As this was our first cruise, we were a little apprehensive about what to expect and how we would manage on-board ship life. There were four of us - two couples - retirees from Australia, much travelled but new to this. We need not have worried, after a rather confusing embarkation process, everything fell into place and we were treated like royalty for the rest of the cruise.
Unfortunately, due to our naivety, we were separated from our friends at embarkation and as a result, we were seated at different tables for the duration of the trip; a tip to people travelling together - make sure you are together when registering at embarkation to ensure this does not happen to you. We were told that we could change after the first night, but as we met such nice people at our dinner table, we decided to stay with the dinner allocation.
Whilst on the subject of food, I could not fault the food, the menu choices or the service, it was first class and friendly. We were amazed at the size and complexity of the ship, we all got lost from one another from time to time, but we didn't care, the cruise was brilliant. For the most part within sight of beautiful snow capped mountains and often seeing a variety of marine life and cruising so..oo smoothly at 26-28 knotts, it was an absolute joy.