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Festival Cruises

MS Azur

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Fiona Reynolds
# previous cruises: 1
Date of Trip: December 23, 2001
Itinerary: Mediterranean

So this is Christmas.... The ports of call were all that saved this holiday - I refuse to call it a cruise. The ship is rusty, tatty, dingey and falls apart in bad weather. The food is good and the cabin crew fine, the rest wants sinking.

No public areas just bars to buy drinks in. Forward lounge was the best of 3, main lounge was low, dingy and smokey and gave no view to the floor show. Only 1 set of public toilets on the whole ship. 3rd lounge was were the buffet was for lunch therefore no seats.

Walking round the decks gave you the chance to admire the ever ongoing painting and new rusty holes in the superstructure. The pool was closed as this was winter time but was small and deep, didn't go in casino and neither did may others.

Food was good - no special meals for Christmas or New Year, not even a free drink for New Year. Staff were OK. Nice sellotape on the doors behind me but sadly it didn't stop the drafts, the curtains should have but they were hanging off. Buffet food was OK - quite a scrabble to get it and no where to sit and eat it except the smokey lounge or windswept deck. No food or drinks between meals - unless you bought them. Oddly enough the best buffet lunch we had was when we were outside Festival's headquaters.....

Cabin was dirty looking, dingy, it creaked and groaned and rattled all the time. Adequate closet space, shower OK, toilet sucked back in storm conditions as the vacum flap wasn't working. My bed cover had a big tear sewen up on it and the sheet was going threadbear too. Our cabin stood alone on the deck plan - 2034 - but in fact was surrounded by crew quarters and storage cupboards.

Shows were the same format every night and dancers were limited by low roof. Good quality costumes. Daytime entertainment was nil. TV's in public area with sound so low you couldn't hear it - they had withdrawn the TV from the main deck cabins.

Buy things - like coffee and drinks as there was nothing else to do - no TV, music, talks, demos etc. Ports were good - Alexandria, Kusadais, Antalya, Cyprus - tours( except Eygpt ) were expensive. Bad organisation on leaving ship - left to find own way to coaches etc.

European passengers - mostly 60+. Some trouble due to everyone being confined and discontent. The English gentleman in the legal profession had a working holiday drawing up a document of complaint from passengers that should be with Festival by now. Our table was all UK - good laugh, unlike others. Will never see them again.