Not bad but have experienced better

We chose this cruise because it stopped at ports we had not been to before. First the positive. Apart from a slightly drizzling Lisbon and a choppy return across the Bay of Biscay the weather was excellent for the time of year. All the tours we took met or exceeded our expectations. The weather played its part here. Embarkation was good with only a slight delay to our given time – maybe 10 minutes later. The cabin – a superior deluxe balcony on deck E – again met our expectations. Clean and apparently well maintained. Good storage space for clothes. All the crew we had dealings with were friendly, polite, knowledgeable and helpful. Disembarkation was a bit slow- you just want to get off and collect your car by this time – but reasonably well organised.

Sea days were more problematic for us. Apart from a very interesting series of talks on Marine Biology there was little else to do unless you wanted the spa or dancing lessons. Cunard do better here. The shows in the evening were professional with one or two good tribute singers/groups and Tom O’Connor had the grey beards rolling in the isle.

We were allocated to the late dinner sitting – 8.30pm – which gave us time for a pre dinner drink but left it quite late for anything else if you were tired after coming back from a tour.

Food in the Lido deck buffet was average and it seemed that choices were becoming restricted as the cruise went on. Lunch was either salads or hot dishes. We would have liked the option of say a sandwich bar. The nearest option offered burgers which we do not eat. Again and this is common on almost all cruise ships the buffet restaurants cannot cope with too many folk turning up at the same time. Long queues and sometime no place to sit. We have had better experiences on Cunard ,Princess and Holland America. We did not chose to experience the speciality dining rooms.
Food in the formal restaurant was again average. Regrettably at least two options on our table were inedible both for taste and looks and not consumed . We were glad that the dress codes seemed to be respected.

We did meet some very interesting people which helped to ensure that we enjoyed the experience albeit with one or two reservations. If we are honest we felt slightly flat at the end.