You will have a great time either way, but I want to disagree with any idea that because it is first time on cruise excusions that you need to go with ship's excursions. The risk of missing the boat because you used a company like RomeinLimo or one of the other well established reputable companies is just so small as to be ignored. These private companies understand very well that if they miss the boat with a group, their business will take a huge hit - they will not let it happen. As example, we used RomeinLimo for Livorno October 30, 2014 off Serenade - Elisabetta was our driver/guide. Her skills and the small group enabled us to see more in Pisa and Florence than any group ship excursion. Also, when heading back, she knew that we were just ahead on the road of where the bus carrying the ship's excursion was - which made her relax a little despite the fact that there had been an accident on the main highway and things were very slow. This is what these guides do for a living.

In Palma, we did not use a guide at all but got a taxi to the Castell de Bellver and then walked down to other things - including the Cathedral - only problem is getting taxi to take you to the Castle because the drivers want to sell you a complete tour and want to tell you how you simply have to have a taxi to get you down from the Castle. Palma is beautiful and we had a great time there.

I again recommend Bob's - we use Bob's even when it is more - if using Bob's is roughly the same as using a taxi, then it would be a complete no-brainer for us to use Bob's.