Declining standards

We did the same cruise this time last year and are quite experienced cruisers, diamond plus. The ship is still quite attractive.

Good points—-

The Diamond and Concierge club benefits are still good and both hosts efficient

The food is acceptable althoughMDR lunches a bit boring. Windjammer probably better for lunch. Breakfasts were good in MDR.

The Filipino, Indonesian and Indian staff are great and are the best thing about this cruise line.

Bad points—-

The internet is slow.

The activities and entertainment have gone very far downhill. There were very few headline acts on this or the previous back to back cruise we did to NZ and few were very good. Some nights there were no theatre shows, too many had old production shows which we have seen previously. One night the only show was a Love and Marriage game show. Usually the theatre was sparsely attended.

The cruise director was poor, gabbled and spoke too fast. Some of her assistants doing trivia were also difficult to understand. Whether the decline in activities and entertainment were the fault of the CD or the Company cutting costs I know not.

Embarkation and Disembarkation were great thanks to ship and Sydney terminal staff.