Welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good! We’ve been at home in Raleigh for a bit over a week after a busy few weeks exploring the Mediterranean Sea aboard the Sun Princess cruise ship. We set sail from Barcelona and visited a dozen ports of call spread across half a dozen different countries.
We’ll have another week at home before we hop back on a jet to Europe for our next cruise which takes us to the British Isles and France.
While at home, I’ve been enjoying the mostly good weather. After a busy trip, I always look forward to relaxing at home so I can catch up on my stack of unread books and unwatched Netflix queue. I’m happy on the road, but also happy at home.
As I mentioned in a recent blog post, I’m switching up the format of these monthly updates a bit compared to the past several years. I am de-emphasizing the detailed monthly income, spending, and net worth reports but will touch on those financial aspects to some extent.
Financial Update
On the income side March and April were regular months with several thousand dollars in dividends since it’s the end of the quarter. The dividends in my brokerage account will cover our monthly spending for a month or two.
On the spending side, we didn’t spend too much in March or April on anything big. Our flights, cruise, and hotels in Europe were already paid for in previous months. We spent a few hundred dollars in Europe on transit, ubers, admission fees for various attractions, and some miscellaneous travel spending.
On the net worth side, we are still above $4 million with not much else to report. The long-time readers of the blog know that I don’t really do anything in response to current events, such as the war in Iran.
I pay attention to the news, but fear and conjecture play no role in my long term buy and hold investment philosophy. I’m investing for decades, not days.
March and April Recap
We spent the first couple weeks at home in March. I finished my taxes, spent time with the family, and checked off a few to-do list items.
I also spent a lot of time researching our lengthy itinerary in the Mediterranean. These cruises are much faster paced compared to our slow travel 2+ month summer trips. As a result I spend a lot more time prepping for each port of call before our cruise.
The cruise itself was 16 nights. Add in a few more days traveling between Raleigh and the port in Barcelona, and we spent a total of 19 days away from home.
Our goal at the end of the trip was to get home in a hurry so we could make it to Easter festivities at our family’s house up the street from us. Fortunately, we didn’t have any travel interruptions so we made it home the night before Easter.
Along with celebrating Easter, we also celebrated four family birthdays and Mrs. Root of Good’s family’s 42 year anniversary of arriving in America.
16 night cruise around the Mediterranean
We flew to Barcelona, where we spent one night in a suburban Barcelona hotel before the cruise. After an overnight flight, we were exhausted so we didn’t go into central Barcelona itself for any sightseeing. Instead, we explored around the hotel for a bit then went to bed early.
Once on board the Sun Princess, we had a very busy schedule. Of the fifteen full days on board, we had twelve ports of call and only 3 sea days to relax. The goal of this trip was not relaxation, it was sightseeing.
Our daily cruise itinerary:
- Barcelona
- Marseille, France
- Genoa, Italy
- Civitavecchia (for Rome), Italy
- Naples, Italy
- Sea Day #1
- Santorini, Greece
- Kusadasi, Turkey
- Crete (Chania), Greece
- Athens (Piraeus), Greece
- Santorini, Greece
- Sea Day #2
- Bar, Montenegro
- Corfu, Greece
- Sicily (Messina), Italy
- Sea Day #3
- Return to Barcelona
We had never been to France, Greece, Montenegro, or Turkey so we added four new countries to our list. Yes, somehow France ended up being number 52 on my list of countries I’ve visited. I really don’t know how we managed to skip France all these years!
Marseille, France
After leaving Barcelona, we arrived in Marseille, France for our very first port of call. After some logistical hiccups trying to catch a bus from the port into town, we got on our way. We didn’t have a ton of time in port given our early all-aboard time, so we hit the highlights as best as we could.
Genoa, Italy
Continuing east from Marseille, we woke up in Genoa, Italy the very next day. Lots to visit, including several churches, narrow alleyways, Christopher Columbus’s house, and several palaces. During our adventures in Genoa, we accidentally snuck into the International Pesto Festival in our perpetual search for a clean (and free!) bathroom.
