This was a most disappointing cruise. I have never been to any of the ports and feel I only saw one third of what I expected. I understand the reason for missing the Azores. That was a safety issue. Brest France should never have been a destination port. It is a modern city and the number of excursions outside of the city were very limited. Waiting for almost 3 hours to disembark the ship was unacceptable. I do not understand why the captain could not have anticipated the tide and made appropriate adjustments for getting off the ship. Once we were in Brest (for 2 1/2 hrs.) all we could do was window shop. There were no boutique shops just modern stores. Then, getting back on the ship was a 4 block long line. I was very disappointed when the captain announced that we would not be going to Brussels because of some damage to the ship. We got to Southampton at noon instead of 8 AM. We had shore excursion to Bath which I was told was a wonderful old city in England. Again, we waited 3 hours to disembark because we all had to be cleared by British immigrations officers. 4 officers for 3700 passengers was unacceptable. Again, I do not understand why the cruise management could not have negotiated a much more rapid departure. Then, to top it all off, when we finally got to the gangplank, we were notified that our excursion had been cancelled. So, what they did next was bus us to a modern mall. The information desk in the mall did a better job of advising what to do. The old town was nearby so we walked through there and found a nice pub. The reimbursement for missing all those ports and waiting in long lines was only $100...an insult to our intelligence.

The positive to this trip were the crew...wait staff, bar waiters and room steward. The customer service desk and shore excursion staff had to take the heat for poor management decisions. The entertainment was very good. Getting off the ship in Copenhagen was very well organized but it was too late to change my opinion of the cruise.

The atrium area was noisy and did not have a lot of space for sitting and reading a book. Read more