Great Trip, Poor Food

Unlike some I didn't experience any poor service at all. In fact I preferred the style compared to American ships I've been on which I tend to find the staff too intrusive. Similarly the embarkation and disembarkation went very well indeed by comparison to earlier cruises.

The itinerary was excellent and proximity of the ship to the target town was always spot on.

The ship itself is getting rather tired I have to agree. Several times in the Crow's Nest bar it was impossible to see out of some of the windows as it was completely obscured. I'm not sure if this was condensation or something else but not something I'd expect.

Where the ship really lets itself down is the food. The Horizons buffet food is dull to say the least. Some dishes were so poor they were barely edible (Chicken Marsala for lunch one day - chicken was so tough and dry I had to discard 50% of what was on my plate). Also the whole layout is confusing with people wandering around in all directions desperate to find some kind of logic to it in vain. Unlabeled dishes at the hot food counter, empty salad and fruit dishes - I had to ask someone to refill the fruit counter because none of the staff had noticed it was empty.

The Medina restaurant was a bit better but again the food was poor - I'd compare my experience to a visit to a Berni Inn in the 1970s. The prawn cocktail was exactly like something from there - a few sad slices of lettuce with some defrosted prawns from Iceland unceremoniously dumped on top then drowned in Marie-Rose sauce. Yum. I did have some food there which was OK but the presentation never inspired me to want to eat it.

The "speciality" restaurants were a joke, the only exception being Sindhu. The menus of the Beach House and Glass House (I think that's the names) were so dull I didn't even bother to try them.

In summary: Ship OK but tired. Great itinerary. Rubbish food.

Comfortable, reasonable space. View a little restricted but not bad.