The best part: You can visit a new port every day or almost every day without having to move your suitcase one inch and you’re pampered and catered to by the friendly cruise staff all hours of the day and night. The worst part was some of the added costs, particularly for the purported internet connection on the ship.  More on that later.   

     We had been thinking about going on a cruise for more than a year, but our plans had been delayed for a variety of reasons, including a little anxiety about whether it would be a good idea or not.  We had hoped to do the eastern Mediterranean, probably leaving from Italy’s east coast and seeing Greece and Turkey, possibly Egypt.  For the time we had blocked out in September there were limited choices.

      We found several cruises that looked promising and decided that one with MSC -- an Italian line that got its start shipping freight, not hauling guests around on a cruise ship -- looked good.  When I contacted Orbitz, I got a savvy travel agent, Sue Matthews, who specializes in cruises.  She asked me why I chose MSC, and I told her we liked the itinerary and price – and I asked here why she asked.  She said some of her clients had not been too happy with their experience with the line, although a recent one had been.  We decided to consider some other possibilities – including shifting to the western Mediterranean – and wound up with Royal Caribbean. 

     Besides seeming to have a generally better reputation, it was likely to have a lot more passengers who spoke English and it also had longer stays in port. It wound up being a good decision, also because you pay for ship services in dollars, not in euros. 
     We had some great experiences, not the least of which was meeting many other people.  Even if you’re not great at striking up conversations, all you have to do on a cruise is ask someone where they’re from of whether they’ve ever cruised before.  The conversation will inevitably lead in many interesting directions.  We made some nice acquaintances and one new set of genuine friends – not bad for a week that was filled with lots of dining, some shows, pool time, exercise and five different shore excursions in Genoa, Italy; Villefranche, France; Barcelona, Spain; Palma on the island of Mallorca; and Sardinia.
 

Taking the cruise tours
     Some travel experts criticize the tours offered by cruise lines as overpriced and not always that good, and based on our experience I won’t dispute that.  But for us, with such short stays in port -- usually less than 12 hours and as little as 7-1/2 -- it seemed the best option because we wouldn’t waste a lot of precious time figuring out what to do or how to get around. Royal Caribbean offered nearly 50 shore excursions at the five stops, ranging from $32 to $182 per person.  It worked out pretty well, although I don’t think we would do it exactly that way again.  We might sign up for one or two, but we would see most of the ports on our own or with a guide contracted independently of the cruise ship.

    The benefits of cruising are well known, even if you never saw Kathy Lee Gifford tick them all off on the old TV commercials for Carnival Cruise Lines – your food is included, so is your entertainment (which is substantial), there are exercise rooms and swimming pools and plenty of other things to do.  Our ship had the Royal Caribbean rock climbing wall (no thanks), a basketball court and an ice rink, not to mention an array of spa services.  There is shopping for clothes, jewelry and other items on the grand promenade, and there was a special area on the ship for kids and teenagers, with activities aimed at them. There's even a ship library.
     The dinner menu changed each night, with several choices and a few regular items – steak and chicken – for the diner who didn’t quite see something he or she liked on a given night.  Dinners usually featured at least one vegetarian option.  The wait staff seemed to handle special diet needs very well, although they occasionally needed to be reminded.  We chose the My Time Dining, which gave us a choice of dining anywhere between 6:30 and 10 p.m. rather than being locked in to a regular time each night.  There were two nights calling for formal attire, which required a little extra packing and planning. The overall quality was equal to some of the better restaurants in any large city, although I did have one evening meal – a pasta dish with a few slivers of sausage – that was less than satisfying.

Dining choices abound
    However, you never go hungry on a cruise.  The Navigator of the Seas has some dining options that cost extra – the Portofino featuring Italian cuisine, the Chops Grille featuring steaks, and the Johnny Rockets Café, an “all-American” diner.  There are bars throughout the ship, with a variety of hours:  the Pool Bar, Solarium Bar, Two Poets Pub, Schooner Bar, Champagne Bar and on and on. And the Café Promenade was open 24 hours a day and it's free, making it a great place to go for a snack or light meal if you happened to miss one or just had a hunger pang.  I found it a great place to pick up the first cup of coffee in the morning to enjoy while getting ready to go to breakfast in either the Windjammer Café (buffet style with lots of choices) or Nutcracker Dining Room, where you could get regular service and order dishes like eggs benedict or omelets, pancakes or French toast.  Beware the waiter offering fresh squeezed orange juice, however – there’s an extra charge for that. 
    Royal Caribbean’s policy does not let you bring any liquor on board, you have to purchase it on the ship.  You can’t, for instance, buy a bottle of wine in a port of call and take it to your room.  They take it when you return to the ship and give it to you at the end of your cruise.  It makes for a more expensive experience (which is of course why they do it), but prices are no worse than at most restaurants, bars or major league baseball parks. You can get a beer for around $4 or $5 and a glass of wine for $6 up.      
    The internet was really the only major disappointment. There’s a computer area open 24 hours and wi-fi is supposedly available in select locations on the ship, but not in individual staterooms.  I had visions of using my new netbook to easily keep in touch with family and friends and check sports and news online.  But at 55 cents per minute it was a ripoff, an opinion that several passengers expressed and one I agree with.  The service is incredibly slow, which must make it a great profit center for Royal Caribbean as you sit there for more than a minute or two waiting for a page to download.  It took me more than ten minutes to get one or two very brief emails sent. After the first couple of tries, I kept my use to a minimum but still spent $58.08 additional for the “service.” At a rate that equals $33 an hour it was just not worth it.

Pangs of regret   
    That off my chest, however, I was surprised in the waning day of the cruise – a day at sea headed slowly back to the port of Civitavecchia – how I felt some twinges of sadness that it all had to come to an end.  When you have seven days of every meal being prepared for you, never having to wash a dish, never having to clean your cabin or make your bed, of friendly shipboard staff willing to help you at almost every turn, it’s hard to say good-bye to all of that.
    I had enjoyed the dining choices and the food, two early morning workouts on the jogging track on the upper deck (5 laps to the mile) watching the sun come up, the time spent at the (crowded) pool area and the surprisingly spacious workout area with all manner of weights and exercise equipment.  There was the over-the-top decorating on the ship, the visit to a new port each day, sitting on our balcony at 4 a.m. watching the full moon cast a shimmering path across the surface of the Mediterranean, the visits with many other passengers, mostly at mealtime but on tour rides and the shopping promenade, too.  
    A last-minute glitch occurred on our bill as we were leaving the ship on Sunday morning. A $22.14 charge appeared from that morning at the Schooner Bar. We had purchased a beer and a glass of wine there on Tuesday night (which was on our bill), but had not been back since – certainly not for two drinks apiece before 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning.  We had looked at our bill on our TV in the room and it all seemed OK, but we decided to make one last check at the guest relations desk on the way out.  Lucky we did, because that charge had been added in the interim.  We challenged it, and guest relations specialist, after a couple of phone calls that took less than five minutes, removed the charge.      
    That accomplished, we were on our way off the ship to pick up our luggage and board the shuttle bus to the Rome airport for the 18-hour journey home – happy we had made the effort to enjoy this week in Disneyland for adults. 
                                                                                                               -- Posted 10/6/2009