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   Cruise Travel - Reader Reviews

Welcome to Your Favorites, where you have the opportunity to share your travel experiences with fellow Internet Travelers around the world.


Airtours

MV Sunbird

Your Rating:Four Stars
Reviewed by: Claire Jessiman
# previous cruises: 1
Date of Trip: May 19, 2001
Itinerary: Mediterranean

Overview
This was our second cruise, previously we were on a 1 week cruise in the Caribbean with Celebrity Cruises. If the Sunbird had been our first cruise I would have considered it excellent however in comparison to Celebrity it wasn't quite so good. There was nothing wrong at all however the standards and attention to detail on Celebrity were just better. We would definitely sail on the Sunbird again.

Public Areas
The public areas were all well maintained and clean. There was always someone somewhere carrying out some form of maintenance or cleaning but it was never an intrusion or inconvenience. The two main show lounges the Can Can and the Oklahoma looked somewhat dated in the daylight but when the lights were down at night they came into their own. Our favourite places to drink were the Clipper Bar and the Chart Room. However in the Chart Room there were sometimes vibrations and also a bit of an odd sulphur smell. The casino was great and the staff were very helpful for novices - I even won some money! The two Pools were very salty. One was supposed to be for adults only but unfortunately this was never enforced. We tended to use loungers on the top deck forward of the mast bar since this was the only area for topless sunbathing. There was an Internet cafe in the pursers square that we made use of. £8 for 30min card. The time seemed to pass quick and we used 3 cards in a fortnight

Food and Service
The food overall was good and there was plenty of it. (have put on 6 lbs!) We breakfasted and lunched at the Lido cafe where there was a buffet. Never tried the main dining room for either of these meals. Plenty to choose from at breakfast from toast, cereal, cheese, meats, muffins, danish pastries, melon, fruit and cooked items. All were good apart form the scrambled eggs and omelette which were horrible! Best was the pancakes and waffles with maple syrup. Tea, Coffee and fruit juice were available. All the plates etc at the Lido were plastic. Lunch consisted of a variety of salads and 4 hot meals plus burgers etc. Only drinks available at lunch were tea/coffee, water and iced tea.

Also available at the Lido were elevenses and afternoon tea. The afternoon tea was very much poorer than what we had on Celebrity, the other buffet meals were comparable. You could also get a sandwich breakfast or lunch at the pool bar.

We had dinner every night in the main restaurant however there was the option to eat at the Lido with waiter service. We were in one of the wings of the Seven seas Dining Room - the Galileo. There were a choice of three starters, 2 soup, one salad, 7 main courses, 3 sweets (one hot) plus cheese, ice cream/sorbet. We were dissapointed that a lot of dishes were repeated the second week of the cruise.

My one gripe with the service was that I felt the meals were quite rushed. The plates were cleared before all had finished the course which is a big no no in my book of etiquette and they started serving the next course whilst some at the table were still on their last. Midnight buffets were all in the dining room the first week. The second week there was one out on deck as the weather was getting warmer in the evening. All the buffets were great and there was the usual variety - chocolate, indian, tex mex, oriental, spanish etc.

When the Sunbird moved to the Med they introduced a drinks unlimited card that you can buy. I think it was about £120 for single or £220 for a couple per week. We didn't go for it however but lots seemed to. I know the staff weren't happy and they got no tips on it but got 10% from normal drinks sales. We preferred to drink what we liked because there were a lot of exclusions on the card. However one night we were drinking with a couple who had the card and the waiting staff were happy to turn a blind eye to the fact that they were using their card to get drinks for us. So a couple may be able to buy just one card and abuse the system if they so wished.

Cabins
We had cabin 3117. This was an inside cabin right in the middle of the ship on deck 3. Just round the corner from the beauty salon. It was more than adequate in terms of wardrobe and drawer space. I found another drawer after 1 week on board! It was really quiet in terms of engine noise etc. and we had no problems sleeping, you could hear TV/music (and snoring!) from neighbouring cabins if it was loud. The double bed was really two singles side by side and the mattresses tended to drift apart in the night.

The shower room was quite small and a little bit shabby in decor but clean. Shower itself was small but very powerful and hot water was plentiful. Had problems in using a hair dryer. The plugs were two pin flat type and my adaptor didn't fit and the first night the shop was closed because were were in port so I couldn't buy a new adaptor. The next day I bought an adaptor but because of the low current my dryer was like a puff of air and hopeless. However you can hand in your card at the desk for 1 hour and borrow a dryer - that is definitely the way to go. Some people were using dryers in the corridors as the power was higher there. Our cabin steward Yudi was wonderful and nothing was too much trouble for him. He kept our cabin in excellent order.

Entertainment
Unfortunately we felt this area was weak. The cruise director did not impress us at all. The production shows were poor and were repeated over the two weeks we were on board. One act, singer Dianne Cousins, did however impress us. We tried to avoid the entertainment going on round the pool as its not really my thing but those participating seemed to enjoy it.

Activities
The main reason that we chose this cruise was the ports of call. However we felt that the excursion staff just didn't know their stuff. The information on the tours was poor and they were unwilling / unable to give any non tour information on the ports of call. Some info they did give was inaccurate. The maps of each port were hopeless.

We didn't get to our first port in Tunisia (Bizerte) because of bad weather. In Rome we did a trip which was great and in Livorno we did a trip to Florence and Pisa which again was great. At Villefranche we wanted to visit Monaco/Monte Carlo but this trip was cancelled because of the Grand Prix and we were very dissapointed at this. We wanted to try and go by ourselves but the excursion staff advised against this but we later heard of people who managed to successfully do this.

Barcelona was our favourite port but we made the mistake of going on an organised tour when we would have been better to go on one of the tour busses in the city - we will definitely be back for a city break however. Week two took us to Naples where we went to Pompeii - not too impressed - preferred ephesus in Turkey. Naples itself didn't seem to have much to offer. Messian in Sicily was next and again not impresses with it. We made it to Tunisia the second week to La Goulette. Did a tour to Tunis and the souks - won't be going back. However very impressed with our last two stops in Valletta, Malta and Mahon, Menorca. Did most of our shopping in these ports. Lovely sail in to Mahon. My one big regret was that I didn't do any prior research on any of our ports of call. If I could go again I'd be much better prepared with maps and information because the cruise staff weren't able to give us anything. Gym on board was good and it you picked your times you could have it all to yourself. Sauna and shower facilities were also in the gym. (Had to leave cabin at 8am on day of departure but didn't go to airport till 5.pm so used showers in gym to freshen up) Went to a couple of exercise classes but they weren't very energetic and I was the youngest by about 20 years! There was the usual bingo, line dancing, wine tasting, suffleboard etc

Who Goes
Passengers were about 70% British, 15% Canadian and 15% Scandinavian. Some announcements were made in English and Scandinavian. We are in our late 20's and met some lovely people of all ages but mostly all older than us. Lots of kids on board the second week as it was English half term. Our table mates were great the first week but no so good the second.

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