Emma, the cruise you're going on, while still a cruise, looks like it goes to places that are well worth visiting. I'm not a cruise person either, but maybe the cruisiness is mitigated by places like Barcelona and Venice and whatever's in between. So you can visit Lido, as well as the Lido deck, right?
I actually had that book An Incomplete Education and enjoyed it a lot. It's breezy, fun, and not too heavy. I couldn't handle Borges while at the beach or on a cruise, but I had to second Grote's nomination of Ficciones.