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Golden Sun Cruises

MV Aegean Spirit

Your Rating:
Reviewed by:Martin Dart
# previous cruises: 0
Date of Trip: December 27, 2000
Itinerary: Europe

For my first cruise, this seemed fine. A different port every day in the Canaries, an adequately spaced cabin, and friendly staff. If you want a nice short cruise, with few pretensions, then this might be for you. Having said that, a lot of the more experienced cruises thought this to be of poor quality. Our big bugbear was the constant reminding about the tipping procedure, and the high amount they wanted us to give, that smacked too much like a wage subsidy to me, and made me uncomfortable. The envelopes also noted our room numbers so they might check how much you did finally give.

There were plenty of beds on the sun deck, and a good variety of promenades to take in the views from. The gym was the big disappointment - the equipment was old and mostly broken. Don't choose the Aegean Spirit unless you can go without the gym for the duration of the cruise! there were not enough croupiers in the casino to play all the games at once, so I had to miss out a couple of nights. Choose from Poker, Blackjack, or Roulette (plus around 15 slots). The interior walkways were often reduced to half-size as the opened out huge board to try and sell the very expensive photos they were constantly taking.

The food was great, and our Greek waiter (Christos) excellent. I am semi-vegetarian, and there was a nice choice at every meal (but I did go for the fish a couple of times!). Breakfast on the sun deck was a pleasure every day. Drinks service was the big failure - extremely slow, and a lot of luck is needed to get what you wanted from the Ukrainian waitresses, but they did their very best, and it is clear that they are over-worked and somewhat understaffed in this area. After a week it had the feel that we were on a slave ship - with the staff as slaves who were being worked half to death, and that left me with a bad feeling.

The cabin was nice - I had 4 bunks and a port hole. there was ample hanging space, and the bathroom had everything, with hot water always there on demand and a good flush. It was quiet apart from a whooshing from the air conditioning, with the radio being the big let down - it never played a good variety, and came on at full blast with every announcement and stayed on - a bit of a pain when trying to nap in the afternoon!

The shows were generally poor, with only the occasional exception. The British dancers were admired as much for dancing on the rolling ship rather than any outstanding routines! The magician had several impressive tricks, but others were painful to watch, and the singers were terrible - Europeans strangling songs in English. We were there for New Years Eve, and the place was decorated really well, but the quality of the entertainment did nothing to enhance the evening. We did try the 60s/70's disco, but the DJ had no idea, and kept playing modern music that cleared the dance floor, so we gave up eventually. The movies could have been more varied and frequent too.

There was nothing aimed at occupying the 11 year old girl we went with, and her boredom impacted negatively on our enjoyment (2 ship photographers but not 1 kids entertainer?). If you come on this cruise with kids and they don't find others to make friends with, you might be in for a tough time. We had to get off and shop for English books and drawing materials to keep her going, and that just about worked. Most of the attempts at clubs or activities seemed to be badly attended. Shore based excursions were pricey, and we went on none. In Morocco we hired a taxi for the day between 5 people and followed the same route as an 'organised' tour for a quarter of the cost. The pools are small and really only for kids. At Lanzarote, we docked miles away from the town, but no advice was given about ways into town, and we had a hot and tough time trying to walk, and were lucky to hail a taxi when we did.

Other passengers were looking for a budget trip, and got just that. We had nothing to compare it against, but those who did rated it poorly. Being cheaper, a number of passengers ignored formal evenings, and for anyone wanting to stand on formality, you would be disappointed.