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Airtours

MV Sunbird

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Reviewed by:  Steve Corbin
# previous cruises: 4
Date of Trip: January 12, 2003
Itinerary: Caribbean - Eastern

A great cruise. Good itinerary, attentive staff, (with few slip-ups in service), and a great port to leave from, make this cruise a value for money. The ship doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the new models (and we docked beside a couple of nice ones, the Carnival Legend and Norwegian Dawn), but it is more then adequate.

The public areas were roomy and comfortable. The only down side is the smoking area in the Can Can Lounge is relegated to the back corners. This makes seeing the shows almost impossible. That was good, as the British humour evident in the acts, wasn't funny.

We had no interest in the pool area so I can make no comments. But it appeared noisy and filled with shrieking children.

We spent our days on the Promenade Deck (Deck 7). It was used as the "walk around deck". The lifeboats shaded the deck, so even when the sun was out, you didn't get truly hot. The week we were on the ship, the weather was perfect. 87 every day with sunshine.

The casino is adequate, but be careful with the blackjack. The house has grabbed another edge in the play. (For those that play the game: the house doesn't take its second card until all players have finished their hand. This means that they can get a blackjack and wipe out your hand. In other casinos the house checks for blackjack before you play. This edge is immense.) Avoid big money play as the edge is too high for the house. The slots were active, but didn't seem to pay any large jackpots.

The food was adequate but uninspired. The portions are small. The service was quick and attentive.

The waiter was trying for an additional tip. Even though the cruise is sold as "tips included", there is pressure applied to add a tip at the end of the week.

On some days the choice of meals didn't fit our diet or wants. On those days we could always go to the Lido Cafe and grab an alternative meal.

The first seating is early for dinner and the second seating is too late. A hard choice but we went for the early meal.

The midnight buffet is held only twice during the week. One night (our cruise it was Monday) had a chocolate fantasy and another night (Thursday) had the grand buffet. On other nights the waiters were passing out snacks at 11:30. We retired early so we didn't go to any of the late night meals. Breakfast and lunch are over a two hour period so it can fit any schedule.

Breakfast is the same every day. The choice is good and the food is ok. The best thing I had was the oatmeal. The poached eggs were soft some morning and hard on others. You never know which you were going to get.

If you didn't like the lunch choice, a burger was always available. This was the best thing on the menu.

Toward the end of the week, it felt like the vegetables were left-overs from prior days. I know this wasn't happening, but they were wilted and looked old. The quality seemed to drop off as the week progressed.

The soups were great, except for the Thai soup. It was over peppered and not fit for consumption by humans.

Overall, the food is good.

I read a lot of the reviews on this ship before I went on board and was expecting small everything in the cabins.

A word for anyone going on this ship: if you can find the money, get a deluxe cabin.

We paid the money and got a great cabin. The bathroom had enough room for two of us to stand side by side and use the mirror. There was also a bathtub. There are 19 of these cabins on the Promenade Deck. There are also some other benefits that the cruise line doesn't publish in its brochure:

1) You get a priority pass for the tender. This doesn't sound like much, but when the entire ship is trying to get on two tenders to go to an island, the line starts at 8:00 in the morning for an 11:00 departure. This was very important at Catalina Island. We decided to go ashore at 11:00 and caught the second tender. This got us ashore early enough to get a good spot on the beach. The priority ticket enabled us to have a normal morning and then just walk on a tender

2) We got a day room on the day of departure. Our flight left early so we couldn't use it, but if you have an afternoon flight, you have to leave your cabin at 8:00 am. The day room would have been essential to enjoy the ship while waiting for the flight.

3) The cabins are exactly as in the pictures in the brochure and the web-site. The double bed is an illusion. (Two singles are pushed together. The mattress is very thin, and if you try to cross over the middle of the bed you lie on top of the metal frames of both beds. It doesn't act like a double. If you have to be close to your roommate when you sleep, this bed does not work.). There is in effect a sitting area. This makes it very easy to spend time in your cabin. There is an incredible amount of space for belongings. And as a bonus for those on this deck: a hair dryer is supplied as well as shampoo etc.

As I said, if you get one of these cabins, do it.

I have no first hand knowledge of the ninth deck (The Penthouse suites). Supposedly the view is great, the service is special, and the cabins are large. I didn't see them, and it took 3 days to find them. They are at the front of the ship with a private corridor for access.

I attended most of the shows. The British humour isn't. As a Canadian, it could be cultural.

As I mentioned earlier, we were so far away from the stage that we couldn't see anything. This made the magician a waste of time.

One of the singers was wearing an outfit that appeared to be for a body, 2 stone lighter. I hated her voice and couldn't see her face.

Overall, I could have passed the shows and been quite happy.

The cruise staff tries very hard. They are constantly around and always smiling.

We stuck to ourselves most of the time.

We played the deck trivia every day (4:15). Don't play the bingo until the last night. The mid-week payoffs are small. The entire ship plays the last night. ON our cruise it paid 1,400 pounds to the winner.

There is an adequate gym. Weights, treadmills and bikes. Those that wanted to participate did. One of the passengers used the shower in the gym instead of the one in his cabin. This got him around the problem of size of the shower in the basic cabins.

The itinerary is ok. Tortola was a waste of time for us. We found the whole stop inadequate.

Catalina Island is a highlight of the week. You must go ashore and use the beach etc.

The ship is populated by Canadians and British. There were no Americans.

We took the phone numbers of no one. That was our choice. Those that wanted to mingle did so and had a great time. We wanted to be alone.