We booked a balcony cabin (our first) for this cruise leaving Rome and calling in at Olympia, Athens, Ephesus, Izmir, Istanbul, and Naples. We loved the sheltered balcony. This itinerary was excellent and we enjoyed most of the ports. Except for the ‘Naples Your Way’ ride, we did not use any of the ship excursions – we consider them terribly overpriced. We had pre-arranged a tour at Ephesus and did our own thing in the other ports. This was our third cruise having previously sailed on Princess and RCI.

Our cabin was excellent, small but very well appointed with lots of storage. The bathroom was small and very serviceable but the vanity was very small. Our over the door shoe rack was very helpful in this instance! The bed was a king size and was not particularly comfortable. My side of the bed seemed to sag toward the outside. There was a pronounced smell of sewage in our hallway, which happily did not extend into our cabin.

Our cabin steward was wonderful, very friendly and helpful. Most of the staff we encountered were very good but occasionally we did meet up with a sullen or otherwise unhappy wait staff. Service in the main dining room was incredibly slow sometimes when it was crowded. Read more