Civitavecchia (for Rome), Italy
The cruise line advertises “Rome” on the brochures but all the ships dock in Civitavecchia. We were docked about 1-3 hours from Rome itself depending on whether we took the cheap route on the train or the expensive route of a taxi or guided tour.
Our ship visited on a Sunday when the Rome Marathon had the central tourist area of Rome mostly shut down. We chose to skip a Rome visit and explore the port of Civitavecchia instead. Not too much to see but it was a nice day for a stroll in this waterfront town.
Naples, Italy
Continuing our southward journey down the coast of Italy, we next visited Naples. I thought the city was neat in spite of it’s reputation for being a bit gritty.
We took the subway to the top of the huge hill in town, and hiked a few minutes to the castle at the very top with great views of the city below and Mt. Vesuvius in the distance.
After that we ventured down ~1,000 steps to reach the central section of town. We stopped in for some excellent Napoli pizza several blocks away from the tourist part of town. The pizza didn’t disappoint.
Santorini, Greece
I didn’t really know what to expect on our visit to Santorini. The pics I’ve seen look incredible. Beautiful whitewashed buildings on the side of a cliff. But while researching the island, I realized the practicalities might make our visit rather uncomfortable.
We reached land by tender boat, a small vessel that transports us from the cruise ship to a local dock. The town of Fira, where we docked, is located another 700 feet up the hillside. There are two ways up: a cable car or a 700 foot climb up the stairs (either walking up or riding a donkey!).
From our research, it seemed like both options had long lines most of the time. The path up the stairs has a reputation for being covered in donkey pee and poop which made that route sound horribly unpleasant.
Fortunately we visited the Mediterranean a month or two before the rest of the crowds show up. So the lines for the cable car were minimal. We chose that route on the way up the cliff. On our way down, we chanced the donkey stairs and it turned out okay. It was a mild 60F degrees, and the rain paid us a visit all morning so the stairs were probably as clean as they ever are. I only smelled some donkey-related unpleasantness a few times on the hike down.
While atop the cliff in town, the views were amazing. We strolled along the cliffside for a few hours before heading back to the ship. Other than some stiff winds at times, the weather was pretty much perfect while we were out and about.
I appreciated the quiet peacefulness of the cliffside town on our stroll. However, I imagine it gets a lot more lively during peak summertime tourist season!
Kusadasi, Turkey
Initially we planned to visit the Greek ruins at Ephesus about 30 minutes outside of the port town of Kusadasi. After a failed attempt at locating the bus heading toward the ruins, we decided to switch up the plans.
Instead, we strolled through town and enjoyed a little local flavor at a small cafe near the market. A little Turkish tea, coffee, and borek. The borek in Turkey was different than the borek we came to love in Croatia (where they spelled it “burek”).
After the cafe, we continued our stroll through town to a castle on a peninsula near the cruise port.
Crete (Chania), Greece
Chania, on the island of Crete in Greece, was probably my favorite port of call on the entire cruise. I didn’t really know much about Crete before visiting so I didn’t have high expectations.
The island greeted us with perfect weather and minimal crowds. I’d like to come back and visit Crete for a longer period of time in the future.
One of the most amazing parts of Crete was seeing the snow-capped mountains that run across the island. I didn’t know they got snow this far south on an island in the Mediterranean Sea.
We strolled all over the old town of Chania. Lots of forts and defensive structures from the Venetian era 400-500 years ago, plus other ruins from the past several thousand years.
Athens (Piraeus), Greece
We bought tickets for the Acropolis, which is apparently what the thousands of other people visiting Athens also decided to do. After a long and confusing wait in the entry line, we found a shortcut to skip the line and proceeded into the even more crowded interior of the Acropolis site.
