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Mediterranean Shipping Cruises

SS Melody

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Michelle M.
# previous cruises: 1
Date of Trip: January 16, 2001
Itinerary: Transatlantic

My husband and I (34 year olds), we badly disillusioned. We found that the ship catered for 90% 65+ year old passengers and there was little for us to do. There were too many languages and as English speaking passengers we felt that we had been snubbed by the entertainment. If you are under 50 years old and English speaking DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER BOOKING THIS CRUISE.

We found the public rooms (plenty of them) to be well laid out. The Club Universe was well air-conditioned. It it a great room for entertainment and shows (if you can manage to get a seat without a pillar in front of it). The highlight of my time spent aboard was the pool and the spas.

The food was good although it tends to become a bit monotonous (in all dining areas). The service was great and we felt well looked after in the Galaxy dining room (2nd sitting) The midnight buffet was basically non-existent except for maybe 4 nights (15 day cruise).

The cabins were comfortable. We had a television and a radio(that hardly catered for english speaking passengers). The shower was great and had plenty of room. Plenty of closet space and our chamber maid was a absolute gem. The air-conditioning under pre-formed and although we complained about it on 4 occassions, the problem was never attended to.

The Entertainment, well.....Again nothing or very little if you are English speaking. We went in for all the shows and found ourselves leaving after 5 minutes for the following reasons: we could not understand the language; it was way out of our age group; it was done in 5 languages and it was just too tedious to go through. The Animation team (ships resident entertainers) did a show on one of the nights and it was done in mime and it was absolutely fantastic. The disco was non-existent.

The itinerary was fantastic and the highlight of the cruise, it was great to disembark (although there was an incident involving safety on one of the disembarkments). We travelled from Geona-Gibralta-Madeira-Antigua-Tortella-Gaudeloupe-Peurto Rico-Key West-Port Everglades.

Once again DON'T GO if you are under 50 and English Speaking. There was too many nationalities on board and there were at least four incidents between passengers. (One, physical, in which security became involved: Germans=600, English=300, Italians, Spanish, French=200. Therefore the Germans were given preference in all aspects of the entertainment.