This was our first ever cruise, so with nothing to judge against we were able to come in without any preconceptions. We did the Holy Land cruise on Celebrity Silhouette an really enjoyed the experience.
Embarkation
This was incredible. We had been advised not to arrive at the ship before 2.00 pm as this was when boarding began, however our transfer from the Airport to Civitavecchia arrived at the port around 11.00 am. This was not a problem - we expected a long while of sitting around waiting but this didn't happen. We checked in smoothly, and had the obligatory face recognition photo taken to ease the on board photography (more on this later).