We came into this cruise well aware of the potential for problems, based on the unforeseen accident of the original ship. However, there was no way of anticipating the actual problems that we encountered on this cruise.

First bad news: We heard, from other passengers as we were walking about the first evening, that 150 crew had walked off that day.

Embarkation: This went very smooth, a surprise compared to previous cruises, waiting in long, slow lines while everyone passed through all the various checkpoints. We arrived at the port at 4:30pm, got out of the cab, handed our bags over to a porter, walked into the port buildings, checked in, and walked on. Probably the only thing that went smoothly the whole trip! By the way, we didn't get out bags until 11:00pm, and then they were just left outside our rooms in the hallway. One of our rooms looked like they had just had a party in it, with empty champagne bottles, and wines glasses scattered about. We had to flag down a steward to get the room cleaned. And our kids never got a remote for the TV, even though we asked every day. Read more