Overall, this cruise was a very nice return to cruising for me after a couple of years of covid related travel limitations. The itinerary was full of interesting ports, which is what I like in a cruise. The crew were cheerful and attentive. My cabin was a comfy oasis to return to after a fun day of touring. The food was quite tasty and the entertainment abundant. I would highly recommend this ship and itinerary!
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Everything went smoothly and was very organized.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The main dining room, taste was the most reliable, particularly with classic old school dishes. The buffet was fine. I general, I think the various dining options could have had longer hours.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
I mostly cruise for port excursions and sightseeing but there's plenty of stuff to do on board from games to shows to pools etc.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
I saw the musical, which was fun and really well done.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The staff were fantastic, even with what must be a lot of extra work to keep everything clean in the covid era.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship really needs another set of elevators. There were definitely logjams at the one set of elevators at times and that's with the ship having only half the number of passengers. However, everything was very clean and well maintained.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
I had a balcony to myself so the space was more than adequate. The balcony was nice for sitting and enjoying the sea air or the views of the coast or the ports. There's lots of built in storage. The sink is a little small so it was hard not to have water splashed all over the counter. Otherwise I liked the separe toilet, shower and sink spaces.
Ship tip
Even the most expensive internet is slow so maybe consider getting a local sim if you're going to be near shore most of the time.
Did a tour of sorrento and Pompeii. The guide was great. It was nice to see two very different places in one day, so you could have a mix of history and shopping and beautiful scenery
Florence is a good distance from the port, so know that you'll lose a couple of precious hours to the round trip drive from Livorno. Florence is of course huge and impossible to explore thoroughly in a single day. Many tours give it a good try though! I found florence and pisa together were possible to at least skim through quickly, but it was certainly a very long exhausting day!
I took the taste of Barcelona architecture tour, which was great. I would highly recommend it. You can see famous buildings from Gaudí and other local greats, learn about catalán culture and have enough free time to lunch or shop in the Gothic quarter.
The port is very pretty with many beautiful buildings. I took a very nice tour but the bustling historic area seems compact enough and close enough to the dock to explore on your own.
I took the buramini tour which was very interesting and even a bit more adventurous than I expected. The site is 1 hour north of town so I didn't see much of the port itself, especially since the ship stopped there so briefly.
Disembarkation was very unorganized, which was a disappointment after experiencing such good service up to that point. There were no announcements made, so I had no idea when they were calling groups or even where the gangway was. I wandered around until I found another group of confused passengers. We waited in the wrong place until someone found a crewmember to tell us where to go. When I got off the ship I got my luggage and found one of my suitcases had been damaged during handling. I ended up in the second of two airport transfer buses (probably all the time waiting in the wrong place), which waited for an hour after our luggage tag color group disembarked before leaving. The transfer option is certainly convenient but if you have a tight timeframe to make a flight, you might have to be very proactive with somehow getting yourself to the bus that leaves earlier.
Thank you for sharing your review. We had this cruise planned with our granddaughters in May 2021, but was cancelled. Thinking of rescheduling for May 2022. Your review will help. So glad you had a good cruise.
*Cruiseline.com is not a booking agent or travel agency,
and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. Our partners
(travel agencies and cruise lines) provide prices, which we list for our
users' convenience. Cruiseline.com does not guarantee any specific rates or
prices. While prices are updated daily, please check with the booking site
for the exact amount. Cruiseline.com is not responsible for content on
external web sites.
Contact us
Submitting...
Need help from a personal vacation planner?
Loading...
Find the perfect cruise with weekly tips and cruise deals for as little as $30/night!
Sign up for weekly cruise deals
Join other subscribers and get the best
cruise deals of the week in your inbox every Thursday.
