This is my first cruise review submitted to Cruise Critic. I have cruised over 10 times on various cruise lines. This cruise included 21 family members aged 15 to 60 in 6 staterooms. I have enjoyed Cruise Critic reviews and hope that the following information is useful for other cruisers.

Embarkation. We arrived at FCO early the morning of the cruise (9 am). We had arranged transportation to the port with romecabs for 160 euros for 5 people. (The cruise line charges $92/person.) The driver was waiting for us outside of the baggage claim area. We arrived at the port at 11:00 am and were on board by 12:00 pm. Some of the members of my family arrived the day before to make sure that there were no problems. They spent the night at the Hotel Traiano in Civitavecchia and were very pleased with the rooms.

Dining. The food was very good; however the service was not. The servers worked very hard but simply had too many tables and guests to serve to provide personal service. We complained about the slow service after several evenings and the maitre d' helped out. (The first response to our complaint was to make excuses, i.e. blaming the kitchen, for the slow service.) The service certainly sped up but the service was still not personal. In fact, it seemed like they were just rushing to get us served as quickly as possibly. One of our tables had different servers and usually at least one or two meals were incorrect. Read more