Alghero - A charming little town, reached by tender from the ship. There's not a huge amount to do, but it is very pleasant to wander around the streets and then spend an hour or so at a cafe sipping a beer or two whilst watching the world go by.

Sardinia

Another tender port and another lovely place. Like Alghero, there is not a huge amount to do, but we had a good wander and enjoyed a drool at the huge yachts and the expensive cars. We decided to head back to the ship for around two for a late lunch.

Cannes

Last time we were there, we went to La Sagrada Famila (an essential visit) but did not go in because of the massive queues. This time, however, I booked tickets in advance online which meant that we by-passed the queues and had plenty of time to gawp at the magnificence and sheer madness of the place. It is walkable from where the port buses drop you off (don't take the Princess shuttles -- they will cost 5 Euros per person each way. Instead look for the blue Port buses to the left as you leave the terminal building. They cost 7 Euros return for two) and will take you about an hour each way. By the time we got back to La Rambla, I was gagging for a beer and ended up paying 12 Euros for a litre which was a bit of a shock!

Barcelona

We 'did' the Rock on our last visit but I fancied exploring the WWII caves and hospital there. On enquiring at the Tourist Information, we discovered that this would cost us Â£36 for the two of us, and that did not include transport! So we had a wander around the town instead. It is rather civilised to sit in the warm sunshine and quaff a pint of English ale.

Gibraltar

This was one of our excursions so I can only comment on Seville, as we didn't spend any time in Cadiz. We were dropped off slightly out of the centre of Seville, but our guide escorted us to the meeting point in the centre. She got maps for us all and then set us free into the wild! We had a wander around the cathedral and the headed for the Royal Alcazar. This is a fabulous place and is well worth a visit. There were official guides outside offering guided tours in English for 5 Euros per person and, to be honest, I wish we'd done that. After spending around two hours there we wandered along to a bar for some liquid refreshment and then just ambled around until it was time to head for our meeting point.

We were dropped off very close the St Peter's Basilica and got straight onto one of the City Sightseeing tour buses. Last time we were there we visited St Peter's and the Vatican so this time we wanted to see the other sights. We stayed on the tour bus until it got to the Coliseum (about an hour and a half) then got off. We did intend to go in to the Coliseum but the queues were horrendous and we didn't really fancy spending most of our time queuing in the heat. We walked from the Coliseum past the Forum (again, we didn't go in as you can see most of what's on offer from the street) and on to the Trevi Fountain which was absolutely packed, but very beautiful. From there we walked to the Pantheon which was awe-inspiring. We then walked back to St Peters and had time for a surprisingly reasonably priced ice cream before it was time to get back on the coach.

This was my favourite shore day. We had an excellent tour guide, Jon, who was an Aussie who had fallen in love with Tuscany and has been living there for the past fifteen years. We were in Pisa by 0830 which meant that the Duomo was not open but it was still very quiet. The Tower is wonderful, and another of my must-sees ticked off my list! We spent about an hour there (which was plenty to be honest) and then moved on to Florence. My Godfathers, it was hot in Florence! 40 degrees C! But what a lovely place. Plenty to see and do and some lovely little cafes and restaurants.

We were upgraded from a lower forward cabin to B739 which is on Baja deck, high aft. We should have refused this upgrade as the movement of the ship was more keenly felt up here. Also, we were above the aft thrusters which meant that whenever the ship was manouevring into port the whole cabin shook like we were experiencing an earthquake. This did not spoil our cruise, but we would never book a cabin in this position again.

Well, we've been back from our two week Western Mediterranean cruise on the Grand Princess (our second cruise aboard the Grand) for two weeks now.I cannot fault the embarkation process, it was so much better and quicker than our first cruise two years ago.

Grand Princess Review

A superb, totally relaxing cruise.

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