First cruise... Voyager of the Seas... Europe III?

I have not cruised on the Voyager of the Seas but I have cruised on two of its twin sister Voyager Class ships, the Adventure of the Seas and the Mariner of the Seas. So I am pretty familiar with the ship's layout. It has a promenade mall down its center with shops and eating places. And it has the rock climbing wall, an in-line roller skating track, and an ice skating rink. Also a full sized basketball court and a mini-golf course. The ship will have a free ice show during your cruise but you have to go to a designated place to get the free tickets and be sure to get to the show room early because its open seating.

I have cruised out of Barcelona twice, once to the Eastern Mediterranean to most of the places you are going and then again to the Western Mediterranean. Both times that we cruised out of Barcelona we flew in a day early so we could rest up, adjust to the time difference and mostly so we would not have to worry about a flight delay or a missed flight. In Barcelona the cruise port is right downtown; your cab/bus will have to go across a bridge to get to it so you cannot walk it. The port is about 30 to 40 minutes from the airport. Its a really nice port and RC has a nice procedure for getting you on the ship quickly.

You do have to watch out for pickpockets in Barcelona and in Italy's port stops. You have to be careful both when you are on your own and also when you are on tours/ with tour groups. Sometimes the pickpockets will try to disguise themselves as tourist by walking around with a camera hanging around their neck. DO NOT give the gypsies any money; if you give to one others will show up. They will also pick your pockets.

Since Spain, Italy and Greece all use the Euro its a good idea to purchase some before you leave home (we ordered ours from our bank; took about 3 days). You will need Euros for the taxi to the hotel or port and you will use them in each city that you visit. If you go to Ephesus the markets there will take them (and US dollars) so there's no need to get Turkish currency. The purser's desk on ship has some currency but it can run out. If you have an ATM card you can get Euros from the ATM but I suggest using it only at a bank (not a streetside or shopping mall ATM) and then only as a last resort.

When we cruised on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas we did a 12 day cruise and it was rather tiring because there were parts of the cruise when there was a port stop each day. But after you fly all that way you don't want to miss all of the historical things to see, especially Rome. WE did the same port stops that you did except Sicily and then since we had a 12 day cruise we did several other port stops. So I'll tell you about the ones we did that you are doing just so you know.

Our first stop was Nice/Monte Carlo and we did a tour that went first to a Medieval city of Eze, then to Monte Carlo and a casino and changing of the guard at the royal palace. That was nice but not a must do. You can get into the town of Nice from the ship with a taxi ride and also to Monte Carlo that way. But its not a walk off the ship right into town place. If you go to where the Monte Carlo Casinos are it cost $10 a person to go in and you cannot take cameras and things in and its really not worth the price to see. There are much better casinos all over the US. The city of Nice was OK but you can really see that on your own from the ship rather than a tour. I'll put it this way. I have no desire to go back there at all.

Our next stop was Florence/Pisa and we did a tour of both cities. It was quick but I did not want to miss the Leaning Tower of Pisa. You really need a tour from the ship or on your own to see these. They are not walk off the ship into town places. Florence was a quick walking tour and we saw the church were Michaelangelo, Galileo and some others are entombed, but its no where near as impressive as Rome, in my opinion. If I were making a recommendation I would say just go see Pisa because its unique and historical.

Rome was our next stop and it is a good hour or more from the port city of Civitavechhia. So its not advisable to do Rome on your own, unless you go on the ship's tour that lets you do it any way you want. They drop you at a point in the city in the morning and then pick you up there later in the afternoon. We took a tour that went to the Vatican City and the Colosseum, plus lunch in an Italian restaurant. It was very nice; its should be in your book of tours. Our tour got to Rome late because of a traffic accident on the highway and then we got caught in traffic headed back to the ship and were an hour late. Good thing we were on a ship sponsored tour. The ship waited for us but we missed our dinner seating.

I know that you are not going to these two places but if you were you could for sure walk right off the ship and tour on your own. Mykonos is a beautiful place (if you go there) and you don't really need a tour. Just explore the town on your own. Same with Santorini. We did a tour that included a stop at a winery but it wasn't that great. On hind sight we could have just taken the tram up to the city and walked around the city.

In Naples we did a tour that went to Pompeii and to Sorrento to a lemon and Olive farm. The Pompeii part was great but not the lemon/olive farm. If you can do just Pompeii, skip the other.

As soon as you get on ship there will be lunch available in the Windjammer Cafe (its on the rear of the ship up top), so go eat and then you can explore the ship. You can also get in the pool and hot tubs if you brings swim wear in your carry-on.

i haven't been on it, but as for the unplanned ports, you could just walk around and shop. You could check out the nearby attractions (muesems) and shop shop shop! Or try some food.

I have gone on Freedom of the Seas, and at one port we just looked around and shopped.