Post-cruise Stay in Rome

At the conclusion of the Transalantic cruise we spent five nights in Rome including a day trip to Florence by train. Rome has many famous places to visit but many are expensive and very crowded. The crowds of people surprised me as we were there well before the peak summer season.

Transfer from ship to Rome: The Princess bus transfer was $59/person from the ship to some unspecified “central location”. Since we were traveling with another couple, we were able to arrange a private transfer directly to our hotel for about $50/person. This was much more convenient and civilized.

Transfer from Rome to airport: by the time we were leaving Rome there were just two of us. The train would be 14 Euro each with some hassle with the luggage. The hotel offered a private transfer for 46 Euro total. The price difference of about $23 total made the private transfer a bargain.

Hotel Mediterraneo: While planning the trip I believed that a hotel near the main train station would be very useful. I found that this location was very convenient. But given that many sites are within walking distance and the subway system is really efficient, I wouldn’t bypass another hotel in a reasonable location. I booked the Bettoja Mediterraneo Hotel, across the street from the train station with upscale rooms and nice rooftop bar/café.

The room was very nice with hardwood floors and marble bath. A small TV had a variety of Italian stations, CNN and ESPN International (seemingly only soccer). The rooftop bar was pleasant but the weather wasn’t conducive to sitting outside and the price for drinks was very high ($8 for beer). The breakfast room was very pleasant and the ample buffet spread was replenished regularly. Rome hotels are expensive and this hotel cost more than I wanted to spend ($280/night); fortunately the Euro collapsed a bit during the trip bringing the cost down to $250 a night by the time that the charge cleared. I am normally willing to ‘pay extra’ for a good hotel location but not for a ‘fancy’ hotel. This hotel is great for those that appreciate a beautiful lobby and marble bathrooms; in retrospect, for me, I would have booked a place $50-70 cheaper in the same neighborhood.

Restaurants: after 14 nights on the ship we weren’t exactly in need of elaborate meals. As we wandered around near the hotel, every block had one or more “Restaurant/Pizza” establishments. Most had similar menus, though prices varied. About half had ‘fixed menus’ with a few courses for a set price and some included wine in the fixed price. We ate lots of thin-crust pizza, mostly very good. Our best meal was antipasto and wine at Cavour 313, a wine bar about a mile from the hotel. There was a really good gelato place on Cavour near the Maggiore piazza.  We had a nice lunch at L’Antica Birreria Peroni, a quasi-German beer hall near the Trevi Fountain. We also had several moderately priced, decent-to-forgettable meals near our hotel.

Touring Rome: with our 3 ½ days in Rome and 1 day in Florence we managed to hit most of the key tourist sites in these two cities.

--The most important thing in planning a visit is to learn when sites are closed; for example the Vatican is closed on Sunday and most museums are closed on Monday. So we visited many sites in Ancient Rome on Sunday and the Vatican on Monday.

--The next most important thing is to determine which sites allow pre-booking to avoid multi-hour lines. Another alternative is to join one of the tour groups being formed outside the attraction. This will double the already high admission price and reduce your flexibility.

--We discovered that even though our pre-booked tickets specified an entry time, at all of the museums but one we were able to enter early, saving us a lot of dead time. The one exception was the Galleria Borghese that only allows entry during specific 2-hour windows.

--Audio tours: we downloaded a several MP3 tours from www.ricksteves.com. I purchased a headphone ‘Y’ adapter at Radio Shack so that we could both listen to the tours from one MP3 device. I feel that his tours are well done and that they added a lot to our visits.

Day trip to Florence: the train takes about 90 minutes and costs just over $100/person RT. We spent about 7 hours touring Florence. The Academia, home to the original Michelangelo’s David, is a small museum that is best to pre-book. I didn’t realize photos were forbidden until after I got several shots of David. When I noticed that I was the only one photographing, I figured it out. The Uffizi was very large and would have been overwhelming without an audio tour. I was glad that we visited Florence independently rather than on a limited-time ship shore excursion. Note: some ship shore excursions include admission to one or both of the key museums while others provide merely bus transport. If visiting with limited time, advance bookings or guided tours are essential.  Photos are David and the River Arno's Ponte Vecchio bridge.

