If you have cruised before, don't take this cruise. The "freestyle dining" is a nightmare. A tip - you can make reservations in the standard dining rooms. The Palace is much better than the Crossings restaurant. The staff is more experienced and have a better attitude in the Palace. It is a real shame that you have to pay a service fee in the specialty restaurants to get the quality dinner you should receive in the regular dining room. Beginning with the bread, you can tell the difference.

The buffet was often crowded and the food ordinary. The same fare was repeated several times. Morning toast was always cold. The dining room in the morning resulted in almost an hour from placing our order to receiving our semi-warm meal.

Most of the staff is trying. Unfortunately, most are unhappy. We only encountered a handful of staff that was on a 2nd contract. Most either had only been there 2 days, 2 weeks or maybe 2 months. Others had been there almost 5 and were counting the days until their contract was up. During our cruise, 33 new employees started on one day. The automatically applied tipping results in little incentive for the staff to go above and beyond. We failed to get our daily newsletter because our room steward was busy at other tasks. She didn't even have time to replenish the toilet paper, even after being asked to. Turn down beds? Nope, here's your clean towels and I'm off. Read more