We did a 7 day cruise on the Med last year and did not enjoy it very much apart from visiting a few interesting places so we thought perhaps cruising is not for us. We decided to give it a another try with a bargain 7 day cruise from our home port of Brisbane and were very happy we did. The ship on the Med (MSC Preziosa) was quite large while the P&O Aria seemed small by comparison.

We found the Aria to be in reasonabley good condition and enjoyed the nightly entertainment which we thought was better than on the MSC cruise on the Med. The food was much as we expected, not fantastic but free. The restaurants were nice and the service was good but the food was just not quite as good as you'd expect from a restauarant at home but at least there was plenty of choice, 3 free, one paid and the Pantry.

We had a balcony cabin which was quite spacious but the balcony itself was fairly useless and I don't think we'd have been so happy if we'd paid full fare. Read more