First cruise ever. We had a great time but were in for a few surprises. First few minutes, a passenger (pax) complained she wanted a welcome gift. The poor crew had no idea what she meant , nor did we. She suggested a bagel? We found the wait staff to be wonderful while the pax were demanding, greedy, selfish to distraction.
Be prepared for many from the "Big Apple". The surrounding boroughs were well represented. Pax ran the staff around like dogs. It was so embarrassing. They ordered multiple entrees at meals. They grabbed all the DVDS as we left port; they hogged all of the lounge chairs (which was really bad while at sea)....and they booked the restaurants largely day one.
We didn't realize it was "Survivor" mentality. I decided I rather sink that be stuck with anyone of them on a life boat. I start with this because they were rude and obnoxious and it truly affected us. The boat was a bit shabby. The fumes of paint was apparentas they touched up the ship. We weren't looking for the QE 2 but I was a bit disappointed at how shabby it looked on the exterior. I felt that I was on the Nantucket steamship ferry.