Favorite Rome church: While St. Peters in the Vatican is impressive, the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, built in A.D. 432, is more user-friendly. It is located a short walk from the train station. Here are a few photos:

Rome Church, honorable mention: San Giovanni in Laterno, the first Christian church in Rome, was established in A.D. 318. It is located a few subway stops from the train station, near remnants of the old city wall.

Favorite ancient site: The Pantheon, a Roman temple built around A.D. 120, is considered Rome's best preserved ancient site. The fact that it became a church fairly early prevented a lot of the destruction found at other ancient sites.  It was very interesting and relatively uncrowded. The Rick Steves audio tour provided good insight into ancient construction techniques.

Least favorite famous site: in the Vatican Museum I experienced a major tourist overload. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of people are herded past thousands of paintings and relics on a long slowly moving march towards the Sistine Chapel. Fortunately photography is forbidden, otherwise the herd would have stumbled over each other. The Sistine Chapel is truly amazing but the famous ceiling containing Michelangelo’s paintings is very high up and binoculars might be useful. We did discover the shortcut from the chapel directly into St. Peters (avoids another queue and an additional security check).  I was glad that we had seen the movie "Agony and Ecstacy" recently and that we could listen to the Rick Steves audio tour.

Sites I had to see but really didn’t get: the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Maybe it is better if you are single and go at night.

Conclusion: Our 3 ½ day itinerary allowed us to see a lot of famous sites without undue stress. Note: we allocated zero time for shopping.  You could probably hit the important highlights in two days if you are well organized (and not there on a Monday).  Alternatively you could spend a bit longer and do some other day trips such as Ostia Antica.  We very much enjoyed our visit to Rome but I didn't throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain.  I found the high prices and crowded sites to be a bit off-putting.

Crown Princess Tranatlantic, Marseille and Pisa

Marseille France: the tour books generally recommend using Marseille as merely a jumping off point for travel to visit more interesting parts of the French Provence countryside. I considered visiting Avignon, an old town on the Rhone River that was home to the Popes during the 14th century. I also considered visiting Aix-en-Provence, originally a Roman town, now populated with several universities. I selected a Princess shore excursion that included both Aix and Lourmarin, a charming village with a large renaissance castle. This excursion was advertised as ‘on your own’ but the tour guide provided very informative walking tours of both locations.

Our excursion began with a bus trip through the Provence countryside. Upon reaching Aix, the bus parked near one of the major fountains, a good landmark to help us find our way back to the bus. Most of us followed the guide as she walked down the Cours Mirabeau, the main street that separates the old town from the new town. It is lined with rows of plane trees. Interesting houses and shops are on both sides. Aix is known for fountains and several are seen as we walk along the street.

Next our guide led us into the old town where it was market day. Stalls were set up with a variety of produce, art and other goods. Our guide then pointed the way back to the bus and suggested that we spend the next few hours roaming the streets of this charming town.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The bus trip to Lourmarin gave us great views of rolling hills, several large chateaux, and vineyards. The small village was difficult for the bus so it parked on the outskirts and we walked into town. We were greeted with sidewalk cafes and many boutique shops, most closed because of a French holiday. We thoroughly enjoyed wandering through the narrow residential streets admiring the brightly painted doors and hanging plants. We even found a cat sunning in a flower box. We spent so much time wandering the village that we barely had time to tour the castle grounds. This is a beautiful village well worth a visit.


Anecdote: we were told to return to the bus by 3 PM. Everyone was back on time, except for two people. At 3:15 the guide announced that she had received permission to leave but that she was going to wait five more minutes. With one minute less the errant and unapologetic couple strolled onto the bus. This is one downside of shore excursion tours. Has that couple been left they would have been in serious trouble as there is no public transit to that village and a cab back to the ship would have cost several hundred Euros.

Tip: an excursion into the countryside is definitely the way to go in Marseille. One couple of our dinner companions stayed in Marseille in search of bouillabaisse; they were disappointed with the city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Livorno (Pisa) Italy: Livorno is a busy industrial port stop primarily used by cruise ships for access to Florence, a few hours away by bus or train. Since I planned to visit Florence as a day trip from Rome I selected another plan. I studied the train schedules and planned to take a taxi to the train station, then go by train to Lucca, a charming walled medieval town. The return train allows a stopover in Pisa where we could quickly tour the leaning tower.

