We did back to back cruises on this ship from Tampa, FL to Venice Italy. We thoroughly enjoyed the trans-Atlantic crossing, but did have some issues with the ship. It is definitely one of their older liners and could certainly use a major update. Our cabin was large, clean and comfortable with an unusual amount of storage which we appreciated for such a long cruise. There were, however, some missing components on the ship which we could have wished were there....no library or game room - extremely poor selection of books and games(almost none) and no place really to read or play games if such existed. And this on a cruise with ELEVEN sea days!! And again, for such a long cruise, no self-service laundry.

We would rate the food as about average for cruising, with all the dining attendant's service being way above average. The guest artists brought in for the evening shows were exceptionally good as were those playing in various venues around the ship. It was somewhat disappointing that on the second leg of the cruise, there was only one new show - all the rest were repeats of what we had already seen.

If this had been our first time to the Mediterranean, we would have been very disappointed with the ports of call. Excursions to Monaco and Monte Carlo were discouraged due to prep for the Gran Prix (Brilliance of the Seas, which was in port the same day, seemingly had no issues), Florence was skipped entirely. and Taormina in Sicily was also off limits due to the G7 conference. Read more