Our cruise buddies wanted desperately to go to the Meditteranean so we somewhat reluctantly said yes. We picked a June 2 departure our of Barcelona. Flew into Barcelona two days before and had a great time in Barcelona. So much to see and do. I was dissappointed that NCL didn't have any pre-cruise activities so we booked our own Barcelona tour and it was great. Struck out on our own the night before the cruise and went down to the beach and ate paella overlooking the Med and it was great.

On cruise day, we arranged for transport to the cruise doc and embarkation was very smooth. The least smooth part was all the port personnel telling us to go in different directions, but finally got the eye of an NCL employee who herded us in the right direction. (There were at least three other ships leaving on the same day, so some confustion was inevitable. Luggage made it to the room in record time and our first day at sea was crowded on deck as you'd imagine, but finding a deck chair was easier than I expected, especially if you went in mid afternoon as people were starting to filter out and there was still plenty of sunshine to enjoy.

First stop was Naples. All the excursions stopped by the cameo factory. Boring, but I figure they make all the cruise excursions stop there because somebody has connections. It is mercifully short. Our next stop was the hike up Mt. Vesuvius. Fairly strenuous, and the weather was nice up high, but bugs were horrible. Not biters, but if you opened your mouth, you'd get an extra dose of protein. Afternoon was spent in Pompeii and it was great. The hightlight was that the "house of ill repute" was open while we were there and got an extra eyefull of the risque parts of the city. As the afternoon wore on, it got more crowded. Read more