Boarding was very efficient and luggage handling very good. The Ship is somewhat dated looking. Probably needs a facelift because you felt you were stuck in the Nineties. If you are a young person, this line's demographic is probably not for you. Many, many older, financially comfortable, very conservative crowd. Lots of little scooters and wheelchairs. Also, there is a very large Dutch component on board with little sniping wars between the Dutch passengers and those from other European countries. One angry older woman was telling everyone, "All I hear is Dutch." But there was a lot of griping among this crowd. Their expectations and demands are high and their capacity for fun is very limited. They want what they want when they want it and you better not get in their way or they will run over you with their scooters.

The big problem on this cruise was illness. I expected to see the plague flag flying. Staff was sketchy and often untrained in areas because so many crew members were sick. Among passengers, Gastrointestinal Illness was a serious problem. Guests with it were quarantined, but many did not comply. One guy told us that "this quarantine stuff isn't so bad. I come to the dining room and eat and then head back to my cabin."

You could not move much of anywhere on the ship without being hit with hand sanitizer. They made a really concerted effort to control the spread, but it was a buzz-kill to constantly worry about illness and hand sanitizer. We lived moment to moment being scared of getting sick. We were with a large group (>70) and more than half got sick. When we got back to Rotterdam, the local crews were coming in all masked and gloved with cleaning equipment. Read more