OK, the Ship is a staple for University folk and has been since at least the 90's. The booze is cold and more or less reasonably priced for a downtown pub. Lots of friendly people and some not so friendly people. This place is PACKED almost all the time, so if you prefer to keep people at arms length or if you'll get peeved at someone spilling beer on your shoes then you should probably find somewhere else to go.
The food is ok in the sense that it's bar food and can't really be expected to have four star dining.
If you're planning on heading to the Ship on a summer Friday or Saturday evening you'll pretty much have to get there in the late afternoon to avoid lining up.