Our flight was on Alitalia non stop from Chicago, after all the bad that I had read about this airline it was a pleasant surprise at how well our flight went, only 70 people on board the whole plane and it was my first time that coach was comfortable. Everything was good, would fly this airline again in a minute

We stayed in Rome at The Albergo Del Senato which was lovely and Rome is absolutely wonderful. Had a great pre cruise, great food, great things to see, even though our tour to the Vatican happened to coinside with the Popes annual mass for the school children of Italy 200,000 children were in the square for mass, that day was rather hectic to say the least but we survived.

We had a driver pick us up at the hotel to head for the ship, arrived about 11:30 a.m. embarkation was a breeze. Up to the buffet for a leisurely lunch at about 1:00 they announced our cabin was ready. We were in 1075 large hump balcony. I must say this was the nicest cabin I have stayed in other then a suite. Plenty of storage space, the bathrooms are the best for storage and the shower is wonderful, no more shower curtain. The beds were comfortable and the balcony was quite large, although I do miss the old lounge chairs that you could get from the pool area when requested. The chairs are just not comfortable. The TV is great too. We had a fantastic cabin steward, Bernadette from the Phillapines. Very efficient and always smiling. Read more