anyone been on funchal?

[seabourndt]

Are You Matilda? Nobody Else Is Here Where Is Bilby On Way To Liverpooll I Guess. Not Long Now Till The Trip

All The Best

Dave

[seabourndt]

The Posts Have Died Here. Can't Believe Nobody Isd Goimng On The Cruise

Dave

[matilda]

Not much longer now, Dave, until your Funchal cruise. You will have a great time. Well, just to let you know - we really did have such a terrific cruise on Funchal a few weeks ago, that we have just booked on Funchal again. This one is 33 nights, Athens to Fremantle via Egypt, Syria, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Indonesia. We have also booked our flight to Athens, leaving Melbourne on 11th November 2005, 3 nights in Athens, joining Funchal on 14th and overnighting, then leaving on 15th November, arriving Fremantle on 17th December. I guess we will do our Christmas shopping en route! Athens and Egypt have been on our Must See list for quite a while, so here goes!

Matilda

[seabourndt]

great to hearvfrom you. great news that you've booked on this cruise sounds great.might have a look at it myself. yes not long now. shame i have not found anyone else goingf on my cruise, a lady posted she was going but has not written anymore. perhaps she wants to be alone. another bilby was doing the trip from freemantle to liverpool waaschoping to meet upin liverpool, AND HEAR THEIR VIEWS OF THE SHIP, BUT NOTHING. not got the tickets yet a couple opf weeks yet.the tickets for my other cruisre OOSTERDAM are on the way. iam goinbgb to southampton on wednesday to see the new ship ARCADIA arrive as iam booked on her in june she is built very much like the oosterdam at the back.

talk soon

dave

[seabourndt]

well just got the tickrets. nopt long now loo at the excursions not fantastic.

dave

[matilda]

Will be thinking of you, Dave, on the good ship Funchal. Hope you have smooth seas and meet some nice people. Matilda

[seabourndt]

i'm sure i will, pity could'nt find anyone on this board going. hope to hear from the ones doing trip from australia on this board

[first cruise]

hi matilda, i'm really new to this cruising stuff and i just had a couple of questions about the funchal. we are going on the 35 night cruise around australia next feb (so much looking forward to it) and wanted to know if its okay to bring our own wine on board and also what the food is like. would love to see a reply......thanks, first cruise.

[matilda]

Hi First Cruise, nice to hear from you. I'm sure you will enjoy the Funchal. You will have read my comments on our Bali cruise early this year, so not much more I can say. As for bringing alcohol on board, I'm pretty sure it is frowned on, but maybe you can stash some in your luggage. We are not into buying drinks much (or bringing it on board either), but when we were on the Funchal we bought a can of soft drink each and it was $6 for the two. Then someone said '$2.50 for a glass of wine is pretty cheap when a bottle is so dear', so we stuck with an occasional glass of wine then.

As for the food - it was just marvellous, and plenty of it. I doubt if you will have any complaints.

By the way, do you know your cabin number? - some are small and some are large.

I guess you live in Australia. Where? WA?

From Matilda (Melbourne)

[first cruise]

hi matilda, cabin is 56 i think on madeira deck towards the front. can't wait till feb really, hubby and i are celebrating 25 years in 2006 so this trip is a lifetime dream. have read all the posts about funchal and it does sound good, really looking forward to a relaxing, easy time away from work and kids. we actually live in country victoria so you're not too far away from us. i am so glad someone answered my first letter, i have actually never used the internet before so its all new to me.....that and cruising. wish we were leaving tomorrow. i hope our cabin isn't too small. thankyou, first cruise.

[seabourndt]

all the best for next feb 1st cruise. i'm going on the funchal in A WEEK omna shortr 3 dayer around the british isles. iam in 24 at the front of azores deck i thuink 1st time on this ship but done many other cruises. loking forward to it

david

[matilda]

Good to hear back from you, First Cruise. By the way, those glasses of wine were $2, not $2.50. I just checked back. Can understand you looking forward to your cruise so much. Ours is 7 months away, and I think about it all the time! Matilda. Where in country Victoria, if it is not being too nosy?

[first cruise]

no matilda, your not too nosy!! inverleigh just outside geelong. i'm just so excited about our first cruise and i'm hoping to pick up tips from anyone who has been on the funchal. our cruise is 9.5 months away and i keep telling everyone i'm not counting!!! oh but i am!! and seabournt, i wish it was just a week away from our trip. tell me, everyone, all about life on the funchal - will my cabin be okay (ok, i know its just for sleeping) and will my hubby and i totally relaxxxxxx?????? need some tips to save some money onboard, after all, don't want to totally spend the kids inheritance!!!! thankyou all for responding. first cruise.

