We are quite new to cruising, it was my second cruise only. As we are quite flexible in terms of dates, I found this really incredible deal on the Costa Atlantica, which we booked about 4 months ahead.

Living in Switzerland, we took advantage of the direct bus transfer from our hometown Basel to the port of embarkation, Savona. We left at 6am. What is most comfortable is that you leave your bags outside the bus in Basel, and the next time you see them is in your cabin on the ship. Also for older cruisers this is very comfortable, they don't have to carry any suitcases. Well, on the way back, once you leave the ship, you have to claim your bags and take them to the bus. To make sure they are loaded on the right bus. There it is not quite as smooth as on arrival.

We sailed from Savona at 5pm, the next morning we arrived at Napoli. We did the tour to Pompeii, which is highly recommended. Our tour guide was not very good, unfortunately, his comments sounded more like playing a tape. The next stop was Messina. The tour to Mt. Etna was cancelled, as there was already snow up there. Anyway, I have been to Sicily, Taormina, Mt. Etna before, so we did not plan to do any tour there, we went for a walk in Messina, had a nice caffè latte, and spent some time in an internet cafe (wow, it's expensive aboard the ship! We never used it.) Read more