We chose this cruise mainly for the itinerary and in that regard it really delivered. We could not wait to see Pompeii, the Amalfi coast, Rome and Florence. As expected, those were indeed some awesome, iconic places to visit, but the crush of the crowds got really old by the end of the day. Our stops in the French Riviera and Mallorca surprisingly provided some of our favorite moments of the trip. We also really loved being in Barcelona for three days before the cruise. It was great to walk around the Gothic area at night doing a tapas tour.

As far as the ship is concerned, it was the biggest I’ve sailed on out of my four cruises and I loved the variety of activities, however, we were pretty tired from touring and in fact went to bed one night at 10 pm! I was glad we booked the Unlimited Dining Plan and like many others, thought Cagney’s Steak house was the best. The Cirque Show and Dinner was quite good and not what you typically see on a cruise ship. Howl at the Moon was very fun and interactive so we went to it twice. The Soul Satisfaction singers were great, but that’s the kind of music I can hear every summer at Myrtle Beach, SC, and not what I want to hear when I’m in the Mediterranean Sea. Burn the Floor was good but the Flamenco Dance we attended in Barcelona had spoiled us.

Even though we weren’t in the stateroom that much, I really regretted booking an inside cabin. The cabin lighting was very inadequate and not having daylight to supplement it bothered me much more than I thought it would. My other major pet peeve was the location of the outlets. Due to my thick hair, I bring my own hair dryer but the cord was not long enough to reach the mirror. My lesson learned is to never cruise again without an extension cord. Despite the very small amount of square footage in the inside statement, there was ample storage space. The much written about bathroom configuration had its pros and cons (more cons in my opinion). Read more