Dabsunshine

Thank you for taking the time to give me such an honest and thoughtful reply. This sounds like great advice! 

Thank you so much for this information. I will check out the links you posted. I just don’t want to have any regrets for anything we didn’t do. I am sure we will find a place or two, (or several) we will want to revisit in the future. We are staying for a couple of days in Barcelona at the end of our trip. We had an exchange student from Madrid who has become like a part of our family. If possible I would like to use that time to meet up with her but I don’t know if that will be possible. All of our passports are in order.
We are all staying in one Stateroom cabin with a balcony (B5), FOUR WOMEN WITH ONE BATHROOM! This has occurred to us and we were a bit worried about it, I did not know about the no bathroom situation though.  I am more concerned now after reading your post. I will definitely check into it a bit further.

Thank you so much for the information!

My mom, myself and my daughters are taking a girls trip on the Norwegian Epic to the Western Mediterranean this summer.  We are so excited but have only been outside of the US once and none of us are experienced cruisers. We are trying to understand everything and get the planning done, but we are so overwhelmed. This is a once in a lifetime trip for us (three generations spending time together is priceless), and we don't want to miss a thing.  What I am having the most trouble with is planning the excursions. I am not sure which ports to do an excursion in, and I was looking at Viator but I am terrified of missing the ship by planning an excursion on my own.  The one I want to do in Florence/Pisa is 12 hours! My daughters are 19 and 22 and we are each paying for our own excursions so we are on a bit of a budget. If money were no object this would be a lot easier. I am looking for advice on excursions.  Which ones are good, which ones are not worth it, should I book through the cruise ship? I am really interested in seeing the Ruins in Pompeii, the Sistine Chapel, the beautiful cities on the mountainsides, the Tuscan countryside, enjoying delicious foods, a bit of wine tasting, and some reasonable shopping (not high end designer shopping but more getting some beautiful/unique things to bring home) shopping. I am not interested in seeing every single busy tourist attraction there is to see but I don't want to miss the big stuff and I want to explore some of the beautiful small towns and villages. I love architecture, castles, etc. (things I cannot see in the US) and I also would like to have some leisurely time to see some things and spend some time. I like to enjoy and appreciate the culture and history when I am somewhere else. We are starting in Barcelona, then Naples/Pompeii, Rome, Florence/Pisa, Cannes, Palma Majorca, then back to Barcelona. I know I am asking for a lot here but any and all suggestions anyone can offer would be amazing!