[seabourndt]

not untilmn 15th may as i go to vancover the day after i dock in dundee. going on the oosyterdam

dave

[matilda]

Hi First Cruise. I wondered if you might live near Geelong because when my husband and I were staying with my sister and brother-in-law who live in Ocean Grove we saw your cruise advertised in the Geelong weekly paper. I guess that might be where you saw it. We considered that cruise, but it clashes in part with the Commonwealth Games, and we are slightly involved with that. Then we saw the Athens to Fremantle one and chose that instead. Now - will your cabin be OK? It should be, although small, and if you are quite happy with upper/lower bunks. I'm told that the ship was converted so that each cabin had an en suite, and that is why some are large (used to be 2 cabins) and some are small (cabin has had en suite crammed in). We never mind about having an inside cabin. We reckon you only sleep and change clothes there, and you can look at what there is to see from the upper decks, and you can put the money you save towards the next cruise. With your deck (Madeira) you don't have many stairs to where you can see out. We never used the lifts in 12 days. Yes, you will totally relax. Or, you can be busy every minute with all the activities that are arranged by the entertainment staff. The choice is yours. By the way, the ship's library is very well stocked, mainly with fiction. How to save money on board. Use your own camera and don't be tempted to buy photos taken by the ship's photographer at $15 per photo. Don't go to the ship's hairdresser. Don't use the laundry service - bring one of those circular things with a dozen or so pegs hanging from it (from Reject shops) to hang your washing in the shower recess, and bring drip dry clothes so not to worry about ironing. Of course, buying drinks can run away with a fair amount of money. We don't drink much, and stick mainly to the drinks provided - tea, coffee, water, and as I told you, the $2 glasses of wine. Are we sounding stingy?!!

The other thing that costs is the shore excursions. Being all Australian ports it would probably be possible to do your own thing in a lot of the places you will visit. Getting together with another couple and sharing a taxi can work well, too.

When we were on Funchal in February, and visited Broome we paid around $75 or $80 to be taken several km to the township, were dropped there for a couple of hours, then picked up again and taken to see Cable Beach and have a camel ride along the beach at sunset, then taken back to the ship in time to sail away again. Some of the people doing the camel ride were not from the ship and I asked them how much the ride cost them - $40. A mark up of around $25, but we did get taken from place to place.

That's about all from me for now. Any more questions? Cheers, Matilda.

[first cruise]

hi matilda, no you don't sound stingy, glad to hear from someone who knows their way around! good tip with the laundry, that it something we will be sure to do. the library sounds fantastic as both hubby and i are avid readers, and we are looking forward to just relaxing by the pool. what type of entertainment is available, is it worth taking a portable laptop with dvd player at all - is there a selection of movies or should we bring some favourites? what would you consider to be a good estimate for spending money per day while on funchal? as a guide, what would be the age group normally on these trips? we are hoping that we meet people close to our own age (43) so that we can team up on day trips etc. as for the ad in the geelong newspaper, hubby only saw it the day before the lower priced fairs ended and we booked in a real hurry, but not feeling sorry at all about the rush, just wishing we could board now!! do you know anyone who might be going on this cruise? how formal are the formal nights - the travel agent told hubby he should wear "black tie" and me "evening dress" - so some advice there would be handy. we hope you have a wonderful time on your cruise to athens - that sounds like magic. look forward to hearing from you again. thankyou. first cruise.

[matilda]

Hi First Cruise, Great to hear from you again, and what a lovely lot of questions for me to answer! I will do my best.

What type of entertainment? I am quoting from one of the daily news sheets. You will be given one late each night to cover the next day's program.

In the morning - Shuffle Board, Flamenco dance lesson, Mini Olympics, Card Playing, Ship Building competition, Music from the resident duo, Veronica and Pascal, also music from pianist Jose, Beer Quoits.

In the afternoon - Movie: Mission Impossible; Scattergories Challenge; Big Foot Relay game; Scrabble; Trivia Quiz; Bingo; Talent Show sign up; Golf Chipping; and Aerobics.

In the evening - Melodies from The Unforgettables, also music from Jose on the piano; What's My Line; Oceanus Band play music; Paradise Exotic featuring The Edilson Dancers; and then the Buffet Magnifique Supper;

After all that we never got to the Disco from 11.45pm onwards! But hey, we are in our 60's!

So, if you are interested in joining in any or all of those things, I would say don't bother with the laptop and DVDs. From memory the movies they showed in the lounge were not the very latest ones.

We had a couple on our table for dinner who were in their 40's. The wife was in the cabin most of the time, seasick, but the husband enjoyed all the games and competitions, and hanging out with friends his age, and never seemed bored at all.

