The ship is interesting – in both a good and “needs improvement” kind of way. This is the first cruise; occasional hiccups are to be expected.
On the positive side: new, shiny, wide range of things to do, buy, eat and drink. And the staff is fantastic which is great especially since all of them transferred in from other ships quite recently.
The passengers present a wide range of nationalities, backgrounds and levels of politeness leading to a higher than expect amount of rudeness coupled with a bit of pushing and shoving. We are at sea, it is not like the food item isn’t going to be there when it is your turn. Failing that, it will be replaced with fresh from the galley. There is something to be said about new and fresh from the galley.
There are some challenges – and most of them are nothing that anyone other than engineering can do anything about and perhaps not even them. Example – the aft (fancy/expensive) balcony cabins on our deck aren’t hooked into hot water. No one is sure why, but a number of folks have had to truck to the Spa/Fitness area to shower. To find out that there is no soap or shampoo in those showers…. Huh? Really?
The lights flickering this evening can be completely ignored. The rhythmic thumping in the wall/ceiling that started about noon and has continued perhaps not. I certainly don’t find it thrilling but then, I am probably tired enough to sleep through anything about this point. I am wondering if there is something lose in the walls or perhaps it is those hot water pipes that don’t connect?
The open area around the Centrum is a mix between Royal’s Centrum on the Vision/Radiance Class ships and a Promenade. It is lovely, clean lines and colors, extending from Deck 5 to Deck 8. It is also extremely noisy. There seems to be no sound baffling. I was routinely recording 85db sitting at one of the tables.
The color scheme is mostly neutrals complemented by a lot of chrome and walls of glass (I am wondering how long before they have to do something with the glass walls to prevent people walking into them. There is a great illusion of increased space in a number of the corridors which might just mitigate the low ceilings. This is not a ship for basketball players. For that matter, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone in the 6’4”/2 meter range. Then I remember this is Italian. They are not a tall people….
The food – no surprise – has been remarkably Italian so far. From 0630-0200 you can find food in the Deck 8 Market Hall (buffet). FYI the piazza is excellent.
Tomorrow we are in port. The day after is a sea day. I will fill you in about the wonders of unlimited access to cappuccinos, lattes, expresso and take-away gelato.