26 April 2016, Southampton to the Canaries.

The Imbarcation and disimparcation was very orderly and efficient, Onbord I noticed that the East European staff are not as friendly as staff from other nationalities, the food in the dining room and buffet was extreamily good and the dining room waiters where very friendly and efficient, at peak time the buffet areas was very congested as there wasn't enough tables, the theatre performances where poor in comparison to other cruise companies only lasted 30 minutes and lacked variety, there were no activities around the pool areas, there was too much time dedicated to art auctions and wine tasting, overall too much time was dedicated to try and get more money from you.

A big disappointment regarding the gratuity system, on top of the 15% per day per person charged, each time you make a bar or dining room purchase you will be charged another 15% gratuity, the good thing is that if you go to the front desk you can opt out from paying the 15% daily gratuity, almost all I spoke to had opted out, I feel that this extra 15% gratuity charge is not fair and is creating a negative effect on the staff because the majority of people are opting out from it, the staff are not receiving a top up on their very low wages. Read more