After 21 days we are now off the Nieuw Amsterdam and on our own in Rome! Having to find our own food, things to do – what an adventure! To make the transition easy, I had booked a driver to take us to the hotel from the cruise port. We never got his name however he picked us up in a Mercedes van (which is good as with the walker it adds to our luggage) and escorted us to our hotel – the Westin Excalibur in Rome. Now, before we go further, I need to explain how we are staying in some 4 and 5 star hotels along the way as they cost upwards of 1000 Euros a night in the rooms that we are given. Due to previous travels and my unfortunate trips to the USA last year, there was a benefit and I reached very high tier in the Marriott program after staying way over 75 nights in their hotels so, I have lots of Marriott points which I could use on this trip. That also gives me priority room upgrades – generally bigger rooms as you will see starting in Rome. So now back to the Westin, which is a 5 star hotel and WOW was it nice! Except for one thing – there was a difference between what they say on the Marriott website for accessibility and what we actually found. I do not call a hotel “accessible” if I have to act as a baggage cart and take a side entrance that the luggage takes as “accessible”. I do not call a hotel accessible if I have to stand at the top of some stairs and ask the concierge to put a temporary ramp down so I can get to the front desk. Or go outside (through said baggage hallway) to get to the restaurant or have a ramp put down to get to the restaurant or business centre through the hotel. The what broke the straw for me was when I could not reach the breakfast buffet that came with my status in Marriott. So after a discussion with the Front Desk Manager, we enjoyed breakfast in our room for the next 4 days! Now I have gotten that out of my system – again, what a beautiful hotel – it was a shame I could not experience more! Here are the pictures I took. On Sunday, we went for a walk while waiting for our room to be ready and for an “early” dinner, in Italian terms, went to a local trattoria for a nice dinner. Sat on the street and enjoyed some wonderful “senza glutine” food! You all will recognize my salad, Andrew had a GF potato and octopus salad and then I had seafood risotto! Came back to the hotel and there were flowers and turn down service with nice candies that funny enough said “senza glutine” right on them! Living the high life – right! Comments to come…