I'd say the average age would have been around 55, but definitely a few in their 40s.

How much money per day? It would depend on your bar bill and the things I talked about last time. This couple in their 40s at our table had a bill of over $600 for their 12 night cruise, mainly spent at the bar and the ship's doctor, for the seasickness. I would like to add here that my husband is slightly prone to seasickness, and the ship rocked a bit, but he didn't get sick at all. The woman in question must have been particularly susceptible. Our bill was $400, which included $356 for shore tours.

How formal are formal nights? They are as formal as you want them to be, or as informal as you want. Some people love dressing up, and they have dinner suits and evening clothes that they are dying to dust off and wear one more time. As for us, I take two pairs of evening pants and several evening tops, and ring the changes each evening, keeping the most elaborate top for formal night. My husband wears good pants, business shirt and tie (not black!). If cool he would wear a plain coloured woollen jumper. He can't bear the thought of making room in his case for a reefer jacket or some such, so usually it is shirtsleeves for him, and he doesn't look out of place at all.

I hope all this helps. Cheers, Lesley (Matilda)

[first cruise]

wow, thanks matilda, looks like the kids inheritance won't get decimated!! your information has been something to look forward to every day. if you think of anything else, can you let me know? thanks, that would be great. the shore tours on the eastern side of australia won't be a problem for us as we have relatives to catch up with in each port. but the west side and across the top will have a lot of interest for us, as we have never seen those parts at all. generally we travel up and down the east seeing relatives and friends. we are hoping to meet some wonderful people on funchal. bingo, trivia and piano music are interesting for us, i particularly love listening to someone playing the piano, find it really relaxing. are you like us and counting down the days until your next cruise?? shayne (that's hubby) hopes that this is just the first of many, he wants to go on the new zealand cruise as well but i think he will have to wait for that! lets see how we manage this one first!! thankyou so much for all your information, it has been very much appreciated. look forward to hearing from you again. thankyou, Lea (first cruise)

[first cruise]

hey seabourndt, let me know how you went on the funchal. hope you had a fantastic time!! first cruise

[seabourndt]

yes i will write what i thought of the funchal when i return, i'll try and do it on tuesday next, if i have time before i fly out to canada. sounds like the trip was a bit chopppy. not surprising for a smallish ship. not sutre what the weather will be like for my trip yet. the irish sea can be very rough at times. sounds like heyu have a lot of things to do, more on the days ayt sea as iam at ports everyday. i've only booked 1 excursion as the other looked really expensive. the bill for the excursions you took seem quite a bit. were they fairly priced do you think?

well only a few days now,any ideas about smoking areas on the funchal? as i like to smoke a cigar in the evening, as theres is no spl bar any ideas?? see it says there are smoking/no smoking areas. qwhat are the bar prices like. the currency on this one is the british pound. difficult to know how much to take as i neeed pounds and u.s and canadian dollars for the other cruise.

write soon

david

[matilda]

Well, Lea, definitely the months at this stage (7), but we are always counting down the days to the next cruise, ever since the one in 1998 when we became addicts!

Not long to go now, David. As for the smoking areas, I seem to remember that the Porto Bar had one side smoking and the other side non-smoking, but I don't remember seeing any cigars. The only knowledge I have of bar prices is the $2 glasses of wine I said about, that were cheaper than buying a can of soft drink. They had specials every day for beer and cocktails.

The excursions - we never think they are cheap, but maybe they weren't too bad. We went on an all day excursion in Bali for $54 each, including a very nice lunch; a half day excursion in Lombok was $49 each; and the camel ride and transfers between ship/town, town/beach and beach/ship was $75 each.

Bon Voyage. Lesley

[seabourndt]

i'll have to see, theres always the deck i guess. the price of 69£ for a full day with lunch was very dear i think. looking forward to it. try to post when i return on tuesday i get time as leaving for canada the next day

dave

[matilda]

Hey, Dave, I make that 21 English pounds for full day with lunch. Divide Aussie dollars by two and a half for English pounds. Not so bad. Have a great cruise. Matilda

[seabourndt]

no 69 english pounds. most excursions are aroun $60 which is thge norm. so i would rather look around and find somewhere to go myself. well i'm off tomorrow, will report back tuesday. for i leave for canada. i wonder how the couple fared on the trip from australia?

the weekend wether here looks good. =might be a bit cooler up there.

dave

[first cruise]

hello matilda and seabourndt, how is everyone? im driving myself mad looking at the calendar every 10 seconds wishing the months would pass really quickly. only 7 months for you matilda - wow! wonder if seabourndt is having a fantastic time. hope he checks in soon! and hope he doesn't smoke too many cigars!!!!