De la Ville - Civitavecchia, Italy 

Based on reviews found here we stayed at this hotel on June 15, 2008. The front desk clerk Daniela is outstanding and ought to be given a raise in her salary. She did her best to solve the issues we had with our room and with the most pleasant attitude. When we walked into the room, the overwhelming smell of mustiness and faint odor of stale tobacco (it was a non-smoking room) was overpowering. We immediately opened the large window which faced the Mediterranean. After airing the room out, we worked with Daniela to get the air conditioning to work but to no avail. She moved us into a junior suite on another floor. The mustiness was there but tolerable and since we were only staying one night, we decided to just accept it. The air conditioning worked but emitted unpleasant odors. In the end we wound up opening the 2 large windows. The oddest thing about our stay was that we truly believe we were the only ones there and it was a tad creepy, hence the title of my review. Hotel de la Ville at one time must have been a beautiful grand hotel yet during our stay I was expecting the little boy on a trike to pedal down the hall screaming "redrum". The hotel is owned by an Italian chain called the Roses Hotel. Their prime location for pre cruise passengers like ourselves ought to make it a hotel bustling with activity. If our experience is something of the norm, I don't know how they are able to stay in business. While the location is a convenient walk from the train station and the point of embarkation, I strongly urge fellow travelers to seek the 2 or 3 others located nearby. Michele

We stayed one night in De La Ville after staying at La Residenza in Rome, prior to our Med. cruise. We took the train from Termini station to Civit. and were pleasantly surprised. We were to meet the other half of our party in town as they had been booked into Sunbay by their travel agent, and while they like the view from their veranda.....there was NOTHING out there to do and cab rides into town were very expensive for them. They had wished they followed our lead and booked at De La Ville. The hotel is a 2 minute walk to the left as you exit the train station, and the port is another 5 minutes away. The hotel faces the Med. and there are many shops, restaurants, a beach directly across the steet, a supermarket for water, wine, and anything else directly behind ( you must walk to the train station, go under neath the passage and make a left , as there is no access to it from the front steets because of the rail tracks ), and by the port entrance straight up the hill is an open air market. The hotel itself is a bit dated, but the rooms are large and clean, the staff very helpful, and the breakfast quite adequate ( not as extensive as La Residenza in Rome, but quite nice ). Once again we were fortunate to have two large windows that faced the Med. We had a king sized bed, a huge wardrobe, tv, sofa bed, desk, table and chairs, a nice tiled bathroom, great towels, and nice toiletries that were provided. Dave M.