This was the 7th and most expensive cruise my husband and I have taken. The beauty of Oceania is the itinerary and service. Being a mid-sized ship, we never had to wait to speak with someone at the excursion desk, the concierge desk, or any other desk. The smaller sized ship allowed us to visit places that larger ships could not dock at, such as the island of Elba off the coast of Italy, which was our favorite destination of the 14 day cruise. We've traveled the scale of accommodation types (balcony, ocean view, inside) and for this cruise, we chose an inside cabin (best available) and ended up with a roomy handicapped room that included a bath. I couldn't have been more pleased, especially after seeing my brother's tight-spaced and much more expensive balcony room.

We booked this cruise for the itinerary, but only having 1 day at sea in 14 days makes for a very busy trip (which was why we didn't want to pour out money for a more expensive room that we'd only sleep in). After 14 days, we departed the ship wondering what we saw where. Of course, it was sorted out once the 800+ photos were developed. We spent 2 days in Venice, which was wonderful, and I think it would have been wonderful to have that arrangement at other ports, as well. Dubrovnik Croatia, we went on a tour of the walled city and a wine tour outside the walled city. That, too, was a favorite place. I wish we had booked a tour of Corfu, because we saw many wonderful places, but had no idea what we were looking at. It was all Greek to us. The Amalfi coast, Pompeii, Positano, Marguerita, Sorrento, Rome, Florence, Portofino. We loved Italy.

Our least favorite port was Monaco. The ship offered no information except to say that we could get information onshore. Onshore, we asked how to get to the train to Nice or Edz France, and we were told to stay in Monaco, that Nice was dirty. No information or cooperation whatsoever. We spent several hours trying to find the correct bus to Edz, and finally, we gave up. We went to the Sun Casino and back to the ship, quite disillusioned. The highlight of Monaco was finding a yacht with my name on it. I'd have rather spent another day in Marseilles, Elba, or another Greek island. Read more