Gift for travelling parents

You could contact the cruise line and arrange to pre-pay for some of the 'extra' trips. Or arrange to have a special basket (wine, cheese, chocolates, or whatever) and/or flowers in their room. Or pre-pay for a special dinner in one of the 'restaurants' that are available in addition to regular dining room.

Or give them a nice toiletries organizer (see this site's 'store') that hangs up to save space. Or a nice day bag (I've always wanted to try Rick's Euro Shoulder bag). Or maybe a good book about the area(s). Packing cubes, money belt or neck money and passport holders, a book with English to Italian and Spanish translations.... the list is endless.

On a more practical side... gift certificates to their favorite shoe store. Or for your mom, a special dress or pants suit for the special evenings on board, and a new jacket, shirt and tie for dad.

I would research and arrange for a private tour guide at one of their ports. Florence would be a great one to do with a private guide & car as it is a ways from the actual port. A little research on Cruisecritic.com will offer a lot of options

A couple of things they may not have thought of would be a travel clothes line, individual packets of Forever New laundry soap, and a two-pack of inflatable hangers for doing some hand washing in the sink. Even if they aren't backpacking, they may need to wash out a shirt, socks, undies.

Edit: thanks Norma. I've never been on a ship.

Every cruise line offers laundry service, for a price, and some ships even have laundry rooms for the passengers' use, at no charge. The bathrooms on cruise ships also have a clothes line over the bath tub, so you can hang up a bit of laundry, should the spirit move you.

Travel journals for the trip with pens, gluestick, etc. Possibly a nice photo album/scrapbook to put their items in upon return. My parents found hooded rain jackets that fold up into travel pillows. They use those whenever they travel and really like them. (I don't know where they got them though...you can probably google them.)

I would consider Rick Steves Civita Day Bag, Shoulder Bag, or Tote. Great for going ashore for a day trip. Just big enough to hold rain slicker, bottle of water, camera, and small guidebook for the city they're visiting. Also consider the Hide-Away Tote, which they roll up and take over there empty, and bring back full of souvenirs; it's 20% off for the next 2 or 3 days.

Maybe a broad-brimmed hat for each of them, to protect from the sun. I have a problem with face and ears getting sunburned on cruises and while sightseeing. Here are some good ones from L.L.Bean, top row on this page:

http://www.llbean.com/llb/search/?freeText=sun+hats&init=1

Those of us in our late 50's or early 60's are always trying to protect against skin cancer. And those hats cover quite a bit. Tilley also makes a good hat similar to these.

The one surprise item I really like is an Ipod touch. I never even wanted one until I received it as a gift. It really pulls it's weight in my pack list - music, travel alarm, maps, internet, email, Skype, language apps, a spreadsheet app gives me place to store my itinerary/reservations numbers/phone numbers, etc.

Since WiFi is virtually everywhere in Europe, I'm perfectly happy with an Ipod that won't suck up data and create a lot of unwanted charges (I have a phone purchased in Europe and buy SIM cards there for making local calls).

It's not a low-cost item but it's been a valuable travel aide. If they already own an Ipod, Ipad, or Iphone, so much the better. For a lot less, you can preload their device with Jibiggo language apps, Skype for calls home, some Rick Steves podcasts, etc.