My daughter decided that in lieu of a big traditional Sweet Sixteen party that she would like to take a cruise instead. This was perfect because within a few months (before and after) of her 16th birthday, our son graduated from high school, I turned 50 and my husband and I would be married 20 years. After much investigation and discussion, we decided that a cruise out of Rome visiting Florence, Naples, Cannes, Palma de Majorca and Barcelona was our way to celebrate so many milestones. We arrived two days early in Rome and stayed at the Marriott Boscolo Exedra Roma (where James Gandolfini died a year before...a bit eerie but interesting all the same). My husband being a Gold Marriott Member, enabled us (because we had enough points) to stay for points only and him being a Gold Member gave us their full breakfast for free! I love a great freebie...and this was an excellent freebie. It was an amazingly extensive and delicious buffet. The hotel had great options for tours and we booked two through them (The Vatican and Sistine Chapel and the Coliseum and Roman Forum). The Vatican and Sistine Chapel was awesome and (for most of us) the Coliseum and Roman Forum were a bit over much (possibly because we did them both in one day..way too long of a day!). My son would have done both tours and more as he is truly a history buff and loved it all and wanted more. The one tour that we cannot say enough wonderful things about is the evening Walks of Italy Tour. It's a food tour that is beyond fabulous! You walk through the streets of Rome sampling the best of EVERYTHING Rome has to offer (wine, cheese, pasta, meat, bread, soups and of course ending with Gelato and "the best coffee in Rome" no joke...it is!). You learn so much about so many things that you never want it to end. We then arranged a ride to the port through one of the valets, which was more reasonable and friendly than we could have imagined. Antonio was so nice and personable and even agreed to pick us up at the end of our cruise and take us to the airport! Truly wonderful experience which continued on the cruise. This was our first NCL cruise and it (for the most part) did not disappoint. We had 2 cabins, balcony cabin 11104 for us and the corresponding inside stateroom across the hall 11106 for the kids. Our cabins were great and our cabin staff was excellent...absolutely no issues there. Our location was fine but we did find that the layout of NCL Epic was a bit odd. We later heard that Epic was stationed in Europe apparently because us Americans could not stand the layout...and we completely agree. Having experienced Royal Caribbean before this cruise...and loving the layout of Freedom of the Seas...that fact was very was frustrating. The other disappointment was the lack of available elevators. Having to wait 20 or more minutes (unless you wanted to run up down five or more flights of stairs multiple times in one evening) was a bit much. We actually had to roll ourselves down seven flights of stairs on disembarkation day! The worst part to that was the people who were rude and impatient pushing in the elevator before allowing the people to get off. Some with strollers and pushing in when there was no room in the elevator to accommodate one person, never mind a stroller! Most of the cruisers did not speak English (or it was not their native language) and therefore made no effort to engage in the typical friendly exchanges that one would encounter on a ship. We found the children / teenagers to have more consideration and patience than their corresponding adult counterpart. A middle-aged man actually pushed my daughter out of his way hurrying from the fitness center through the spa. His teenage counterpart looking back apologetically. The Spa, though, was amazing. My daughter and I indulged in mani pedi's on our at sea day (we appreciated that they were able to fit us in on the fly on . The food was excellent (especially the coffee!) One particular greeter at the main dining room was so happy and engaging at every meeting we so looked forward to her being there. Unfortunately, we did such long and extensive excursions that it left little time to enjoy many of the ships fun activities. This is something we vow to change on our next cruise. We did though enjoy a wonderful evening at the ships casino enjoying the craps table. Our 18 year old son enjoyed the fact that he could sample some beers and wine and gamble a bit on the ship. Our daughter enjoyed monitoring our chips while we rolled the dice at the craps table. It was a great way to give them an idea of certain things while not making drinking or gambling seem so mysterious and unattainable that they would want to go wild with those vices in the future. All in all, we truly enjoyed our first European cruise but would do things a bit differently on our next cruise which we are in the planning stages now.