I have not taken many cruises so I have little to compare the ship to. The cabins were fine, the staff on the ship were very helpful and courteous. The buffets worked well for me for breakfast and lunch. There was a tremendous variety of food to choose from and the quality was fine. We were treated well in the restaurants and had only one time when we felt a bit slighted by someone. Considering the 26,000 people and 11,000 member crew, that's pretty good!
For heavens sake, stock enough bandaids in the "store"! I had no luggage, cut myself on board, and couldn't buy a bandaid....
I think charging for soft drinks and bottled water is in very poor taste. With all the free food on the counters, it seemed very cheap to charge for bottled water!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
The quality of food and service was fine. I really did not see that much difference between the different "specialty options" in the dining rooms. I do not believe there should be extra payment at some restaurants. It seemed petty.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
I never did see anything that kept me in the room. The shows were kind of hokey, but I did miss the aerial one which I heard was good. The art work auction could have been fun, but we could not make it due to the limited time we had on board....
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
I'd say excellent except in two areas:
1. Information about our ports: If you were not taking a scheduled Excursion, the Shore Desk had little information for you. When I asked about transportation arrangements to Rome and Florence, I was told they did not know unless I signed up for their excursion. There should be some service for the "do it yourselfers" so we can get questions answered.
2. The people looking for lost luggage were courteous, but not particularly empathetic or helpful. I did not get the feeling that anyone was really looking for the luggage for us. We never did get it.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The ship was well maintained and clean. It was very comfortable, but had way too many people for my taste. I'd prefer a smaller ship with fewer people personally. My luggage was lost for the entire trip and the complimentary laundry made all the difference in the world. Thank you!
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The people working to keep our stateroom clean were the best!
There is no way to see everything you want to in Rome in a few hours. My mom took a "Taste of Rome" excursion and saw the outside of a lot of places. My husband and I did "Rome on your own" which cost $99, but we could have grabbed a train into town for $9 so we felt a bit cheated. We loved the Colisseum and visiting the sites at ancient Rome. We did not even try to make it to the Vatican. The Pantheon was impressive as well......
We visited Nice and had some great bread and a fine walk on the beach. Neither my husband or I were particularly interested in how the rich and famous live in Monaco and Monte Carlo so we skipped it. I think that the beach at Villefranche Sur Mer and the town itself is beautiful. I would have been happier relaxing and having a "beach day" in the short amount of time we had. (6 hours)
This is where the ship's crew could have been more helpful. We learned when we arrived that we had to have appointments to see most of the sites we wanted to see.....David, Ufizzi Museum, etc. It would have been very helpful if the crew had assisted in making these appointments for us while on board. Considering my luggage was lost and all my travel books were in it, we were traveling pretty blind and did not get any real help.
*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.
