The ship's itinerary appealed and it matched my travel schedule, no complaints there. with the exception of bari, italy (which we could have done without) all our ports were interesting and worthwhile. disembarkation and re-boarding were fairly efficient and most crew members were pleasant and accommodating. the ship is clean and well maintained, the staterooms of decent size. that said, the ship lacks some conveniences that one comes to expect on other cruise lines, such as in-room televised maps that identify the ship's course and nearby geographic features of interest. if you're a walker, there is no way to circumnavigate the ship's promenade deck without having to walk through interior corridors (and there are no deck chairs on that deck as you'd find on most ships). nearly all passengers i spoke to agreed that the food on board was subpar and the wines offered with the standard drinks package were unpalatable. frequent announcements broadcast on the ship's speakers promoting sales were annoying (especially when they were endlessly repeated in multiple languages). my wife & i opted not to take advantage of excursions offered by the ship, instead booking my own small private excursions with another couple that we connected with on cruise critic. this proved to be one of the wisest moves we made. we not only saved time loading on and off tour buses and waiting for stragglers, we saved money by splitting costs while having a personal and intimate guided tour in a comfortable car or minibus. resources for booking such private tours are readily available online through sites like shore fox or tours by locals, among many others.