Definitely a must-see wonder of the world. But kind of a let down given how disorganized the entry process was. Especially given the $35 USD per person price tag! Literally no one anywhere doing crowd control on the outside of the complex.
More veteran travelers that have been to Greece before have explained that “it’s just different in Greece” so I guess we got to experience some of that during our short visit!
After visiting the Acropolis, we walked through the Anafiotika neighborhood on the way back toward the metro station. Along the walk back, we passed by the ancient Roman Agora and the ruins of Hadrian’s Library.
In spite of the inconveniences, I enjoyed seeing the Parthenon and other ruins in the Acropolis complex.
Bar, Montenegro
The “other” cruise port in Montenegro, after the more beautiful and busier city of Kotor. I’m not sure why we docked in Bar instead of Kotor, but those were the cards we were dealt.
We walked around town for a bit, checked out the Orthodox church, and strolled along the beachfront promenade for a while. It’s a nice city that probably gets a decent amount of local tourism during the peak season. It was pretty quiet when we were there in spite of our 4,000 passenger ship being in town.
The beauty of the mountains right next to the ocean fondly reminded me of our visit to Croatia a few years ago. Which makes sense given the Croatian border is only 35 miles northwest of Bar, Montenegro. I have plans for a future trip to this region that involves a rental car and a bunch of windy roads sandwiched between the beach and the mountains.
Corfu, Greece
Corfu was the next to last port of call on our cruise. Maybe it was the rain, but I didn’t like this town as well as Chania on the Greek island of Crete.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed a beautiful and lengthy stroll through the narrow streets and alleyways of the old town of Corfu. We’d pop out into a small courtyard, visit a church, meander in the wrong direction, then find something interesting and new around the corner.
There were some interesting attractions further out of town but we had an all aboard time of 3:30 pm so we didn’t have all day to explore the island.
Sicily (Messina), Italy
Our final port of call was Messina, Italy. It’s situated right across the water from the tip of the toes on the Boot that is Italy. Messina is located on the island of Sicily, so there’s another first for us – visiting the island of Sicily.
It was really pouring down rain on this day of the cruise. Since it was another very early all-aboard time, we didn’t venture too far from the cruise ship. We didn’t have a ton planned to do in the port, and what we did have planned got cut short by the persistence of the rain that just didn’t let up.
Thoughts on the March-April 2026 Mediterranean Cruise
It was great. Every city we visited was new to us. We made it to four new countries. Overall, everything went according to plan besides a couple of logistics issues that made us alter our plans on the fly.
We had great weather at 10 out of 12 port calls, with varying amounts of rain in the other 2 ports. Weather didn’t cause the cancellation of any port calls, so there’s that. We missed a few ports on our two British Isles cruises last year due to high winds.
The ship itself was beautiful and comfortable, in spite of having some minor gripes over some first world problems.
Our transatlantic flights were reasonably good. I watched the movie “Les Miserables” which helped me fall asleep on the plane.
This cruise reminded us that we need to spend more time on land in Europe. Italy and Greece are mostly unexplored territory for us. The Adriatic coastline of Croatia and Montenegro require our attention in the future as well.
The off-season was the perfect time to visit the Mediterranean overall. Minimal crowds in most places, and zero concern about overheating or sunburn. In fact it was chilly on a few days so my light windbreaker came in handy several times throughout the trip.
Would I do it again? I would definitely go back. Hopefully to some different ports but I wouldn’t mind revisiting most of the ones we visited. There’s only so much we could see in a day in each port on this trip.
Trip Costs (aka Ultimate Extreme Travel Hacking!)
We only paid a few hundred dollars out of pocket for a vacation that would normally cost around $12,000 to $15,000. Kinda wild!
How did we do it?
Flights – American Airlines basic fare tickets bought through Chase Sapphire Reserve travel portal at 1.5x redemption value. Our two round trip tickets from Raleigh to Barcelona were about $520 each, or 33,500 points. We paid about $20 per person each way to pick good seats on the long haul flight.
