Cheap Cruise Holidays & Latest Cruises Deals

Thursday 9th Feb 2012

www.cruise.co.uk - Cruise Deals, Cruises & Cruise Holidays

0800 408 6200

Cruise Reviews
120,938 Opinions Cruise Answers
182,439 Q&As Cruise Photos
14,140 Real Photos Cruise Videos
1,448 Real Videos Shore Excursions Our Cruise
Consultants Cruise Info
Guides Cruise Forum Get a Quote Special Offers Last Minute Cruises Luxury Cruises Tailor Made Cruise River Cruises Family Cruises Free Brochures Make a Payment

Cruise Reviews

Island Cruises

Island Escape

Snow, Storm And Smoking!!!

Snow, Storm and Smoking!!!	1 of 1 people found this review informative

Reviewed By: Dobson, Bradford on 23rd May 2010
Cruise Line: Island Cruises	Times cruised before: 6-10
Cruise Ship: Island Escape	Sailed: March, 2010
Destination: Mediterranean	Age: 56-65
Cabin: Inside	Occasion: Birthday

Firstly I will give you details of the cruise ship because it is not logged on your website.I have to say i am sorry for putting Island Cruises but the website want allow me to pulish unless I but a cruise line and cruise ship on the boxes. The boat I was on is as follows;- MS Ocean Pearl, Happy Cruises, Quail Travel. We travelled to Barcelona to board this ship, whilst travelling to the port my wife had her bag snatched, not a good start to the holiday! Sorted this problem with the local Guardia Civil. After the usual queques and registration we boarded the ship and settle down in our cabin, which according to the brouchure a superier deluxe interior(but not enough room to swing a cat round) on side of the bed was against the wall. After lunch (Which was reasonable for a buffet) we had a couple of drinks in the bar , which was all included in the price. Before sailing we were called to are muster stations for lifeboat drill, ours was on the sun deck. SUN DECK that was a joke when we arrived there was a Snow Blizard taking place and sub zero tempertures.This blizard continued all the day and the captain annouced that we would not sail until the following morning because of the severe storm. Made the best of the evening dinner service was none exsistent, we waited nearly 2 hours for the meal and when it arrived it was cold. After this we went to the cabaret bar for the entertainment which was all in spanish, but the band were pretty good. But the main problem was that nearly all the public areas( except the restaruant ) allowed smoking. This became on main compliant and discomfort throughout the voyage. As it was mainly all spanish speaking people on board the smoking problem was everywhere on the ship ,hallways , stairways,gangways and the public rooms. There was no seperate lounge or bar were there was a no smoking policy. One more thing to say is that on the second day of the cruise we spent the whole day sailing in a tremendous storm.Waves were crashing up against the ship causing 2 windows in the cabaret bar to crack. Nearly all the passengers were seasick, sick bags everywhere and I cannot describe the lingering smell mixing with the cigarette smoke. I was later informed that the area we had traveled through was called the Bay of Lions( boy did they roar!). Finally on the third day we arrived at Villefranche for the trip to Monte Carlo, absolutely fabulous. Things getting better. Forth day Pisa and Florence again very good. Fifth day Rome the highlight of the holiday. Had to miss out Naples because of the late start. Another day at sea and again quite stromy, sick bags ouy again! Last port of call Valencia and a visit to the futuristic museums and oceanagrafic areas, very interesting. Last day back to Barcelona and disembarking, thank goodness. Fresh air no more cloudy stinking rooms. My wife and I have travelled all over the world on cruise ships and this must be the worsed experience we have ever encounted, especially the smoking policy. I thought that measures have been put in place to discourage people from smoking, but not on this cruise ship. Finally note and information is that the ship was originally built for Royal Cab. in 1970 and called Song of Norway.Later in its life it became Airtours Sundream cruise ship. Anybody got any stories about its previous cruising?
Quality of Food
As this was its maiden voyage the staff in the restaruant were totally disorganised. It got better as the week went on and there was only one place to eat because the outside buffet bar wasclosed because of the cold weather
Entertainment
As I said all the enteratinment was spanish. but the bands ,singers,and dancers were very professional
Shore Excursions
the itinery on this cruisewas very good but we managed to organise our own trips
Staff
The cabin girl was very helpful and looked after our cabin very well
Children's Facilities	n/a

Onboard Activities

Cabins
it was classed as a superior cabin but could not see any differences from all the others. Very cramp, bed puhed up to wall making it difficult getting in and out of bed.
Overall Rating

1 of 1 people found this review informative

Was this review informative to you?

Report this review

Comment by Pearce, alicante (20 Mar 11 23:52) about this REVIEW

Dont think they could do much about the weather, it was winter after all! pleased you enjoyed most of your holiday.

Report this comment

Opinion: Disagree Comment by HILL, HUCKNALL (04 Jun 10 22:52) about this REVIEW

MY WIFE AND I WENT ON ISLAND ESCAPE DURING SEPTEMBER 2009 FROM PALMA AND AROUND ITALY AND FRANCE AND BACK TO PALMA AND IT WAS VERY ENJOYABLE.I THINK YOU HAVE GOT THE WRONG SHIP MATE, NO PUN INTENDED. ITHINK YOU WILL GET ROUGH SEAS IN MARCH AS THAT IT STILL WINTER.TOUGHEN UP!

Report this comment

Comment by Guy, Halifax (25 May 10 10:28) about this REVIEW

I think Sundream was the only one of the Airtours ships we didn't sail on. We started on Carousel, then Sunbird (now Thomson Destiny) and finally Seawing, which was one of the most enjoyable cruises we've had.

Report this comment

Opinion: Disagree Comment by Smith, Bedworth (24 May 10 10:28) about this REVIEW

That's an awful short-cut to take. By putting another, unrelated company's details at the head of your review you impugn their record. It's a bit like a newspaper reporting you as a criminal because it can' be bothered to find the right name of your neighbour. After that appalling trick it's no surprise to read a list of complaints every one of which would have been avoided if you'd done some research - A spanish ship, with people speaking spanish discussing the spanish entertainment!! What did you expect? West Yorkshire dialect?

Report this comment

Comment by morris, st columb (24 May 10 12:16) about a COMMENT by Smith (24 May 10 10:28)

Pardon me for saying so... but Dobson did apologise and correct the information in the first sentence!!!!! You are being too harsh calling it an 'appalling trick'.....I'm sure it wasn't meant as such..

Report this comment

Comment by Dobson, Bradford (06 Jun 10 15:15) about a COMMENT by morris (24 May 10 12:16)

I tried to explain at the beginning of the review. that I could not publish my review without filling in the boxes regarding the cruise lines. If anybody reads this review from CRUiSE.CO.UK. Please please correct your system to allow reviews on minor cruise companies. Therafter I hope I do not get any harsh whinning comments!!!!!

Report this comment