Spent 3 nights in Rome at the Westin Excelsior before departing. Wished we had spent one night more! We used private guides for the Roman Forum and the Vatican. Booked the Scavi tour (underneath St. Peter's Basilica) 10 months in advance and it was the highlight of our vacation. Like being in the movie National Treasure as my 19 year old son put it! Used Rome Cabs for all of our transfers and they were wonderful. Highly recommend them!Boarded the ship at about noon (after a stop at a local grocery store for bottled water and 2 bottles of wine - note to others- don't buy the fizzamante water if you just want PLAIN bottled water). Thanks to our Rome Cabs driver for stopping at the grocery store. We ate lunch at Bistro on 5 and everyone loved it! Check in to our side by side balcony rooms and they were great. We were on the hump, so our balconies were extra big. Our only concern came when the family of VERY LOUD teenage girls checked in next to our kid's room and we could hear them all the way in our room with the door partially open. They were yelling on the balcony at each other and we thought UH OH... said something to our cabin steward and from then on, not so much a problem. Guess you can pick your cabin, but not your neighbors!!!Messina/Taormina - the only ship tour we took. Herded on a bus with 50 other people - and one obnoxious guy from our hometown of Dallas- and headed to Taormina. Lovely town with cute little shops, best pizza and cannoli we have ever eaten. Saw the Greek Theatre but was very disappointed because it was covered up with signage from the Taormina Film festival. Waste of money! Wish we had 4/5 hours there to wander and sit and enjoy the view.Sea Day - We enjoyed this for some much needed down time. Sat on the balcony and read books and worked out.Athens- Due to the unrest in Athens, I booked a driver - Private Greece tours with Nikos at the last minute. A wise decision as he met us at 7:30am, we were on top of the Acropolis at 8:15am (with very few other people) and he shuttled us all over Athens with ease. Would use him again! Back to the boat at 3pm having seen what we wanted to see.Ephesus - Used Ekol Tours and Rabia as our guide. She was excellent. Spent 2 1/2 hours at Ephesus (see the Terrace Houses) and then headed to Sirince Turkey for lunch and shopping. AMAZING!! The restaurant could have been built 200 years ago but the food was delicious and the village quite charming. Shopped in the bazaar for several hours and wished I had bought more but it is very overwhelming. Probably our favorite day.Santorini - Breakfast on the balcony to watch the ship sail into Santorini (breathtaking) and headed down early for tender tickets. Off the boat at 7:15am and searched to find a cab to Oia... Finally found one and headed off to the beautiful city of Oia. We had the cab driver wait because we were concerned about getting back, wished we had stayed another hour. We got some beautiful family pictures in this unbelievable setting!!! Headed back to Fira, which by then was overrun with cruise passengers. Not fun! Ate lunch at Nikos restaurant overlooking the boats and it was fabulous!!! The fried feta cheese appetizer was outstanding...30 minute wait for the cable car in the hot sun put a bit of a damper on the island..Rhodes - Our least favorite port. Knock off shopping and trinkets and too many people. Only place we would not care to come back to.Mykonos - We were the only boat in port and that made a huge difference. Take the cruise ship shuttle for $10 each into town. We weren't expecting much, but loved Mykonos. Very quaint streets and shops and it was fun just wandering around. We were "ruined" out by then, but kind of wished we had gone to Delos. LOVED Mykonos.Naples - We hired Simply Amalfi to pick us up to tour Positano, Sorrento and Pompei. Catherine was very nice and took us wherever we wanted to go on our time schedule. It was our most expensive day (by far) but we saw it all! Headed to Positano first to beat the weekend traffic, then back to Sorrento for shopping and lunch - great pizza at Z'antonio's - then on to hot and dusty Pompei. It was a VERY clear day, so we saw Vesuvius and Capri clearly but hot (and we're from Texas, so we know hot!) We allotted 1 1/2 hours for Pompei, but should have stayed an hour more. Used Rick Steves audio podcast and it was good but confusing at times. Back on the ship by 4pm with plenty of time to spare.The ship - Our cabin steward was amazing!! Asked for ice water one day and found it in our room every day after that. Food was good, not great, but more like good country club food. Our lunches at hole in the wall places in port were actually better! The service at dinner was outstanding and we loved our waiters. We ate breakfast on the balcony on port days and that was wonderful too! The entertainment was good. Lindsey Hamilton (from London's West End) was amazing as was the Cirque de Soleil type show. We had high hopes for the Broadway show but were disappointed and the Dean Martin show was just ok.. We loved the ship and would certainly come back again. Already planning (in my mind) our next trip - Eastern Med. but including Istanbul next time. It was a WONDERFUL trip and the entire family made memories that will last a lifetime!!