Embarkation was a snap and rooms were ready 1:00 p.m. Luggage came promptly and our room steward was there to greet us soon after we entered our room. Our first impression at lunch in the Windjammer was a clue to changes that have been made to save money. Usually, upon boarding any cruise we are offered an impressive steamship round of beef at the carving station. This time, and I'm not making this up, they were carving a meatloaf. So much for cost cutting meals. Windjammer breakfasts were terrific, with a large variety of well prepared items. The only missing item was English bacon that we've recently enjoyed on many cruises. Windjammer lunches were a mismatched medley of unidentifiable ingredients with clever names. Desserts were generally good. Windjammer service was excellent, especially due to the efforts of Alex. Waiters obviously like working for him. My Time Dining is misnamed. It should be named Their Time Dining because, even with reservations, they had difficulty providing a table for us. We agreed to share and finally agreed to arrive 30 minutes before our reservation and seating was slightly improved. There was a major computer problem where many, if not all, seating assignments were lost so the first night was even worse than usual. We expected to see big improvement as the cruise progressed but there still seemed to be a disconnect between available seats and the entrance staff. The Dining Room food was reasonably good, but limited in variety and service was generally slow. We think this was not the fault so much of the waiters but the galley could not keep up. Desserts were especially slow coming out and one night we just gave up and left.

Cabin 3652 is to be avoided. It appears to be located under the Dining Room but actually is under the galley, specifically the bakery. They bake all night long sending loud crashing noises into our room from above. Mysteriously, there is a two hour period of silence between 1:30 and 3:30 a.m. but two hours of sleep per night do not make for a good vacation. After the second sleepless night we moved to another room at 6:00 a.m. This room is suitable only for deaf guests.

Entertainment was disappointing with the exception of The Unexpected Boys who were the best we've ever seen aboard ship. The production shows were amateurish with a lot of off key singing and shouting. We also don't consider a juggler spinning plates, nor a ventriloquist, to be good shipboard entertainment. Read more