This was a 7 day Adriatic cruise leaving from Venice with stops in Koper, Slovenia, Bari, Italy, Ravenna, Italy, Dubrovnik, Croatia, a day at sea and an overnight in Venice. Dubrovnik and Venice are the highlights with the other ports as nice stops but in my opinion far less exciting that ports in Greece, Turkey, or Western Med like Italian ports on Western Italy or Spain. I enjoyed them, but for travelers not familiar with this region of the world, i would recommend other ports.

Arrived into Venice by train into main station Santa Lucia, amazing view to walk out and the grand canal is there. BOOM-you are in Venice! Took a walk over to Piazza Roma, very doable if you are a walker, but had to carry baggage over the bridge and it is steps so you can't roll your bags, have to carry them. From the Piazza took the People Mover out to the port. It is 1 euro and drops you at the entrance to the port. Kind of confusing, but RCCL had reps to direct you to one building to drop luggage and another building to check in. Priority check in was a breeze, I had no line. However it is a very long distance to the pier for the RCCL ship for those with mobility problems. Again, for walkers or those who are active, flat and easy to do. Upon entrance to the ship, it was almost shocking how similar it was to the Mariner of the Seas that I had been on earlier this year. As with that ship, on first glance all looks good. Clean, sparkling, but on closer look, the ship is showing its age, and the maintenance has slipped. wood railings around the ship outside and on balconies were in poor repair, looking up you see rust on the ship and the carpet is soiled and linens stained. But it was build in 1999 and a rep said being scheduled for refurbishment. This is really a minor issue though as it was always clean. the ship was having plumbing problems during the cruise. Some public areas smelling, at one point water shut off in my cabin and other dinner mates on different floors, different days also reporting the same plumbing problems. All in our group though were flexible and made the best of it.

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