Very little useful info given on each day's destination and transportation requirements. Focus was total on shore excursions.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
Not enough info on where to meet to get on the ship. We tried the impossible - walking to the ship with our luggage. There was no info on where to catch the shuttle to the ship until we had walked for 2 hours.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Main dining room on Deck 3 was excellent as far a menu choices and food quality. Our waiters were outstanding.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
pickleball, dodge cars, flyer free fall, shows
Entertainment
2 out of 5
shows were OK but the TV contestant shows were stupid. There was not enough variety of the shows.
Children's Programs
no children
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our dinner waiters, Vickyson and Fortune were outstanding and went out of their way to make sure we were served well. We gave them both big tips. Our room steward, Leah, was OK but got a bigger tip from my wife than I was comfortable with.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Saw cleaning going on everywhere and at all times. Ship did not seem to be "the most technologically advanced" ship in the world. Our last cruise with Princess unlocked our cabin door as we approached. This cruise lacked information greatly. The in-cabin TV flashed through things so fast we could not read each item sufficiently and all the announcements were in the hallway and couldn't be heard in our room. We were constantly searching for each day's info and finally got Leah to leave us the daily report. Our room was very noisy, especially when approaching the port - sounded like a loud, high-pitched vacuum or pump running for up to an hour. Also lots of bumping and thumping during the night. Cabin was very noisy, interrupting our sleep. Toilet didn't flush easily.
Cabin / Stateroom
1 out of 5
Size and comfort were fine, but was very noisy, especially when approaching ports.
Ship tip
Get info up front on how (where) to get on the ship and detailed instructions for each day's port facilities and transportation needs and costs. The port you actually land at is not necessarily near the city they advertise (Ephesus, Athens, Santorini, etc.)
Acropolis was hard to get to and tickets were all sold out by the time we got there. The Parthenon is a total rip and they charged us a lot to see 5 or 6 old columns. Stick with Rome!
Ephesus was a long ways away ($100 for a taxi driver, and then you find out you have to pay 40 euros apiece to take a 2-mile hike through the place. All of the greek isles were brown, not green like one would expect. Stay in Italy!
The hike up to the top (the city) was very strenuous and hazardous because of the poorly managed donkeys sharing (or not sharing) the same little trail. After that hike, where were all the pretty little white houses with blue trim like you see on all the ads? Nowhere! It was all shops and restaurants. What a rip!
The Mykonos Old and New excursion in tour buses was a lot of hiking through a gamut of shops and stores and restaurants and our tour guide didn't take into account that people every so often need to hit the bathroom. Got tired of hearing why everything faces inward on the island (to avoid pirates). Island was brown and ugly, not green and beautiful as we have all been led to expect.
We just went on a similar cruise on HAL a month ago. The Rome, Athens, and Ephesus ports are not close and require transportation which we researched and made arrangements ahead of time. If you did any research on the attractions in those ports you would have gotten valuable information you could have used to get into and enjoy every site. But you made no effort to learn about your trip and expected the cruise line to be your personal travel guide. You have no one to blame but yourself.
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