Chose this cruise as it fit in with our holiday dates and wanted to try cruising. The cruise travel arrangements were perfect including embarkation and disembarkation. The ship is simply lovely and we had nothing but pleasing encounters with staff. The theatre shows were watchable but nothing special. The cabin was clean and we were looked after well by the cabin cleaners. The itinerary was busy so the evenings on the ship were mainly spent in the Cigar room where the atmosphere was friendly and relaxing mainly due to the wonderful Buddha and his colleague Rich. They worked as a fantastic team and could not do enough for you. We never made it to the pools as the weather was not that encouraging. We found the onboard shops limiting. Prior to our cruise we read lots of negative comments with regard to the food. We found the mediterranean food quality was good, the downside was the temperature, it was only ever warm but there was certainly no shortage. The change of port from Marseille to Villefranche Sur Mer on the last day was the best. The Cruise tour to Monte Carlo and Monaco was just fantastic. Overall we had a fantastic time and would go again... just remember it is a Mediterranean cruise line and enjoy it instead of trying to compare it to other lines.