This was our 5th cruise, the others being with the princess ships which we thought were p&o but were told was a different part so were unable to get any loyalty discounts. We found boarding was fast and friendly although we did have to wait in the buffet restaurant until our cabin was ready. Our balcony cabin we found spacious and clean and were very happy with.

We found the food was not at all up to the standard we have had on other cruises and wait staff in the buffet restaurant seemed to resent us being there sometimes as they would have much rather of stood and talked to their friends. Dirty plates and trays were left sitting on tables for a long time. My husband found a long bit of what we were told was either sinew or bone (the head waiter would not let us keep it) when it stabbed him in the gum while eating lamb shanks. nothing was ever done about that apart from asking if he needed to go to the medical bay.

2 of our ports of call were cancelled because of weather problems, we did do an extra night in a pretty town (Tallinn) but the Kiel Canal which was to be a highlight for many was cancelled and instead we had to cruise for 2 days in very rough seas.There was no compensation at all for missing these ports. We also found drinks and items in the shops were expensive. we were on our balcony one morning when the maintenance men were grinding and scraping on the deck above us. We were not warned about this earlier as we could have gone into the town we were docked in. When we rang the front desk apart from being told "yes that's loud I can hear it through the phone" we were told it would go on for another hour and maybe we should leave our room. Once again no compensation was made. Read more