Overall Rating:

2 out of 5

Bad food, Subpar service, Good entertainment, April 6, 2009
By surgeerr

"I was on the lower level of this cruise ship so I will be commenting on my experiences there, though from what I have read the upper decks have similar problems.

The biggest issue for me was the food. There were about 8 or 9 dishes to choose from. None of them looked particularly appetizing, so I took some of each one in case I didn't like some of it. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that ALL OF THE DISHES TASTED THE SAME. I am assuming they use the same type of seasoning, or perhaps the same preparation utensils, for each dish, because I am not kidding, all of this food had to same sweetish flavor.

The only remotely appetizing dish for me was the macaroni and cheese because it was the only thing that didn't have the wierd sweet taste to it. I lost my appetite for that, however, when my friend discovered a rather large FINGERNAIL in his macaroni. Yuck!

Sodas are not even complimentary. As a matter of fact, they are $2.50 each - and by each I /mean/ each because there are no free refills.

All me and my friends had was water or iced tea. Supposedly coffee and hot tea were also complimentary but it was never offered.

The cheesecake dessert we had was about ten times better than the rest of the food, which is a good thing because I had so little appetite after the main course that an average dessert probably wouldn't have been good enough for me.

As others have said, they dismiss you to get food by table. Considering the cruise is pretty short to begin with I hope you are lucky at picking tables because if you're one of the last tables to go not only will you be waiting forever, but you will have poor selection, less time to eat, and just be generally ticked off.

The view wasn't that great because the area the ship goes in is restricted. The windows were also somewhat unwashed which is distracting to the view.

The entertainment can get noisy so if you are just looking to converse with your friends you won't have much luck. If you do like the entertainment, however (a bit of singing and dancing) then you're in luck because this is the best part (and in my opinion only really good part) of the cruise.

I went on this cruise as part of a group trip package so I did not personally select it, nor would I if I were to go back to D.C. on my own. To be honest, even though I didn't exactly have a terrible time here, I probably would have had a better time with my friends at a McDonald's."

11 of 11 people found this review helpful.