We thought we were going to see downfall of the Euro at first hand as most of the ports we were due to visit were in Italy and Greece, two of the four ailing economies of the Eurozone, so we christened it the Great Euro-Crisis Cruise. But on reflection we should have called it the Absolutely Fabulous Equinox Cruise.

During the entire cruise we didn't seen anything resembling a crisis and the people in all the ports we visited all looked happy as they went about their daily business. And even the captain's warning on our flight from London to Rome that we might be delayed for nearly two hours because of the general strike in Italy that day came to nothing, for as soon as our plane pushed back at Gatwick we were told that we had a slot and we arrived in Rome on time to find the buses and trains were all running and not a demonstration to be seen.

We stayed overnight at the four-star Hotel Artimide on the Via Nazionale right in the heart of Rome and it was delightful, if a little pricey. We were upgraded to a suite and, wonder of wonders, the minibar was complimentary. We'll definitely be staying there again. Read more