The staff were amazing - cheerful, attentive, helpful. I was very impressed especially knowing that they work at least 10 hours a day, seven days a week for seven months before they get three months off to go home, and then can sign up for another seven months if they choose. I don't think we met any American staff. The staff come from 50 different countries. The pay probably seems better when converted to their national currency. Anyway, one of my biggest concerns before taking a cruise was the treatment of the staff, and I was relieved to see that they seem to be content and treated well.

The ship was nice and well maintained but starting to show its age. For example, in two elevators, one of the panels didn't work, so if you pressed a button for a floor on the wrong panel, it wouldn't work. The beds weren't great but ours had a memory foam topper, so we slept very comfortably all week. Closet space was adequate. We unpacked two suitcases but kept a small one on the couch as extra storage space. Shower leaked on to the floor, but we quickly learned to place a folded washcloth on the floor to block the opening, and then it was okay.

It was frustrating that if we had been able to schedule our cruise earlier or later, we could have paid less than half the price, but that's the problem with traveling during the holidays. Read more