There had been an outbreak of gastrointestinal virus on the ship prior to our boarding. Hence our boarding was postponed while the ship was decontaminated in the port of Harwich. I appreciate the antibacterial efforts, I do. And every day entering any dining room, or shopping area, casino, etc., for the entire cruise. there was staff at the entrance dispensing antibacterial liquid which kept everyone healthy. (For the most part, because the captain kept coming on the loud speaker to emphasize hand washing and that folks were still coming to the medical facilities being treated for gastrointestinal virus ... for the entire cruise, so apparently whatever virus was there before we got on, lingered the length of the cruise.) What surprised me, was the ship was, from the moment we boarded, slathered in cloudy smearings of antibacterial for nearly the length of the cruise - mirrors, windows, all the glass, paintings, jewelry cases, elevator doors, everything was covered. And never cleaned off. So by the 5th day of the cruise, everything was covered in cloudy smears and thousands of fingerprints ....... it was off putting, whether the ship was dirty or not, didn't matter - the ship looked dirty. You didn't want to touch anything. Considering the sheer amount of glass on the ship you can imagine how bad it looked. Even on the way to the Windjammer (buffet) dining - someone had written into the smears "wash me" .... it was only the last 2 days of the cruise that someone finally washed the windows.

As for the Windjammer (buffet) - the food was high school cafeteria food at best. Lots of carbs. Low quality, low budget offerings. Very disappointed in the quality of the food in the Windjammer.

I rated the health club as I did because the mats STUNK ... they were gross. I had signed up for the 4 offered Pilates classes. The mats were gross, and the Pilates class was not Pilates .... I"m not sure what that was. I was charged $14.00 to stretch basically. Read more