Unfortunately we awoke to a steady downpour which increased significantly by the time of our scheduled departure. Since Lucca is primarily a walking town, it seemed silly to brave the rain for a visit. We decided to wait onboard and see if the weather improved. About 10 AM the downpour lightened. and I went out and chatted with the taxi coordinator. We were offered a private taxi for four people to go to Pisa and back with two hours wait time in Pisa for exploration, all for 120 Euros (about $150 US). Since we were traveling with another couple that wanted to see Pisa, this was a good plan (and somewhat cheaper than the Princess excursion by bus).

Our cabdriver drove carefully through a heavy downpour as he wound his way through the highly industrialized dock area. About 20 minutes later the rain gradually lightened as we entered the city of Pisa. Pisa receives some bad press in the tourbooks, declared to be a destination with few charms other than the “Field of Miracles”, a broad grass lawn that surrounds the major church (Duomo), its belltower (the Leaning Tower), and the Baptistery. The cab parked in a taxi zone about 2 blocks from the famous area.

The Duomo was our first Italian church and it is truly impressive. We took lots of pictures inside the church and, of course, of the leaning tower. We spent almost two hours wandering about this area and really enjoyed our time. This was a nice excursion but I’m sorry that we missed Lucca due to the weather.

Our dinner companions enjoyed their shore excursions. One couple used a Princess shore excursion to visit Cinque Terre, five villages along the coast north of Livorno. The other couple arranged a private tour of Tuscany that included wine tasting.

Tip: many passengers travel to Florence by shore excursion or independently. Two famous museums in Florence are the Academia and the Uffizi Gallery. Some shore excursions include one or both. If traveling independently, it is important to prebook tickets to either of these museums to avoid substantial wait times.
The pictures below depict the Duomo, the leaning tower, inside the Duomo, the Baptistery and a portion of the medieval wall.

Crown Princess Tranatlantic, Gibraltar and Spain

Gibraltar: after 8 days at sea the Crown Princess arrived at Gibraltar on a rainy day. Gibraltar is a tiny British territory (2.6 square miles, population 30,000) that has always been strategically important as it overlooks the narrow entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. It’s most famous landmark is the 1,398 foot tall “Rock of Gibraltar”.

The ship docked a moderate walk away from the main city. We were glad that we had brought our rain jackets and travel umbrellas as they were definitely required for our exploration. One of the highlights of visiting Gibraltar is a trip by cable car up to the top of the rock. From there you have great views across to Africa. Unfortunately we found the top of the rock shrouded in clouds so we hiked over to the botanic gardens. We found that there was no admission charge and began wandering the various paths that crossed the 15-acre gardens. These gardens would be beautiful on a clear day and we enjoyed them even in the rain.

As we concluded our garden exploration the weather improved somewhat and we wandered over to the cable car station. Outside the station were a number of cab drivers selling tours by road for about $40/person. They claimed that their tours were cheaper than the cable car, avoided walking, and offered a better use of your time. We went inside to find that the cable car trip was approximately $12/person with an additional charge of $12/person to visit the caves, historic tunnels and the nature preserve (credit cards accepted).

Given the marginal weather we decided to take the cable car trip, then return to the ship. After a short wait we boarded the car for the trip up the rock. The mist hampered views but I’m sure that it would be spectacular on a clear day. Upon arriving at the top we were immediately greeted by one of the famous Barbary apes (actually macaques, a tailless monkey). There are about 230 of them in Gibraltar, many residing in the “ape den” about half way up the rock. He was sitting passively on a fence, generally ignoring the tourists who approached cautiously for a photo.
As we looked out from the landing the rains returned, then cleared a bit. This went on for quite a while. I took several pictures during the clear times, then we took the cable car back down and began walking towards the ship. Since we are not shoppers we passed by the various shops but noticed a sign for a glass blowing demonstration in one of the glass shops. It was interesting to watch a group of workers creating wineglasses with a running commentary about the process.

Tip: the official currency is the British pound but there is also a Gibraltar pound in circulation. Avoid accepting the Gibraltar pound as change as it is unusable outside of Gibraltar.

