy. We fly to Naples and in case you don’t know, italy is known as the kingdom of chaos for a reason. No one has any clue about this telex and no one can really help us. so finally we find someone and show them a copy of the telex from the german people and this girl was nice enough to try to help us. we try the contact guy again and his phone is still off. So they call around to hotels and find us a room ($200) and get us a cab ($50). We finally get to the room and drop our crap, went out for a quick dinner and went to bed at 7:30 which is 1:30 our time but we had been up for over 36 hours.

The next morning (Monday) we try to call the guy again and his cell phone is still off. Then we decide to go walk around Naples a little and we did see an old castle which was kinda cool. We come back to the hotel and the guy still doesn’t answer so we get our own taxi to the port. We went early 11:30ish, boat wasn’t’ due in until 1pm. Well at 12 when we got to the port the boat was there! so we run around and try to find someone to get on the boat. The “information” desk says that we can’t get on the boat until 3 and they don’t know what it is going to be there. mind you if you look straight out the opening and the windows directly in front of the guy there sits the boat!! So jeff and I are like, the boat is right there!! he still says 3pm and we are like that is impossible b/c the boat was due in at 1 and the excursion trip to Pompei is to take place immediately. Some nice lady is waiting for someone to come off the boat and overheard our dilemma and told us there was a Costa person down the one corridor. We go tearing down there and explain that we need to get on the boat and we had pre-booked excursion tickets to Pompei (remember Pompei is the real reason we chose this trip!). So 6 Costa people later they finally have our documents in order to get us on the boat. So we ask about the excursion and one guy finally realizes the true situation. He tells us to leave our luggage in the port and come with him (we pray the luggage will get on board). He takes us to the buses and they handwrite us a ticket and we just make the bus. Pompei was cool but not as cool as Greece or Rome. But we were thankful we made it. afterward we get on the boat and are told to go to our rooms that everything is there, we explain that we have never been on the boat before and the lady is like everything is there. so we head to the 6th floor and our bags are amazingly outside of our door but the door is locked and there is no key. So we go back down to the “information” desk and tell them we can’t get in the room. They are like isnt’ the key in the door and we are like if the key was in the door we wouldn’t be here. so they make us 1 key and say the rest should be in the room. Well surprise, it isn’t there when we get inside so this time we call them and make them bring us the keys. No paperwork inside either.

We got to dinner and were at this reject table with only 1 other couple and it was supposed to be like 4 couples total. They were nice but kinda strange and it was tough having conversations with them every night. then they are making announcements in Italian, French, Spanish sometimes but not in English. So I call the “information” desk and ask why they aren’t in English as well and they tell me that if it isn’t in your language you don’t have to worry about it. at one point we saw people going with life preservers on but it never came on in English so we never went. So basically had the boat gone down we were goners!

Then the next day we go to get off the boat and they scan your card in and out. well ours don’t work so we had to go back to the “information desk” to get them fixed and were late again to another excursion trip. Then we realize that we had locked the safe in our room with the old key and now we won’t be able to open it. so we tell them this and they say to call them. so when we get back to the room we do and they tell us to call again later. So we do that, then this chick comes and her card won’t open it either so she calls some guy who comes and his card doesn’t open it either. So he says he will come back. This time he comes with a freaking drill with a long drill bit! So he drills the door off in our room and swaps out a second door which also doesn’t work. Then he changes parts between the doors and that doesn’t work either. So he says he will come back again. So he comes back again with a third door that finally works.

Then we get a note to go to the excursion desk. Well apparently on the boat of 3000 people only 65 speak English and not many signed up for excursions or at least the ones we wanted to half our ours were canceled. We were able to change 2 to a different tour and a dual language tour. Which basically means that the first guide spoke for about 20 minutes in another language and then someone would say 2 sentences in English. You missed half the stuff b/c you had already walked or drove passed it. then the one day there was no tour option for English so we were on our own and they didn’t even have maps or info on what was important in the cities.

The newsletters that tell you what time things happen the next day are supposed to be in the cabins by early evening ours weren’t coming until like 12 or 1 and we couldn’t plan when to get up b/c we didn’t know what time breakfast was and what time we were leaving on excursions so we didn’t get much sleep some of the nights.

Then getting off the boat we were told the authorities had to check our passports first so we couldn’t get them until Sunday. But then everyone was getting them Saturday so jeff got ours. Well when the newsletter came at like 1 it said to get them Sunday so I made him take them back down. Well then Sunday we get to the area to meet and everyone has them so jeff had to go get them again and this time they couldn’t find them b/c the chick put it in a different place than where it should have been. So when we get off the boat they have the transfer buses lined up and they ask where we are going and we say the hotel in Varese, Italy. They look confused but then say our name is on the list for bus 2. so we go there. after we leave they start talking about the Bristol hotel in Genova. So we pull out our vouchers and they say Cardeno hotel in Varese. So jeff goes to the front of the bus and the lady has no clue. So she calls the Bristol hotel and thankfully they had a reservation for us so it was changed and we were never notified! Luckily we had the transfer or we would have taxied ourselves to the wrong spot!!

Then we almost miss the flight on the way home between munich and DC. Luckily this time the special transfer was there but that took longer I think than running through the airport! But at least they held the plane knowing the special transfer was bringing us. the stamped the passports and then we were stopped 3 other places – security was a mess we had to go through and then were patted down front and back. If they checked security like that in the US 9/11 would never have happened! We finally get to DC and then the plane is delayed to Harrisburg so our 3+ hour layover turned into 4+ hours. We could have driven home twice in that much time!

So needless to say, jeff and I are very glad to be home. oh and I forgot the best part – Thursday is when I started to get sick with a sore throat that progressed to congestion and coughing fits and by Sunday I had no voice at all. Monday was a little better voicewise but the rest was a mess. As you know I called out of work Tuesday and Wednesday b/c I felt so lousy, I couldn’t even walk from the couch to the bathroom without holding on to the wall b/c I was so dizzy. I still feel crappy but I am seeing some improvement. we’ll see.

On one positive note, the countries that we saw were cool but it was all overshadowed by all the things that went wrong. There are more things but I can’t remember to type them all. Hopefully after a few days we will only remember the good things and can forget some of the things that went wrong. We’ll see.