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Festival Cruises

MS Bolero

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: M. Ferguson
# previous cruises:2
Date of Trip: March 3, 2001
Itinerary: Caribbean - Southern

We just returned from our cruise (Mar 3-10). It was the "Cruise from Hell". The passengers were 75% French and 25% English. Staff and crew catered totally to the French. Cattle call. We lined up for everything. We spoke to numerous other English passengers. They were just as disappointed. Never recommend it to anyone!!!!

Too many areas where smoking is allowed. Only the Starlight Lounge and the dining room are smoke free.There should be one area on the ship for smoking and all other areas including the casino, hallways, lounges, should be totally smoke free. Dining room felt like a cafeteria. Too rushed. Late sitting ended up being 9:00pm-9:15pm...too late.

Food was terrible. Again, catered to the French. Things I've never heard of before. Portions were small. Lunch on the deck was a joke. Small sandwiches with cheese slices and luncheon meat. Fresh fruit consisted of watermelon, watermelon and more watermelon. Service was terrible. Our waiter didn't speak to us or smile once. Very unacceptable.

We knew that our cabin would be small so our expectations were not great. It was satisfactory, however, the shower is extremely small and took me a couple of days to get a system down to properly shower. The first day we had only cold water but, that was fixed the next day. Our cabin was situated under the Starlight lounge and was extremely noisy. The walls are paper thin and you can hear "everything" in the cabins next to you...even talking.

The entertainment was designed for the French passengers. We attended one show in the Starlight lounge and most of the skits were presented only in French and very amateur.Obviously doesn't take much to entertain the French. I've seen better productions from a high school.

Activities very limited on board and impossible to mix French and English successfully.Excursions were very unorganized and not most times was not what was in the itinerary. French itinerary different from the English one.We ended up getting a 50% refund on one and cancelled our last one we signed up for.Very poor value for your money.

As mentioned previously...majority French. The most rude, obnoxious and pushy people I have ever met. I'm surprised a war didn't develop on the ship. The ship has been sold and at the end of April, all crew members will be out of a job. You can imagine how enthused they were in serving us!! I would NEVER invite them for dinner or even a snack!!!