Alicante Spain: our next stop was the historic port city of Alicante, located about ½ up the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Much of the local economy relies on tourism to the local beaches of the Costa Blanca. We found it to be a very pleasant city to stroll. The city was a moderate walk from the ship.

Our first stop was the ancient Castle of Santa Barbara that overlooks the city and port. It is reached by an elevator or a vigorous hike. The castle itself was not particularly interesting but there were some great views. After leaving the castle we found an ATM machine and obtained some Euros. Then we visited the Basilica of Santa Maria, our first “old church” of this European trip; it was built between the 14th and 16th centuries. Next we wandered the esplanade, a wide pedestrian street paved with colorful tiles and lined on both sides with large palm trees. At one end several vendors sell a variety of products. Sharon purchased two belly-dancing belts for only $7 each. On our way back to the ship we passed the popular Postiguet beach, filled with folks enjoying a beautiful afternoon.

Tip: we thoroughly enjoyed our unstructured wander through Alicante but our dinner companions also enjoyed ship shore excursions; one couple visited the small village of Guadalest, the other visited an archeological site at Eiche.

Barcelona Spain: Barcelona is another city that is easy to wander; purportedly the most popular tourist destination in Spain. Here the architecture seems significantly different than any American city. The port is closed to pedestrians so a shuttle bus is used to reach the city. The shuttle dropped us off at the Christopher Columbus statue that sits at the southern end of the mostly pedestrian street, Las Ramblas. A key attraction is the colorful Boqueria Market filled with dozens of stalls selling fruits, vegetables, meat, wine, and much more; sort of like Pike Place Market on steroids.

Another popular site is the Sagrada Familia church that was designed by Gaudi. This privately funded church has been under construction since 1882 and won’t be completed for another 15 years or more. Admission to the church is about $16; my research showed a significant split as to whether it is worth going inside as there is lots of scaffolding inside supporting the ongoing construction. When we got there a line stretched around the church and it was raining; I took a few pictures outside and then we set off by taxi to try to reach the Barcelona cathedral in the gothic quarter. Although we got there in time, they closed early that day so we couldn’t go inside. After a brief stroll through the gothic quarter we rejoined Las Ramblas and headed back to the ship.

Our dinner companions enjoyed their ship shore excursions. One couple visited Sitges, an old fishing village and the other couple visited Montserrat and its 1000-year old Benedictine monastery.

Tip: tourist publications warn of major pickpocket activity. We were careful but later heard that several cruise passengers were victimized.

Transatlantic cruise on Crown Princess, May 2010

On May 1 Sharon and I embarked on the Crown Princess cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Rome. The voyage began with 8 days at sea followed by port stops at Gibralter, Alicante and Barcelona in Spain, Marseille France and Livorno Italy. The Crown is the sister ship to Princess’ newest and largest ship, the Ruby. It accommodates 3,120 passengers (double occupancy) but our voyage only carried about 2,600. During this voyage I discovered lots of interesting features of the ship that I had missed on my brief voyage on the Ruby two years ago.
What I particularly enjoyed about this trip:
--Days at sea during the crossing: the voyage began with eight days at sea prior to the port stops and there were plenty of activities to keep people busy. I particularly enjoyed the daily ‘enrichment’ lectures. One series was presented by Jim Kennedy, former director of the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. Jim covered many aspects of the space program from the early days of Sputnik, the manned missions to the moon, the joint ventures with Russia, the space shuttle, the international space station, and possible future space exploration endeavors. His lectures always emphasized the contributions of people to the success of the missions. The second lecturer was Marlane Renner, author of “The Elephant in my Living Room”. Her lectures covered various “self help” topics.

--The food in the main dining room was quite good, particularly considering the low price that passengers paid for this cruise. I did notice that the portion size was reduced (actually to a quite reasonable size) and there were fewer of the more special entrees compared to previous cruises. The waiter and his assistant seemed to be spread a bit thin but they did a really good job. We heard good comments about the two specialty restaurants, particularly the Italian one, but we didn’t try either. Overall the meals were very enjoyable.

