We embarked on this unusual 9-night point-to-point Adriatic cruise onboard Norwegian Gem on 19th Jun 23 to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary sailing from Ravenna, Italy to Athens, Greece.

This is the first part of the 9-day cruise.

Ravenna - With the current embargo on cruise ships longer than 120m banned from entering Venice lagoon our ship departed from the nearby town of Ravenna, a distance of 150 miles. As flights to Ravenna are both infrequent and not direct from the UK we opted to fly into Bologna a day earlier. A transfer to our Ravenna hotel was the best option as we were unsure of the trains.

We opted to stay one night before our cruise. Ravenna is a typical Italian town with quaint hotels mostly boutiques style. Local restaurants and shops are decently priced. The Port of Corsini which operates out of Ravenna is about 5 miles or 30 minutes by car. I strongly recommend you pre-book your transfer for about 20-30 euros per person taxi or private. Most people opt for the cheaper option bus (#90 I think), or by rail. Word of warning the taxi/transfer companies are very fussy about luggage! 1 suitcase per passenger, but most people forget to add "hand luggage". This also has to be notified as their vehicles are limited on luggage space!

Koper is a small city of about 25,000 people. The good thing is the ship docks right by the city, easy access, and about 100 yards or so in front you have an elevator to take you into the old part of the city. Ravenna itself is small, very medieval, with small cafes, shops, and ice cream parlours. Most shop owners were helpful on our short and hot stay. I noticed that the public signs were both in Slovenian and Italian.

Venice - Due to the change our original 11-hour stop was reduced to a mere 3 hours! After a gruelling 2.20-hour coach journey we were dropped off in Tronchetto, northwest of Venice island. From here you have two choices to get to St Marks Square. A short tram journey which then resulted in a 1-hour walk, or the river bus shuttle at 19€ per person return.

Venice was very, very hot and a lot of areas of interest resembled a building site in places.

We saw St Mark’s Square, visited the world famous Florin cafe, Rialto bridge, and bought a coffee (albeit in a side street café), the customary fridge magnet, and a captain's hat for good measure. And we managed, just, to get on our pre-booked gondola ride! Got back to our designated spot in the North part of Venice to get our scheduled NCL coach back to Trieste.

Split was our next stop and the first in Croatia. A place that I've kept an eye on, especially after seeing it featured in one of Jane McDonald’s cruise TV specials. We were only interested in the Diocletian Roman palace due to its history and Game of Thrones backdrops. We opted to skip the walking tour and go for a refreshing drink. I knew more or less the area but after a while, all the small alleys and streets looked the same. Took some impressive photos (a couple with two Roman centurions!) and then we decided to leave the palace.

Kotor, Monte Negro, our 1st tender stop! We were up at 6.30am to queue for the tender passes in the designated area of the ship. This stop was also affected by our Venice switch and it was brought forward by 2 hours. This destination journey was one that most cruisers were looking forward to, including me. Together with the double peninsular entrance it has one of the most inundated gateways in the cruise world. It’s been on my list, and it was spectacular.

I decided to book a 2-hour fast boat experience in Kotor to visit the much talked our Lady of the Rocks islands. Top tip, book it. The experience is unforgettable and very reasonably priced as well. Kotor itself was both in design and architecturally similar to Split. Inside the old town, the heat got the better of us and after an hour we went back.

Dubrovnik, Croatia. The ship slipped into the pearl of Adriatic, a much sought-after destination. The port is situated on the west part of the main town so you have to get a shuttle to get to the old town. NCL charged 15$ return which was very reasonable. The coach dropped us at the City Walls, the west side of Dubrovnik's old town. Once inside this was more Game of Thrones than Split. The limestone finish on both buildings and streets was mesmerising, very clean, and manicured-remember that most of this was destroyed during the 1992 homeland war. Shops as you guessed it were all themed around Game of Thrones, and why not. Coffee places and other shops of interest were plentiful. But our aim was the much talked about…The Walk of Shame steps as featured in Game of Thrones - Its actually in the Gundulic Square or the Jesuit Stairs. By the way, be prepared to wait for that photo when no one is around, it does happen just be patient!

To be honest, this was also very similar to the last two cities so you have two other choices - Walk on the wall for 35€ per person or go on the cable car situated at the North Entrance of the city (Buza), price 27€ per person. I turned down both options as time was very tight, so a quick shuttle back to the ship, maybe another year.