Very nice cruise----we liked royal Caribbean----the staff was helpful, the feeling on board was mostly low key and relaxed, the food was great, we liked the solarium with pool and hot tubs that could be used in all weather, the gym, the sauna and steam rooms, and the walking track on top deck. Stateroom with big window was very comfortable. Entertainment was mostly (surprisingly) good but I got tired of the cocktail music in the atrium. We traveled in April which was a good time to do it---we were told the tourist places get mobbed later into the summer and a lot of Italy gets really hot. We did have a fair amount of rain but the temps were very moderate so it was comfortable. On the subject of food, we found that the buffet offered most of the entrees served at the sit down meal, plus great salads. We ended up eating there most of the time because of open scheduling and seating.

We were on a budget on the trip so we couldn't afford the tours offered by the cruise line, and we found our own way around at every port. I want to write about what we found at each stop and pass along what we learned--it took some work each place to figure out how to get around and where we wanted to go. And also to give some general information about this cruise and going to Italy. This was our first time in Italy so it was all new to us.

FLYING TO ITALY--we used frequent flier miles--we found when first calling that not many seats were available---and many routes available weren't so great. We kept putting flights on hold and every time we'd call something new would open up. We were allowed to stay over at any one european hub where we changed planes, so we could stay there some extra days at no extra airline cost. We found that England was expensive and complicated--they wanted hundreds of dollars extra just for us to change planes there. We ended up with a flight that connected through Istanbul, so we stayed on there for 3 nights on the way home. Very interesting addition to the trip. Also they put us on Turkish airlines back to the US which was a very enjoyable flight. In the U.S, you can also do an extended stay at any hub, so we stayed in New York city an extra 3 nights for no fee. Read more