Although 1997 doesn't seem like it should be that old for a ship, this one seems to really be showing its age somehow. For example, the pool deck of the ship is equipped with many sets of automatic doors on which the sensors have failed a long time ago, so (amateurishly installed) pushbuttons were added at some point. Some of the doors still required manual coaxing. The solarium in particular exuded an odd vibe of age to me -- it wasn't dirty, but just somehow seemed to be of a design from an older time. Other areas of the ship didn't have this issue.
Only 2 bars on the ship, both near the pools, had what appeared to be operable draught beer towers. We inquired within minutes of boarding and one said they would normally have draught Heineken and Amstel Light but were out (!). The other claimed to have working draught beer. The tap towers at both looked ancient and corroded so I decided to stick to bottled beer for the entire cruise. Fosters at $6.95 for 25.4 oz was the best value. Pilsner Urquell was the best import value at $5.25. SNPA and Sam Adams were $5.75.
The buffet consisted of a single horseshoe of perhaps 30 hotel pans like pictures of cruise ships from the past that I've seen. That said, it was always crowded but not unacceptably so. Finding a seat was a problem. We frequently had to leave the area, which was difficult to do while holding plates (re "automatic" doors). Dining room food was consistently good but not amazing.
The room was nice and clean. The window was large but crusted with salt and not much could be seen through it.