When some people cruise the Meditrranean, they find the first 2 days over the Bay of Biscay and through Gibraltar a little rough and a little chilly. They want to get straight to the sunbathing and in September that maybe delayed until you get into the Med itself. That has never bothered me before but the chance to go from Barcelona was too good to miss!

A simple BA flight from Heathrow was added to the cruise at the time of booking so that it complemented the itinerary perfectly. My companion was much older than I, so wanted to get to the sun a bit quicker.

I'd not been on a Norwegian line ship before and I knew it would be a little different from P&O or Fred Olsen where most of the guests are British. I found that there was a true international flavour here, lots of Spanish, Russian, Polish and American guests made the cafes quite lively.

The ship itself is a lovely ship and probably more suited to younger guests. I tended to spend more time outside on deck, in places like The Great Outdoors Cafe, looking at the sea, the wash and the views.

The evening entertainment revolved around the theatre shows which were spectacular and high quality. Around the ship there were other musical events as well as the requisite bingo and quizzes in the bars and lounges. The languages on board made this fun, everything was relayed in English, Spanish and German or Russian if the crew member was up to it. Our cruise director almost managed to make napkin-folding sexy. (My companions choice, not mine).

Our cruise took us from Barcelona to Monte Carlo, Livorno for Florence, Pisa for the old walled city, Civitavecchia for Rome, Palma Majorca and back to Barcelona.

We had the most amazing thunderstorm in Montecarlo, the skies darkened like the end of the world and we were glad we'd stayed on board and looked a the view rather than walking in it. We could see the Royal Palace from our Dock and view the whole city from the deck.

Florence was our favourite trip as on this unescorted tour we could take our time walking around and admiring everything. My companion found that the fresh fruits sold in cups as a snack were a great pick-me-up and enjoyed the fountains in front of Palazzo Vecchio.

We also chose to take only the coach to Rome and not the tour as I had done earlier in the year. We were dropped in Piazza del Populo and found out from the Tourist Information that we could get the open-topped hop and stop bus from nearby. We did so, paid 15 Euros each and got some headphones to plug in when on the bus. This gave us a great 2 hour tour of Rome, with commentary, and we got off at Piazza San Pietro to visit the Cathedral.

I must say I knew Saint Peter's Basilica was huge but you really are not prepared until you go in. It was amazing. We could only imagine the sound of a choir singing in there as there was no service. We found that the little take-away cafes outside the square were quite good for drinks and snacks, but the sit-down cafes were really busy and more expensive.

Along the bus tour there were chances to get off at a stop for The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Castel San Angelo, Train Station, Forum, Colosseum, Circus Maximus and some shopping if you wished. We decided not to, we knew what we wanted to see and just enjoyed Rome.

On our last port of call, Majorca, we took a bus tour up to the Castle, the Cathedral and the 'Spanish Village' which is an open-air museum of Spanish Architectural Styles. Here we saw examples of Canarian Houses, Toledo houses, a mock Alhambra water garden and several others. I imagine for overseas visitors unfamiliar with Spain it would be an introduction to Spanish Styles across History.

We arrived very early at Barcelona and our bags having gone ahead in true cruise style, we had a leisurely breakfast while looking at the view of Palau San Jordi and the Olympic Stadium from the ship.