We did the 9-day on the recently refurbished Carnival Sunshine. We were planning to be in northern France for a couple of weeks anyway, so I convinced my wife to spend the extra time to cruise. My wife had never cruised before and was not sure about this, but we both had a great time. We picked this one primarily for the Italy-intensive itinerary and we were not disappointed.

We got into Barcelona the day before on the Elipsos train from Paris and stayed at the Park Hotel, which was a great choice. It's close to the old city and train station and to the port. Less than 15 Euros for the taxi to the ship. We spent the day exploring everything below Plaza Catalunya down to the port, including the Ramblas.

On the morning of departure, we had reservations at the Picasso Museum for 10 a.m. (yes, you can do that). That was a great start to the day. We got back to the hotel a little before noon and took a short taxi ride to the port. Embarkation wasn't too bad and we were in our room on the ship in less than an hour. Read more