Monday – May 5, 2025
Today we said goodbye to MSC Magnifica but not all the memories created over the last 4 months. The featured photo shows us waiting for our group to be called to disembark. Let me take you through that process.
The night before disembarking we put the luggage we don’t want to carry with us in the hallway by 10:00 pm. It is collected and will be available for us on the day we disembark. People are assigned groups based on their travel needs. As we were staying in Genoa we were in no rush like those who had flights to catch. The groups were given times to report to specific locations on the ship to wait to be escorted off the ship. We were to leave our cabins by 8:00 am and our disembark time was scheduled for 10:15 am. We waited in the Tiger Bar until 10:30 and got the OK to leave at that time. Once our cruise cards were scanned as we left they were inactivated so we could not re-board.
Off the ship we boarded a bus to take us to Italian immigration. At immigration our passports were stamped and we walked to the staging area where the luggage we set out the previous night was waiting for us. We had arranged to have transport from the pier to our hotel with a pickup time of 11:30 but arrived and claimed our luggage at 11:00. I wasn’t sure where the driver would meet us so I called the travel agency for clarification. While on the phone we noticed a driver was there with a sign containing our name so we walked to him and said we were ready to leave. He loaded our 10 pieces of luggage (7 to be checked at the airport and 3 to be carried on) into his van and off we drove to the Grand Hotel Genoa.
The hotel is located on a street on a hill. When the driver unloaded the luggage some of them wanted to take a stroll down the street. Luckily the bellman at the hotel caught them before they were able to do so. We checked in and were assigned to room 209. You’ll see a couple photos of the bedroom which had a balcony overlooking the front of the hotel.
We hadn’t had breakfast and were hungry so we walked down the street looking for a place to eat lunch. Within a block of the hotel we came across the Cellini Cafe, looked at the menu and agreed that they had selections we all liked. The weather was cool so we chose to eat inside. You’ll see photos of our choices – all of which tasted great.
Following lunch we walked further down the street to see what shops were there. There were plenty of other trattorias (restaurants) and gelato stores. We found one with unicorn gelato. Kelsey said she would like to try that – maybe for dinner.
We returned to our room to begin the “fun” process of weighing and balancing our checked luggage. The airline allows 50 pounds per checked bag but charges more if the bags are overweight. We knew we would be paying for at least 1 bag because our class of service on the flights allowed 2 checked pieces per person (6 total) and we had 7 (purchased the 7th in Palermo). We didn’t want to have to pay for overweight bags in addition to the extra piece of luggage. By the time the shuffling of contents was complete we rested for a little while then it was time for dinner.
We decided we would return to the Cellini Cafe because there were many items in their menu and we liked what we had for lunch (both food and service). We were surprised to find it was beginning to rain when we started our walk to the cafe. Again we asked to be seated inside.
When our food arrived I took a photo like we had done on the cruise and in the process 2 women seated behind our table commented about photographing the food. They were from Melbourne, Australia and had just completed a river cruise. This began an interesting conversation about both our trips and our experiences in Australia. We told them about this website and asked if we could include a photo of them. They answered “Yes” so you’ll see a photo of Stacey and Janelle in today’s media.
The food we chose for dinner was as tasty as what we had selected for lunch and the service was equally great. We left the cafe in search of the gelatoria with the unicorn flavor. Kelsey can be seen with her purchase and as she was evaluating the texture and flavor shortly afterward in the hotel lobby.
We went to sleep early as we needed to wake at 2:45 am on Tuesday to be ready for a 3:30 am pickup to get to the airport.
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