Heading aft from the restaurant, one enters the stretched area of the ship which on this deck has largely been used to extend the centreline shopping area which runs alongside the long and thin starboard side galley. To port, alongside these, is an arcade stretching back past the shopping centre which features some fixed seating and a number of plaques commemorating the ship’s calls at various ports during her North American service; several of these also feature in the lobby downstairs. The arcade leads back to what was once the aft cafeteria but is now a casino area filled with slot machines. A small section aft on the centreline was partitioned off and was clearly an attempt at an American sports bar – this had originally been an area which could be separated for conference use in the Stena days but was now irredeemably gloomy. The only saving grace in the entire aft space now are more of those door handles, this time on exits leading aft onto the ship’s expansive outside decks.
The upper of the main passenger decks, The Boat Deck (Deck 7), features a splendid forward bar (the Broadway Show Lounge) again with much original décor albeit mostly new furniture. With a central dance floor, bar counter off to starboard and separate aft cocktail lounge, this is a dark but atmospheric room and you could immediately visualise passengers in transit to Morocco being much more happy dancing the night away here than crammed into that small space in front of the Peninsular Bar on the Tadla. |
