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International Cruises

MS Funchal

Your Rating:
Reviewed by:Claude Belvedere
# previous cruises: 10 to 20
Date of Trip: January 14, 2008
Itinerary: Orient

The Funchal is a small ship, don't expect 1200 other people she only carries 500. I saw her in Freemantle and thought to myself oh my goodness this baby is going to rock and roll in the Indian ocean but she turned out to be quite a good sea boat we only had 280 passengers so it was a really relaxing trip I think I will go on CIC again.

Being a small ship and an old ship 1961 Funchal only had 3 rooms. The main lounge doubled up as disco it usually closed by 1 am as there were no party people on board and 2 smaller lounges up front a piano bar and forward facing lounge which had 2 tvs where you could watch news etc .Outside she was a treat, 2 promenade decks 1 under cover a huge lido deck at rear and smallish pool which was used quite a bit hot weather everyday. Buffet was overlooking pool never a problem with loungers or buffet area plenty of room.

A little better than P&O Portuguese service dining room was 1 sitting 730 pm. Fruit was sliced normally on P&O they slice watermelon / melon with ham slicer. Usual theme nights Portuguese/ Italian etc. pastas where pretty good we even had lobster on night and no sign of seafood extender salads. Quite a variety especially at buffet, but tomatoes where fantastic. My waiter Marion from Romania and wine waiter Rein from Indonesia were fantastic. They worked especially hard. They were on prepaid tips but were genuine in their service. I think CIC look after their staff a bit better than Carnival. There were a few midnight buffets; Italian one was great real Italian cheeses prosciutto lasagne pizza. You think the crew eat all this stuff as only about 100 people turned up. There were also waiters walking around at midnight with sandwiches pizza etc. Pool side buffet was for breakfast lunch and was popular as we had great weather.

As I said before Funchal was built in 1961 and it showed in cabin exposed plumbing in bathroom a few leaks her an there soaps etc supplied. Towels seemed to be getting a bit worn. Beds were comfortable enough. Tiny cabin my laundry is bigger. Our cabin 2 berth 182 on Madeira deck. My sons had a 3 berth 188 almost opposite. I hardly went there 2 17 yr old and a 15 yr old. I think our cabin attendant Audrey from Ukraine earned his money in their cabin, no tvs. An ancient radio, I think a relic from Titanic. A few drawers and just enough hanging space. You could fit your bag under bed every time ship rolled especially first night as it pretty rough everything fell on floor. Didn't worry me though I slept well

CIC have their entertainers in house they don't employ on a per cruise basis so we were spared Ugly Save Grey and Morgan wots his name and best of all no g'day g'day even though they did inflict upon us we are the world pretty lame, instead we had a bunch of Brazilian kid who called themselves "The Animators". They did everything, pool games bingo, dancing lessons etc. There was a Los Paraguaos - 2 guys who sang spanish song pretty good, 5 can can dancers from france great can can-type show's and the added benefit of nice butts, and 2 singers Natalie and Christina Alsodiego on piano. A band Oceans 11 who did the same songs every night. Karaoke which one of the Indonesian immigration girls sang Hero. I think she was better singer than Russian in band. As I said before no disco as we only had 280 on board so it was a pretty quiet ship after midnight. Cruise director Chris Egan ex CTC. Possibly one of the most boring cruise directors I have ever seen. Was rarely seen and was always too busy to talk to anyone. No cinema but a small room next to Pursers where you could playstation or watch dvds which the kids on board used quite a bit especially after buying all their cheap dvds in Bali

First of all there were no art auctions hooray, they did have those stupid chains by the metre and yes my fellow passengers bought them.

There is a mall casino staffed by Russians. Library stocked by left over paperbacks just help yourself. A small shop snd hairdresser. There were about 20 teenagers on board they all registed on first day and I don't think any of them went ever again as they are all doing their own thing. Pool was used quite a lot. Sea water with a bar. Great happy hour $6 for a cocktail so you would 2 for that price between 5 and 6, wine 3 bucks a glass and I might add all drinks on this ship are free poured.

Our cruise was 11 days. 3 days at sea from Freemantle 2 days in Bali and we docked in Benoa. I don't think bigger ship can fit there anyway. Bali was great, got a driver on wharf and spent afternoon and a full day till midnight ashore. Ate on shore so never went back to ship for meals. I heard only 50 people ate on boat for dinner.

Went to Kuta, great shopping, saw monkeys and got bitten by one. No I didn't get rabies. Saw elephants, had a great seafood meal.

In Jimiran Bay my kids had satays the whole time and they were fantastic. Bintang beer $1 for the big bottles 50 cents for a bottle of water. The crew were buying boxes of the stuff. My fellow passengers went shopping. They go pretty crazy, there dvds t-shirts etc. We went to Matahari and Cento dept stores much better stuff fixed price though a mans shirt about $15. My partner being a 5 foot 6 Aussie girl couldn't find any shoes - big feet Aussie girls.

Anyway after 2 hectic days in Bali woke to an idyllic bay next morning in Lombok. We tendered here. I much preferred Lombok as it is reasonably unspoiled we had lunch at a beach resort area called Sensigi - 30 bucks for 7 people. We bid Lombock farewell and spent 3 balmy days at sea not doing much to our final Port Geraldton. f%$$d if I know why we stopped there. Pleasant enough place I think they widened the main street there so they could paint a white line down it. Next morning back to Freemantle and 6 hour wait for our Virgin flight back to civilization Melbourne

My fellow passengers were from Perth. I think we were only people from Melbourne. Mainly in their 40,50,s a few oldies no wheelchair cabins and about 20 kids. I thought they would be bored but they seemed to have a ball. Everybody was friendly and good company. I suppose I would invite some of them for dinner. If you like a less hectic experience CIC's Funchal is for you. I'd go again.