Having cruised for over 25 years, several with P& O, we returned from this Christmas/New Year cruise exceedingly disappointed with the level that standards had dropped to. The hygiene levels were very poor indeed. We lost count of the number of times we had to ask for the tables to be wiped down in the Belvedere Restaurant (Buffet), because of food or drink spills still on the tables. Toilets were repeatedly out of order - on 1 day we visited 6 sets of toilets between promenade deck and the pool deck before we found any working. Some individual toilets never worked for the entire cruise. At other times it was wash basins or hand driers not working - the knock on effect being empty paper towel holders. Other than in the Meridian restaurant there was no effort made by staff to encourage people to use the hand gels.

There were also some very strange, garbage type, smells in several places on the ship.

One of the days returning from the Caribbean, the water in the Neptune Pool continued to overflow for several hours. This made this important main area impossible to use - water was swimming around the tables and chairs, normally used for eating, reading, playing cards or having a coffee. A very dangerous situation for some of the less mobile passengers. The water travelled as far as the lift areas and upto the Belvedere restaurant. The carpets took days to dry out. Why did it take so long to make the decision to empty the pool? - Bad management!!!! Read more