Agree regards docking and tendering. Thank God there was not a real need to man the lifeboats !!! I imagine it would have been crew first, at least it would have given us the chance to see them.

In some respects, I disagree with previous comments, and wonder if in some cases I was on a different ship! I did have grumbles - I'd previously sailed with Transocean and on the ship when she was with Orient Lines - but not to the extent of grumbling about food, and the safety of the ship. There were a lot of moaners on this particular cruise when nothing would please them. As for the comment that the person went home losing weight, if they couldn't find suitable food from that very extensive range supplied, they deserved to starve! I agree with the business at Stornoway to some extent, but we went ashore independently, and still got three hours or so in the town. The sailing crew were more or less invisible, I agree, but the captain ate in the Bistro and was approachable, but lack of information from the bridge was non-existent. We had a genuine complaint - not the constant whingeing from some passengers - in that we had a damaged suitcase which the team on reception handled admirably, and we were duly reimbursed generously. Quite frankly,we don't see what the moaning passengers had to moan about; as I said, we think they must have been on a different ship to us! My hubby and I talked with many other passengers who said they had nothing to complain about and that we were surrounded by whingers who wouldn't have known what they wanted if it had hit them on the head.

If it hadn't been for the fantastic shows I would have jumped ship It's the only cruise that I've taken and lost weight!!!