this cruise was a last minute booking. of the cruise there were 9 days at sea. the booking in for us was fast and the cabin was excellent. Even the life boat drill being done inside was not labourious or time consuming. We elected for anytime dining but took most of our meals in the Horizon buffet restaurant as you can select what you want and how much. although it was very busy at peak times as there were four seating areas we always found a table albeit sharing a larger table. we found the food very varied, hot and plentyful. the crew were hot on 'bugs' stomach type and there was always a 'guard' at the entrance to all the serveries to ensure passengers used the bacterial spray before entering so there were no reports of sickness. we had a lunch and a breakfast in our cabin by room service, you put out your selection card the night before stating what time it was required. It was free although we did tip the waiter. the service in the buffet restaurant was the best we ever accountered, the staff were friendly, very efficient and obliging. dirty plates dissapeared as if by magic and they were there when you first sat down enquiring to our requirements for drinks - non alcaholic.

The next big plus were the entertainment staff, there was always something going on from big shows in the theatre to trivia quizes and we found that the sea days slipped by easily. One of our favourites we the games in the evening such as husband and wife (mr&mrs) majority rules (family fortunes)Liars Club (call my bluff)these were hilarious. Even the simply trivia Quizes were very popular as only a few took them too seriously.

The night before Corfu the ship intecepted an SOS from a Syrian refugge boat and had to divert to pick up a pregnant women and helicopter her off to shore. This next morning meant we had to miss going into Corfu which did not pleas some passengers. After almost missing Koper(Slovenia) the captain thought it was too windy (14mph) despite another cruise ship going in before us, but we did go in eventually. After Dubrovnik which everybody liked especially the old walled town, it was the crown, Venice. As we had visited it before and the water taxy trips were 15GB we diced to walk in, it only took ten minutes to get to the start of the tourist area, although if you were walking to St Peters or the Realto Bridge it took a bit longer. we enjoyed this visit as it was the first time we'd seen Venice in nice weather - it was raining the last two times we'd been there. Malta was the next stop, here we took a tip from a previous review and walked along the side of the docks to a public life which for a euro would take you to the top of the cliff leaving a level walk into town. Where we found the Maltese very welcoming and friendly. The final stop was Cadiz theres not a lot to be said here as it was just a typical Spanish town, some people took the tour to Seville. So after an unusually calm Bay of Biscay crossing it was back to Southampton and a speedy disembarkation.