We chose to spend 4 days in Barcelona prior to embarkation. We wanted a chance to get to know the city and to get adjusted to the time zone. It worked. Barcelona is a great walkable city with fabulous public transportation and something for everyone.

Having a hotel close to the Plaza Catalunya was the way to go. The location was perfect, close to everything, including the Metro and the tourist buses. Well worth the higher cost.

We've been to Madrid and southern Spain before and were surprised at the difference between them and Barcelona. The culture is definitely more Catalan and European than the more Moorish influences in the south. Pretty much everyone was at least conversant in English and most signage was in three languages (English, Spanish, and Catalonian), so it is very easy to navigate and communicate.

Don't see Barcelona without visiting Gaudi's architectural wonders, but take time to explore the old city and get lost in the Gothic Quarter. Don't miss the Mercado de La Boqueria and see a Flamenco show. The hop-on, hop-off buses were a good way to get around and a two-day pass is reasonably priced for the convenience (but I suggest bringing your own earphones).

We actually started in Villefranche, not Nice and opted to do it ourselves. None of the ship excursions appealed so we planned to head up into Provence to St. Paul de Vence. Well worth the effort! (It wouldn't have been as much effort if I'd taken better notes.) I bought the train ticket (and that's a short walk from the pier) to the Cagnes-sur-Mer and then we got off a stop too early (Cros de Cagnes). Oops! Instead of waiting an hour for another train, we wandered the area a bit, marveled at a street market that might as well have been a mall for the variety it sold and then defaulted to calling Uber. Our driver was prompt, took us through gorgeous countryside and tiny, winding roads (some so small that he had to back up to make room for oncoming traffic) and got us to St. Paul in short order (much faster than the bus would have).

I highly recommend this town. It's a medieval walled city on a hill overlooking the Provence countryside in all directions filled with art galleries and cafes. We shopped, took a ton of pictures, had a wonderful lunch on La Tilleul's patio until a storm started coming in, bringing much colder temperatures and gray skies. We had coffee and dessert inside. Then caught the bus back into Nice proper.

It was a long bus ride that deposited us in the middle of Nice nowhere near the train station (which, again, was my fault for not researching the proper route to get back), not that we necessarily had time for the train at that point. Uber to the rescue again, except I picked the wrong Villefranche port. Luckily, hubby took a picture and a local at the pier directed our driver to the right pier. We arrived back with 20 minutes to spare before the last tender. Whew.

Of course, the weather had blown in and the tender ride was a rollercoaster with water bashing the front of the little boat. The pilot was a hero for navigating us safely through that. Needless to say, it took a couple of glasses of wine before I was calm from all the excitement!

The next port was Livorno, Italy. We hired a private driver from EnjoyTuscany by Linker and this day was spectacular. Not only did we get to see everything in Florence and shop (buy leather here! So many beautiful leather goods!) and eat, we also had time for a tour and wine tasting in a Tuscan villa. And, yes, Tuscany is every bit as beautiful as the photos. This was the way to see Florence. It didn't cost us that much more than a ship tour and it was just the two of us so you can imagine we got to do and see exactly what we wanted all while being back to the ship in plenty of time.

In Rome, we used the same company as in Florence (EnjoyTuscany by Linker) and once again had an incredible day. Dave whisked us away from the ship and begin telling us about Rome and the countryside. It was quite clear that he loved Rome and seeing it through his eyes was marvelous.

We toured Rome and saw everything except the inside of the Vatican which was our choice. We toured the Coliseum, saw all the vistas, the Circus Maximus, the Trevi Fountain, and on and on and on. We had a wonderful lunch, an incredible coffee, saw one last view of the city from the heights and then were confronted with a major traffic jam on the highway. His company alerted him before we got stuck in it and Dave took the back roads and still managed to get us back to the ship on time, earlier than most of the buses. A heroic effort.

Overnight in Venice. We didn't schedule anything for Venice because we wanted to do it ourselves. We did end up touring the Doges Palace and took so many pictures I thought I was going to get carpal tunnel of my shutter finger!

We didn't go up the Campanile because it was late the first day and so foggy the next morning that it wouldn't have done any good. Instead we walked along the canals, through alley ways, shopped (buy Murano glass), ate the best, freshest seafood I've ever had for dinner and then ate lunch the next day at a little family run Trattoria and just wandered to our heart's content.

We didn't spring for a gondola ride because the weather wasn't great and they are ridiculously overpriced. It was a great time to be here because there were hordes of people, but the weather kept them down and staying overnight meant we got to see Venice when most tourists had left. After sunset you could find places all to yourself and just wander, taking in the lights sparkling along the canals.

I do understand why people might not like Venice. It can flood and get crazy crowded and I suspect that later in the warmer months it could get smelly as well. We might not have seen it with full sunlight sparkling across the water, but that was a trade-off I was happy to make.

Last port was Kotor, Montenegro and the approach was amazing. It literally took us an hour and a half to navigate the waterway between mountains to Kotor. Again, another lovely, walled town.

Hubby opted to climb to the fort at the top of the mountain. I decided that sitting in a cafe and drinking and eating was a better choice. If it'd been warmer, I think I would have enjoyed a boat tour where you could bask in the sun and sight see.

I'm not going to blame the port for a RC issue, but I should mention that tendering here was a problem. We were all assigned numbers but they stopped calling them after #4 and then we waited and waited and waited. I realize the problem was that a Princess ship had the "berth" ahead of us and I don't think that was planned for because the tender ride was much longer to get to shore so it limited the actual amount of time we had to spend ashore.

Also, while I was relaxing in the cafe, I met a couple from our ship. They didn't use the RC excursions, either. Instead they took up one of the many offerings at the end of the pier. They had a private taxi take them around to a vista point and back and still had time for a drink and snack in the cafe (as well as shopping time). It sounded like a great way to see Kotor and it, again, was far, far cheaper than RC's excursions.

Honestly, RCCL needs to up their game on excursions or work with more local vendors to provide smaller groups and more variety. I know that's hard and they don't want to be held liable, but with their clout, they should be able to do it.