Read Cruise Critic often. Their ship review tends to be more unbiased and accurate than those who write in. There's no doubt that those who previously wrote in are sincere, since they indeed sounded to have a less than pleasurable experience. Perhaps one may be from another cruise line.
First and foremost: This is an ITALIAN Cruise. Go to your local LITTLE ITALY and spend a day there. If you find yourself bored with the culture, you will not like this cruise. While cruising the Caribbean, this cruise will still attract more Europeans than others due to their multilingual staff. FOOD: BE PREPARED FOR ITALIAN FOOD. If you don't like salami, cheese, and pasta, you will not like this cruise. If youre Italian, eh, you'll feel right at home.
This is not a Royal Caribbean Continental American Fare. As an Italian-American, I can appreciate both and usually prefer the latter. But as a traveler, I appreciate the authenticity of international foods. It was like boxing up Italian Culture and Authentic Food and shipping it to a US port where I could experiment with foods, some I know, some I did not, including the Greek fare,...it was authentic all right, I couldn't make it out. But with Italian always available, I could always find something I liked. As noted in Cruise Critic, deck 9 front and back are Italian, always fresh pasta in front, the rear has Italian entrees and Pizza...sometimes without sauce, remember: NOT always American style. The sides of the buffet would alternate each day, one day Greek, one day Spanish, etc. The main dinners, well, rib eye was great, lobster is lobster, and prime rib is prime rib. I had surf and turf on the waiter's tip and he had no problem combining the plates and later asking us all if we would like seconds of lobster. Each night they feature a different city in Italy, Rome, Naples, Palermo, etc. and the foods associated with those regions. We even took home a menu as a souvenir. This is the authentic cuisine, be prepared for an Italian Experience wrapped into a Beach and Excursion Cruise. Perhaps you should not mix these two since either one on their own is exciting. Then again, its like getting two cruises in one. If you just want fast food, beer, and beach, this is not the cruise for you. They do serve burgers, fries, and beer $3.50-4.25, $5.00 pina coladas for daily special drinks, but this is not their specialty. They always have cold cuts and cheese...such as provolone, always hard-parmesan, and different types of very good hard salami and other varieties...not Oscar Meyer. If you have ever made fresh pasta, cooked it alta dente, and created a mild tomato or cream sauce, you will enjoy this cruise. If you like tomato and fresh mozzarella salad, bruschetta, minestrone, veal, pork, eggplant, beef, duck, cornish game hen, risotto, beef carpaccio, and six course meals, you will like this cruise. We read some negative food reviews and maybe they just cleaned their act up a bit. I still had to workout just to avoid gaining too much weight. This is not about quantity; I was extremely choosy on what I would eat! Even with my microscopic portions, I gained weight and enjoyed the food.