I chose this cruise for the itinerary. It was called Scottish islands and Emerald Isle. We sailed from Bristol Avonmouth; getting there was easy (train and taxi) and embarkation was very smooth. We were upgraded to a promenade deck cabin with a bath, and our cabin steward offered to change our beds from two singles to a double which we preferred, so all started well. We were also manage to change our table for four in the restaurant to a table for two, second sitting. However we felt that despite the chefs' best efforts the provenance of the food itself was very poor. Getting a drink at dinner was very difficult - most passengers gave up and went to the bar for their wine. A poor deal for those with drinks packages. The cruise had a Christian theme as it was Holy week and the team here were excellent. The only shore excursion we went on was to the Giant's Causeway which was good. So far fair enough. However things went wrong when poor weather prevented us from going to Stornaway on the Isle of Lewis. This meant we could not go to the Isle of Harris either. We went to Ullapool instead, a poor substitute. The following day, with clear blue skies, glorious sunshine, and tender boarding cards and picnics in our hand the captain announced that we would not go to Mull or the Good Friday excursion to Iona either, because of poor weather forecast later in the day. There was no apology and no compensation, not even a free drink or free on board spend. Instead we spent the day at sea with more bar quizzes for entertainment and little else. For me the whole point of the cruise was negated. I had been to Ireland before and my sole interest was the Scottish Isles, but here we were on a ship that failed to reach any Scottish island, 40% of its itinerary. For some reason the hours in Dublin were also cut short, leaving at about 3.00 pm instead of 5.00 pm, so yet more shore time lost. In summary we felt badly let down by Cruise and Maritime, we felt that with better scheduling and contingency planning the passengers' obvious disappointment and in some cases open tears, could have been avoided. Similarly a kinder more empathetic approach to customer services might have helped alleviate the acute dismay at the failure of the trip, instead of which we actually felt that the ship's management treated us with little more than contempt.