The cruise was very good. Food was excellent as was the choice of eating places. Crew were extremely friendly and helpful. Cabin was adequate although it is a long time since I have seen such an old fashioned television! The shore excursions were excellent; good range to choose from and very well conducted.
What then was wrong? In the cabin, there were no instructions on use of the TV (i.e.channel selection) or of the telephone. No tannoy in the cabin so ships announcements were not received there. Also the wide range of eating places was not well advertised in the cabins; sample menus available in the cabin would have made selection of where to eat so much more relaxed and enjoyable. In the public areas there were few, in fact no places to go to quietly relax with a drink or a coffee. Usually there were only two venues open during the day (unless you wanted to be out on deck). These are the Java Cafe and The Spinnaker Lounge. However these were mostly taken over for activities, demonstrations etc and no place for a quiet sit down with refreshment. The Java Cafe also seemed a particularly strange place for entertainment by small groups or singers perched on a stairway balcony and completely blocking the stairs. Health and safety? Despite this use of these venues we found little to do during the days at sea, far less choice and interest than we have found on previous cruises.
Some of the entertainment was good. But an item that the entertainment crew called Fountains was appalling. Despite the emphasis on health and hygiene to the extent of discouraging a friendly handshake, the act involved 7 or 8 crew members spitting out water at one another! Hypocrisy! Another so called comedian seemed to think jokes about illness and injury (including 9/11) were amusing. Very bad taste. It is one thing to make light of a situation in which you find yourself but another completely to generally make jokes about these things. An Irish singer/raconteur, a balancing act and a ventriloquist were each very good so it wasn't all bad.