By this I mean you have to PAY for water, even in the dining room. It's free in the buffet restaurant, but that's the only place. Even the gym doesn't have water fountains! There are no fresh flowers anywhere (they're plastic) and the only speciality restaurant was a sushi bar (not many takers there!). The food in the buffet was generally warm when it was supposed to be hot and the selection was the poorest of the 5 other cruise lines we've holidayed with.

On the plus side, the public areas were spotlessly clean and beautifully decorated and the cabins' beds were extremely comfortable. A deduction of $8.50 was made every day for gratuities. I don't know if this was the reason why the staff were generally cool in their attitude: on other cruises, we've noticed that they practically fell over themselves to help you.

I wanted to do some fitness classes in the gym, but was told when I arrived that I would have to book and that the class would only take place if at least 5 passengers had signed up. I didn't bother going back, but took part in as many of the free dance classes as I could and they were excellent; I really enjoyed learning some different steps. Read more