My husband and I traveled for our anniversary to the ports of Amalfi, Sardinia, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona, Marseille and Monto Carlo. We had been on Carnival and Celebrity cruises twenty years prior and decided we were not "cruise people." This cruise line changed our minds!
The ship was elegantly decorated, our cabin was large for cruising (B2 veranda), the employees always were interested in us personally, and the food was quite good. The ports were amazing. In Amalfi, we took the public bus to Ravello, a cute town, and then we took the ferry to Positano (beautiful flowers everywhere. tons of scenery, lots of walking uphill, and great lemon soda). Finally we went back to Amalfi to explore but had little time left. Amalfi was a wonderful town as well, and we wished we had more time here. Calgari was our next stop, and we would not return. Lots of uphill walking that led to sights that were not impressive. There were lots of shady people trying to sell items and bars on windows. We loved Palma de Mallorca, our next stop. We travelled to Soller by public bus. This was one of my favorite places on the trip. Such a cute medieval town with interesting boutique shops and the best Sangria we found anywhere. We wish we had more time here. Palma was also delightful to walk around. We did not care too much for Barcelona. We are not big city people, and there was a large amount of traffic and construction. Wish we had gotten tickets ahead of time for La Sagrada Familia and Park Guell. The inside of the La Sagrada was well worth the extra cost. In Marseille, we went to Aix en Provence by public bus. I enjoyed it, but probably would look at other small towns instead. It was quite large. We did not see any lavender fields. Monto Carlo was a nice place. We went to the casino but did not pay to get in. We just went into the lobby, and you could peek in. We also walked to old town (hop on the public bus instead).
I cannot recommend this cruise line enough. We had read it would be a bunch of super old people with limited mobility, but that was not the case. We are in our late 40's and never felt out of place. We were given a choice of $600 or excursions, and I am so glad we took the money. We did all excursions on our own-very easy with the guidebooks we had. We took the cruise airfare since it was included and upgraded to premium economy. We were on Air Canada from SFO and the upgrade was terrible. We took SAS back and the upgrade was definitely worth it. Our flights got us to the cruise early, and of course we had trip insurance just in case. Great air schedule going but not so much coming back. We did not mind though since we were just coming home. Great vacation and no norovirus-thank goodness!
Our cabin was in a great location. We were on port side, and did not feel very much motion. The laundry was quiet and convenient. Elevators were close by. We had plenty of room for two people. Lots of drawer and closet space. There were two showers. The stand up shower was very tight-it reminded us of our motor home shower. The other one was in the bathtub, and it was much roomier.
We had traveled to Rome previously on a land based trip, so we did not tour this time around. Rome is a bustling city, and for new-comers, it would be a good idea to spend a least two days prior to cruising to really see all the top sights.
We loved this port! Someday we will return to stay for a couple of days.