The ship and crew were outstanding; no issues with comfort, cleanliness, or congeniality.
The food was not outstanding. It was adequate and usually well prepared, but not notable. You can pay extra to eat in a specialty dining room (which we did on occasion) but, again, even there, the food was not memorable.
The excursions were the problem for us. Often starting at an ungodly hour, they were frequently long, arduous, all-day affairs during which we felt we had seen everything and nothing. And if lunch was included in the excursion, it was invariably a disappointment.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Ship tip
If "this is Tuesday, it must be Barcelona" is your idea of fun then by all means take this cruise. If you prefer a less frantic and more thorough visit to the cities and sites of the Mediterranean, then this cruise may not be right for you.
We took the all day excursion to "Stunning Seville." The only thing that was stunned was ourselves after a very early start and lots of waiting for our 10 minute turn in the packed cathedral. Lunch was included in the excursion price, but was chaotic, inefficient, and underwhelming. Most of the day was spent on the bus going at two speeds -- slow and stopped.
We did this one on our own. If you want to see the Sagrada Familia basilica, go straight there for tickets. We had a four hour wait for our turn inside, so we took the metro (easy) to the old cathedral, had lunch, and then got to go inside. It was worth the wait.
Took the excursion to Aix-en-Provence, only about 30 minutes north of Marseille. Again, the lunch that was included was chaotic and unprepared and, sadly, had nothing to do with Provencal cuisine, but Aix itself is worth a visit even for just a few hours.
Monaco is charm free, so we took an excursion to Eze and Nice. Eze on a rainy day is very treacherous to walk (or, more accurately, to climb) and packed to bursting with tourists like us. It is quite understandable why only 20 people live there year round.
We only had time for lunch in Nice (on our own), but found a friendly, delicious, local place.
But for the time, effort, and very early start, it was not really worth it.
We had booked an excursion to Lucca and Pisa, but were too exhausted from our previous exertions on excursions to make the 7:15 AM start, so just stayed on board all day. Not bad.
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