WE chose this cruise in order to be in Cuba before the great rush and also to be able to use the internet . There is a fairly steep charge for the internet. We spent $135.00. We wanted to see Cuba before the big infusion of capital and tourists needed now that Russia and Venezuela are no longer subsidizing the country. One picture is worth a thousand words. Seventy years of socialism has yielded a salary of $25.00 per month plus a ration booklet. for the college educated. Education is free, but it is a dead end! The guides were great and we learned a lot.

The ten large suites on the ship are very pleasant. The other cabins are small. You can check the size on the web site. There are no amenities for the suite occupants common on other cruises. They give you one large bottle of water even though you are paying two to three times what the people in the cabins are paying. There is a charge of $25.00 per person to use the alternative restaurant, the Ocean Grill. The food there is worse than the dining room, though the service is great. The head waiter really tries but the menu and orders to the chef on how to cook the food is no good. There really is no fresh fish even though they are in Miami every week.....The so called lobster was inedible...dry and spongy .The chocolate mousse dessert was cold,hard and dry and nothing like mousse. In fact the menu descriptions often had little to do with the actual food. The main dining room was slightly better if you spent a great deal of effort . Again the restaurant manager was a gem as were his staff, but it appears they are constrained by directions from abroad and do not have quality ingredients with which to work. The lunch menus were terrible.

You can buy soft drinks for two dollars at the bar and wine by the glass for $7-15.00. There are no free drinks even at the sail away"parties" or at meals. It was all very strange considering we paid as much as we usually pay on Silversea, Seaborne and Regent. Read more