Mixed experience

We chose this cruise as they have a separate gluten free kitchen as wife is coeliac ,and short flight from UK and places visited.

The ship is huge and on occasion it got very busy and the staff struggled to cope with numbers but always tried to please and invariably polite.

The organisation was sometimes sadly lacking had to queue for hour and quarter to get pass for Israel the still took an hour to get of boat.

When we arrived at Airport took 45 minutes to check guests onto coach. At port you disembarked coach next to ship but there where no staff to tell you how to get to check in. The same thing happened as you left boat you had to find your own way to coach from terminal building. The actual check in and check out was relatively quick though we did arrive early.

We did enjoy the cruise but would not go on such a big boat again.

Be aware that you need to budget for all drinks when looking at price of cruise. Packages are the way to go IMHO.

Gluten free.

You can only eat Gluten free in the formal dinning rooms, this wasnt a problem for us as a couple but could be an issue if you had children as meal times are Mediterranean length ie well over an hour.

My wife suffered no ill effects so very good from that point of view. The choice was limited but generally food was good, again very Mediterranean dont expect meat and two veg.

General food.

usually six course with two or three choice for each course. Varied from bland to delicious, fish was usually very good.

Breakfast and lunch times could be very busy especially on sea days.

The self service was a zoo couple of times I went in at meal times, no spare seats, other times was ok with good choice of snacks ( not GF).

Friendly in slow service.

Cabin (balcony)

Kept immaculate by friendly cabin boy. reasonable size. Would chose deck 13 again as deck 14 overhangs shading balcony. Shower very good.

HUGE Ship.

Italian chic meets bling, showy but well maintained and kept immaculate.

Pools nice but cold on occasion.

Bar plenty of varied entertainment and good service.

Tours (eastern Med.)

All very good if pricey, you could walk into most of the stops if you wanted to.

Entertainment

BArs good, theatre very mixed, classical piano concert, traditional dance and tumblers, Opera on various nights. Mostly enjoyable. Nice theatre.

Day time dance classes our favourite.