We don't very often go on cruises but decided on this one due to a good price (made even better by included drinks package) and a wish to avoid airports etc.

The ship itself is lovely, fantastic central shopping/restaurant street, good-sized swimming pools, decent theatre. Having two kids we always have to go in August so expected it to be very busy, and there were something like 5,000-6,000 guests, but even on sea days it felt like there was enough space (if not enough sun loungers, however I don't see how they could avoid this). Only once, when we were at a tender port, did it fell disorganised. Getting onboard was also a bit of a hassle but disembarkation was fine.

The food in the buffet and main restaurant was good to excellent. I heard someone complain about it being too Italian and not warm enough, but we never found that. They have made changes such as afternoon tea & back bacon for the English market. There are several pay restaurants but we never felt we needed to try them - the tacos place looked fun though and we nearly went there. Read more