Hello from Naples, Italy!  After 8 hours of touring Rome yesterday, we boarded a train for Naples, where we are visiting our friends who are now living and working here.  On Monday, the 4 of us will make the drive up to Civitavecchia, where we, along with 2 other friends flying in Monday morning will board Celebrity Equinox for an 11-night Mediterranean cruise.

Not thinking, we did not pre-book our train reservation for the trip down to Naples, so we arrived at Termini station at Friday rush hour to find a crowded mess.  We wanted the Eurostar train, but all were already sold out, so we settled for an inter-city train with first class seats, price 54 Euros for the 2 of us.  I should’ve known that was too good to be true as our train mysteriously disappeared from the board about 15 minutes prior to departure.

After standing in a line that made Amtrak look like a paragon of efficiency, we found that there would be no 5:30pm train, and instead, we would have to take the 6:30pm.  And oh, by the way, seating not guaranteed as the train is full.  Long story short, we stood for the entire 2 hour train ride.  Note to self, and advice to you: have your travel agent procure your train tickets in advance of your trip if you know when/where you are going.  I’m very thankful we did this for our train trip to Venice following the cruise.

I know I promised a review of American’s Next Generation Business Class (NGBC) seats this weekend.  I’ve actually started the review, and could finish it today.  But in order to give American a fair shake, and you a more complete picture, I want to wait for our return flight home before publishing the review.  One, I’ll be mostly over missing our connection to Rome on the way to Italy.  And two, our return trip is aboard a 767-300.  So I can give you my thoughts on our 777 J class flight to Italy, and the 767 flight on the return.  I know there are some service differences as I understand American added a few touches to the 767 service because there is no First Class cabin on those aircraft, and I want to have the full experience before I post about American’s NGBC seats and service.  I will say that I had no issues at all sleeping with the slightly less than 180 degree seat on the 777 flight over.  The 767 seat is a bit narrower, so it will be interesting to see if that makes any difference at all in my ability to get comfortable.  So….never fear, a full NGBC review is coming, but not until our trip is complete.