-Stayed over night in Rome the night before the cruise...2nd time in Rome, enjoyed it and was able to walk about the city relaxed since I saw the sights the first time around. Took the train to the cruise port, walked to the front of the port and the cruise provided a bus that takes you right to the ship.-Embarkation was easy, cookies and water while you waited in line. Took passports, which we got back after we left Greece.-Ship: Ship is newer, but the style seemed like someone from the 90s designed it...still nice and didn't seem old, just whoever designed it was in the 90s and not in the 2000s. Always things to do. My husband and I chose to relax this cruise rather than running around to all the activities. Pools were too cold to swim in, but hot tubs were good in the gym and outside areas. Our room was spacious and we never had trouble finding a seat anywhere for anything. -Entertainment: Bingo is always expensive...hard to swallow when you pay $40 and only play for 12 minutes because the guy next to you from Texas wins $1000! Shows were all good, the only recommendation I would make would be to have more shows rather than individual performers. After a piano player, violinist and guitarist I was hoping for some variety. The musicians around the ship were the best! We would grab a seat at the Schooner Bar or Pub and just hang out and sing songs most of the night. There was a dance club, but hardly anyone in there and the Quarter machines in the casino are fun to play, but they are rigged...you are warned! Ice show was the best! Get there early!-Food: Always something good to eat. We had breakfast in the dining room a few times when we could get up for it and they had traditional breakfast options along with a fruit and granola buffet you could help yourself to while you were waiting for food. Lunch buffet was always tasty. Dinner in the dining room was also always good...especially the desserts. If you want to save money on booze, I suggest getting the drink of the day (you get to keep the glass) or drinking 1/2 your bottle of wine at dinner and they will save it again for the next night. I will say that I did get ecoli poisoning the last couple days of the cruise and was miserable. I did eat off the ship and it was right when the ecoli outbreak was starting, so who knows where I got it, but I didn't hear of anyone else having the same problem on the ship. Didn't try any specialty restaurants...really wasn't a need to and there is a 24 snack bar with lots of munchies like pizza, desserts and sandwiches.-Athens, Greece: My husband and I almost never book excursions through the ship to save money. We always bring a GPS with us to help navigate and maps that we print out from frommers.com. We walked from the cruise port to the train station...it was a fairly long walk and Athens isn't pretty. Lots of stray dogs, awful fumes from traffic and constant smelling of piss. I've been to 17 countries and Athens goes down as 1 of the dirtiest! The train station isn't labeled to get you to the Acropolis, so luckily we found others to help out...research this before you go and hide your personal belongings. At the Acropolis, it is really just ruins. I've seen the better parts of it in museums in Berlin and London, but they are trying to fix it up. Do not touch anything! I went to take my picture in a field where stray dogs were roaming around and people were sitting on columns and I placed my hand on a pot for the photo and a guy came out of no where...cursing at me with his fist in the air like he was going to punch me. Needless to stay, I left crying and since I wasn't on a tour, there was no one to complain to. From there, I went straight back to the ship and was pretty much traumatized in Athens. In all the 17 countries I have visited in Central, North America and Europe I have never had an experience like this! Women, carry tissues with you for the bathroom!-Rhodes, Greece: Much better than Athens! Lots of little cafes with traditional stuff and you can walk around the city on your own. Beautiful scenery and lots of souvenir shopping. Tried Ouzo, 92% proof, tastes like licorice. If you are looking for a cheap lunch...keep looking...we overpaid and found a place for 1/2 the price right around the corner. No need to go on an excursion here, just read ahead and go on your own.-Ephesus, Turkey: My favorite port of the entire cruise! The people mostly speak english and were super friendly. We opted for our first cruise excursion here and were taken to the house of the Virgin Mary and the Ancient City of Ephesus...I do recommend a tour here with Tura Turizm...very knowledgable and good story telling. Beautiful scenery and if you are religious you will know all the stories and if not, it's just really cool to walk down the same road as Cleopatra and Caesar! Ate lunch at a beautiful resort with a delicious buffet! At the end of our tour we were taken to a Turkish rug shop. Now don't get me wrong, the rugs were really beautiful and take long to make, but for a small 3x3 carpet, $1000! If you are not interested, don't even blink at them! Turkish people are brutal salesmen...my husband was getting suckered in and for the price of 1 rug we could get new windows for our entire house, so I had to pull him away! Excellent shopping right outside the port and cheaper than Istanbul, so do your shopping here...Turkish eyes, lamps, scarves, etc. ...and by the way, I was able to get my husband a wool Turkish rug made in Turkey on Craigslist for $75 when we got home! -Istanbul, Turkey: This is the 2nd largest city in Europe...it is crowded! Very cool to immerse yourself in a 99% muslim population where men travel with men and hold hands, the same for women and women are covered. If you are a woman, be prepared to pay to use the public restroom and to pee standing up into a urinal type hole! I still don't know how they do it, but it wasn't pleasant trying! You can walk over a bridge from the port into the city or I would recommend catching a taxi a couple blocks from the port because they will charge you more at the port. Restaurants at the port are outrageously priced. When you walk over the bridge there is an underground market selling cheap garbage from China...the Grand Bazaar is also overpriced crap from China. However, I highly recommend the Spice Bazaar for good, authentic shopping. Took a tour with Viatour of the city, but regretted it. You can do everything on foot and pretty much may under $20 to see all the main sites...food on your own is really cheap. Blue Mosque was nice, the Basilica Cistern was cool...you can walk and do these on your own. Spice Market was my favorite stop. Dinner at Matbah restaurant was a highlight! Very romantic and the best food of the trip!!! Highly recommend. We made reservations ahead.Naples, Italy: Garbage was everywhere because the mob controls it. Booked another tour with Viatour, this one was worth it. Went to Pompeii and our tour guide was awesome! Ate pizza and wine for lunch...also amazing and part of the tour. Then climbed up Mt. Vesuvius with ecoli poisoning, but still made it to the top! When you see how their society lived not much differently than ours, it seems that all we have done in the past thousands of years is create the internet. Bought 2 bottles of wine from the mountain...should have bought 2 more! Red and white both good!The only thing that was disappointing on the cruise was that the cruise always left port during dinner, so if you wanted to eat in the dining room, you missed taking pictures or seeing the sites off the top of the ship.