We flew to Rome on Saturday, the day before the cruise started. 'We' are DH and I, and his 18 yr old son, who are all diamond members, and DH's mother taking her first cruise. After a smooth BA flight, helped by a glass of champagne enroute, it was 6p somewhere in the world, even though it was only 9a with us! We caught the Leonardo Express into Roma Termini for €11pp. From there it was a short walk, hauling luggage to the Hotel Baileys booked via ebookers.com (Orbitz in the USA) for our one night stay for only £93 per room. The hotel was chosen for the good reviews on tripadvisor and the closeness to our favourite restaurant in Rome -the Trattoria Cadrona at Via Raffaele Cadrona. We dumped the bags and set off for a stroll. Turned out to be a rather long stroll: Up to the Spanish Steps, down via Condotti and then over to the Vatican. Dinner was fantastic in the aforementioned restaurant. Sunday morning we took another walk before our car, from zelitlimousine.com turned up -€140 for all of us down to Civitavecchia. We were on board by 12.30. It became quickly apparent that 60% of our cruise mates were Italians, and that Italian children don't return to school as early as British ones do, as there were far more children than we thought! We had one promenade room (for the boys) and a balcony (for the girls -naturally) We noticed the Italian touches on board, bottles of Olive Oil and Balsamic on the tables in the MDR, and even opera playing by the main pool. There was even a special wine list which had local wines at very reasonable prices: Chardonnay Villa Jolanda $5 glass, $17 bottle Gavi di Gavi Villa Jolanda $5 glass $20 bottle Pinot Grigio Zonin $5 glass $18 bottle Lambrusco diSorbara $6 glass $23 bottle Chiani classico Rocca dele Macie $7 glas $28 bottle Barbera d'Asti Villa Jolanda $5 glass $18 bottle Mateus Rose $5.50 glass $21 bottle San Giovise Canaloso $5.50 glass $21 bottle Local barrel - glass of red or white $2.95

All prices need 15% added, and for some reason all of the above were available in WindJammer but not in the MDR!. No Rose in MDR but they did offer a glass of Limoncello for $5.50

We did MTD again, and after the first night we were lucky enough to secure the 'dream-team' of Edgardo and Nuthoo - we asked to be in their area every night. I have never mentioned waiters before but these guys rock. Edgardo is moving to Oasis shortly so he is obviously one of their top guys. We booked a table every night at 8p but there were many who did not, the line for MTD stretched back across the bridge into the Royal Promenade most evenings, so I expect their MTD experience is not as positive as ours. MTD was open from 6:30-10p - again to accommodate the Mediterranean later dining times. Food was hot and freshly prepared, and the service was at our speed. We only ate breakfast once in the MDR and never took lunch there - not enough time! The WindJammer was usually very busy but it never took long to find a table. Read more