The ship looked wonderful and the itinerary suited me. However, I was shocked by the crowds and the seeming shortage of staff but worse was the awful dining experience on Deck 15. This was the Buffet Restaurant and the food was cold and mostly tasteless. It was hard to find a seat and it was a crush at every turn. The noise level was also high. We were on an all-inclusive package and I was extremely disappointed to find that this and an Irish Bar, which was not much better, were the only options for lunch. It was an awful experience trying to find something to eat, which was surprising because it all looked so good and the range of food was staggering and you could eat all day if you had the stomach for it. The coffee was virtually undrinkable but also on tap all day. Things improved when thousands got off to go on the trips but there were 3 days out of the seven where there was just too many people trying to eat there. The staff were clearly overworked at these times and it was hard to get served at the bars. Another chaos factor I think was that it was a hop on hop off ship, people leaving and joining at every port.

There were many good things, such as the Taste and Manhattan restaurants and a Noodle Bar where you could eat in the evening. Most of the entertainment was also really good. Although by day 5 it was on repeat so 2 weeks would not have been good for us. It is an impressive ship, very clean and the staff were well trained and worked hard though often overworked.

No crew member got to know either of our names although some did recognise us or appeared to do. It was very impersonal in thst way and although we met some very nice, lively and interesting people we mostly only saw them once. Read more