Boarded the QE in Civitavecchia . Embarkation at about 4pm was a breeze. Note: if your flight arrives early enough on the day of arrival or departs after 4pm on the final day, Cunard offers a Highlights of Rome bus tour before or after the cruise. We would have welcomed that option but unfortunately our flight left at 3 so we couldn't pull it off. Got to the port courtesy of Cunard transfers which was stress free. ($86 pp round trip. for the hour trip.) The ship's public areas were beautiful and elegant. Many evenings musicians were playing orchestra type music as we walked thru the ship. We had the late dinner seating (8:30) which was a little late but worked out well with our port intensive itinerary. The food was superior to the food we had on a Princess cruise a few years ago. We only saw one show which featured the comedian Allan Stewart which was ok to good. Our table mates saw a few more shows that they thought were not so great but they did like the one that was a variety show.

This cruise had three segments and we were aboard for the middle week, visiting Florence, Monaco, Toulon and Barcelona. I had no complaints and really enjoyed my cruise. The only thing I complained about on my questionnaire was about the ridiculous price of the ships photos. Unlike the old days when every photo taken was printed out then thrown away when not sold, the process has gone digital where you view and select off a monitor. This should have reduced Cunard's cost greatly but wan't reflected in their pricing. Embarkation photos were $24.95 PLUS a 22%VAT tax. Photos taken on the staircase on formal nights were $34.95 plus the 22% tax. $30.43 and $42.64 seemed exorbitant so we avoided the photographers. Most people on the cruise seemed to have plenty of money so I guess Cunard can charge what the market will bear.