We did a Med cruise in 2012 in September on Princess cruises. We chose that ship mainly for the ports and dates. Hated the ship, entirely too big and way too many people. We spent most of our time on shore and when we were on the ship we were on the balcony. Having the balcony was just great, the views were fabulous. I enjoyed that as much as the ports!!!Spent a little time at the pool.The ports were fabulous. We did the shore excursions from the ship. I had checked into private tours but for the two of us it was expensive. I enjoyed all but one of the shore excursions. I would recommend getting Rick
Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports book, tons of info. Have you checked out Cruise Critic? You can check out the reviews on the ships you are
considering. And once you book you can connect with people going on the same cruise. We have only done 2 other cruises, many years ago, to the caribbean. We are not cruise experts at all. We booked our own hotels before and after and our own flights. Our flights were much cheaper and less stops than if they booked it. We picked our hotels after recommendations from people that had stayed there. We flew into Amsterdam, we stayed there for 2 nights and flew to Venice. After the cruise we stayed one night in Rome and then flew home from there.