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Premier Cruises

TSS IslandBreeze

Your Rating:
B>Reviewed by: Ian Dall
# previous cruises: 10+
Date of Trip: December 4, 1998
Itinerary: Mediterranean

I worked on board the "Island Breeze" from July 1997 to Dec 1998 when the vessel was chartered by the U.K. holiday company Thomson.

The public rooms were all clean and well appointed. Many interiors have been re-decorated.The Piccadilly theatre offers excellent sight lines and a great atmosphere. The casino is not large but is easy to get to situated mid-ships on the main entertainment deck(Promenade).The disco is on a quiet part of the deck and noise is kept to a minimum as security doors are kept closed during opening hours.The Bravo Show Room is an alternative ents venue and is quite cold but once again is well appointed.The pub is small with limited seating. The lido deck has a small restaurant but plans were being made to enlarge this.There is a lot of open deck space with sunbeds at a premium as on any cruise liner. The piped muzak is annoying and apart from the library is heard throughout the public areas.

While I was there the passengers couldn't praise the food highly enough.I can't remember one complaint in 2 years. Excellent.The staff and crew were also excellent. There was an extremely friendly atmosphere on board between crew and pax. The pax were constantly impressed by the high standard of service.

Obviously I was in crew cabins. These were very good by the way!! The pax were generally happy with the cabins. Pax who had cruised before liked them but people who were cruising for the first time and were expecting cabins the size of hotel rooms were disappointed.The I/B cabins compare favourably with cabins on larger ships.

Being a part of the Ents team I'll try to be impartial!! Suffice to say the team that I was in set new records in pax satisfaction questionaires.Scores of 90% were common.Experienced cruisers said they were the best shows they had ever seen. All credit to the production company CMB Productions of Wakefield England.

The ports of call varied depending on the tour on offer. Villefrance is beautiful. Civitavecchia is ugly and industrial but is the port for the trip to Rome. Overall the ports were interesting and many pax came back to do the same itinerary again.The daytime ents programme was extensive and eventful but was not that well supported because pax were on tour.

The gym is very small and not well equipped, just a few walking machines and a small multi-gym. There are three pools. Two smaller ones and a decent sized cold one for adults!

The night time ents was excellent. Two variety shows per night for 5 nights( and the shows were different on a two week itinerary). An excellent cocktail pianist Phillipa Healey now performing in Londons West End. Plus a duo and various game shows and quizzes in the Bravo Showroom.

Because Thomson have kept the price competitive the cruise market was opened up to a more traditional holiday maker many of whom had never cruised before. They were made welcome by the experienced cruiser and made for a great atmosphere on board.

P.S. Why are Premier now calling her the big red ship 4????!!!!