Insider's Christian Mayer took a trip around the Mediterranean on the AIDAblu cruise ship. I recently booked a spontaneous weeklong cruise with the German cruise line Aida Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation and PLC, one of the largest cruise companies in the world. The cruise sailed around Italy and Malta, starting off in Civitavecchia, a town on the west coast of Italy near Rome. A tiny ship approached the outer wall of our huge cruise ship, and, in whipping winds, the pilot climbed an outer ladder onto our ship. The ship served Starbucks coffeeThe price of the cruise included filter coffee with breakfast.

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