we have sailed on many of the standard cruise lines (but will never on those huge 6k passenger ones). we sailed last January on the Windstar windsurf in the Caribbean and thought we'd try one of Windstar's motor- only ships, from Barcelona to Lisbon.
what a nice trip.
the food was great. the ship was very stable even in some rough seas(we missed our last port because of rough weather). we did not hear our neighbors at all (we had deck 4, cabin 132). one deck down to dinner. 3 flights up to bfast. good location. Deadora keeping our room was super.