Rhonda Bracey: At Random

The original purpose of our trip to Europe was to do a Mediterranean cruise, and today was the day that part of the journey would start.

However, it was a bittersweet day for me… I was so excited to be starting a new adventure going on a cruise with my sister (her first, my third), but I was also dealing with the devastating news that one of my bestest friends ever passed away today, on her 69th birthday. I was in constant contact with her husband and another friend as her condition deteriorated until finally her body say ‘Enough!’. That certainly cast a shadow over the day.

Back to the cruise…

We were able to board from noon and it was as seamless a process as you could imagine. One of the crew on the shuttle bus even carried my duffel for me—I was to see him many more times serving in the various restaurants and we always had a little chat.  Our first task was to have lunch then explore the ship. Around 2pm we were told the suites were ready and so the next task was to take photos of our cabin before we wrecked it, then unpack, watch the safety video, present to the muster station, then wander about some more, exploring. We left Civitavecchia around 7:30pm, headed to Naples.

For those wondering, the ship was Explora II and is the second ship in the Explora Journeys line, which is a new luxury line from MSC that started in about 2023. Explora III is due to be in service from mid 2026, with Explora IV to follow in 2027.

These ships are classed as a ‘luxury hotel at sea’. Each has no more than 920 passengers, with a passenger to crew ration of 1.25 to 1. Our travel agent recommended the line because she knew we liked the idea of smaller, luxury ships, with a more adult crowd, not the behemoths that some ships have become. While it was expensive, almost everything (except shore excursions, spa treatments, one very top-end restaurant, very top-end wines and spirits, casino stakes, and purchases from the shops on board) was included—tips, drinks of all types, and fast internet (with up to 3 devices per person). Every cabin has a balcony.

Other observations:

• Wonderful staff everywhere and at every level, from maintenance crew to captain.
• Lovely food everywhere we ate (4 main restaurants + Emporium Marketplace, plus cafes, bar food, etc.). I especially loved the way they do ‘buffet’ at Emporium, which is not really a buffet at all as passengers never handle or go near the food; great food handling practices.
• Beautiful decor—it really is a ‘luxury hotel at sea’
• Entertainment that we went to was mostly good, though the band sound sometimes drowned out the singer. Nothing was bad, but nothing was ‘OMG, I must see that performer again!’ either. This matched my expectations based on my 2 previous cruises, both of which were also on smaller ships.
• Seas and winds were calm throughout the entire 14 days—my sister was very happy with that as she gets seasick.
• The Journeys shop had a very limited range, and mostly well overpriced for what it was. Limited range of promotional clothing (e.g. no t-shirts with Explora Journeys on them that I saw). Everyday things like deodorant and toothpaste are available, but are almost hidden at the end of one of the counters in the 2 rooms (why 2 rooms??) and in limited quantity – certainly not on display for impromptu sale, which is a missed opportunity, in my opinion.
• Other shops were very high end (e.g. Cartier, Rolex) and we didn’t set foot in those.
• Lots of pools and whirlpools, with not too much ‘lounge hogging’ except on ‘at sea’ days. However, trying to get out of the direct (and very hot) sun was an issue for many of the outdoor pools, where shade was limited. The Conservatory pool offered the best options here, but didn’t have a lot of sun lounges available undercover near the windows. There were plenty near the pool, but they were often in direct sun. Some people loved that, of course, but as an Australian who had WAY too much sun when she was a kid/teenager, lying in the sun all day is not my idea of fun.
• There was a tiny casino, but we never went in there either. Possibly because it doesn’t open until the ship is a certain number of nautical miles from land, and that was often late at night—we didn’t leave some ports until 10pm.
• There was a gelateria and creperia near the Conservatory pool—we certainly sampled a few of those!
• Despite the all-inclusive nature of alcohol etc., in our two weeks on board I didn’t see anyone who was obviously drunk and being a nuisance. On another cruise I was on, where you had to pay upwards of US$40 per day per person for a drinks package, I certainly saw a lot of drunk people who seemed to want to get full value for the money they’d spent. On our ship, alcohol, cocktails etc. were all included, so I wonder if people drank just as much as they wanted but no more. Also, this certainly wasn’t a ‘party ship’, where alcohol and wild parties in the pool seem to be the norm. Thank goodness… There wouldn’t be enough money in the world that you could pay me to go on one of those ships. Or on one that had thousands of people on board.
• Wonderful people—we met several through the trivia competitions and formed a couple of lovely teams over the two weeks. Another couple we met because we were seated right next to them at one of the restaurants and got to talking, and never really stopped until they disembarked at Barcelona (we still talk in our little WhatsApp group).

We had such a nice and relaxing time that we’ve already booked another Mediterranean cruise with Explora again in 2026. And with luck and some good planning, the couple from our WhatsApp chat might join us!

Below are some photos of the ship and our cabin (before we unpacked); remember, many of those who were already on board from Barcelona were out and about in Rome that day and we were early arrivals onto the ship, so there are lots of empty spaces. That said, it never felt crowded anywhere at any time, even on the ‘at sea’ days. I think that each cabin having its own balcony helped—I know some people preferred to relax there some of the time in preference to the public areas of the ship. Also, we only had about 850 passengers on board, not the maximum 920.

