It was a great cruise around the Med. The ship was lovely and very clean, the cleaning staff around the ship were so vigilant in making sure everything was spotless. Our go to main dining venue was the Meridian, specifically table 393, were our waiters, Sujay and Raymond were absolutely fantastic, they and the front of house desk staff really helped make the cruise a very special one. Tge activities on board were well publicised and provided lots of choice for passengers.
We didn’t have any on board excursions apart from Rome by yourself, were had pre booked the Vatican museum, which was a bit chaotic but we managed to go into the Sistine Chapel, which was so moving, we just didn’t have enough time to do any other sites but hey ho. We also went in to Barcelona by shuttle bus to see the Sagrada Família which we had pre booked. Words can’t give justice to how magnificent this place is.
All the staff we met on the ship were attentive, respectful and very helpful, although we struggled a bit to get service when the Atrium was busy with passengers, just not enough of them.
We pre paid for the Captains collection of 6 bottles of wine and I have to say the wine choices were very good and we definitely saved on what it would cost to buy ion ship.
There were a couple of areas that weren’t quite perfect. The Sindu restaurant has always been my favourite destination and last years cruise on the Arvia J had one of the best Indian dishes ever, however on this voyage, Sindhu moved from too of my list to bottom. The menu choices were quite limited and my main course of Lamb Rogan Josh wasn’t overly tasty, the lamb was a bit chewy and my lamb had some small bones in it, in the lift I got talking to another passenger and mentioned my disappointment, he said that he had had a similar experience and had requested his money back for the meal. I cancelled the planned second week visit and booked the Epicuran, which was excellent. Apart from the service/food in the Meridian, our favourite venue was Green and Co, my family loved the plant menu but I had the best Nasi Gorang that I have ever had. The service was great and it was such a relaxing place to eat.
My second “niggle” was a personal one in that I was a tad disappointed at the 2 acts in the Limelight Club, both singers, who I didn’t really want to see, so no bookings to the Linelight Club for us on this cruise.
My favourite space on board was a morning visit to the Crows nest to chill out/relax after breakfast and do a a bit of dolphin watching. Unfortunately I was one of the few who didn’t manage to see any whilst I was there.
Overall a near perfect cruise
