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Louis Cruise Lines

SS Ausonia

Your Rating:
Reviewed by:Andrew Porter
# previous cruises: 1
Date of Trip: April 11, 2001
Itinerary: Mediterranean

As first time cruisers we found this to be a good introduction. The ship is small and friendly - enough for one week but no longer. All staff were approachable and keen to please.

Public areas were limited - 3 lounges/bar areas which were clean and well maintained but rather bland. Discovery lounge was the best but least used. The Voyager bar served as the nightclub and quickly became crowded. The Kontiki lounge was used mostly as a lunchtime buffet. The Orangery was a pleasant area to sit and read - good views.

The main evening meals were very good and service was excellent. The choice and quality was good and the portions were sensible. Lunchtime meals were also of high standard but we preferred to eat on the Kontiki deck where we could choose from a buffet and enjoy the smell of the barbecued meat. We tried the midnight buffet once, not many people did. It was OK.

We took up the upgrade offer from First choice and got an outside cabin on the Bahia deck. It was more spacious than expected although the beds were small - one of us is 6'3" and couldn't stretch out fully because head and feet were up against a wall. The bathroom was small although the shower was roomy. There was very little noise from the engine although we were directly above the restaurant door which woke us up as people went in for breakfast.

The entertainers were one of the highlights of the cruise. The worked hard and genuinely seemed to enjoy themselves. The variety of entertainment in the Discovery lounge surprised us (plays, cabaret and scripted shows). Light entertainment catered for all tastes - bingo and karaoke (ugh!) as well as fun quizzes, beauty and food demonstrations, crosswords, pianist and band.

The itinerary was the main attraction (Cradles of Civilization). However recent skirmishes between Jews and Arabs meant that we missed out on Jerusalem and Nazareth. The replacements were Voles and Santorini. We opted for all excursions and got a 15% discount. Highlights were Rhodes Town, The Acropolis, Meteora, Cairo Museum and pyramids. A bonus trip to Mykanos was included on Easter sunday. Disappointments were the Athens tour (badly organised) and Santorini - bad weather stopped us going ashore. We never ventured near the gym and tried our best to avoid the children (not too many of them) The pool was useless, the jacuzzi looked OK.

Going at Easter meant that you inevitably ran into teachers. There was a reasonable mixture in age range, social class and cruising experience. Most seemed to get along fine with each other. By the end of 7 days we made some new friends.