We chose this cruise because of the itinerary. The opportunity to go to the Baltic Sea and visit 13 countries in 15 days was extraordinary. Aside from the rather whirlwind aspect of this type of schedule, we still view the chance to see these amazing historical countries as incredibly unique. For this, the captain's finesse with driving the ship, Ella, our patient steward, and Willie, the Raffles Terrace bartender, we would do it all again.

The ship is tired and in need of refurbishment. I know it is difficult to take new trendy practices from recently-built ships and try to make them work on an older one. For example, the ship's toilet areas are in need of more stalls - and sometimes bigger ones, the theater seats are small and difficult to get up from (and the main entrances to the theater are from the floor directly in front of the stage making early exits uncomfortable), people flow in the buffet restaurant is challenging (and why is there only one place to get a spoon? you have to get your yogurt at one spot then brave the crowd traffic to get to the oatmeal area for the spoon), there is no direct entrance to the fitness room so you have to walk through the spa front desk area and get asked every time if you can be helped, the hair dryer in our cabin was straight out of the 60's with its long tubular hose, and the popular specialty restaurants had to be placed wherever room could be found (resulting in part of the buffet area being turned into La Trattoria in the evening and an open noisy kitchen in Le Bistro).

Our cabin was fine and what we expected for a mid-ship interior stateroom. We brought our own magnet hooks to maximize wall use and that worked well for us. The steward obliged us by removing 2 of the 4 life preservers, as well as the bedding for the additional bed (how in the world 4 could fit in there, we have no idea), to provide us extra space. The bathroom had been caulked multiple times, clearly visible along the wall. One of four little glass shelves had a worn-out clasp so everything slid off into the sink - not unmanageable but annoying. Plenty of closet space for the 2 of us, ample drawer space, a safe. Our steward brought in, at our request, a second side table so we could each have one. Overall, it served its purpose. Read more