It was a Christmas cruise so maybe it seemed more fun and no one suffered from the dreaded lurgy. GREAT.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Excellent, we booked a suite so the embarkation was very smooth
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We had read iffy reviews about Arcadia but we thought it was very good. We had our breakfast in Sindu which was great as it was quite empty (only for Suite passengers) and the food and service was well above par. Meridian restaurant was very good and we had no complaints about quality of food. However, the waiting staff were absolutely rushed off their feet and everything was a bit manic, but still good.
Meridian Restaurant
5 out of 5
Restaurant is on two floors with set time dining on one floor and freedom dining on the other. If you ask for a specific size table that is not available at that time you get a pager so you can go off and return when bleeped, which is not normally very long. Nice atmosphere and great food, service is sometimes too fast as the staff are very rushed.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We didn’t use any of the on board facilities as we were busy with the trips etc and the rest of the time we were relaxing in our room.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Entertainment was great, shows were really well done even though we had seen one on our previous cruise on Aurora.
The Crow's Nest
5 out of 5
During the day if we wanted a quieter hideaway this was the place to go. People were reading, drinking coffees etc and trying out the odd Christmas cocktail (or maybe that was just us). Totally different at night with music and lots os people. Nice place with nice seating.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Ships staff overall were really good, apart from the one or two miserable ones but you expect that out of so many. The weird thing to get used to was as we had booked a suite we had the service of a butler. He was very attentive and after a while we started to use him more as we found out the things he could do for us.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship was nice and clean, but you could always find something if you really wanted to moan. The layout of the ship was good and after a couple of days we found our way around quite easily.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
It was our wedding anniversary and I had just got over a troublesome illness and it was Christmas. So we had a mad moment and booked one of the best suites, so the size of room etc was brilliant. We had a living room area with settee and armchairs, a separate dressing room (which my wife thoroughly enjoyed), double sinked bathroom, whirlpool bath and separate shower. Huge balcony which being December in Norway etc we didn’t use that much as you can imagine. It was kept very clean (twice a day service) and you couldn’t ask for better really.
Ship tip
It is a child free ship (adults only) so you find the average age is a lot higher than normal, and you have to watc out for wheelchairs and mobility scooters
The excursion we picked was nice and the tour quide was very good. The only problem was the fact whoever planned the trip had tried to get too much from it. Meaning, everything was done at breakneck speed trying to pack too much into it. It was a very enjoyable tour but we didn’t get long enough at each place which was a shame.
Brilliant, we went to Tivoli gardens and being Christmas you could only call it Magical. It was well laid out, beautifully decorated and the Christmas market was most enjoyable.
We have been to Amsterdam several times before so this time we took the 2 days we were there, to explore more of the countryside which we had missed before. Very good and informative guide whic( made it interesting as well as amusing.
Again, we have been to the centre of Bruges a few times so being a Saturday we decided to give it a miss and took a tour away from the madness. We did the Countryside, Castle and Chocolate factory tour instead, and this was really good albeit a bit too fast for our liking. Each stop was great but not enough time to make it really enjoyable.
It was ok but, it was a bit of a mess. Some people obviously new what they were doing but the majority didn’t and the available help was up to much so passengers were wandering around looking for their cases in a sea of cases. It is amazing how many cases are similar when they are all piled together. All you could hear was “here they are and sorry I thought that was mine”. But, just living down the road was great for us as we jumped straight into a taxi and we were home with the kettle on before others had found the coach or got through the maze of car parks
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