It was with some trepidation that we embarked on this cruise aboard MS Europa, a ship primarily designed for German speaking passengers. Not that the language concerned us as the cruise was "Bilingual" and my wife and I have a reasonable working knowledge of German. Rather I had read a fellow member's review shortly before we left and it was lukewarm at best. On the other hand Douglas Ward (a somewhat better known and renowned cruise critic) had just awarded the ship "Best in the World" for the umpteenth year running. With open minds we set off for Rome and soon had no difficulty in forming our own view. Read on to find out with whom we were inclined to agree!

We had spent a few days in a lovely old town near Rome before joining the ship and our hotel had organised a taxi to take us to Civitavecchia. We were told to expect embarkation at 4 pm and we arrived exactly on time. With no fuss, we were checked in very swiftly (having already received our cruise cards in advance) and offered fruit juice and canapes whilst we walked the few steps to security. No requests for credit cards nor any queues in sight.

Almost immediately we were greeted by a selection of crew members and personally escorted on board by a delightful English speaking stewardess who helped with our baggage and made us feel very welcome. Once on board we were offered complimentary champagne and escorted via glass lift (operated by a piccolo) to our suite conveniently situated on deck 7 (one below the lido deck). Read more