We arrived at the embarkation port of Barcelona on at 17 Jan 2009. There were no staff available to give directions about luggage, boarding or anything else. The day before 90% of the passengers on our hip had boarded in Genoa. So while we were trying to board they were leaving the ship for excursions. Any available staff were directing them to buses and were oblivious to our presence. We eventually found our own way. There was no safety drill for us as it had been done the previous day with the other passengers. The dining arrangements were,sit down breakfast ended at 9am and the buffet ended 10am. So if you missed them you waited until noon to eat. Second sitting for dinner varied from 8.30pm to 9pm. There were six items on the menu. The system was that everybody ate at the slowest persons pace ie if you decided to have three courses(starter, main course and dessert) and some one else decided to have all six you waited and all courses were served together. One evening we ordered our soup at 8.40 and got it at 9.20, lukewarm. Dinner always exceeded 2 hours and left very little time for anything else. Our itinerary stated quite clearly that we would stop in Gibraltar on day 2. This did not happen. When we enquired why, we got the standard shrug of the shoulders. As a result of missing this stop we spent from from 5pm on Sat until 8am Tue at sea. While at sea all of the swimming pools were emptied and netted even the indoor one. Again when I enquired why and got the shrug again. I went to have a sauna and was asked for €12 for one hour. On other ships while at sea there was always entertainment arranged around the pool.Not so here.All in all I feel the entertainment was dreadful. I dont believe I have ever seen so many people absolutely bored out of there minds.

Drinks were also quite expensive. A small bottle of guinness (30cl) €5.80.

My stateroom was quite comfortable on first impressions. But while we were at sea the panels in the ceiling creaked all night. It nearly drove us loopy. We reported it and the maintenance people drove a wedge of wood between the coving and the ceiling to remedy it. This did not work. We asked about a change of room and were told the ship was full.We had to put up with the noise and sleep came with complete exhaustion. Read more