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Airtours

MV Sunbird

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Steve Read
# previous cruises: 10+
Date of Trip: November 19, 2001
Itinerary: Amazon River

THIS was a first for Airtours, a first for the Sunbird and a first for me ... and it was excellent. An interesting itinerary, excellent excursions and a super ship. What a great holiday -- walk through a rainforest by day, then go back to the ship for a six-course meal and a show in the evening. Perfect!

Lively and elaborate stage shows in the Can-Can lounge; pianist Paul Madden in the Clipper Bar; quiet elegance in the Chart Room; something for everyone in the Oklahoma Lounge ... and a casino that's buzzing all night! A top-class dining room with five-star service. And every single member of staff, from captain to bar staff to the guys in boiler suits on the rope deck, has a smile for every passenger. What a happy ship!

There was only one day in the dining room when none of the six main courses on offer didn't appeal to me. So they brought me a hotdog and chips, silver-served as though we were in the London Hilton! Funny how warm weather and sea air makes your clothes shrink ... it all fitted at the start of the holiday!

I have to boast ... I was in one of the penthouses on Deck 9. Superb! But when you think about it, the cabin's just a place to go and sleep. Friends in an inside cabin on Deck 3 were entirely happy with their room. The cabin staff are friendly and efficient ... and on 9 you even get a butler! Luxury!

The ship's own entertainers were great, and the set-piece revues were stunning, like a West End production. The guest cabarets were, unusually, disappointing but There was so much else to see and do that it didn't really matter.

Tobago and Grenada, at their end of the Amazon run, were relaxing. The stops along the river -- Santaem, Manaus and Belem -- were just busy towns but they were just bases for the fascinating excursions. The excursions were well organised -- even though Sunbird had never done this run before, the shore people were all in Airtours logo T-shirts so they could always be found. To walk through a forest and hold a sloth, have a parrot sit on my finger, to catch a crocodile and see wild monkeys, was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Pax were about 70 per cent British, the remainder Canadian. A mix of all ages, perhaps a little older than I would have expected (the brochure did point out that walking was involved!), but groups formed within a few days.

And yes, I would invite some of them over for dinner!