After a wonderful cruise last year from Vancouver and Alaska on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas we had hoped to repeat the experience closer to home by taking this seven day Fjord Adventures cruise on Arcadia. Although previous reviews had forewarned us that this shape lacks a wow factor, we were disappointed to find that although elegantly decorated and furnished it didn't seem to have a focal point like the magnificent atrium on Radiance. This meant we were constantly getting lost for the first few days on board as we tried to navigate the maze of corridors and passages. CABIN: Our cabin though, a middle priced balcony on Dominica deck, was excellent. It was a good size with plenty of storage space, and we were pleased to find an excellent range of toiletries in the well equipped bathroom. The silver bon bon dish and vase containing a single red rose were also nice, welcoming touches. Our cabin steward Andre, was also a delight, he kept everything spotlessly clean, and always had a cheery smile. FOOD:We had opted for second sitting dinner in the Meridian Restaurant, and it was here that we met our biggest disappointment of the cruise. It quickly became apparent that the serving staff were over stretched, particularly the wine waiter who had far too many tables to serve - consequently our wine often didn't arrive until after we'd eaten the first course. The food was nowhere near as good as on Radiance. Although we are British and proud of it, we would like to have seen a more cosmopolitan choice of dishes. For instance roast turkey, and calves' liver are not dishes I would order if I was dining out in a good restaurant. On the first night I ordered grilled salmon with pancetta. The salmon was over cooked and dry and the pancetta had been incinerated. I didn't send it back because I felt sorry for the over worked waiting staff - but I should have done. The standard did rise slightly during the week, but for the most part we found the food stodgy and uninspiring. But the Belevedere self service restaurant was even worse. We only tried to eat there once when we overslept and were too late for the main dining room. After struggling to find a table, we then found the food on the hot plate looking greasy and unappetizing. The scrambled eggs were surely of the reconstituted variety and the toast was like leather. Trying to get a cup of coffee or tea was a nightmare as the first drinks station I went to the coffee and tea machines were out of order and consequently there was a huge queue at the next one. In the end we opted for glasses of what appeared to be watered down orange juice. Our culinary highlights of the week were when we paid supplements of £15 and £10 per head respectively to dine at the speciality restaurants Arcadian Rhodes and Orchid. The service at both was exemplary and we enjoyed meals which for a change titillated our taste buds. ENTERTAINMENT:I would rate the entertainment on Arcadia as generally very good. We particularly enjoyed the comedian Tucker who literally had us in tucks of laughter, and the singers and dancers of the ship's company also put on a good show. On the last morning of the cruise we also enjoyed a talk by retired Premiership soccer boss Tommy Doherty whose slightly salacious tales of life behind the scenes at Chelsea and Manchester United made us chuckle. Arcadia is a child free ship, which was something that had appealed to us when we booked, but on reflection, we found the lack of a mix of ages meant that the experience was not as much fun as we'd hoped. SHORE EXCURSIONS: I'd been advised by a colleague that excursions in Bergen, Alesund, and Stavanger, were unnecessary as these three ports are easy to get around on foot, and armed with a good guide books, that's just what we did. At Geiranger however we decided to take a tour which took in the summit of Mount Dalsnibba and then a trip to a traditional Norwegian Stave Church some 40 miles inland. We were fortunate that despite it being a cloudy morning the shroud lifted as we arrived at the top of the mountain and we had superb views to the fjord below where Arcadia looked like a toy boat. After that though, the trip went downhill fast in more ways than one. After a brief toilet stop we headed inland only to find the road ahead barred as it was closed for routine highway maintenance. Our Italian guide - an Italian showing us around Norway? explained that we would be stuck there for an hour until the road re-opened. Most of our fellow passengers decided to stay on the coach, but we walked down the hillside to a nearby lake. When the road re-opened we set off again, only to be told when we arrived at the church that there was no time to take the planned guided tour of it as we had to retrace our route before the road closed again for more work. We managed to grab a bottle of water from a gift shop, but that was all we had until 3.30 in the afternoon when we stopped for a cup of coffee or tea and a Danish pastry which were included in the £75 per head cost of the tour!! To say we were underwhelmed by the experience is an understatement -particularly as the road closures were pre-planned and the coach operator should have known about them SUMMING UP: For the most part we enjoyed our cruise on Arcadia - but would we repeat it? Probably not, as sadly the style and service of the food and the generally staid ambiance didn't really tick the right boxes for us.