We chose this cruise as it suited our dates and the destinations sounded nice, Marseilles, Mallorca, Ibiza, etc. Genoa was our embarkation point. We arrived late and stressed due to a flight delay at Stansted airport. Our group was all English speaking, two adults and two teenagers. This was my first cruise and we booked in March for July. There were no balcony cabins left so we opted for a cabin with a window. I was underwhelmed to put it mildly when we walked into the room with all our bags. It looked like an Irish Ferries cabin and that's not to insult Irish Ferries as I travel with them annually for a wine trip but seriously, this was for a whole week and there were four of us. Anyhow, a deep breath and some rational thinking and we decided there was nothing to be done, make the most of it. We went for dinner as we were up since 6am with two flights and feeling tired and hungry. We discovered the 8.30 sitting we booked is actually a 9.30 sitting as its Italian time, rather than UK time that should have been quoted on booking. No accommodations could be made so we just sat in the bar and waited. We had paid for a drinks package but our cards didn't reflect that so we were denied the free drinks we ordered and had to pay. This was rectified the next day but no refund was issued as we hadn't kept the receipt. In the restaurant the same non-sensical stuff goes on with the drinks package, with some plonk being covered and most of the wines not allowable. They charge the full amount if you choose a different wine rather than the difference in price. The orange juice is not covered for breakfast, the charge is nearly 4 euro per person.

All of the entertainment was in Italian practically. Our TV had Italian movies and despite trying to reset the language it just didn't work on our TV. The internet packages are very expensive so no streaming is possible. I advise you download your movies before you travel if you enjoy that. The ports we stopped off at were lovely.

A word of warning, they charge you 10 euro per day per person service charge in a big bill at the end of the cruise so that was 280 euro for our group. We felt annoyed by this as it was never mentioned before that. The 50 euro cruise credit ('Free') is a joke as the service charges wipe it out and more in the end so don't make the mistake we made by spending it to use it up!! Read more