The ship was large but entertainment venues were small. Casino had a good variety of games & slots but the casino was closed at 2am two days before we docked due to an Italian law. "Quiet areas" were not enforced. Food variety & quality needs improvement.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Despite a delay in the ship arriving to port the embarkation went fairly well. It would have been better if they had people queue through the roped line from the beginning instead of waiting till after a large crowd was gathered in an open area but they did their best to correct it.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
Not much variety day-to-day especially lunch & breakfast. While the staff & service was great, the lack of flavor/seasoning was disappointing especially in the specialty restaurants. One bright spot was the Food Republic which was very good.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
The pools & slides were great and the ropes course was fun but unfortunately the weather was not the great for enjoying these every day. We purchased thermal suite spa passes for the duration of the cruise and the amenities were nice but the area was supposed to be deemed a "quiet area" but some people didn't pay attention and a few times I just left because it was too noisy for a place that was meant for relaxation.
Entertainment
1 out of 5
The variety of shows was subpar compared to other cruises I've been on and most of the venues that hosted entertainment were very small.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Staff was great! Our room steward was amazing, the casino & wait staff were also great and friendly.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
Bathroom size was good but the room size seemed small for a suite compared to other cruise lines.
Ship tip
If you want a thermal spa pass, book it as soon as you book the cruise since they only give a limited number and the same with shore excursions. If you don't have a shore excursion I recommend waiting a while before trying to disembark to avoid the crowds.
very easy to get around and many options as you could walk, take a cab or even the metro train. We took the train back to the ship and it was very easy to navigate the subway.
Only downfall was the lack of WCs (bathrooms). We didn't book an excursion but we waited till later in the day (when lines died down) and took the red bus tour around the area.
We booked a zipline excursion & although it was fun, it was only 1 long zipline. Luckily there was only about 9 people on this excursion so it didn't take long before everyone went down and we loaded back up to go back to the ship. We still had time to explore the area but we had to back track since the bus dropped us back off at the ship.
We booked the hop on/hop off bus excursion but were a bit disappointed that a coach bus took us from the port ot the city center where we had to walk and wait in line to take the hop on/hop off bus versus having one take us directly from the ship. We then had to wait till our coach bus came back us back to the ship. We also did not have enough time to take both bus routes, nor was there really any time to actually hop off since each route was over 2 hours long.
You cannot walk from the ship so if you weren't on an excursion the only option was to pay for the shuttle bus or take a cab. They only had certain cabs so if you weren't ride sharing you it was pricey for a cab. We paid 25 euro for the 2 of us to go to the local train station. Then we only had to pay a small amount each to take the train to Pisa. Cabs from there were easy & less expensive and it was easy to walk from the Leaning Tower back to the train.
We took a transfer to the aiport in Rome & stayed at a hotel right at the airport. Although we paid 60 euro for a ride to Vatican City (for sake of time), we did take the express train from the Rome train station back to the airport. Everyplace we went was extremely crowded. We took the "I love Rome" (pink) tour bus but the route was not great for seeing many sites so you still had to do a bit of walking. Most wasn't far but my mom is in her 70s so it was more difficult to walk long distances.
We were the last group to get off since we had the transfer already booked. This made it very easy to find our luggage and we went right out into the line to board one of the buses. It was the easiest disembarkation I've experiences
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