Civitavecchia

This is the seaport for Rome.

We had planned to visit the eternal city, but worked out that the cost of a ten hour trip, 5 hrs of which would be spent on a coach, was more than a weekend break from home.

The American company that operate the Norwegian Cruise Lines have the greediest,ludicrously high prices that I've ever experienced on holiday. You expect to pay a premium on board a ship, but paying $40 for a bottle of bog-standard wine that costs £6 at home is excessive by anyone's standards. At least the bloke in the shop had the decency to look ashamed when he tried to charge us $23 for a tiny bottle of cough syrup.

On top of the list price for everything is the mandatory 15% tip, then they have the cheek to leave a box for 'additional gratuity' - then at the end of the cruise they send you a message to say that they've worked out your 'overall tip' for the cruise. In our case it was $252, but we could also tip individuals who had given us good service!! So that's only the four levels of tipping then!! Needless to say I told them to go forth and multiply, tipping a couple of staff that were particularly nice.

I would love to cruise again, but certainly wouldn't recommend NCL.