Ruby Princess – Mediterranean
by Carolina Ashe

Here is the link to the cruise we took. In case you can't open it, go on the Princess Web site. It's called Grand Mediterranean. It's 12 days, Barcelona to Venice, on the Ruby Princess. The Ports of Call are Barcelona, Monte Carlo (we stopped at Marseilles, so it's changed a bit), Florence, Rome, Naples, Mykonos (Greece), Kusadasi for Ephesus, Istanbul, Athens, and Venice.

Ruby Princess, Istanbul

www.princess.com

It was a very energetic cruise. The shore excursions were not relaxing, they were full day affairs. For many of the really 'hot' destinations like Florence or Rome, it was an hour's ride on bus just to get to the city. The cities and tourist spots are incredibly crowded. Long line ups to get in. Mind you, we were there in August, but I've heard some places like Rome are busy year round. Our cruise lastsummer, where we were mostly on tiny islands, and even in New Zealand, was a very different and more relaxing experience.  Everything was at a slower pace and there were no crowds to speak of in comparison.

There were only 2 days at sea - we would have liked more, to give us time to recover from our power-tourist days.

Of course the good stuff is the amazing history, art, architecture, etc. of the old world. There is nothing to compare it to in our western society. My jaw dropped the first time I saw a building that was 1,000 years old. To someone who was brought up to believe that something 100 years old is an antique, it was a whole new way of looking at things.

In general, we've found from both our trips to Europe (one was a cruise and one was a UVIC travel tour, overland) the tour guides are very, very good. They actually go to school and take exams to get certified as tour guides - it's a career. For the most part, they are passionate about the area that they live in, they are experts at the history, geology, politics etc. of the area, speak good English and are good communicators. They really want you to have a good time and they enhanced our experience greatly, by pointed out things that a tourist would never notice or figure out, and providing the historical and/or cultural context for many of the sights. I still remember several of our tour guides and some of the things they told us.

Places we visited:

Barcelona - We stayed for 3 days before the cruise began and fell in love with it. The architecture by Gaudi makes the city. It's fantastic and magical. The cathedral he started building (which is still under construction) is mind-boggling. I want to go back in a few years to see it again, and see what progress has been made. Barcelona is a wonderful city and easy to get around in. It was usually pretty easy to find someone who could speak English and the people there seem to want to help tourists. I didn't always find that to be true in Italy.

Florence - We did a general tour around some main buildings and statues, and
inside a church. There is a wonderful art museum there, but even as a tour group we were unable to get in - too many people. Our bus tour also stopped by the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I didn't want to go but actually it was very interesting. Overall, I found the day too rushed, and there just wasn't enough time to do justice to a city like Florence in one day. The same was true for most other places. There is such a wealth of things to see, it's always sad at the end of the day to leave it when you haven't even scratched the surface.

Rome - We saw St. Peter's - really, really worth it. Huge, beautiful church - truly amazing. And we saw the Sistine Chapel. How can you go to Rome and not see it? To actually see paintings and sculptures by Michelangelo! (The Pieta is in St. Peter's). We also saw the Coliseum. A packed but wonderful day.

Naples - we didn't go near Naples - it has a very bad rep. Took a tour to Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii. Both worth it, especially Pompeii. I could have spent much more time there, of course, but there are only so many hours so we made the most of it.

Mykonos - It was a little tiny island and could be easily navigated on foot. We took an organized tour to a neighbouring island of Delos, an archeologically site and had a wonderful tour with an archaeologist who works on the island. One of our favourite days of the whole trip.

Kusadasi - It's about a 45 minute drive to Ephesus - again, I keep saying these places are amazing but it's because they ARE! Imagine walking around in a Biblical city, where some of the apostles walked! Seeing the library, houses, etc. that have been unearthed.

Istanbul - 14 million people, not counting the hordes of tourists. Not my favourite day. But we saw great things. Just too hot and crowded.

Athens - We did the trek to the Acropolis. By that time, I was tired and jaded. It was a wonderful day because we had a good tour guide who got us through the maze in good time and we ended up in the most wonderful restaurant for the best meal of the entire cruise.

Venice - definitely worth seeing, although it was not my favourite place. Could have been partly because it was at the end of our cruise and we were tired. There is no place like it, that's for sure. St. Mark's Square is the place to see. Wonderful cathedral. Also the Doge's Palace. The history of the place is very interesting, but when we were there I'll bet the tourists outnumbered the locals 10 to one.

One thing I noticed about many of the places we went to is that it's hard to find a place to sit, unless you want to sit on steps. Very few park benches. So you have to buy a drink to sit. And you usually pay to go to the bathroom, unless you buy a drink. You can get nickled and dimed to death on drinks and toilets.

We found the organized tours to be very worthwhile on the European tour, in fact some of the cities are so far away from the port, it may be difficult or impossible to find your way to the city, see some sights and get back to the ship on time. There's the language issue too. And as mentioned before, the tour guides really do enrich the experience. Also, in Rome, for example and Venice, I remember our tour group was allowed to go to the front of some very long lines to get into the tourist sites, like St. Peter's, and St. Mark's.

Hope that helps! Have fun planning your trip!