--Chef’s Table is an extraordinary dinner experience offered to ten participants only a few times during each cruise. This dinner costs $75/person but everyone agrees that it is money well spent. Think of it as a shore excursion on the ship. The evening began with a brief tour of the galley where the chef and maitre d’ provided an introduction to our night ahead. French Champagne was served along with four beautifully presented hor dourves. We then proceeded to a large table in one of the main dining rooms for our continuing feast. Beef carpaccio was followed by mushroom risotto. After a strawberry sorbet intermezzo, the main course appeared. A filet, a lamb chop and scallops accompanied a huge lobster tail along with a variety of vegetables. Then three desserts and a dessert wine finished the meal. I’ll post a bit more about this evening in a separate topic.

--The atrium, called the Piazza, is a center for lots of ship activity and it provided a very pleasant environment for relaxing. Several times per day there is live music and there are occasional skits by ‘street performers’. Surrounding this area is an upscale coffee bar (small fee), a wonderful pastry counter (free, and much better than the pastries offered in the buffet), a gelato stand ($1.50 for 3 scoops) and a wine bar. The wine bar serves free sushi and free tapas with no wine purchase necessary. It offers wine by the glass or bottle and featured six different flights of 3 wines each (2 oz pours) for about the price of a glass of wine.

--The evening entertainment was well done and entertaining. There were four ‘song and dance’ production shows, an excellent comic (Troy Thirdgill) and an excellent vocalist (Jamilia) and some other acts.

--The port lecturer did a very good job at preparing us for the various port stops. Unlike the typical Caribbean port talk that only mentions places to shop, this lecturer provided a very good overview of the ports, their history and places that could be visited independently. He also briefly summarized the ship shore excursions available.

--The TV in the stateroom offered a wide variety of options including repeats of the lectures and port talks, modern films, films related to our destinations, shows on history, art and nature topics, and CNN International.

--There is a jogging track on deck 19 aft that can be used for power walking. The track is 1/16th of a mile in circumference so a one-minute circuit yields a four mile per hour pace. This track is easier than trying to walk the promenade deck where you must dodge past older folks and working crew members. It was a good way to burn off some calories from our Chef’s Table experience and my frequent visits to the pastry bar.

--Pre-cruise stay in Ft. Lauderdale: it is essential to arrive at the embarkation port at least a day early on a transatlantic voyage because, if you miss the ship, you really miss the ship. I booked a red-eye flight on Jet Blue, nonstop SFO to FLL and one night at the Sleep Inn in Dania. This hotel belongs to the Choice Hotels group and is very popular with cruisers. This property would be considered to be in the ‘budget’ category. The room is perfectly adequate and the $77 rate included tax, pickup at the airport, drop-off at the cruise pier and a pretty good breakfast. The hotel was walking distance to a grocery store with a decent wine selection, several restaurants, a kayak rental shop and was a one mile walk to the beach. We enjoyed a 2-hour kayak paddle through the mangroves at the nearby West Lake Park. We really enjoyed our early dinner visit to Tarks, a very casual Florida fish house.
Things that I didn’t particularly like:

----Inside and Ocean View cabins are very small (but have good storage space). Be aware of cabins configured for 4 passengers as the fold-down upper berths further cramp the room. Balcony cabins are much more spacious.

--Shows in the main show room and the Explorers Lounge tend to fill up early requiring you to come about ½ hour prior to the show to obtain a seat.

--Captain’s Welcome is basically useless. It is held on the three floors of the atrium. Warm flat sparkling wine and sweet drinks are complimentary but not worth the calories.

Tips for others cruising on the Crown (or Caribbean, Emerald or Ruby):

--there is a coffee bar in the atrium that offers brewed coffee and various specialty coffee drinks. If you purchase a 15-drink beverage card, you can obtain brewed coffee, tea or hot chocolate at no charge and these items don’t count against the 15 drinks. The card doesn’t expire and can be used on multiple cruises. If you plan to use it for the free drinks, make sure that you don’t use all 15 punches on specialty drinks as it will be retired with the 15th punch.

--the International Café, in the atrium area offers a wide variety of pastries throughout the day. Many of these are small so you can try several without a great amount of guilt. At lunchtime they also offer quiche, panini, and various salads. This is a very nice alternative to the buffet for a quick light lunch.

--Sushi and tapas are provided in the wine bar at no charge and no wine purchase is necessary

--Shows in main showroom and Explorers Lounge can be very crowded; get there quite early as they fill up. They will offer you drinks in the Explorers Lounge, but there is no problem if you decline.

