Dear Italy. Wouldn't it have been more fitting to have thrown a model cathedral at the Pope and a sc...
Dear Italy. Wouldn't it have been more fitting to have thrown a model cathedral at the Pope and a scarlet woman at Berlusconi?
Member since:08.10.2000
Reviews:481
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Like "JONYEE" who has also written about a similar cruise, I feel that at least one cruise is something you need to get out of your system. I would recommend an Airtours Cruise to anyone who isn't sure whether cruising is for them - that way they don't spend a king's ransom on something that turns out to be not to their taste.
The Airtours Med cruises are centred around Palma in Mallorca. They can either be combined with a stay on the island, or taken alone. We opted for the former, since it cost hardly any more. The ship itself was a refurbished ex-Caribbean liner, hence the lower prices. The itinerary was demanding, with a full day somewhere different almost every day.
However, in our case, the first leg involved 36 hours at sea to get to Ajaccio in Corsica. The journey was very boring, since I didn't want to sun-bathe, gamble or eat and drink myself silly (what a misery, I hear you cry). Arriving in Corsica was stunning, with the ship almost docking in the "High St". An coach tour was arranged which gave a taster of this very rural and rugged island.
Two Italian destinations followed - Civitaveccia (like Hull on a hot day) for a day trip to Rome - we ducked out of this one. Rome wasn't built in a day, neither was it designed to be toured in a similar time-span.
Loading a near-shipload of tourists onto touring coaches was quite a spectator sport from five decks above! A lazy day was spent almost alone (very welcome) in the sauna and being given a tour of the bridge. We would have had the run of the pool as well, but they chose that day to drain it, to do some welding under it!
The next port of call was Livorno, with easy access to Florence - now this we did do, and an excellent day it was. The Tuscan countryside looked very inviting, even from the autostrada.
Next came Villefranche (where they filmed Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)on the Riviera, trips to Nice or Monaco being possible. We went to Nice and toured the excellent open-air market - not the least bit posh or expensive. Not having any French money with us was a distinct disadvantage with coffee on the seafront of Villefranche at about £2 a cup! We were tendered ashore here, and the ship made a handsome sight lying at anchor in the bay.
Barcelona was the high spot for us, since we had always wanted to go there, and now plan to give it some more time.
All in all, excellent value for money.
My major reservation on cruising lies with the itinerary. Anything more than an overnight at sea I found boring, but the regime of feeling obliged to visit somewhere new every day is not exactly relaxing. I guess I have just talked myself out of going on any more cruises!
Having said that, the food, whilst not Cordon Bleu, was incessant and reasonable quality. The crew were very friendly - it seems most of them came from Barbados, and had transferred with the ship. All except "Your friendly Captain Olsen", who was Norwegian.
Another criticism of cruising lies with the first sighting of a country - I suppose this ought to be obvious, but generally speaking, this is going to be a port, not a beauty spot.
Having made my speech about why I woudn't go again, I'd still recommend an Airtours cruise as a budget field trial for the "real thing" to anyone interested, qualifying this with my own reservations.
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Dec 18th, 2000
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