My concept of a Mediterranean cruise is Barcelona to Venice. We've sailed with Celebrity, Princess and Azamara and based on everything I knew I was fully expecting Holland America to meet or exceed our past experiences. It was not to be.

The ports of call and HAL's shore excursions we all wonderful. But the ship design (pools and atrium), and more importantly the food and service fell very short of our expectations.

The embarkation process was chaotic. After check-in, everyone was given a boarding number. Unfortunately, the announcement system was almost impossible to hear/understand. We felt like cattle in a holding pen. Read more