--for the Past Passenger cocktail party go early and snag a seat near the bar, otherwise you will have difficulty getting drinks. Just before the conclusion, order a glass of wine and take it to dinner.

--the Adult pool and hot tubs are an area that is much more civilized than the main pool areas. It is most easily accessed via the spa on deck 16 using the forward elevator or stairs.

--travel agents can use the computers to surf Princesscruises.com and to perform any Polar Online activity without burning your internet minutes. You access Polar via the ‘Travel Agent’ link at the bottom of the free Princess homepage.

Whale of a time

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of chaperoning a large group from Wilcox High School biology class and a small group of 6 special needs seniors to Monterey. It was a beautiful day, about 74 degree on the long bus ride up there (I highly recommend you do not take a school bus - it had no leg room!) We were quickly assigned to our vessel and headed out past a long peer of sunning sea lions.

It was a peaceful trip until we traveled beyond the break wall. It was a very windy day and the swells were really tossing us around. We just scanned the bay for almost an hour while Katie, our Nature guide, gave us facts on the wild birds, sea lions and the occasioinal otter we saw.

We finally heard that a shipping vessel, not too far away spotted a pod of 5 Orca whales. We took off, along with all the other whale watching ships for the new location. At first, we could only see an occasional splash, but we were so fortunate that the whales wanted to play. They tail splashed us, did head stands and one even floated around belly up for awhile.

We watched and chased the Orca's for almost an hour until they became board or hungry. Then they just disappeared.

We had a very chilly ride back to the wharf as the wind kicked up. We got pretty wet, but it was so worth the trip!


You can view all my photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=tracy1g&target=ALBUM&id=5468734292518388849&authkey=Gv1sRgCJSgmof-m8jbPA&feat=email

Princess Commodore Graduation Cruise

Princess Sapphire-7 days-Mexician Riveria-April 03-10-2010 Quaint Mexician Cities:Puerto Vallarta,Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. Nice sunny/hot weather blue ocean water and cool breezes in the evening.

Questionaire was delivered to our state room to answer and to ask Ship Personnel about certain key questions of the line and informing us to meet with the future Cruise Cordinator. I found the questions very interesting which added more knowledge about the Princess fleet. When the questions was completed-it was turn in and later received a letter from the Captain that I have officially completed my Commodore Status.

Their was nine benefits that was given to Princess Commodores/Elite Status(Clients-16 cruises):
Complimentary Mini-Bar,Internet Package,Shoe Polishing,Laundry Services,In Room-Afternoon Tea,Deluxe Canapes,Wine Tasting,Priority Tender Embarkation,Priority Disembarkation with Complimentary Pastries and Coffee, and 1o% Boutique Discount.

I do want to express my appreciation to Princess Cruise Line for this excellent educational program and the on board experience. It was very enlighting and informative.

Aria Resort & Casino Las Vegas

The Aria is awesome. The moment you enter the lobby, you feel the spaciousness of the entire facility. We were greeted by a hotel personnel and directed to the check-in area.
The hotel rooms are done in earthtones with a ceiling to floor window. The bathroom is large with the shower/tub area enclosed in glass. The toilet is also enclosed in tinted glass. There are 4,004 guestrooms, including 568 suites.
During our stay, we dined at the Sky Box, which is a sports cafe - great for lunch. The Lemongrass (a Thai Restaurant) and the Blossom (a Chinese Restaurant) both served excellent food. We had breakfast at Jean Philippe Patisserie, a pastry, candy and coffee shop, every morning. The Aria has 16 restaurants.
The casino area is huge with miles and miles of machines. I was told on my tour that air freshner is released from the bottom of the slot machines to help with the cigarette smoke. I must say, the machines very were unfriendly.
We went to see "Viva Elvis", which we totally enjoyed. The theater has a seating capacity for 2,000 guests. At the end of the show, little red banners with "Viva Elvis" were released from the ceiling.
Aria is connected to Crystals - the world-class shopping mall in City Center. You can also tram to Vdarra and the Bellagio or walk to the Monte Carlo.
We enjoyed our stay at Aria and will definitely plan a return visit. "Viva Aria"......Marilyn