Desire Resort Forums

Hey May 2025 Rome to Barcelona Cruisers!

We are excited about the upcoming cruise as it will be our first Lifestyle cruise and first European adventure so we'd love to connect with others to exchange information and ideas in advance.

Pre Cruise Questions
1) Who's Getting in early
2) Is there a hotel everyone is staying
3) What activities / tours is anyone planning
4) How about a meet & Greet in advance of the Cruise

Post Cruise Questions
1) Who is staying later after the Cruise
2) Where are you staying
3) What other activities are you doing in and around Barcelona[/list][/list]

Hi Scott and Nancy. We are booked for the Rome/Barcelona cruise for next May. This will be our first Desire Cruise as well. We are looking forward to it. We are traveling with another couple, good friends. We are flying into Rome 3 days prior to the cruise and plan to stay in Barcelona for 3 nights after the cruise. We haven't made hotel reservations yet for either location, but have been doing some research and plan to make reservations soon. We are waiting a little bit to see the general direction of what others plan to do.

We got off the same cruise in May (only reverse order), so if you have any questions, feel free to hit me up.

Where did you stay pre-cruise in Barcelona and posr-cruise in Rome? What did you think of the cruise? Any recommendations?

sunseekercpl1 wrote:Where did you stay pre-cruise in Barcelona and posr-cruise in Rome? What did you think of the cruise? Any recommendations?

We stayed at the AC Hotel in Barcelona and at the Hilton Rome Airport the night before we left to fly home as we had an early flight. We had been to Rome and Barcelona before, so we didn't need to stay that long in either city.

One thing we did in Barcelona was a rooftop cooking class overlooking the Med - we made Bruschetta and Paella, In Rome we took a night golf-cart tour of the city highlights with a stop for pizza for dinner and gelato for desert.

The cruise was absolutely nuts! Sex going on at and around the pool. The sun deck was less crowded and quiet if you wanted to read a book. Everyone dressed in their theme night attire for drinks before and at dinner. We LOVED the cruise so much, we booked another while on board.

Hi Everyone -- we are from PA. We will be going on this cruise and just can not wait - - we have been on several other LS cruises in the past. We will be doing a tour of Italy September of 2024 and then this cruise May 2025 - SO excited to meet all of you sexy people. We will be traveling with some amazing friends and are looking forward to meeting new ones !!! Our plan is to stay a few nights before the cruise in Rome (or surrounding area) and then a few in Barcelona after the cruise -- we welcome anyone who has advice of do's and don'ts in either (or both) cities. Can't Wait !!!!

Count us in as well! Haven't locked in the before and after details (yet) but that'll be the next bout of fun planning.

- nottacompetition

Niot sure if everyone is aware, but.... Rome is going to be VERY EXPENSIVE due to the Bianalle ( a celebration of the Catholic Church that happens every 25 years) that will be going on prior to our cruise departure.

RJOC, do you remember what the theme nights were while you were on the cruise? Thanks.

sunseekercpl1 wrote:RJOC, do you remember what the theme nights were while you were on the cruise? Thanks.

I think one was White, another was Erotic Circus, and I don't remember the others.

Greetings everyone!

My wife and I are anxiously counting the days until we arrive in Rome for our Desire cruise. While details are still being worked out, we anticipate a 3 day early arrival and probably 3 days after in Barcelona. Already looking at hotels but I'm holding off until I see what others may be doing. We've never been on a Desire cruise but have been to Italy before. Just wanted to jump in and add myself to this forum. Ciao

Since this is our first time to Rome, we just made reservations for 3 nights (pre-cruise) for a 2 bed/2 bath townhouse w/ private garden patio in Rione Monti area in Rome through AirB&B. Only 5 minute walk to the Colosseum & Forum . Much cheaper than the majority of hotels in that area. We are splitting it with our friends Eric and Terri. Is anyone else staying in that area? We might plan a little Meet & Greet one evening at a nearby restaurant/bar.

Jim & Cathy

sunseekercpl1 wrote:Since this is our first time to Rome, we just made reservations for 3 nights (pre-cruise) for a 2 bed/2 bath townhouse w/ private garden patio in Rione Monti area in Rome through AirB&B. Only 5 minute walk to the Colosseum & Forum . Much cheaper than the majority of hotels in that area. We are splitting it with our friends Eric and Terri. Is anyone else staying in that area? We might plan a little Meet & Greet one evening at a nearby restaurant/bar.

Jim & Cathy

Since it's your first time to Roma, you might want to try a golf-cart tour with a stop for pizza and gelato. We did the "Evening Golf Cart tour of Rome with Pizza & Gelato Dinner | Semi-Private" and it was a great way to get around Roma without sitting in a lot of traffic. We also went places that cars could not navigate.

We just booked (someone cancelled) and are figuring out arrival/departure days.
Did the Venice-Rome Desire cruise in 2023 and LOVED it so super excited to be going back with a different itinerary.
We are staying in Civitavecchia (where the port is, about an hour away from Rome) the day before in a lovely apartment with a roof top terrace and water views. There's not anything close enough to get to in a reasonable amount of time (except Rome) so we are going to bump around the town and probably do a walking/food tour, see the market, the fort etc.
Staying a couple days in Barcelona after. Looking at doing a tour w sailing to a winery (that's how we compromise LOL) Looking into maybe going to Training Pedralbes (ls club).
Excited to see if Oceania is better than Azamara (which was great, although the food was better on Celebrity Temptation cruise Feb 2023 imho. This year's Feb Temptation cruise was a disappointment).

Welcome aboard!