We had an amazing cruise on the Spirit's 12 night Grand Mediterranean sailing from Venice to Barcelona. The short takeaway from this review is: book this trip now! Not only would I highly recommend both this ship and this itinerary, I've concluded that it's far better to see the ports in this order. Seeing the ruins in Athens are much more impressive if seen first, rather than last, since the other ports are more impressive. Also, the first half of this trip has a nice mix of half or full sea days to recover from jet lag, and rest after busy port days, in preparation for the very busy week along the Italian coast. I normally hate sea days, but on this trip they were very well balanced. If you do the Barcelona to Venice sailing, the first week is going to be brutal. When even the cruise ship employees say they feel bad for the guests on that sailing, you know it's not recommended. Venice to Barcelona, however, is perfect!
I've broken up this review between each area of the ship, ending with the best part: the ports!
The Norwegian Spirit