We originally booked this cruise for March of this year, but NCL cancelled the itinerary - presumably scared of the political situation in the Middle East - but as it was an itinerary that we really wanted to do we took the option of rebooking for October, and very glad that we did. By the by, we understand that Egypt is being taken out of the cruise for later sailings and replaced with Crete and Naples so we were fortunate to get the itinerary that we wanted.

This seems a strange decision as we felt perfectly safe everywhere in Egypt, and the people were very friendly and excited to have tourists back.

We arranged our own travel out to Rome rather than pay the usual excessive cruise company charges and had a pleasant flight with BA, other than the usual scrum in T5 at Heathrow, and our transfer through Get Your Guide worked well. We had decided to fly out early and spend a couple of nights in Rome prior to departure and were delighted with our hotel - Hotel Crosti - which we would highly recommend. Around a 10 minute walk from Termini Station, it is quietly situated and although it only serves breakfast the owners also have a restaurant further along the road with excellent food. Read more