Being a port intensive cruise it meant we didn’t have a lot of down time or time to really enjoy all the ship has got to offer. Doing three port days in a row is the maximum we’d like to do. Which is what we had on this cruise. As port days will be long tiring days. Hence, the sea day is needed to relax & recharge. Our perfect cruise would be two port days followed by a sea day. Don’t think I would really enjoy a cruise with four or five consecutive port days. Also, this is the first cruise I’ve done where the first day is not a sea day. I prefer the first day to be a sea day as it just gives you that extra time to settle into & explore your new environment on the ship.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Walked straight onto the ship. From the taxi to the ship 5 minutes. So very easy.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Main Dining Room:- Breakfast probably the worst breakfast experience we’ve ever had on all of our cruises. Terrible food & clumsy service. Tried it three times because we thought maybe they were just having a bad day, but no! Ended up at the Windjammer for a much better experience. Dinner was a nice experience with fantastic service. Food was very good but not at the same level as the specialty restaurants. We dined here for the free lobster as we had the Unlimited Dining Package. Windjammer:- Came here for breakfast & the food was generally good, with the exception of the scrambled eggs, they are terrible. They definitely add a filler into the scrambled eggs which just doesn’t taste good. The problem with the Windjammer is all the hustle & bustle with heaps of people & the noise, it’s loud in there! Park Cafe:- Really enjoyed the food from the cafe on the sea days or late afternoon. Especially the Kummelweck Roll. Couldn’t fault the fresh sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers & desserts. All very good. Came here many times after midnight for pizza. Only basic pizzas but lovely thin crusts, tasty & well cooked. Specialty Restaurants:- All the specialty restaurants are at another level over the rest of the food on the ship. Our favourite was Izumi which amazed us every time we tried more of their menu. Favourite dish was all three of their Signature Rolls - WOW! Chops was sensational & met all of our expectations with the best dining ambiance on the ship. Favourite dish the Caesar Salad with Fillet Mignon - succulent! Giovanni’s was superb with probably the most attentive wait staff on the ship. Favourite dishes Crab Ravioli & the Scallops - delicious. We had the Deluxe Beverage Package & found all of the drinks we ordered were of high quality & were well made. Favourite bar was the Schooner Bar. They always brought us some nibbles with our drinks. We also enjoyed the R Bar in the Centrum. The Pool Bar was good too, but the music from the main pool was way too loud for us, hence, we didn’t enjoy sitting there.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Solarium Pool:- Found the pool always full of people & it’s not a big pool. They closed the roof over the pool at 5PM everyday. Hence, the smell of chlorine became much more evident. Also, the pool was closed at 7PM which I think is way too early.
Gym:- not a big gym, but always found plenty of space & equipment to use.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
All the stage shows in the Masquerade Theatre were brilliant. Special mention to Nicola Ward who was sensational & Beatlemania for there audience sing along.
We ended up spending a lot of time late afternoon & early evening in the Centrum watching the various shows which was really enjoyable, & the bar is nice & handy!
Cruise Director Steve Davis is by far the best Cruise Director I’ve seen on all of my cruises. He is incredibly talented & motivated. You can see he loves his job.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Generally the service from all the staff we encountered was exceptional in all areas on the ship.
We did notice the breakfast staff in the main dining room was nowhere near the service level of the dinner staff or the specialty restaurant staff. Their attitude was inept.
The only bad experience we encountered was from the server in Cafe Latte-tudes on day 11. This server had served my wife & I everyday previously for coffee & water as we had the Deluxe Beverage Package. I requested 4 bottles of water as we were on our way to get off the ship in Malta. At the same time my wife went back to our stateroom to get some sunscreen, we agreed to meet on level 1 at the gangway. The server told me they can’t give me 4 bottles of water without my wife’s sea pass. The policy is 2 bottles per sea pass. She told me to go to a bar & get them there on my sea pass. I told her all the bars are closed. She told me she can give me 2 bottles on my sea pass but I’ll have to wait 10 minutes. I told her you don’t even swipe the sea pass card for water, so please just give me an extra 2 bottles. No, she waited 10 minutes then handed over 2 bottles without even looking at my sea pass. What the hell is going on here!!!!!
Unfortunately, her rather big tip that was coming her way on the last morning went to another staff member who treated us with the upmost respect the entire time on the cruise.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Layout & design of the ship is great. All the common areas were spotlessly clean & there was no dust to be seen anywhere. Toilets were always clean & tidy. In fact you wouldn’t know the ship was over 20 years old.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Inside Cabin 2573 was small & compact. Plenty of storage space. Very comfortable bed. Only real issue was the small shower space. We only use our cabin for sleeping & showering, & love the darkness of the inside cabin which provides us with the perfect sleeping environment.
Ship tip
Get the Unlimited Dining Package. Also, when you first get on the ship put cash on your sea pass account & top it up as necessary. Don’t use a credit or debit card as they inevitably charge them twice, hence it can take up to 30 days to get the overcharged funds refunded or removed off your account.
Barcelona is a beautiful city. Cost us €15 euro (15mins) from the port to Placa De Catalunya by taxi. We did our own walking tour using the Rick Steves Audio Europe App.
Cannes is a smallish port & lovely to walk around. We walked around La Croisette & Rue d’ Antibes in the morning.
We then took a train (€5 euro return each & 12 mins) to Antibes & walked down to the old town (10 mins) & had a wonderful lunch.
In the afternoon we returned to Cannes & explored Le Suquet the old town area.
Nothing really in Livorno. We took a train (€20 euro return each & 80 mins) to Florence. We did our own walking tour using Rick Steves Audio Europe App.
Nothing in Civitavecchia. We took the express train (€15 euro return each & 45 mins) to San Pietro Roma station. We did our own walking tour using Rick Steves Audio Europe App.
Nothing in Piraeus. We took a taxi (€18 euro each way & 25 mins) to Syntagma Square. We did our own walking tours (two of them) using Rick Steves Audio Europe App. The first tour was of Plaka & the second was of the Acropolis.
Lovely little port. We actually docked instead of tendering as was scheduled. Hence, we had to take a ferry (€4 euro return each & 15 mins) into the town instead of using our ships free tender directly into town. This meant we had to wait in line for the ferry which wasted a lot of our time because there were three other ships in port.
We just enjoyed our time walking around the old town white cobbled stoned streets. However, it was extremely crowded with all the ships in port.
Unfortunately, Santorini was cancelled due to high winds, which devastated more than half the people on the ship. Instead we went to Ghania Crete which was surprisingly amazing.
Definitely the most spectacular port on this itinerary. We really loved Valletta. So much to see & do in this beautiful neo gothic city. Upon sailing away from port we both agreed we can’t wait to come back here.
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