This was the first cruise for me and my wife. Even though we enjoyed this cruise, we viewed it more as a way for us to see Europe. Therefore, we did not get to spend a lot of time on the ship. Briefly, we enjoyed the food for the most part. The poultry and beef were made very well. However, the seafood was overcooked frequently. Dessert for the most part was good. Service was good. The 2 pools were small. The 4 hot tubs were not very hot; the indoor hot tubs were always closed around dinner time. Music and entertainment were above average.
As for the ports of call, we first stopped in Toulon, France. The first stop was suppose to be Marseilles but due to a local port-worker strike, the stop was changed to Toulon. Hopefully this won't happen to you because if you haven't planned for a stop, the day maybe somewhat chaotic as you don't know what to do. Of course, the other option is to pay $ and go on one of the shore excursions. One advice from stopping at this port is that if the cruise is offering a shuttle service from the port into the city ... take it, even if it costs you $5 USD per person each way. Usually when the shuttle service is offered, it means the port is far far far away from the
city. When we docked in Toulon, they gave us a map from Celebrity cruise about this city. On the map, they showed where the ship docked (which is actually the Celebrity ship instead of Royal Caribbean). The walk into the city according to that map would have been a few minutes. However, where we actually docked, the walk would have been ~2 hours.