We're signed up for Rome-Athen 2021, and happy to share our perspective. We don't have as much experience with Desire as many others on this forum, but we were on the inaugural Desire cruise from Venice in 2017, and went to DRM last year. So we can compare only those two experiences. We really liked many things about the cruise, including the food. We thought the Azamara Quest cuisine was fantastic and seemed (to us) well above the quality of DRM food. The theme nights and the parties were fun at both. Just like at DRM, the pool parties on the boat started pretty "chill" in the early afternoon. But as the afternoon progressed, the music volume and the energy level gradually increased.
We also liked that the cruise has roughly twice as many people as DRM (when DRM is fully occupied, which it wasn't when we were there). But the Azamara Quest has WAY less people than a big cruise like the Bliss cruises. So for us, it was about the right number of people.
But the thing we loved best about the cruise is that the ports of call were EPIC!! Venice, Dubrovnik, Split and Slovenia were unbelievable. The same seems to be true of the Rome-Athens cruise. Rome, Sorrento, Santorini, Mykonos, Athens? Spectacular!! It's true you only get to spend 10-12 hours in each city, but we made the most of every stop on the 2017 cruise.
So overall, we think of the Desire cruises as a way to see epic places, and the nudity/naughtiness/party are just a bonus. Whereas with the Desire resorts (and maybe the Bliss cruises), the nudity and playing are first and foremost? Not sure, as again our experiences are limited.
We'd love to hear from any of our fellow Rome-Athens cruisers, even though we're about 20 months away. Lol!!!