we booked a last minute deal with p and o to the baltic as it had 2 days in st petersburg..if i had paid full price i would have been very unhappy but on the deal it was ok. i will start with the pros--cabin e 318 very comfortable had obstruction the lower part of lifeboat but we still had good view, the room was comfortable plenty of storage and a great steward.. after a few days managed to find our way around the ship..oriental restaurant first sitting was good the food varied and our table 64 had wonderful waiters and Sherrie the wine waiter was great. the ports of call were all great especially st petersburg i would advise booking through p and o if you have never been here before as the 2 day the spendour of st petersburg tour was excellent had early rises but thats how you will see all. our guide was helena and she was so full of info she just added to a wonderful tour...now for the cons...- if you like a hi-di-hi entertainment environment then this is for you quizzes everywhere, singalongs which were bordering on promoting an engish rule the waves not british rule the waves very condescending offerings of scottish irish and welsh songs but an hour of god save the queen etc as one english person put it they did a lot for getting any undecided scots to vote yes...there were no quiet areas to just read as the blasted quizzes appeared everywhere. the overall entertainment was ok best was the elton john and ben makiesa shows [except for the azura orchestra which at times would drown out the singers they were more like a bad school band...the buffet restaurants were boring and served bland food at all times with the same offerings most days. the layouts were very tight not suitable for able bodied people and wheelchair users to get about at same time this was only due to bad planning. we love to walk especially on sea days but found running the gauntlet of smokers allowed the full length of starboard side awful plus the smokers as you walked through from pool areas why not have one area up top deck as on other ships.. info on the horizon magazine not always correct as we discovered from film times to tour times plus as we were on a baltic cruise one day we were asked if we were enjoying our trip around the carribean a touch of left hand did not speak to right hand lol.... we did enjoy our trip meeting new people some of the entertainment but this ship would not be on our top ten.