I think this cruise gets bad reviews for the following reasons.People paid too much for this cruise. The price changes week by week and you need to wait a bag yourself a bargain, if you pay Royal caribbean prices you will be upset.The ship did not get a major refirb.Get over it, basically the ship is a little scruffy but not that bad.The hard winter was not only in the UK. Reports are that this year the weather on the ship has been patchy between Christmas and March, We sailed March 18th and had lovely weather but if the sky had been grey then maybe my review would have been more harsh.Also if you fall into the category of the type of person who considers themselves just a little above the rest,then do a little more saving for the Queen Mary.Every day except one you wake up at a new port. The food is fine and the drinks are pub prices.At no time during the week did I feel bored.The passengers are friendly and the service is excellent.The ship got the single people together and it was so nice to see how they had such a lovely holiday.We did the Thomson's Dolphin trip in Grand Canaria.We failed to see any Dolphins but that is unusual. It was a nice outing and if we had seen Dolphins would have been magical.We also did the Taroudant trip in Morocco this was good.The guide took us through the souk which was amazing, then we got left to do our own thing for 20 minutes, which was 19 minutes too long.Also you are back to the ship by 1pm for sunbathing.My advice, avoid any trip with souk in the title. The singles did the massa 4x4 and raved about it,they considered it worth the 52 pounds.We did our own thing in Madeira.We walked to the cable cars and did the Botanical gardens(you get a package ticket 28 euros) then walked to Blandy's.You get a selection of Madeira samples for 4 euros, then we did a tour for 5 euros and it was super.At Santa Cruise De La Palma you will find O Daley Street at the end of the harbour, it is a lovely walk, follow quite a way and you come to a life size Santa Maria, it is a museum only three euros,public toilets by the entrance, you can then walk back along the coast.We did the Manriques Masterpieces trip in Lanzarote and had a great time. Take your driving licence if you want to do quad biking. Take an American power adaptor.( Two flat pins)Take a hair dryer. They provide beach towels.Wifi is available but no idea on cost.