Four of us went on the Norwegian Jade for a 10-day Mediterranean cruise to celebrate my daughter's graduation. Late October to early November 2012. Rome, Italy (Civitavecchia) ? Olympia, Greece (Katakolon) ? Athens, Greece (Pireaus) ? Ephasus, Turkey (Izmir) ? Cairo, Egypt (Alexandria). I would say we were all very pleased. The weather was mostly very good (Not too hot, not too cold). The time of year and the number of sea days vs. port days I think was just about perfect. Since this trip was mainly to historical areas, we made an attempt to see the main historic sites.

We were coordinating from 4 different U.S cities. We were able to get flights that all met up at JFK airport in New York about the same time. We were so blessed to just beat hurricane Sandy. By the time our flight took off, 19 of 30 incoming flights on the board were cancelled. There were already evacuation notices for beach communities. No outgoing flights were scheduled later than 4 hour after our actual take-off (the airport was already apparently shutting down).

We wisely chose to get to Rome a couple days early. Our flight from JFK was almost 4 hours late. By the time we arrived at Fiumicino Rome airport, took the train into the Termini station (I think about 14.50 Euros) got Roma Passes (can be a good deal if you are there 2-3 days), and walked to our hotel, we wound up arriving 15 minutes too late to enter the Coliseum (they had just changed to winter hours... you had to enter by 3:30 p.m. I think). But we got gelato, walked around that whole area, and then took a long walk to many of the popular squares: Dinner near the Campo Fiori, then to Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Piazza Colonna, Trevi Fountain, and Piazza Spagna. Read more