Overall I enjoyed the cruise. I was annoyed that the duty free wasn't duty free. There was also zero selection on the ship for personal items. If you get the runs oh well better squeeze tight 'til the next port-of-call. I was on a RC freedom class boat last year and really missed the promenade and free restaurants. The shows were fine the main dining food was ok the wind jammer surprisingly was very good. If you want to spend less than a thousand on the boat you are going to bed hungry, drink water from the tap and generally be annoyed by the quality of all liquid refreshments that are free. The iced tea in the dining room wasn't potable.

I get it the money is in the booze and the casino but for non-drinkers a decent glass of iced tea isn't to keep the boozers from boozing. I felt like the staff in the main dining were struggling to keep up I don't blame them they were running their butts off I just suspect there have been some changes in staffing protocols from last year. On my cruise last year it felt like luxury dining the staff offered seconds even brought out entres and extra plates waited and attended without even being asked. At peak times this year I felt like I was at a Dennys sucking on ice cubes waiting forever for my bitter tea. Oh well signs of the times I guess I would just be a little less obvious about the end game (Boozing and gambling) Our excursions were exhausting, rushed (Except for the gift shops of course) this annoyed me we had 15 minutes free time at the "Once in a Lifetime" visit to the Parthenon to be rushed to a gift shop for an hour. Same thing in Florence we didn't have time to even catch our breath double-timing it until we got to the gift shop then of course we were in the land before time.

Folks, I hadn't been to Europe since I was in high school and I visited "WEST" Germany do you think my few precious moments in these places I wanted to spend at a store? But hey I can say that I went to 5 countries in Europe and never stepped foot in one historic building. Read more