It was our first cruise with P&O and also the first time sailing in such a vast ship. The ship is spanking new and looks lovely. It is enormous and so lots of space even when we sailed at capacity. Most of the time it didn't feel crowded. Our cabin at the aft was perfect for our cruise to the Norwegian fjords. We had fabulous panoramic views as we sailed. The weather wasn't that good but we managed to sit on the balcony with a drink while admiring the wonderful scenary.

We enjoyed walking on the deck when the weather was fine. Deck 8 was has a wrapped around track which was great. You can almost walk around the ship on the higher decks but the Retreat takes up some space at the front of the ship. There were lots of whirlpools around but we didn't use them. Other people certainly did and they seem to like the experience.

There are lots of restaurants on the ship and we enjoyed most of the meals. The food in the dining room was fine but not especially exciting. It's like eating a conference dinner rather than in a nice restaurant. They have now incorporated the old "Always Available" section into the main menu, so we now actually have fewer choices than before even though the menu looked full. We only managed to eat dinner in one of the 4 restaurants once. We got fedup with the queuing system. More of that later. We had a lovely meal at the Epicurean and it was worth the extra. The same goes for Keel & Cow. I read somewhere on here that it was a bit soulless. We didn't find that. We sat in a lovely open space and we felt much less hemmed in than in Opal. The Italianj restaurant was also lovely and you only need to pay for certain items. So you can actually have a "free" meal there. Read more