My wife and I recently took the Noordam transatlantic cruise from Rome to Ft. Lauderdale as a 25th wedding anniversary present to each other. We normally do the "all inclusive" resorts in the Caribbean, so we are used to the big tour operator system and tactics.

Our price included air from Toronto, which made the whole trip less than $140 a day including taxes.

The transfer to the ship was a little chaotic, but was still accomplished within 1/2 an hour. Once on the ship we found our room 4093, which was larger than I was led to believe from others who had coached us on what to book. The room had no balcony and an obstructed view (blocked by life raft). We were told to take that type of room as we would not be spending much time in the room but we would like the light to let us know if it was day or night. In future it will be veranda all the way. After several days we noticed the room was getting that funky smell from poor ventilation and dirty clothes. The pillows also had the odour of sweat. Read more