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Airtours

MV Sunbird

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Peter McNulty
# previous cruises: 2
Date of Trip: June 30, 2001
Itinerary: Mediterranean

This was our third cruise, the second on the Sunbird, all with Airtours. I was with my wife and we were on board for a week. Airtours changed our flight to British Midland at the last minute, so we did not have the facility of checking our luggage at Manchester and having it delivered to our cabin without us having to touch it again, and the reverse when going home. as it turned out it did not matter anyway, as the airline lost our luggage along with fifty of our fellow travellers' bags. Luckily, the ships departure was delayed for twenty four hours because of the coach drivers strike and our bags were delivered to us on Sunday afternoon just before sailing, some people did not get theirs until the Tuesday, almost halfway through their holiday. It took us two hours in the airport to sort out our luggage claim, (Airtours staff completely unhelpful and dismissive), then another four and a half hours in a queue for a taxi to the ship.

The public areas were pristine, always someone polishing and dusting. We came out of the disco in the early hours to find a man polishing the brass hand rail on the stairs. Our favorite lounge was the Clipper, excellent Bloody Marys. The Casino is a good size and the staff were very friendly as they took our money.

We had breakfast and lunch at the Lido cafe on deck, this is self service and the food is ok. You can if you wish have all your meals here. You can also have breakfast and lunch in the Restaurant. We were on second sitting in the restaurant, we found this was better for us as it gave us more time to get ready for dinner after returning from an excursion. The service in the restaurant is exceptional, the food is very good but the choice is not as varied as it was last year, my Wife is a vegetarian and there was only one vegetarian dish for each course and often the salad course contained meat.

The cabins were fine, ours was a standard outside, on deck two, plenty of storage space. the bathroom was small but very well designed, larger build people might find the shower a little small but we thought it was ok. Our cabin steward, Ricardo, kept the place immaculate.

The entertainment was very well organised, always something going on at all times of the day and night. There was a very funny comedian named Barnaby, but our favourites were the resident duo, Jewel.

Our itinerary was Bizerte, Civitavecchia (Rome), Livorno (Florence and Pisa), Villefranch (Monaco and Nice) and Barcelona. The stop at Bizerte was cancelled because of our delayed departure, Rome was great. In Villefranch the ship anchors out in the bay and you are transported ashore in tenders. Please remember to keep your hands away from the rails when in these boats, as the one we were in crashed into the side of the Sunbird, and damaged the rails, anyone with their hands or arms there would have been badly injured. Barcelona is a really vibrant city with something for everyone, good shopping, and lots to see and do. The ship did berth a long way from the port entrance, about a ten minute ride on the courtesy bus. There was quite a queue for the first buses, we waited about forty five minutes in the sun, but once the initial rush was over the wait was about fifteen minutes to half an hour.

There seemed to be a majority of British (lots of Scots), Scandinavians and Canadians. We made lots of new friends, and we will definitely be keeping in touch with them.