My wife and I have traveled throughout Europe, South America and the Caribbean and have experienced some of the finest cruises available throughout the world. The cruise we just completed was a tremendous disappointment. Here are our thoughts:
* The ship itself was absolutely beautiful. Very nicely furnished, spacious room (we had a cabin with a balcony). But the flow was a nightmare. Like most cruises we've been on, it takes a good week to really get to know your way around. We left still feeling confused on how to get from one spot to another because of the stairway/elevator system. Some got you to some floors and not others. Only one deck (7) allowed you to traverse the entire deck. Others we chopped up and you had to know what stairway to take to get to another spot on another floor.
* The food was mediocre at best. The dining room menus were very limited and the food was OK. Nothing spectacular. The buffet on the 14th deck was absolutely atrocious. The same thing day after day. And there was something really strange about how they wet out the food. e.g., At at the salad buffet they started out the with salad dressing, then the chopped up lettuce that always lacked the appearance of freshness, then the toppings followed. Huh?
Cabin was great. Cabin steward was great.