Airtours Cruises, Sunbird Review

Good Points
Well maintained ship. Crew all excellent. Entertainment shows brilliant.
Very good organisation.

Bad Points
A little too much vibrations and engine noise in cabbin ( B deck aft - grey carpet area).
Lido cafe does not do justice to this fine ship.
One thing lacking from the cabin is a TV channel with an outside view similar to the Thomson Spirit.

General Comments
The Airtours Cruise on the Sunbird was our second cruise. The first was on the Thomson Spirit in the Med. last June. We found the Sunbird a larger ship than the Spirit and very impressed with the standard of the public rooms.

We checked our cases in at Manchester airport and the next time we saw them was outside our cabin door on the ship, this was great.

On arrival in the Dominica Republic we were taken from the plane and put onto busses for embarkation on the Sunbird.

on entering the ship we procceded to the Oklahoma lounge and obtained boarding cards which also acted as our drinks card at the bars.

All very efficient. Table numbers are allocated on arrival on board ship and ours was in an alcove of the seven seas restaurant (Magellan) on the port side of the ship. Second sitting gives you more time to get ready for the evening and you can afford time to stand on the top decks and watch the ships departure from the various islands.

The shows take place in the Can Can lounge and are on twice an evening, one for each meal sitting. These shows are very professional and we enjoyed them all.

There were two formal evenings onboard and most of the passengers made the effort to make these evenings special.

Our first stop was at Antigua and we just strolled around the town in the morning and in the aftenoon shared a taxi to Millers beach. The people on the island are wery friendly and well layed back. The taxi driver offered to come and pick us up from the beach and would not take any money until we all arrived back at the ship.

The next day was St. Kitts. Here the weather was not good and we spent most of the day trapped in a shopping arcade waiting for the rain storm to subside.

St. Thomas was the next stop and all onboard had to attend immigration proceedures in the Can-Can lounge. We had to be there at 6.30 am, I hope that we treat the Americans the same when they enter our country.

St. Thomas is a great place to do some duty free shopping in respect to gold and diamonds. Also Digital and Video cameras are good value. With video cameras UK people should choose the Pal system ones wich are about $50 more.In the afternoon we went by taxi ($6) to Maggins Bay Beach. This is a loverly beach that costs $3 each but has every aminity and is kept very clean.

Puerto Rico (San juan) was our forth stop. We had a wander around the town and looked at an old fort on the headland. This is a modern town and very clean, one notices the American influence, and is more affluent than the other islands that we had previously visited.

Our last island was Catalina, and just what many would expect paridise to be. Palm trees down to a white sandy beach with the light blue sea and our ship anchored half a mile offshore. The waiters from the ship coming round with cocktails and a BBQ at lunchtime made and served by the ships crew. What a way to end a perfect holiday. Well done My Travel.