Mixed review....some good and some bad

Embarkation was easy. The police who staff the area are overly aggressive with the yelling. I realize they are keeping things moving but as a group, we were trying to stay together. Screaming without listening was annoying.

The food was the biggest disappointment. We chose this ship because of reputation of food and dates. While I had several really good bites of food, there were many problems. In the dining room for breakfast they were flat out rude about people sitting together in a fairly empty dining room. Overall the food seemed more like bad wedding/catering meals. Much of it was along the lines of what you get at a Denny’s or Applebees. It often seemed to have been sitting around, congealed, dried out, overly reheated. Leftovers were often repurposed under new names. The Lido buffets closed down during peak times (returning from excursions) and only had bad pizza, a salad bar (which was very good if you didn’t let them apply dressing) and old sandwiches. The children’s food bar by the pool had food but no serving utensils and when questioned, they said it wasn’t time yet but the food just sat out uncovered. They ran out of Tito’s, Grey Goose and Michelob Ultra at pool bar. The waiter was nice but had too many tables and were not able to interact with table which was a favorite from previous cruises. The consistency was just so all over the place even within the same service. I had a great burger from poolside eatery and an awful bit of one. Desserts at Lido bar looked like they had been sitting out for ages. Ice cream grainy, etc. Those of us that had cruised before thought the quality was worst of any cruise we had taken and our new cruising friends thought it was slightly better and on par with chain restaurants. They also constantly tried to up sell specialty restaurants but a $75 up charge means I need to get a dinner worth the $75 plus the cost of dinner included I fare - and it wasn’t. It was more in line with what I was expecting without an up charge. Coffee was frustrating and bar in Explorations Cafe was not good. Paper lids on coffee cups absorbed coffee and changed flavor significantly. They need a better environmentally friendly option.

This was another mixed bag. What we did was fun, but at times every activity offered was either a sales pitch for future cruise, buying a computer or other on ship items or they were additional charge. I can see charging for bingo but yoga? I felt the entire. Ruiz’s was light on activities and the ones I attended had to be moved to larger locations and they ran out of supplies. Pool was nice. Smoking ruined aft pool. There were not a lot of kids on board but I suspect more than usual. They liked the hot tub which prevented us from using it. Staff running activities were good.

Hillier (sp?) the German juggling comedian was fantastic. The other comedian and dancers were just average and shows repetitive. The orchestra was fantastic but often ran out of space\seats. Piano players in Billboard lounge were fun..

For the most part the service was good. Bartender Aurora was good and consistent with alcohol pours ( not true of other bars).

Ship was easy to get around (smaller ship) and decor was fine.

We were traveling with group and I paid for 5 people so we selected inside cabins. It was small but layout was good and fine for 2 people. Others in our group had balcony and it was fine too. Stewards were great. Bathroom was roomy compared to cabin so that worked well.

Easiest disembarkation ever. We wheeled our own luggage off, left at time of our choosing and had no delays.