We chose this cruise because it was visiting places I am ashamed to say we had not yet visited - although virtually on our doorstep! We have cruised a lot - once or sometimes twice a year for the last 40 years with various shipping companies. On this cruise leaving from Tilbury we were to visit Kirkwall in the Orkneys, the Isle of Skye then onto Ireland and finally France. Generally the ship is nice but not sumptuous by any means. Checking in was trouble free. Our window cabin was smaller than most and definitely very tired. The Pink plastic sink had seen much better times, part of the ceiling was not fitted properly, the chair had numerous stains, the soap dispenser in the shower was empty, the air conditioning was noisy, but the worst crime was NYLON sheets (I did not know they still made them)etc. however we had no intention of spending our holiday in the cabin so we accepted it. On complaining about the sheets we were given cotton mix ones.

We do not do self service so we ate in the waterfront restaurant for breakfast and dinner. This was like two different experiences! Breakfast was hurried, bacon dry and hard, sausages like cardboard but worse the tea was always cold - the coffee looked better.

In the evening the service was much more civilized, food hot and tasty with plenty of choice and no rush - we were second sitting. Read more