I will be taking a 7 day cruise in June and cannot decide whether to focus on one that concentrates on Rome/Florence area or one that goes from Rome to Barcelona. This is my first time to Europe. Thank you for suggestions!

I'm partial to Italy but where does the cruise stop along each route and are you staying in hotels or on the ship?

I would pick up a guidebook from the library on each city and decide that way.

I'd say do Rome-Barcelona. If it's your first time to Europe, you may as well cover as much territory as you can. Besides, you can always say you've been to TWO countries. *-D

Also, Barcelona is a wonderful city! I'd go back any day.

Cheers!

Florence is a great city but there is not a lot to do there. It's a very pretty city to walk around and I very much enjoyed my stay there. I'm planning a trip to Barcelona right now and it looks amazing!

As a side note, I enjoyed Venice more than Florence as well. Both are completely overrun by tourists but this doesn't detract from the beauty of either city.