I was wondering after reading some of the reviews complaining about being misinformed about the delay for Embarkation. I arrived on the pier at about 11:00 and was immediately handed a very official letter outlining that the ship needed extra sanitizing due to the Norovirus being present on the previous cruise, nothing about a technical issue, was I on the same ship? I was onboard by 1:00 had access to my cabin by 3:10 and was having a drink in the warm Sydney sunshine by 1:30. Coming from Ontario where the temperature was -24 with snow about to fall as I was boarding my flight, this seemed heavenly to me! The cabin steward and dining staff were outstanding, thank you Noel, Neru and Ferdinand. They were friendly, professional and attentive to all our wants and needs. We had to have an excursion corrected and it was handled in less than 5 minutes and correctly. I wonder if the people that claim to have problems don't take the problems with them in the form of a poor attitude. You are generally treated the way that you treat others.
The Windjammer/Island Grille is definitely too small to be the 'only' place on a day in port to get breakfast before your excursion. I loved eating in the dining room but this experienced required over an hour to complete so was only good on sea days or late docking.
The ship is enormous, definitely needs sprucing up it's rusty, musty and tired.
Cabin and balcony were I believe the smallest I've ever had especially the balcony, couldn't fit more than 2 people on it at one time. Noel kept it ship shape and left us adorable towel critters each night. Deck 8 is a great level to have a cabin on, wouldn't have wanted to be any lower.