My husband and I sailed the 14 night first leg, from Singapore to Dubai, of this repositioning cruise. About 25% of the people continued on to Rome for another 14 nights. We began our adventure a few days earlier in Singapore staying at the Pan Pacific on Raffles Boulevard in the Marina Bay area. We were very pleased with this choice as it was in a great location and easy to see the colonial district, Raffles Hotel, Gardens by the Bay or the Flyer. The Promenade MRT station was just a few minutes walk. It was also only a 10-15 minute walk to the City Hall MRT or Marina Bay Sands across the way. The staff was friendly and helpful, the Club Room had great views of MBS and the flyer from the top floor, served great breakfast, snacks and drinks between 6-8 pm and the hotel offered free wifi. We used a combination of the efficient MRT, metered taxis, and foot to get around. The highlight was our private five hour walking tour in Chinatown with Sharon from Summer Footprints. We also managed a visit to the Orchid Garden and did an early morning walk of the Southern Ridges. Don't miss the hawker food especially the evening satay stalls outside of Lau Pa Sat.

Embarkation-the ship was docked at the new Marina Bay cruise terminal and the luggage drop-off and security went well. Not so with the rest of the process. As the cruise had four port stops in India this required a visa for most people. A copy of your passport bio-page with your Indian visa was also needed for which most people didn't bring along. This caused delays and problems in the queues. Forget about priority boarding unless you arrived in the first hour. After two hours we made it on board and our luggage was already waiting in our cabin.

Demographics-There were 1700 people on board, far less than capacity and only nine children. Almost half were from the US and many from Canada, UK, Australia, Japan, Singapore, HK, South America and Europe so it was a good mix. Everyone waited their turn and no chair hogs at the pool or in the theater! Read more