This was our first trip to Europe and finally decided we wanted to see a lot of different places and for that gave up time in any one place. We chose the Ruby because of our past satisfaction with Princess and we thought it had the best itinerary. The trip for us was fantastic and it exceeded our expectations. We knew the ship would be fine and it was in good shape and the service was good.

We did a lot of the ship's excursions knowing that we would be herded about at all of the most touristy parts of each port. The crowds in the ports were immense, especially in Rome since there were 10 Mega Ships in port on our visit day. In Monte Carlo we went on our own and were quite happy with that as we found our way up to the Old Town area. The scenery was wonderful, and we got a good dose of life on the ritzy side. In Florence, we took the "Best of Florence and Pisa" tour and we did a lot of walking and looking at most sites from the outside. The weather was a bit iffy and we had umbrellas, but if you forgot yours the local vendors were quick to pull out weather gear for you. We did get to go inside the Academia and saw "David", but again it was very crowded and we were kind of herded through. All in all we did get a good flavor of Florence but one would need a week to really see all the wonders of that town. In Rome we had a great tour guide named Max, he was really into his craft and seemed to enjoy telling us about what we saw. We did the Coliseum and the Vatican. We got into the museum and the Sistine Chapel and then the wonders of wonders, St. Peter's Basilica. One thing about the organized tours, you have tickets to get inside, and get to go to a separate admission gate. That was good. In Naples we chose to take a bus to Sorrento for a couple of hours, and then to Pompeii. It was a good day and had a nice tour of Pompeii. The sea day that followed was welcomed, and along with a bunch of our new friends, we did some laundry. A lot of other cruisers had the same idea. With a 12 day cruise it was nice that the Ruby has a Laundromat.

Our next stop was Mykonos, and we did it on our own. We saw the organized tours in town and were glad we chose to see the sites on our own. The ladies did some shopping, too. Read more