Just home from cruising Venice to Rome, via Dubrovnik, Split, Koper, Messina, Naples. I've cruised different lines many times, both as crew and passenger. This is my third on NCL. I expect to take more of them because I like the "freestyle" element. This ship was one of the cleanest I've been on, and had the best service I've experienced. It was my first Med cruise and I found a bit of language difficulty, but expected that of a European itinerary and multicultural passenger ship. No real problems though. The crew seemed to be very happy in any dealings we had with them. Chatting with one crew member, I was impressed with the support she felt she had from management. Everyone we dealt with from our steward to waiters was pleasant and eager to help in any way.

The most outstanding thing I noticed was the smooth sailing -literally. I'm not sure if it was being higher on deck 10, the calmness of the seas last week, or just very skilled bridge officers. You never felt or heard the ship dock or leave the docks. The only way to know the ship was moving was to look outside. Very nice sailing!

Embarkation went quickly since we didn't arrive until 4pm. It was quite a trot pulling a bag from the people mover to the ship though. I didn't see the shuttle bus I'd read about in the parking lot. If I ever sail from Venice again, and my ship is at the very end, I'll definitely find a better way to get there. Read more