We were already in Spain, outside of Barcelona, and it made sense to take advantage of the time and place to extend our time in the area and see more of the Mediterranean ports, including those in Italy. Although we have cruised at least ten times before, this was the biggest ship we had ever been on- and the first time with Royal Carribbean. Bottom line: we felt like we spent a week at a nice hotel but the flavor of being on a ship was entirely missing. Food was good, staff was pleasant, etc., but I felt like a was walking the hallways of a big hotel. Additionally, we needed help (indicated when we signed up for the cruise) in picking shore excursions for my visually impaired husband. We spent a ton of money on those excursions and it was a waste---bad sound systems, too big of groups, etc. We learned our lessons from talking to other passengers on board after the fact, and in our case, will book excursions separately from those touted by the ship. Ship's entertainment seemed to be skewed by family rather than adults, but that was mostly manageable but this was the first time we ever were unable to make it to the main theatre--the main show was only available two nights.