Generally the ship was "tired" even though it's not very old. Carpeting, wall paper, furniture and bathrooms were all shabby and in need of updating. Food in the Lido and Rembrandt went from mediocre to terrible with service good one day and lousy the next. The premium restaurants ($10-$49 per person per meal extra) had very good food and very good to excellent service. In the Rembrandt Restaurant the food was cold when it should have been hot and vice versa. During busy times the restaurant was so noisy it was impossible to carry on a conversation. Even when we complained the food did not improve and the message was that the staff did not care whether we liked the food or not. Breakfast was pretty much the same everyday - very much like a $7 all you can eat buffet but not as good!

The entertainment in the auditorium was very much like a freshman high school charity show - amateur at best. The BB King show was very good. Both the band and the vocalists did a great job.

The excursions varied from very good to terrible. The St. Petersburg Catherine's Palace excursion was terrible. We waited in line in the rain for hours before being herded into the palace along with about 5000 other people. It was so crowded that we could see nothing but other people and could not hear our guides commentary at all. If there had been an emergency (like a fire) most of the visitors would never have made it out alive. Read more