This was our first cruising experience. We added the 10 day Roman Empire cruise to our 5 week European Adventure. It was my mother-in-law's life long dream to go to Europe. Unfortunately, she did not make the trip, however our family of 4 continued on with the plans we had made in April.

Let me say - I was reluctant to go on a cruise, but my mother-in-law had raved about her Mexico cruise and we thought this might be a nice way to see parts of Europe without the hassle of too much travel and most importantly, the packing, unpacking and shelping our luggage every couple of days. We also selected this cruise because it made a stop in Messina, Sicily where our older daughter had spent a year as an exchange student a couple of years ago.

We arrived in Civitavecchia, and experienced a very smooth check-in at the port. Our luggage was handled efficiently and courteously. We were on board the ship and in our room in less than a half hour. We met our friends in the check-in line and were in the LIDO restaurant within 1 hour of arriving at the Port. Read more