As a third time cruiser on other lines many years ago- but a friend was taking me I was trying to save them money. What a horrible mistake choosing this old tugboat. From beginning to end there were so many things wrong. We got an inside cabin - actually not a problem in itself. The cabin crew were wonderful and attentive. The cabin was fine. The staff at the Hospitality desk were overwhelmed and it showed in their ability to serve in a friendly way. Almost everything was extra. We originally ordered the non alcoholic drinks package as neither drink. It was 96 Euro's for 40 drinks for the week for 2 people.we got a glass of mineral water at dinner in the restaurant..The package included; water, iced tea, non alcoholic cocktails, sodas and juices. Neither of us drink Pepsi products, nor peach iced tea or lemon ice tea, or juices or sweet non alcoholic drinks (non of this was spelled out in the drink package) or we would not have ordered it. We cancelled it and were refunded our money but made to feel guilty.

The staff were completely disorganized in most matters. For shore excursions we all met in the theater and had to show our tickets to get a bag lunch. The crowds were huge and pushy and the staff had no idea how to crowd control. The same with the Buffet lines. People just pushed in front of you and grabbed meat off the platter and piled it on their plate and left and left you waiting patiently for a new batch of grilled meats. It was a free for all! Now for the food: It was terrible and unrecognizable. There were terrines of a ground vegetable dish that was reincarnated days later in another fashion as an appetizer. There were virtually NO fresh vegetables except for sliced cooked carrots at breakfast??? There was a small salad choice at dinner. Most of the food was unpalatable. No matter how many courses it was still not enough or good enough. The the came around the table and showed you a menu of additionally priced choices; lobster (which was so small 4 people I spoke with made the Maitre 'D take it off their bill. My friend is handicapped and was disappointed at the short amount of time on the excursion - time in the city - compared to the hours of getting there. 2.5 hours to Florence and 2.5 hours back and about 3 hours in the city. Same in Rome. Even able bodied people complained of the pace and it was on your own. We were dropped off quite a distance from main venues and with so many tourists it was difficult to see what you wanted -even the highlights. We tried to cancel our Marseille tour due to his not being able to tolerate the pace we were told in a very snippy and not compassionate way that in no terms were we able to cancel our excursion. However one of the staff told me it would be no problem to cancel. In fact several other passengers tour were accidentally cancelled and they were upset. We were told he needed to see the ship Doctor and pay 62 Euros to get a medical certificate to cancel and that would NOT include my ticket! Ridiculous. The "Doctor" looked like a washed up degenerate alcoholic. We left very upset.

The entertainment was pitiful. This was a disaster from beginning to end. All the Americans we spoke with felt exactly the same way and will be filing complaints as well.