We will ignore the onboarding process (1.5 hours) - it was a Christmas cruise afterall and people were excited to get onboard at the same time. However, once onboard, there was confusion as people were standing at the point of entry and staff were not dealing with the congestion. The elevators closest to us were not in service (and remained out of service for the whole cruise). The real issues for us started when we arrived at our cabin (9066) - there were dead flies in the cabin, heavy staining to the sofa, bed cover and headboard, carpet not cleaned properly as there was debris under the bed. The balcony had cigarette butts and ash so clearly had not been cleaned. We asked for our cabin to be changed but were told there were no other cabins (and didn't we realise this was a Christmas cruise!!).

Children were not in control and staff happy for families to be in every bar with children sat at the bar or running around in bars where drinks are served in glass rather than plastic in rough seas. So a real safety issue here as staff chose to complain to passengers like us (with no children) rather than dealing with the situation.

Public areas such as toilets and buffet were not always clean. Food was average (but we were aware that this might be the case) but overall, too many staff that were new or did not know their ship and so could not be helpful, staff over run with too many people arriving at one location at the same time (restaurants - people deciding to eat outside their agreed dining time and therefore wanting to get seated later). Unhelpful reception, poorly maintained facilities (elevators, toilets, stairways, some bar areas and telephone systems). Read more