The Columbus is 28 years old and was formerly with P&O (among others). Now Greek-owned and anything but crisp and ship-shape. Outside cabin, public room and restaurant windows NEVER washed and filthy dirty.
An international crew, mostly Eastern European in the higher ranks and Indian/Mauritian doing the grunt work. I was very distressed to discover that the latter are hired on 500 euro a month with the promise that they'll earn "that amount again" in tips, but in actuality the tips never make it down to their lower rungs on the ladder. So whilst it's perhaps OK for the single person travelling abroad to see the world, it's disastrous for the married man on a fixed nine-month contract with NOTHING to send home to a spouse to pay the mortgage or the electricity bill. I have cruised with numerous lines over the past 30 years, but WILL NEVER AGAIN SAIL WITH MCV as long this is the way they treat their staff.
The INTERNET (£39 extra) worked for just TWO of the 12 days afloat. The Reception desk mantra: If in port: "Wait until we sail." If on the ocean: "Wait until we dock."
Clean, with a nice Ukrainian stewardess.