This cruise was chosen primarily because of its itinerary which included Venice and Dubrovnik along with the chance to visit Slovenia, Montenegro and Croatia, all of which proved to be beyond expectation. Its true what they say about The Spirit there really is a genuine friendly atmosphere throughout the ship and i must commend The Captain for changing ports to avoid a bout of bad weather as this meant i had the opportunity to view the Roman amphitheatre at Pula which is virtually complete. I went on every excursion i could pack in and was most happy with the competent and helpful tour guides in charge of us, plus the prices for these trips were good value. The Compass Rose restaurant was a pleasant experience with crisp white linen abundant and most respectful staff; i always managed to get seated by a window for breakfast which certainly enhanced my dining experience as i gazed out at the blue waters of the Adriatic. The buffet restaurant was also a success with all the hot food being truly hot along with all sorts of delicious desserts.

The entertainment every evening was as good as any i've seen in my twelve cruises with the cruise entertainments director, a Mr Ted James i believe, doing a sterling job..a rather good light comedian too i must say..well done Ted.

Only fly in the ointment was the final day statement of account i received early morning just 2 hours before we were due to leave the ship before 8am..amongst the 4 excursions and 5 drinks i had legitimately purchased was a charge of £238 for something i had definitely not ordered or received and as my bleary eyes cleared at the site of this stunning amount(even the cataract in my left eye seemed to diminish at this one) i realised i had to act quickly and before 6am i was at reception. Fair enough the matter was soon resolved as i was assured that an assistant had put down the wrong cabin number and landed me with the bill for someone else and i was credited back the money on my debit card;yet a nagging worry stays with me of how such an error could occur on a ship where every purchase has to be by the cabin card allocated to one accompanied by my signature on a duplicate receipt. I feel that if i had not noticed the error till i was back home then rectifying such would have been quite problematical. Read more