We arrived at Tilbury expecting embarkation to be something of a shambles (based on previous comments). However, we were pleasantly surprised at how smooth this was. Drove straight up to the gate, offloaded luggage and asked to park approximately 20 yards in front of the terminal building! I think embarkation is very hit and miss, having spoken with others who were asked to park in the long stay car park and had to be bussed back to the terminal. One big complaint I have about boarding is the total lack of security. At no point were our carry on bags scanned and we were told to walk round the outside of the x-ray scanners! This was the same at both Amsterdam and Antwerp (although at Antwerp they made a show of making us put out bags through a scanner. This proved to be totally ineffective because no one was looking at the screens! Complete waste of time. We could have brought absolutely anything on board and spoke to many people who brought quite large quantities of alcohol on board totally undiscovered. We were more concerned about what else people could have smuggled on board, bearing in mind the heightened security level at the moment.

In all, this cruise was more or less what we were expecting for the price we paid. The food in the main buffet is very limited and quite unimaginative. The coffee is good. Food in the dining room better but the service is, again, hit and miss. We chose to take breakfast in the main dining room one morning and out of the 6 people on our table, I was the only one who didn't ask for any change to be made to the dish I ordered. Needless to say, my breakfast was the only one which was wrong! The coffee was cold and we had to ask more than once for a refill. The orange juice tastes watered down and I am still waiting for my toast! The cooked breakfast is exactly the same as that served in the buffet, so no difference in quality at all.

The entertainment is pretty dire. The cruise director is unprofessional, scruffy and not funny at all. We walked out half way through a show in the Palladium as it was cringeworthy. The singers in Connexions Bar and Taverners are poor. However, the crew in every bar and elsewhere on the ship were all excellent. There is a large screen over one of the pools which showed various music and promotional videos non stop. There is also music next to the second pool. If you happened to be sitting on the top deck between the two pools the conflicting music was ridiculous. It would be infinitely preferable to have music by one pool and make the other pool a quieter area. Read more