The ship is good, well-kept, very clean and if you like shiny decor with thousands of small lamps, glass-lifts and thick carpets this is for you. The pool-areas are fine and we discovered a silent pool-area on deck 18, which I think was reserved for "Yacht-club" travellers. Nobody lifted an eyebrow when we entered, but we do look like "yacht-club" passengers :-) To say the other pool areas were noisy is a gross understatement, and the same was the case in the Bistro and the piano bar. We didn't get the expected cabin with ocean-view, but apart from that the cabin was OK. The public areas are nice-looking and generally pleasant, deep sofas, roomy chairs, but again our experience was enormous noise, making a conversation impossible. When I say "Piano bar", I expect a place for drinks with a pianist an maybe a singer(Usually female) providing nice music in a room with people you hear as a mumble. Not loud music and a din you may expect watching a football match. More Wimbledon style thanks.

Obviously many passengers use this cruise for showing off, and experiencing luxury, judged by the numbers of photos taken everywhere by the ship's professional photographers, of couples posing in their best outfits. We followed the dress codes, published every day in the ships news, but many did not. I have no problems with that, and we didn't bring the tuxedo and the formal big dress for my wife.

Generally the ship is good, food needs upgrading, and maybe we were unfortunate unknowingly having picked a cruise during the last week of Italian school holidays, but the Italian guests were unpleasant and very noisy. Cruises have the disadvantage, advantage for some, that you get a short impression of many places, arrive in the morning, take a bus-ride, leave in the afternoon. Repeat in next port. If you want to see things closer, this means of travel is not for You. We might do it again, but not in an Italian ship, preferably a ship at least half the size, and we will check for school-holidays before we book. Also check if you cabin is not placed where ships structure hinders what you expect.