Hi! This has been our very first cruise, and it has been extremely pleasant! A couple thoughts: - we have purchased an all-inclusive drink package as we didn't want to think about counting money while cruising. Anyhow we have never seen any lack of water, drinks of every sort and very good cocktails! - About queues: there are many people on board and some queuing is definitely normal. We therefore chose to pre-book a couple dinners in some of the themed restaurants which tasted great, weren't that expensive at all and saved us from some "croud stress". Most of the times we ate at the buffet restaurant. We have seen there some long queues (but moving fast) which we have easily avoided by being there at opening and enjoying the crisp early morning air and almost empty rooms. A couple times we have also been to the assigned restaurant with service at table - food was good but, probably due to the amount of people, a bit slow (hence our preference for the buffet). - overall: before choosing this cruise, we also had seen many negative comments and were a bit worried, but I am glad we decided to not consider them and experience it on our own. It was definitely worth it and I would personally love to cruise again on the costa Firenze! Sorry for the long (and late) reply, I hope it was helpful! S&N