What's a cruise like? / Travelling Italy and Croatia

Hey team, back again in an unreasonably long time frame.  I returned from a week's cruise around the Mediterranean in May, travelling to various spots in Italy and one in Croatia with my sister.
'What's a cruise like?' (I hear rarely anyone under the age of 65 say...) Well friends, it's convenient, value for money and entertaining in many ways... Read on for the low down.

P&O Cruises - thanks, 7.5/10 for service provided – very attentive. Probably won't be returning for 40 or so years...

CRUISE BREAKDOWN:

GOOD: 5 different stops in a round trip and time at sea for relaxing! Flew into Genoa, Italy for a day, headed for Livorno (where you could independently get to Pisa or Florence. We did the former), Naples (where you could also grab a 45min train to Pompeii, or 1h10 to Sorrento - more bang for your buck!), Dubrovnik in Croatia and lastly Venice.

(croatia)

BAD: Everyone on board has white or grey hair - fab - but being in my twenties, I wasn't ready for 7 evenings in the ship's bars partying to Cher with a shandy. They were lovely people though...liked to talk about the weather in the lifts etc.

(pisa)

GOOD: Food everywhere. I love food. I love good food and I love endless food. It didn't stop. It was raining meals. 6am until 2am, different shifts; breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, buffet, dinner, late night buffet... I mean I accumulated a few pounds in order to taste most things and it was GREAT. They even had a pool side bar that served chicken goujons... The best thing about it - all included in the holiday price! :D

Pancakes, eggs, fresh fruit, cereal, meat, salads, ice cream, cheesecake, fresh bread, smoothies, baked goods, curries, mozzarella tarts, casseroles, pizza, lamb shanks, lobster...blaaah EVERYTHING. And then off the boat you ate MORE GOOD FOOD. Grazie Italia!

(yes, this is the ship's interior... O_o)

BAD: On-board entertainment was tailored to the older generation...think daytime seminars on how to manage arthritis and back problems, an after dinner magician, quite weak musical theatre and a comedian (called Fogwell Flax, who was actually quite funny at times, who touched on: music in the 70s, overeating, Britons complaining and ended with an impersonation of Billy Connolly). DID have a gym and fair sized pools though!

(croatia)

GOOD: The weather was tremendous. I mean it coulda been sunnier in Venice, our final stop, but hey I'm grateful nonetheless. I picked up a tan and got some Vit D. Happy Alix. The sunlight hit facades beautifully! You probably needed a light jacket on board and a hair net to conquer the wind at sea.

(venice)

BAD: The tours provided by the cruise company were overpriced and the days weren't that long if you wanted a lie in. We did most things independently and in our own time. The ship docked at each new place super early (6/7/8am), so your day started pretty sharpish and time to return to the ship was on average 5-6pm.

(pompeii)

GOOD: Value for money; return flights included from Gatwick, most transfers from the ports (bar Venice, where you could either walk into the centre for 15mins, or grab a £15 return trip 'water taxi'), all the food, no thinking required hardly, service ALL the time on board where the staff are more than happy to help with/clean anything, a cute cabin and a tasty selection of cocktails which beat London prices for sure!

(napoli)

So hope you got enough of an idea. Our favourite place was Dubrovnik - it was serene, warm, beautiful and clean - we want to go back to explore more Croatian islands with beaches. The Croatian sea was clear and tantalising, and the people stared you out less compared to in Italy, which was nice :)

Enjoy cruisin' (or not)! Ciao bellas/ciao ciccios.