Ravenna

We had a 9 am transfer from Vienna to Ravenna. When we arrived at 8:30 am at the transfer pickup point, we found that our names were not on the transfer list, along with a number of others. They also couldn’t fill a bus with people as the luggage area would fill before the seats did. Our bus had 18 empty seats, and we got pulled out of line to get on because we had small luggage that would still fit below.

It’s a three-hour bus ride to the ship, so they needed to call additional busses to get everyone to the ship.

We got on board the ship easily and found our room, which had the stench of cigarette smoke in the hallway leading up to our cabin. The hallway dead ends at an emergency door just beyond the cabin. The smell leaks into the cabin (faster if you open the door).

We went down to guest services, and they sent a supervisor up to talk about what they would do to fix it. Spoiler: the cabin steward said it’s an intermittent problem that happens a number of times each day, that previous guests have complained about. We wonder if it’s from a smoking lounge for the bridge crew connected to the stairs behind that emergency door as we’re in the front of the ship.

By evening we had talked to guest services four times and the message became a broken record of the ship is booked full, we don’t sail until the evening of day 2, so they can’t give us a different room until we sail, and they know who’s missed the sailing time.

We just stayed away from the room. Took the introduction tour of the ship with only 8 others (out of 2400+). The tour didn’t cover the library, so I went and found that after the tour.

Then it was time for our dinner reservations and the show afterwards. They sang pop tunes in a swing or big band style.

The ship didn’t move overnight and provided free shuttle buses into Ravenna to see the city the next day. We took an early bus into the city center and saw some of the UNESCO Mosaics. Ravenna became the capital of the western Roman Empire in 402 AD after Rome fell. So all the important people moved here and spent money on fancy mosaics in churches and homes.

The first stop is the Basilica of San’Apollinare

There are paintings of saints at the top of the columns under the mosaics.

The Basilica was reconsecrated in 561 AD when Justinian I ruled.

Next is the Neonian Baptistery.

Next is Archiepiscopal Chapel which has stunning mosaics.

Next is Archiepiscopal Museum which is right next to the Neonian Baptistery. It is small and the number of people inside is limited, so you may have to wait a bit to get in.

The museum contains a rare marble calendar that has the dates for Easter from 532-626 AD.

The Duomo is also in this complex, so we took a quick look inside.

Next is House of the Stone Carpets a series of floor mosaics from upper class homes found during the construction of an underground parking garage. Some of the mosaics have been removed from the floor and are displayed on the wall.

After lunch, we went to the Arian Baptistery and found it is only open in the morning, and Donna missed that in the planning, so we didn’t get to see inside it.

We passed by the Porta Teguriense which was a main city gate through the city walls into the Basilica of San Vitale. It gives a feeling for how much of the ancient city is buried.

Last is the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia which is small, so they limit the number of people inside, but it has spectacular mosaics.

Notice the “window” in the next two mosaics is a thin piece of alabaster that lets some light through.

After we returned to the ship, the ship sailed at 4:30pm, but they couldn’t give us a permanent cabin till after dinner. So, we got a temporary cabin as the smoke smell was even worse, so we could get cleaned up for a dress up night and not have our nice clothes smell like smoking.

After the nice dress up dinner we got assigned a permanent cabin one room class better than what we booked, as it has a small balcony. It’s still forward, but about 10 cabins further from the front. You can still smell smoke a door or two ahead of ours.

If we ever sail on Celebrity again, we’ll book behind the first set of stairs rather than in front of them to avoid this issue.