Embarkation was smooth but as usual there was a certain amount of queuing to get through, we cleared it in under an hour. Some people say it was a long walk to the ship - this is only becaue the dock is much lower than the embarkation deck (deck five) for this port. We had to climb the quivalent of three floors and to make it easier for people with roll on cases and pushchairs etc. rather than steps there were ramps that looped back on each other at a getle gradient. It's maybe 300m in total and there are lifts available for those that can't (or won't try to) manage that.

Cabin was as we expected, exactly the same as everyone elses balcony (including for the most part aqua class and concierge) but more on this later. We had a 'partially obstructed view' meaning that the lowering mechanism for the lifeboats was in front of our balcony. No biggie, still got great pictures and could see the water.

Our stewards and dining room staff were excellent - nothing seemed to be a problem and full credit has to go to our original maitre d' who sorted out various problems with our table (table of eight, family of five didn't show up all cruise, one lady spoke no English and really struggled) with no fuss and once he'd found a suitable table for the other lady found us a table for two on the other side of the room. The food was on the whole excellent p, I had one dish that was too salty but they brought me another very quickly. Lots of variety in meat and fish, shellfish and vegetarian options (never repeated and at least one per course). We tried each of the speciallty restaurants. Tuscan grille was delicious, I wish a 'modern' Italian like this existed near home! Qisine was a lot of fun, four options between two of us and a desert each was more than enough. Murano can't be faulted in its food but we found it a little 'stuffy' for us - perfect for those thaty enjoy a formal setting though! We celebrated our anniversary in Murano and they presented a cake to us which looked lovely... Sadly, it never arrived in our state room as requested... I do hope someone else enjoyed it..! Perhaps we should have complained but well... It wasn't like we needed the extra food! Read more