island escape

[lynnpresco]

Just seen a cruise and stay in daily mail a1 has anyone been on this ship would like your opinion on it thanks:)

[ekco]

Just seen a cruise and stay in daily mail a1 has anyone been on this ship would like your opinion on it thanks:)

 

Well, we've been on the IE twice, she was our first cruise and we definitely enjoyed the ship more the first time. We were on deck 9 midships the first time and had very little movement. Last week we were stupid enough to stay on deck 8 at the front and, although we had a great view through the window, the movement and loud banging noises all night long whilst at sea spoilt the time in the cabin for us. The cabin on deck 9 was definitely not as good as the previous one, being somewhat smaller and with a big step up into the bathroom, an old fashioned bulky tv and curtains across the wardrobe instead of doors. Both times we felt that there was too many passengers for the facilities and we generally ate early as it was a bit of a scrum going later. The Oasis a la carte restaurant, at an extra fee, was very good and well worth the £35 for two dinners and a nice bottle of wine. We didn't see much of the entertainment this time as the theatres and bars were always full but we did bag some nice bargains from the shops as they were discounting things like handbags. I think it is a good ship if you like all inclusive, which we didn't have. The lower decks 3 and 4 seem to share with the crew as they were always coming and going past the lifts when we came back onboard making the atmosphere a little hectic.

 

There are no hairdryers in the cabins but you can lend one from Reception so get there sharpish once you are onboard.

 

You can eat all your meals in the Island Restaurant which has tablecloths and place settings and in my opinion the food is better in there, probably because the Beachcomber uses plastic cups, plates and glasses which do affect the flavour IMO. With a lot of these cruise ships I think if you can it is better to stay away from peak season and school holidays if possible, not that the children were too rowdy but they do dominate the pool area quite a bit. Only one pool on the IE but remember she's converted ferry.

 

It depends on what you want to do on a cruise. Some people never get off the ship intent on getting their all inclusive money's worth but we like to go ashore and that's what we like the best.

 

Just my opinion though as others will probably have different ones but if you can get a good price then you should go for it. We booked quite late and apart from one or two niggles we got value for money we thought.:):)

 

Would we go on her again? Possibly not unless the itinerary was tempting mainly because we would like to try others ships now.

 

Jan

[lynnpresco]

Thanks for your reply Jan it has been very useful, i think although it was a very good price for 2 weeks will probably stick to what we know Lynn