The Bouquets...the ship, recently refurbished is beautiful with old style decor, wood panelling and some very grand public and dining areas. Our ocean view stateroom was comfortable, bright and more spacious than expected. Food was excellent, absolutely superb in Cagneys, Le Bistro and Teppanyaki. Service was excellent too, fast, efficient and delivered with lots of smiles. The shore excursions we did were interesting and fairly priced and the ports visited were interesting too.

The Brickbats..as first time cruisers, small details of ship temperature, cabin inclusions, additional charges etc either unavailable or very hard to find. The call centre didnt know and gave us incorrect information on several occasions. Onboard, the ATM didnt work, ship only dispenses USD, not much use in Europe. We would have preferred to prepay as much as possible but some excursions were only advertised after departure. Drinks prices were expensive, water outrageous!! and 20%gratuity on top was not appreciated. An additional daily USD14.95 "service enhancement" charge for everyone over 3yrs is nothing but a ripoff, especially for families. How does a young child appreciate any kind of service? We were able to pay this in advance, but we Aussies do not appreciate this kind of "drip pricing". If tipping is compulsory, also not appreciated by Aussies, just load this charge into the initial cruise price and be done with it.