One of the several pools on board

One of the several whirlpools on board

Sun deck near a pool. Note the shower in the foreground for use before and after the pool

Conservatory pool—the largest, and it has a retractable roof if the weather is inclement. The big screen is used for movies, and they even had the Canadian F1 race on one day

Sakura, the Asian themed restaurant

Our cabin on arrival. Note the large vinyl sheets on the beds to protect the linen from suitcases and suitcase wheels while you’re unpacking – nice touch!

Our lounge area, with bubbly on arrival, metal water bottles for us to keep, some sweet treat. Also included (but not shown) was a fully stocked bar fridge and bottles of wine and spirits to our liking

Our balcony, with 2 chairs, a table and a day lounger

Dressing and vanity area, with lots of hanging space, coat hangers (they give you more on request), robes, and the top drawer is shallow for jewellery and small things and has a glass top so you can’t miss anything. Above the hanging space is a storage area for hats, bags etc., also with a glass bottom so you can see your stuff up there.

Full size bathroom with a full length vanity area and a small fenced area above for extra storage. The towels were wonderfully large and very fluffy, and the floor was heated

The end of the shower recess had a ledge where you could put things or sit, and it was out of the splash zone of the shower, so nothing that went there got wet. Yes, it was a very long shower space!

Part of the shower furniture. Not shown is the large rainhead above. The grab rail was in a good position and the toiletries were out of the way of elbows etc.

At the stern is the small infinity pool, a heap of sun loungers and yet another bar

Conservatory pool at night after they closed the roof

Today’s adventures involved 2 train trips: Siena to Grosseto, a bit of a wait, then Grosseto to Civitavecchia, the port for Rome.

So, when does a paid for seat reservation on a train not equal a reserved seat on a train? When you get onto Coach 3 and look for your allocated seats of 9A and 10A only to find that 10A exists but 9A doesn’t! Fortunately, the train guy found us 2 other seats in the same coach that he said weren’t listed in the reservation system. Not ideal but at least we were in the same coach as each other and our luggage.

These were my last train trips in Italy and overall the experience has been great. Every train has been on time (I wasn’t expecting that), all trains had working air conditioning, and many were newer rolling stock, with only a couple perhaps made in the last 20 years (nothing earlier). Checking tickets (Eurail Pass in our case) has been hit and miss—I think our tickets were checked maybe twice on the first 5 sectors. They must be losing a lot of money because of this (someone on Facebook did mention that the fines for no ticket are VERY high in Italy [EU200 or more?] so it’s a big risk to travel without one). And train travel is certainly the best way to get from A to B in Italy. Even the regional trains are in good condition, though some stations were better than others (2 of the elevators to the platforms at Siena didn’t work the 6 times we used that station, twice with luggage). Luggage can be a bit of an issue—some carriages have luggage racks, but many don’t. Some train doors open flush to the platform, but many have several steep steps you have to negotiate quickly with luggage (typically the train is in the station for maybe 2 minutes and in that time you have to find your coach [1st or 2nd class and your reserved seat, if you have one] and get yourself and your luggage up the steps and onto the train). We found that one of the most useful pieces of travel kit we purchased were retractable luggage locks—we used them to tie our luggage to a railing or a bike or luggage rack. They removed the worry that if our luggage was out of sight, as it often was, that someone might take off with it, or that it would roll about the floor being a hazard to everyone.

We arrived in Civitavecchia (the port for Rome) late morning and spent a lazy afternoon wandering around the waterfront area, finding where we had to go to access the cruise terminal, having a bite to eat (we shared a carbonara and salad), then cooling off in the air conditioned apartment watching a couple of movies and doing laundry. A slow afternoon/evening to take the edge off all the recent travel and activity.

Tomorrow we start the next part of the adventure!

Locking our luggage to racks with retractable locks was a terrific idea, and they were well worth the purchase

Civitavecchia waterfront a cruise ship in the distance (not ours)

We went to the medieval walled town of Montepulciano today. It was really lovely, but I’m quickly learning that ‘medieval walled town’ in Europe invariably means a bloody big hill, often with no accessible roads, and typically with LOTS of steps and cobblestones/uneven ground. Also, often with LOTS of tourists (and yes, I’m well aware of the irony/hypocrisy of making that statement when I was there as a tourist too!) and tourist-trap shops. We took the train to Montepulciano station from Siena (there are only a couple of regional trains a day on this route), then a bus to the bus station below the walled town. What no-one told us was that there’s another little bus that takes you from the bus station up and up to the town. We found that out after we’d climbed the steep hill… Yes, it was hot.

There was also a little tuk-tuk type vehicle up there that took you around Montepulciano for EU10 – well worth it in the heat and with tired feet! It has several pick up/drop off points, with the main one being in the piazza.

