We were curious about the cruising experience, and now, having completed a 12 day cruise, our curiosity is satisfied. In many respects the experience matched out expectations. Cruising is a very comfortable way to travel, with many of the comforts of home, and limited hassles. It is an inexpensive way to go, too, as food in Europe is very expensive, and a cruise ship provides unlimited food as part of the price.

There were a few surprises. Because the cruise industry has the capacity to dump huge loads of tourists into port at one time, some of the smaller ports were simply overwhelmed with a crush of people, and one could not escape the feeling, from time to time, of being part of a cattle-call. It was rather un-nerving to be part of such a large crowd, and one couldn't help but wonder how we hoards of tourists were perceived by the locals.

I expected, because I'd heard, that shore excursions booked through a cruise line are not a good value (e.g. marked up quite a bit over what one can negotiate independently). We'd done some research on this, and personally felt that what the cruise line tours offered was quite competitive. We were very satisfied. Read more