Meals – We ate on the plane and at a Priority Pass arrival lounge in Barcelona. Once on the ship, the food is all included. We did have some coffee, tea, and snacks while in port in Kusadasi, Turkey for $4 USD. And the two pizzas, sparkling water, and a shot of limoncello was about $23 USD in Naples, Italy.
Local Transportation – Local transit was pretty effective and rather cheap. Typically $1-2 per ticket for transit. We took transit when it made sense.
Uber/Lyft – We took ubers a few times in Europe, mostly to get to and from the airport. Since we would have to transfer a couple of times in Barcelona and ride two different transit systems, the Uber was about the same price as two sets of transit tickets. We also took a Lyft from our home to the airport in Raleigh because it was almost free after the $10 x 2 Lyft credits I get from my Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Reserve Business cards.
Hotel – I booked 1 night pre-cruise using Marriott hotel points
Cruise Fare – I got a discounted cruise fare and used Chase Ultimate Rewards points through the Chase Travel portal. I did have to call in to Chase Travel to book the cruise.
Get free travel like us
If you are interested in getting free travel from your credit card like I do, consider the Chase Ink business cards (my referral link). Right now, the Chase Ink cards offer an above average $750-1000 worth of Chase Ultimate Rewards points that can be redeemed instantly for $750-1000 in cash (or even more for travel!).
Chase is pretty liberal when it comes to “what is a business”. If you sell stuff on eBay or Craigslist or do some odd jobs occasionally then you have a business and could get a credit card as a “sole proprietor”.
I use the 90,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points from my recent offer by transferring them to my Chase Sapphire Reserve card (also offering a 125,000 point sign up bonus right now). I can transfer those Ultimate rewards points to over a dozen travel partners’ airline/hotel programs like United, Southwest, or Hyatt. For example, I transferred 6,500 Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt and used them to book a $300/night room that sleeps five during the peak season in the Virginia mountains.
Capital One Venture X card
Another favorite travel card in my wallet is the Capital One Venture X card. The Venture X card is a “keeper” for me. First off, it comes with a $750 sign up bonus after spending $4,000 in the first three months. The bonus is paid in the form of 75,000 bonus points that you can redeem against any travel purchases from anywhere. Then you earn a solid 2 points per dollar spent forever! The other big perk is airport lounge access. You get free entry for yourself into Priority Pass and Capital One airport lounges (guests cost extra since February 1, 2026). Add to this primary rental car insurance coverage and a bunch of other perks.
The Capital One Venture X card does have one catch – a $395 annual fee. But they reward you every year with an easy to use $300 travel discount plus $100 worth of points. Together, that makes $400 they give you annually which completely offsets the annual fee. Since the annual fee is offset in full by travel credits each year, I personally plan on keeping the Venture X card forever since the card benefits are so great.
Closing thoughts
In the past month we visited a ton of new spots in countries we’ve never visited before. We traveled in a very comfortable manner aboard a very nice cruise ship to a dozen ports in the Mediterranean and made it back home to tell the tales. I’d call that a very successful month!
We have two more big European cruises lined up in the next couple of months, then we have a staycation scheduled for the month of July in Raleigh. Unless we plan something last minute, that is.
On the financial side, I’m as relaxed as ever about the stock market. Daily and monthly fluctuations mean nothing at this point in our early retirement. We have a portfolio that is three times what we actually need to fund our $40,000 to $50,000 per year in living expenses. Even if the portfolio dropped by half, I don’t think I would change much in my day to day life. Maybe pick up a new(er) car at fire sale prices?
It’s a nice position to be in during this 13th year of early retirement.
That’s it for me this month. I’ve already prepared another post with a HUGE update on what our kids are up to in terms of college and their jobs. Look for that post in about two weeks.
Who’s excited that it’s springtime and no longer freezing cold?!
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