I choose this cruise as the Splendor was in dry dock in Singapore before relocating to Australia and thought that the itinerary would suit my wife and myself . How wrong was I . Embarkation was a disaster . The check in people didn't open the desks for nearly 2 hrs after they were supposed to and then there was a stampede of people all trying to get on board at the same time . They should have waited . Once on board you couldn't have a swim because the water in the pools was to heavily chlorinated , so they were closed for several days until the water could be disposed of in international waters . Some lifts in practically all banks were out of order , TV's didn't work in a lot of cabins , toilets , hot water systems were not working properly and the ship in general was dirty and needed a lot of maintenance . For smokers on board it seemed that every time there was a shore day there was no smoking because the ship was bunkering which is fine , but all day ? boy were there some upset customers . My cabin was ok . It's not a new ship and i wasn't expecting it to be anything special , but in saying that our Cabin staff were great , in fact I should compliment the staff in general . They were a new crew and at first were a bit overwhelmed but they soon got used to it and looked after us really well . The food was something that i was looking forward to , but it fell way short of the standards that I have come to expect from other cruise lines . Small portions and very bland , like there was no salt or spices to make it stand out . It was presented nicely and the staff were great . In saying all that , a cruise is about meeting people and there were fantastic people on board and I hope to meet up with them both on board on ashore .