Cruising about the Mediterannean with the Crown Princess

That astronomical clock, for example, dates from 1733 and is said to be the biggest in the world, while the gorgeous marble fountain opposite the bell tower – depicting Orion, legendary founder of Messina – is even older, created in 1553 by a pupil of Michelangelo, the Florentine sculptor Giovanni Montorsoli.

Remarkable stuff. But for me, what was even more remarkable was that, on a 10-day Western Mediterranean cruise aboard Princess Cruises’ 3,000-passenger ship Crown Princess, Messina was one of three ports I’d never visited before.

And that’s really saying something because, in three decades of covering the cruise business, I’ve explored more ports than your average sailor could blow a hornpipe at.

What’s going on? At 113,000 gross tonnage, Crown Princess is no small luxury ship designed to show big-spenders the ports bigger vessels can’t reach.