When I was a kid (a long time ago, now) I remember the book published in the late 1950's titled "The Ugly American." Its thesis is that Americans are ignorant and rude, especially when traveling in other parts of the world. I've just returned from a cruise on the western Mediterranean and discovered that Americans are total amateurs when it comes to being ugly. More than half of the passengers on the ship (at least it felt that way) were Italian. And they were, without question, the most rude, abusive, obnoxious, pushy, ugly, loud, arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless people I have ever encountered. They had absolutely no consideration for others. Their behavior ranged from pushing onto an already full elevator before allowing the people on the elevator to get off; to pushing into line in the Windjammer, to elbowing people out of the way to get to the front of the line for the ice show; to smoking in non-smoking areas; to hollering across a room to a friend half a room away; to ignoring children throwing tantrums at the same table. The list could go on. Suffice it to say that I will never again take a cruise, or any trip, if I know that the journey will be populated by a majority of Italians. I need to add that every American, Brit, or other non-Italian person I spoke with on the ship agreed, most without even being asked, that the Italians were obnoxious. There, now I feel better. I realize that RCCL cannot change the behavior of an entire category of passenger, but I've gotten it off my chest. Otherwise, the cruise was spectacular. It was our third, so I have some basis for comparison. The food, if it had been our first cruise, would have been rated first-class. But the quality has deteriorated somewhat from earlier RCCL cruises. Still, it's quite good - no complaints. Service is superb. There is nothing that we could ask for that the staff would not go out of their way to provide. Embarkation and disembarkation has been perfected. We arrived deliberately mid-afternoon to get on the ship and our room was ready for us to get in and start unpacking. We've learned to pack a change of clothing to "ship-board" attire in our carry-on and were able to hit the pool right away. By the time we got back, our luggage was waiting and we had plenty of time before the life-jacket drill. Entertainment was good - the ice show is always a treat, there was a juggler who was great. One complaint: the people who control the sound seem to think that the entire audience is hard-of-hearing. The volume was, always, much too loud. This also applied to the live music and "games" at the pool. Ports of call for us were delightful. The highlights were Barcelona and Mallorca but all were wonderful to visit. Disembarkation was extremely well organized. Although I would have enjoyed a few more hours of sleep, I do acknowledge that it was necessary for us to be off the ship before 7:00am; both in order to get to the airport in time for our flight home, and to enable the crew to turn the rooms around for the next cruise. We appreciate having our room ready when we arrived and acknowledge that it works both ways - we had to leave early enough for them to re-fit. Suitcase delivery was faultless and easier than any prior cruise. All in all a great cruise. But Lord deliver me from rude Italians.