Welcome to Your Favorites, where you have the opportunity to share your travel experiences with fellow Internet Travelers around the world.

Airtours

MV Sunbird

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Norma T.
# previous cruises: 3
Date of Trip: September 22, 2001
Itinerary: Mediterranean

We combined 2 itineraries on this cruise as we wanted a 14 night one but was a bit disappointed because everything seemed 'geared up' with just a weekly programme although there were different guest artists flown in each week. For instance, we had 2 Captain's Cocktail Parties, 2 farewell evenings, etc. We even received our Invoice for the first week lol. However, we really did enjoy it but would think twice about doing another like this.

The main reception area was really nice. There were 5 lounges/bars and plenty of places just to sit quietly. The Oklahoma Lounge was smaller but had a live band for dancing most evenings and they held quizzes here.There was plenty of shops, two pools, room to walk-around deck 9 and you could jog on Deck 7. The casino was OK but I heard some of the Americans on board complaining about it.

The food was great. On the pool deck 9 you could have buffet style meals and they even offered alternative evening dinner there if you preferred eating outdoors to the more formal restaurant. I feel that some of the ships are cutting down a little with their midnight buffets as on our previous cruise on the SS Carousel, there were themed buffets every evening in the Main Restaurant but on this cruise they only offered snacks most evenings, a Chocoholic Buffet and a Gala Buffet.

Our Cabin was on Deck 5 right next door to the main Can Can Lounge. It was L-shaped and even had a TV. There was plenty of room and a good shower. We thought there would be some noise there but there was none and the Cabin Steward was excellent. There was plenty of closet space.

Entertainment was excellent. They had 2 shows nightly in the main Can Can Lounge - one for 1st sitting dinners and a repeat show for 2nd sitting dinners. There were guest entertainers flown in who were all good. I would rate the guest entertainers 8/10 and the cruise entertainers about 5/10 as we didn't really like their shows. There was a 'live band' in the Oklahoma lounge who were very good. There were quizzes and Karaoke held in here also.

Our first week's Itinerary was Mainland Coasts visiting Bizerte (Tunisia), Civitavecchia for Rome. We were disappointed as there were only 3 full day tours here and none of them were suitable for me as I have walking difficulties and wouldn't manage to keep up with them. We should have visited Florence & Pisa but the ship couldn't dock at Livorno because of bad weather and we went to Genoa instead. My favourite place was Monte Carlo, just as I'd thought it would be. I also enjoyed Barcelona Our Second week was Island & Africa. We had visited most of these places during a previous cruise - Naples, Messina, Malta (where we did a Panoramic tour this time) and Tunis. During the Day there were lots going on if you stayed on board. Daytime Cocktail Hours, Quizzes, Competitions, Suffleboards, Table Tennis, etc.

There were lots of Canadians and Americans on board but mainly English. We were disappointed because during our first week all 8 of us at dinner were from Scotland as we like to mix will lots of different people. The second week had Scots and English. I didn't meet anyone this year who I'd invite home lol. Last year we met a couple who we are still friendly with and they stayed with us for a weekend in May.