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Airtours

MV Sundream

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Reviewed by: Alex Rudkevich
# previous cruises: 1
Date of Trip: December 12, 2001
Itinerary: Caribbean - Southern

We made Panama Pleasure cruise during the Christmas week 2001. If you want to get maximum pleasure for a moderate price and if you are not too exigent, this trip is for you. There were drawbacks concerned with the venerable age of the ship, but the attitude of the staff makes up for it. All 400 members of the staff do all they can to make the cruise a real pleasure. (I'd rather rate the cruise as 3 Stars, if not for the excellent staff).

One common warning about the currency. We were absolutely sure that the currency on the board was pound sterling. This is not exactly right. Yes, all the calculations are made in pounds but you cannot pay in cash in the ship bars, shops, beauty salon etc. All your expenses are scored at your account. You can use cash for the final settlement only. It means that you do not need British currency at all: a credit card is enough.

Promenade deck is the best place for walking and reading. There is always enough light. Casino is very good as well. Several previous reviews make a note that the pool was never overcrowded. Sorry, it was not so during our travel. The pool is too small and too overcrowded during the daytime. In fact, you can swim only at nights. At other times you can only splash.

Food was exquisite. There are 2 meal locations: Lido cafe and the restaurant. We preferred the latter, since it is cleaner, not so crowded, and excellent waiters always ready to offer you delicious dishes.

We had a bad surprise when on return from an excursion did not find water in the taps. For couple of hours we could not wash ourselves. Then the water appeared for an hour and disappeared for hour and a half again

We had a nice outside superior cabin. The shower was not spacious, but it was not as small as you might conclude from previous reviews. But be careful with the doors, especially when the ship swings! I badly pinched my thumb in the bathroom door. By the way, the bathroom switch is far from the door, and you cannot enter the bathroom at night without dazzling your partner. Sorry for the prosaic note: the toilet paper was of a poor quality.

Our room steward Jafar kept the cabin in excellent order. He cleaned it up and changed the towels twice per day.

Shows were really good. The singers and dancers were excellent. Well, sometimes we could not appreciate the humor of the performance, since English is not our native language, and we are not used to British pronunciation. Anyway, judging on the audience reaction, all jokes were funny.

On Jamaica (Montego Bay) you can get a taxi (van) for $ 25-30 per hour. As we had chance to see, the driver could be a sound guide. At San Blas Islands we took a boat to a reef and had couple of hours of a great snorkeling! In other ports (Puerto Limon, Colon, Cartagena) we booked official excursions. One of the reviews authors marks that they walked along Cartagena without guide and even bought beautiful big emeralds for several dollars. We are sure: they bought a plastic and they paid the price of the plastic. The price of a real emerald starts at $ 100. You cannot buy a really good one less than for 1000 dollars. So, be careful! Don't buy in the street! The excursions to the Tortuguero Canals and historical

Cartagena were really good. The Panama City & Miraflores Locks excursion was a failure from the very beginning. They promised a view of "gargantuan ships" but we did not see even a boat. The speakers in the bus were broken, so the ceaseless speech of the guide was a torture! We could not understand a single word.

The folk were really nice! Most of the passengers were from England; many were from Canada as ourselves. We got good new friends, and this is really great.