re: What's the good, bad, and ugly of going on a cruise?

Last cruise I went on was about 4 years ago with Holland America. Started in Venice, Italy, and ended in Barcelona, Spain. In between we stopped at Rome, Naples, Sicily, Florence, 3 different Greek islands and Dubrovnik, Croatia. We had a blast. Spent a couple of extra days in Venice and Barcelona since they were the terminus points of the cruise.

Would definitely do again.

The good: food, get to see a lot of different cities/countries on one trip with someone else driving, cost is relatively cheap compared to other forms of vacation, Holland America does a great job.

The bad: add-ons can get pricey, excursions can get crowded depending on what you choose, time seems to go by at a lightning pace.

The ugly: you get the bum's rush at some sites you'd like to spend a lot more time at. Worst example for us was just getting an hour in the city of Oia on the island of Santorini. I could've spent days there. On the plus side, we got an amazing view of the city at sunset as we were leaving the island and I never would've visited at all if not for the cruise.

Anyway, I thought I'd hate a cruise and I ended up really enjoying it.