Chose this cruise - Fire and Ice because of the intinery and sailing ex Newcastle.

Took 2 hours from arriving at terminal to boarding ship. This was pretty good as some waited over 4 hours! Embarkation gets 4 out of 10.

At first the A/C was able to be set to 'Baltic' which is great for sleeping. Being too cold through the day when we got further north I adjusted the A/C - big mistake never could get it back to cold enough for sleeping despite being told an engineer had corrected it. I think somehow it had been adjusted to save energy as when we were almost back to Newcastle it was blowing like billyo for the next boarders. The bed wasn't good quality. You get 2 pillows; one is an inch thin and the other is like a football - take your own! The so called comforter is too heavy - THERE WAS NO COMFORT IN BED and the room was stuffy. Because of this sleep quality gets 1 out of 10. Surrounding noise could be heard through the day which was annoying. Read more