This was a reasonably priced cruise (10 nights £699 for a balcony guarantee including outward BA flight from Gatwick) so expectations could not be too high. Although good value for money we had too many niggles to be entirely satisfied.

All the travel arrangements worked well and we were in our cabin at Genoa around 2pm. The cabin (B717) was compact but adequate with just sufficient storage space for the 10 nights. However, there was rust on our balcony (and elsewhere on the ship) and the balcony rail badly needed re-varnishing, so clearly P & O are not maintaining this ship to the high standards we have normally experienced on other ships. A further niggle was only one power point (for the kettle) which meant a struggle to keep mobiles, cameras and iPads fully charged.

The main restaurant food was generally good rather than excellent, although some dishes such as saddle of lamb were certainly not as described, and when we pointed this out the waiter argued with us rather than apologising. They have clearly not been trained that the customer is always right! The buffet food was poor and the roast lamb there was like shoe leather. We also missed not having any speciality restaurant for high end dining such as those on Ventura. The chocolate tea advertised in the daily programme simply didn't happen and we were just told it was a printing error! Read more