We chose the Regatta's Istanbul to Rome cruise because of the ports visited, smaller ship and the month we were available to travel.

Embarkation: This could not have been easier. We were dropped off at the dock and within 15 minutes had handed over our luggage, gone through security, filled out a two question form (basically stating that we arrived in Turkey healthy), got in line to provide a credit card number and have our pictures taken, passed through passport control and onto the ship and in the Terrace cafe.

Our room: Because this was our 25th anniversary cruise we splurged on a PH suite. We were in room 8058 -- port side -- I believe 3 rooms from the back. The room was very spacious -- lots of storage and tastefully decorated -- all blues, whites and dark wood. Another reason I chose a PH was, I admit, I wanted the bigger bathroom -- with an actual tub/shower. And I am happy to say, that for me, it was well worth it. I enjoyed the space to shower and even take a couple baths with the lovely Bvalgari bath salts left every day. All the Bvalgari products were wonderful and smelled so good. We were able to get into our room right away after boarding the ship (at 1:00) and our bags were waiting for us as was our butler. He was very nice and I'm sure would have done anything we asked but we really had no need for his services. The only thing we asked him to do was swap out our welcome bottle of champagne for a bottle of red wine (which was kept with the wine -- somewhere behind the scenes) and get us a deck of cards. We also had breakfast in our cabin a few times and afternoon canapes a couple of times. Our housekeeper was extremely cheerful. Read more