My wife and I were part of a private event that took over the whole ship for 5 days/4 nights. We have experienced great service before, but this was our first cruise. Though we live in a cruise-port, big ships turn us off big time.
This cruise, from embarkation in Nice until the final port of Monaco, was stunning on many levels:
My wife and I loved the yacht-like experience from the first moment on board (around 15:00), which began with a poolside buffet to tie us over until dinner. Any crew member we had contact with demonstrated an outstanding service mentality; not demure or fake-friendly but truly engaging and baffling in their capability to anticipate passenger's wishes.
Likely not state-of-the-art in 2016, we were extremely happy with the stateroom – spacious head, good layout, space, linens, cleanliness – everything. Nigglers will always find a fly in the soup, but there was nothing to complain, and if there were a choice of an updated cabin for extra money or the current one, I wouldn't even think about upgrading.