We chose this cruise because of the itinerary and it was convenient going out of Tilbury. Before sailing we started to get worried after reading the reviews, we shouldn't have been worried though it was mostly excellent. Would say that this cruise is definitely for the older age groups, I am 56 and I would say I was one of the youngest (sorry if I upset anyone who was younger!!).

First the food, we have sailed before with P&O, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Thompson, the food on this ship compared very well, in fact better than most of them. The self-serve buffet was a bit of a bun fight at busy times (never been to one that wasn't) but the food was very hot, tasty and plenty of options, it was lovely on nice days sitting outside having breakfast. The option was there to go into the Waterside Restaurant and be served breakfast and lunch if you wanted to but we didn't take it up. The evening meals were 6 courses (if you wanted) starter, soup, salad, main, pudding and cheese. Every meal was superb, wine waiter kept us topped up too. We were on the drinks package which was good value for money, although if you don't drink much they were not over priced, approx £3.50 for a pint of beer, all cocktails were £4.00 each, wine by the glass was £5.00 but you could get some good deals on bottles, (you can drink what you want then they would bring the bottle out the next night for you). I would recommend the early sitting for dinner, (6 o'clock or 8.15) it was a bit too early sometimes but if you were on the late sitting you had to go to the early show as they were on at 7 o'clock and 9 o'clock. Also this cruise line does not do free time dining, we sat on a table of six and were very lucky as our companions were very nice and interesting people and we greatly enjoyed their company.

The cabin was fine, very spacious, lots of storage room, it was a bit dated, especially the bathroom but was very clean, although it did not have tea/coffee making facilities which is a bit annoying, although I think there was an option to have some breakfast items brought to your cabin so I suppose you could just tick tea or coffee. Read more