We took the cruise from Haifa, Israel to Barcelona, Spain because of the destinations. We got onboard at the port of Haifa. Our cabin was dated and worn. The ship originally set sail in 1997. It doesn't appear that the staterooms have been updated since.

The food in the "sit down" restaurants was terrible. Entries appeared to have been plated well before our arrival. The food arrived at our table luke warm and sometimes crunchy (crunchy pasta isn't good!). Anything with beef in it was terrible. Grisly and pooly prepared. I had a chicken parmesan dish whose chicken filet appeared to have been a frozen, pre-breaded piece o chicken that may have been microwaved. The pasta with the dish was cold and crunchy. Another night, I had the Guiness Beef Pie. It was nasty. What little beef that was in the dish was either gristly or pasty and of poor flavor.

Yet another night, I had the NY Strip Steak. The meat appeared to have been boiled and then slightly seared. It was maybe 3/8th of an inch thick. The texture made it very unappetizing. We bought the 3 dinner package (3 meals at the specialty restaurants. DON'T DO IT! It was the same crappy food as the main dinning room. I had a Filet Mignon. It took be 2 minutes to chew a small piece. This steak was not from the tenderloin. I sent it back and 25 minutes later, got another steak from the same- non-tenderloin cut. Both were terrible. We tried the Asian restaurant, the food tasted better; but, again dishes were pre-plated (rubbery pot stickers) and my wife got sick. We didn't even bother with the 3rd dinner. We started eating at the buffet. At least the food there was hot. Talking to other cruisers, they had the same negative reaction to the food. One guest said it was in-edible. Read more