This is a 19 year old ship that was cut in half and additional cabins placed in the middle. It sails out of Baltimore and is always filled since for many people the convenience is driving to the port and not flying. Because of the additional passengers a problem is the main restaurant, buffet and theater that were sized for a smaller passenger load and so there is crowding. To ensure getting a seat for a performance it is necessary to arrive 30 to 45 minutes early. The shows have improved since the last time we were on this ship 18 months ago. This was a much smaller problem with dining the last time we sailed on this ship. They opened additional cost dining places and took staff from the main dining, no additional cost, dining rooms. The staff cannot keep up with their responsibilities. There were sommelier or wine stewards and persons assigned to obtain bar drinks for seated guest in the past. Now it is left up to the assistant waiter. There were persons helping with delivering food from the kitchen to the serving areas and removing used dishes. Now it is the job of the waiters to get the food and scrape the dishes and stack the, all done in the dining room.

Most times you could look the length of the dining room and see 1 or 2 waiters. It is not their fault. Passengers are walking out of the dining room to go to bars to get drinks instead of waiting. We ordered 2 glasses of wine and the assistant waiter brought a bottle, opened it, had it tasted, poured it and tried to set the bottle down. When reminded it was for 2 glasses he removed the 2 glasses he poured from the table and the bottle and 15 minutes later returned with 2 glasses of a different wine. One night it took the intervention of a head waiter to obtain the discount for wine listed on the menu. Getting ice tea, water and bread served by waiters going the length of the dining room to the kitchen to get items became difficult to endure that I got up and served the bread I could clearly see, to not only my table but other tables when they asked for it. There was an effort after that to have water and ice tea on the table before we arrived.

The most telling was the night there was a parade of waiters. Instead of the 1 or 2 you could see at any given time there were a large number serving tables. This only lasted for 1 night. Read more