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Festival Cruises

MS Bolero

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Dian Philip
# previous cruises:2
Date of Trip: February 24, 2001
Itinerary: Caribbean - Southern

May I first start off by saying how awful and disappointing our cruise was on the Bolero. I and my family of 11 booked the cruise due to the allure of the itinerary E which had a port in Trinidad and Tobago during carnival 2001. Everything that could go wrong did. Granted we knew that it was a small ship but the majority of us were laid up for 2 days with sea sickness. The crew catered to the Parisian French and treated us like second class citizens. I realize how racist that may sound but I'm here to say that by no means am I dealing a race card for I am a visible minority my self. The entire trip was a waste of money and time. The food was okay at times if you could find a seat to sit in. Forget the entertainment unless you are French. I appreciate the fact that they sold the ship but what about customer service, equal and fair treatment to ALL of the passengers? They try to put a spin on it that it's only the passenger against the passenger, all bigots when the staff is encouraging this treatment of each other. One culture superior to the other a culture clash but they encourage it with the blatant segregation of passengers. I've never been so appalled in my life by the treatment of my children in the kids club being put to the back of the room to sit alone while the instructor has a crowd of children around her who was French. My kids pleaded with me not to send them back. And what's with the tendering with no life jackets!! My daughter almost fell overboard and the staff member guiding our boat did even speak sufficient English! Needless to say I fortunately never have to recommend the ship nor would I ever. As a matter of fact I'm fighting to be reimbursed but being told in this day and age discrimination though prevalent in our society today doesn't warrant any merit with this ship for it is merely passenger against passenger and I'm here to say I'm not going to let it happen that way.

My favorite room in the ship was the antiquated cinema. That was my great escape when they had films in English or a feature film that I knew well. Everywhere down to the hallways were smokey. The public rooms seemed to be for the French entertainment so we mainly stayed in our room. Sad isn't it?

You only have a choice of 2 dining areas. Food was okay when you could keep it down due to the lack of updated stabilizers. Thank God for the patch. In the buffet you have more freedom of choice but no where to sit. In the main dining lounge you were not allowed to sit with the French and they made certain that this didn't happen even if you managed to make a friend. It was English and French and that was that.

Our family had a suite on the caribbean deck which was small and an outside cabin in front of the cinema which was loud at times but you get use to it. We also had an inside cabin on the biscayne deck it was small too. The showers were okay. Comfortable at best. A fair amount of closet space. Nothing to rave about.

I didn't stop to see any entertainment. Most postings were in french so I stayed in my cabin a lot. But... their band Splash was good. the majority of cruise staff didn't pay any attention to you if you weren't French. We were of no consequence to them. I was told by a staff member that it's the end of an era.

Some of the ports I had visited previously which was to my advantage since I knew where to go what to do and what to expect. The way they portrayed some ports on paper in comparison to verbal was quite sad to say the least. They make it sound as if you'll be mugged as soon as you leave the ship. I agree to take precautions but that is a bit much.

I'm sure all passengers were unhappy except the French because they were catered to hand and foot. they were even allowed to sun bathe on deck on a family ship. This all left such a bad taste in my mouth that I cannot even bring my self to think about how many people, fellow passengers are being ripped off by this. Yes the ship was sold but I don't feel that we received what we were promised in the brochure. They didn't keep there end of the bargain and trying to shift the blame to we the passengers is inexcusable. do something about it and let your voice be heard!