you were lucky you had decent weather...some friends on this forum just took a repositioning ocean cruise economically but the weather was awful and they lost four days. you bring up a good point, however, that a cruise is a lot like being in the Villages...i prefer to be somewhere else, as much as i love the villages, when i go for a change of scene
it sounds like you added on Florence and Rome which i am sure added a lot to your experience. thanks for the input! i think a river cruise would be lovely but have never seen an economical one other than last minute sale.