After we were done with Montepulciano, we walked back down to the bus station. We weren’t going to be able to catch a bus that would make the 2pm train back and didn’t want to wait for the 3:30 train, so we decided to take the bus to Siena. And it was here that we discovered that the bus routes take you through the backroads and stop in all sorts of small places. At least the bus was air conditioned (as were all the trains we travelled on)!

The bus dropped us at the Siena train station and instead of taking a cab back to our apartment as we’d done previously, we thought we’d take a local bus into the city centre, spend a bit of time at the Piazza del Campo (yes, that name will be emblazoned in my memory forever!!!), then walk or cab back to the apartment to pack for our early start tomorrow.

‘Take the bus into the centre of town’, they said. ‘It’s much cheaper than a taxi.’ ‘You just have to go across to the shopping centre over the road, then go down below and all the buses are local and will take you into town.’ Problem was, that info was wrong and we caught the WRONG bus!!! We caught the bus that had Piazza del Sale on its sign, and I assumed that was the piazza in Siena (20 July 2025: I’ve just looked this up and the Piazza del Campo in Siena is sometimes referred to as the Piazza del Sale!!! Quote: “The Piazza del Campo, Siena’s main public space, is sometimes referred to as Piazza del Sale due to its historical function as a marketplace.”)

After we’d passed the outer walls of Siena and headed into the beautiful Tuscan countryside, we realised we were probably on the wrong bus. Fortunately, the young couple sitting opposite us spoke good English and they confirmed our fears. They advised us to get out at the next stop, cross the road and catch the next bus back to Siena. The bus we were on wasn’t going to the piazza in Siena at all, but to the piazza in Grosseto, some 75 km away!!!

We got off on the outskirts of a tiny town (Isola d’Arbia) some 15 km out of Siena, walked across the road and consulted the bus timetable (in Italian, of course) posted at the stop. By this time it was well after 4pm. On a Saturday. In the Italian countryside. And I think I mentioned it was hot. From what we could read and interpret, the timetable indicated that the next (and last) bus *might* come around 7:15pm… Mild panic set in—we had reservations to catch trains from 8am tomorrow to be in Civitavecchia to embark on our cruise!!! I called the only taxi company in Siena (I hadn’t had a good run with them but it was the only option). Fortunately, the person I spoke to spoke good English and told us a taxi would be there in about 15 mins, but that we’d have to pay the fare from Siena and back. At that point I didn’t care what they’d charge!!!

After about 20 mins the taxi arrived, thank every god under the sun! Yes, it WAS expensive, and yes we did get dropped off at the Piazza Del Campo where we’d originally intended to go an hour or two earlier. We wandered about for a bit then had a long cold drink and a well-deserved pizza, before heading back to pack for our early taxi ride to the train station tomorrow. Never a dull moment!

Looking over the Tuscan countryside from Montepulciano

What colour leather would you like?

The tuk tuk was able to go up the narrow streets of Montepulciano

Piazza del Campo – at last!

Able to laugh about getting on the wrong bus! A mojito and a shared pizza helped, as did my linen dress and cool sunnies from Florence.

Florence today…. and 16,775 steps (almost 11 km) registered on the pedometer app! Train to Florence early this morning to beat the crowds at the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio bridge, which worked well, then wandered around quite a bit. By the time we got back to both places, it was pretty packed. And it was hot and humid. I gave in and bought a light linen dress (Eu100) and immediately felt more comfortable. More wandering about, trying an Italian gelato (fig and mascarpone for me—delicious!), eating real bruschetta, watching through a restaurant window to see how the pasta dish, cacio e pepe, is finished in the wheel of cheese [memo to myself: MUST try this in Rome!!]. And of course, a visit to see the David.

Things that caught my attention about trains in Italy and Switzerland:

• Northern Italy is well-served by trains. There were at least 30 train journeys per DAY just between Siena (population about 53,000) and Florence (about 360,000), a driving distance of about 80 km. Where I live in Australia, we had 2 trains per day between the city near where I live (80,000 population) and Perth (2.6 million); distance about 160 km. When I say ‘had’, they stopped the trains a few years ago to do major works further up the line near Perth. Rumour has it that they will have 5 trains per day once the service restarts late in 2025 (I wish!), but that’s nowhere near the frequency of the trains between Italian towns and cities.
• High-speed trains are brilliant. They go fast, there are no road crossings where trains or vehicles could possibly meet, and they are relatively cheap compared to hiring a car, using a taxi etc. Not as cheap as buses, but they go much faster than buses and don’t stop everywhere.
• Most smaller train stations have an elevator to go below the lines to reach platforms further away. But these elevators don’t always work (e.g. the elevator for the platform we arrived on in Siena was out of order, and we had no choice but to lug our heavy luggage down the steps—fortunately, the elevator at the other end to go up to the terminal was working, and even more fortunately, one of the staff from the train was also heading down the steps and helped us with our luggage. Don’t expect this—there’s often no staff around at all.)

The Duomo, before the crowds

Pontevecchio Bridge – jewellers’ shops before they opened and the crowds came

David’s hands are HUGE and his bum is very nice!

Twirling the pasta in the pecorino cheese wheel for cacio e pepe