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Arkona Group/Deutsche Seetouristik

MS Arkona

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Jürgen Trautmann
# previous cruises: 3
Date of Trip: December 19, 1999
Itinerary: Caribbean - Eastern

IMO it's important to know that - like the Arkona itself -most relevant persons and the majority of passengers are elderen from east-germany: You should expect a "sentimental journey" back to the "DDR" - from service over meals to drinks and music.

Areas with sunbeds lay under the boats: that's shady and sometimes wet (condense-water). You cannot walk from the longside-sun-decks to the pool wearing bath-cloth. There's no casino.

There's just one dining room (diner is served twice). Additional buffet is offered for lunch and breakfast. Service was kind but sometimes stressed. Drinks are not complementary but inexpensive. Only 2 light (east-German) draught-beers are served.

Cabins provide only one real (small) bed. Satellite-TV (just "Deutsche Welle" and 1 US-Channel) was about 33% not available. You cannot dial-in from outside. Dial-out is about US$ 10,- per minute. You cannot cancel "messages". Loudly speaking people (or TV) are "well" understandable.

Shows are far below US-standards, sometimes better presented by the crew than by the "professional" showteam. The band came from East-Europe. All together it's "quiet" and "unexciting" - nice for elderen.

Ports: Willemstad/Cartagena/San Blas Islands/San Andrés/Roatan/Belize City/Cozumel/New Orleans/Tampa/Key West/Miami/Nassau/Sto. Domingo No childcare (I was one of the youngest being 50).

Yes, we had very enjoyable contact with fellow passengers - it could turn out to longterm-friendship possibly.