They must think Australians will accept the European garbage ship to cruise around on as they send the worst here.

The cruise from Fremantle to Harwich that began on May 20th 2007 was the most dissapointing I have ever encounted.

Not only was there no facilities for people to get a tea or coffee all day with out being charged an arm or a leg.

Everything was an extra. Even daily water.

The rooms are so old is a wonder they had flushing toilets (most of the time they didn't).The bathrooms flooded after each shower.

There were no safes in the rooms you had to purchase a safty deposit box at recieption. The rooms were not fitted with fridge or TV.

So many people got sick with the Funchal Flue or the Funchal Belly, it was no longer fun to do things. One passenger so ill that they had to be evacuated by hellicopter.

Another injured with a fall and broken bone, While the ship was manovering for the hellicopter and was told it was an act of god.

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Originally posted by mike sa:
Sounds like it was not up to expectation at all, it does strike me that often the negative reviews etc are sometimes a result of the marketing messages given out by the cruise companies and agencies.

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Good point!

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Originally posted by mike sa:
Sounds like it was not up to expectation at all, it does strike me that often the negative reviews etc are sometimes a result of the marketing messages given out by the cruise companies and agencies. We all know what it is when you buy Holiday Inn compared to Four Seasons but many many people do not realise that cruise ships are the same especially given the brochure talk with the liberal use of "luxury, pampering, gourmet, etc" even for the oldest of ships etc. A star rating system that companies should be forced to use would help, I am sure that no one here would disagree that say Princess/HAL offer a 4 star product, most first timers etc would understand what that mean't, Costa offers a 3 star ?, RCI would be 3 (Empress?) to 4, Cunard offers from 4 to 5 depending on the cabin/suite etc. Louis would be a 2/3 depending on ship etc. Perhaps a lot of disappointment would be avoided if the cruise lines across the board were forced to advertise what star rating each ship offered. Price is not always a good indicator especially with discounts etc.

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Mike i disagree with HAL offering 4 star service it's 5 star and much better then Cunard . Agree with the rest of you're comment.

It seems that passengers Mr and Ms Noro Virus where a/b.

It will be interesting to see how Classic Int. Cruises do this summer now that Star Cruises & Princess are deploying ships here for a few months. If i had to choose i know where my money would go!

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Originally posted by Pascal:
I've the feeling it's a budget hardware priced as if it was luxury. However, I nonetheless would love to sail on her.

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Pam

[ 06-08-2007: Message edited by: PamM ]

I agree !

The prices they charge for their voyages to and from Australia are far below those of P&O.

General reports suggest the ship is well maintained and the staff do an excellent job, however with an older ship you can have problems and that is part of the fun of taking a voyage on them.

I would suggest if you are not happy with your trip on the Funchal, next time before you book you go opel mining, and maybe earn enough to travel by one of the newer P&O ships.

From my point of view this happened clearly due to the wrong information given to you by the agency.

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Originally posted by phil_a:

With regards to $$$... the prices for Funchal's shorter cruises are pretty steep. were talking AUD$200+ per person per night. Altho I have not cruised with CIC, i cant see it being very good value.

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Originally posted by mike sa:
Given Crystal rates as 5 star I would have thought that HAL is definately a 4 along with Celebrity, Princess (just) etc. 6 stars would be Seabourne, Silversea etc. Cunard is 4 star unless you are a grill pax which rate 5.

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I don't consider 6 stars exists, it's just about promotion. In France (and I think we may be considered as a reference in the hotel buisness), the maximum is 4 stars. However, the most luxurious of the 4 stars have the right to add a little "L" for "luxe", so ****L would be equivalent to 5 stars, and that's the maximum.

For cruise lines I would say :
-Regent, Silversea, Crystal, SeaDream, Hapag Lloyd Europa : *****
-HAL, Celebrity, Cunard, Oceania : ****
-Carnival, RCI, Costa, P&O, Princess, NCL (most recent ships), MSC, Fred Olsen : ***
-Aida, Ocean Village, Old NCL ships, Pullmantur, Iberojet : **
-Louis, Golden Star and the other budget lines : *
- No star : Easy Cruise.

Funchal would be something like 2 stars.

Also its interesting to see that there were so many people got sick as a very large porportion of the people on my cruise also became ill with stomach viruses (we were lucky we werent ill). This was blamed on the plumbing and this was said by a member of staff.

Also when we went prices were very reasonable tea and coffee was served morning and afternoon and early evening (at set times) and water was free at all times.