This was a really awesome cruise and I feel we did most things right. There is not much I would change. I chose this cruise for the itinerary. I wanted to see a fair amount of Italy but also wanted to experience Greece, Turkey and Spain and I got to do all that in 12 days. Yes I would have liked to stay longer at many of the places but then I would have a had a 30 day cruise. Perhaps somdeday I will make it back to some of these places to see them more in depth. We only had one day in Barcelona and that was not enough. I would also like to go back to Venice to spend more time. All of Italy was heavenly.
The Princess Ruby seemed to have the best itinerary and it was a nice ship and at the right price. I also considered Azamara for this cruise because I like the smaller ships for Europe but the price difference drove me back to Princess. I found myself eating at the International Cafe many days rather than go to a restaurant. They had some great salads and gelato.
If you can swing it I would recommend a balcony cabin for Europe. The scenery going into and out of the ports was breathtaking and I was too tired at the end of the day to go up on deck. I also saw some very pretty sunrises and sunsets from the balcony. And when you consider you are in your room for 12 days the little bit extra cost for a balcony room is really not that much more.
I used euros or my credit card everywhere I went. The ship had machines onboard to change our dollars to euro which was quite easy to do. I did have to get some euro at the airport in Barcelona when we landed at the beginning of the trip in order to pay the taxi to the hotel but after that I just exchanged my money on the ship. When I used my credit card I did make sure they swiped it in front of me and only once as I have heard of instances where people have been double charged. I had no foreign exchange fees with my card as I had a Capitalone. And of course call your credit card company before you leave the country to tell them or they may put a freeze on your card.
I had heard alot about pick pockets so I carried my money in a belt under my shirt although I still carried a bag for other essentials such as water. sunblock, camera etc. Our group had no problems at all and never did we feel at all threatened or unsafe.
I think the best thing I did was to reserve some drivers for us before we left. We had drivers pick us up at the ship in Florence, Rome, Naples and Kusadasi and then take us back to our ship late in the afternoon after our private tour. Our drivers also got us "skip the line passes" at the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and Colosseum.This worked out really well. We got to see what we wanted and did not have to wait for 50 other people on a bus to go to the restroom etc. Because we divided the cost of our driver between 8 people the cost was less than booking a shore excursion on the ship. We also had a driver take us directly to the airport on the last day in Venice which was very convenient.
In the entire 12 days we did not experience a drop of rain which I'm sure must be unusual. However, I would recommend taking a rain poncho just in case. There is no going back to the ship to get something once you leave it in the morning.
We started our trip on May 30 which worked well too. The only place we had huge crowds to deal with was in Rome. It was a holiday so I'm not sure if Rome is always that crowded but I understand that July and August are more crowded and hot too. Spring and fall are the best times to go.
Because this was a destination cruise we had only 2 days at sea and we needed those to rest up. The Ruby is a big ship and I thought it might be nice to have walkie talkies if you were not in your room and wanted to find someone but we managed without. I really can't think of anything much we would have done differently.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this and email me at becki@cruisetogether.com if you have any questions or comments.
Now it's time to plan that next trip! Where will that be? Stay tuned.
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