The cruise framed a magnificent experience we had with friends new and old, saw awesome sights, basked in ideal weather, steeped ourselves in culture and history, and enjoyed outstanding cuisine. The cruise itself was not the end and be all as we had projected so it wasn't disappointing nor was it spectacular. It was great ship to come home to and recharge as every day was eventful and required lots of energy.

I'll go over the few cruise negatives quickly: main dining room meals turned back, totally inadequate Internet access, and a buffet experiment that is a work in progress. These aren't critical and perhaps just our bad luck.

We are couples from California and Ohio and for five years had celebrated our wedding anniversaries together in Maui Hawaii. This year we decided to celebrate extravagantly as none of us had ever been to Spain, France, or Italy and one of us was turning 50. We toured Portofino, Cannes, and Livorno (Pisa) on our own and saved up for the guided tours in Rome and Naples, as arranged by Miles and Miles and this turned out to be a terrific choice indeed. Read more