Tim Glithero

Age: 25
Occupation:
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Island Cruises
Name of Ship: Island Escape
Itinerary: Mediterranean Spirit

We have just come back from a cruise and stay holiday. On the 22nd July we arrived in Palma, and the weather was very nice indeed. We were welcomed by Island Cruises Reps who gave us an envelope containing room keys, luggage tags etc. We were then directed to our coach before traveling on to the port. We were already impressed by the service so far and could not wait to get to the ship. We traveled along to the port. Seeing the ship for the first time made us even more excited. It looked fabulous, and very clean indeed. After getting off the bus we made our way to the checking desks. The woman behind our desk was very friendly and quickly took a digital camera shot of each of us, before we made our way onto the boat.

We then walked a few yards to the gangway where we were welcomed again, before walking up the slope into the ship. We were met by our cabin stewardess "Liliya", who seemed very friendly. She took us to our cabin (Emerald Deck, cabin 7529), and made us feel at home. She showed us around the room, and we were surprised at the cleanliness and pure home feeling within the cabin. It was wonderful!

After unpacking we had a look around the ship. Everything looked clean and homely. We made our way through The Sundowner pub to the "Aft" stairs. We were really impressed, and everyone seemed so nice. We had a look in the beachcomber, and the food looked wonderful. Such a selection and variety, and as it was open 24hours a day, we were just so amazed. We had a look on the outside deck behind the beachcomber and the view of the port was amazing, and the weather was still hot during the evening. After looking around and being extremely impressed with everything we had a bite to eat. The hot food was hot, and there were no flies at all. The food was gorgeous. We were in for a treat through the week, and what a trip it was. The best holiday ever!

Liliya our cabin stewardess was wonderful. She always helped and wanted to make sure we were all feeling well. Every night and morning she changed our towels if we wanted them changed. And in the evening she "sculpted" our towels into various shapes and animals. She was fabulous and made us feel great.

All of the staff were friendly, and all spoke English. Complete contrary to what I had seen on the programmed on ITV last year about the ship.

Everything was good. There was a variety or excursions, however I would advise you to go your own way most of the time as it is cheaper. But if you are doing the same itinerary as us (Spirit, which was Palma, malta, naples etc) I would recommend doing the 4x4 excursion in Malta. It was very good fun and worth the money.

The only excursion I thought wasn't very good was the Pisa Half day. it cost us over £30 each (there was 4 of us) to visit Pisa from Livorno, and go into the Cathedral and Baptist church. be warned, that if you want to go into the leaning tower of Pisa, you need to book early, as only 30 people are allowed up every 1/2 hour, so for us there was no time to do it which was a shame. After this excursion we spoke to some other people who got to Pisa by themselves from the port. And it cost them 16 euros for the 4 of them to get there, and then 6 euros to get into the monuments. Which makes a total of 40 euros (about £25). Which compared to what we paid for the excursion (£120 ish) was very good value for money. So when going to Livorno, if you want to go to Pisa, get there yourself by bus, you can save loads.

Everyone enjoyed themselves on the cruise, and nearly everybody I spoke to said they would do it again.

Here is what I would rate various aspects of the ship etc out of 10.

FOOD 10/10
SERVICE 10/10
CREW FRIENDLINESS/HELPFULNESS 10/10
SHIP CLEANLINESS 9/10
DRINK PRICES 5/10 (VERY EXPENSIVE!)
CABIN DECOR 8/10
CABIN STEWARDESS 100/10(BRILLIANT!)
ENTERTAINMENT 9.5/10
SHIP ATMOSPHERE 9.5/10
EXCURSIONS 7/10
GENERAL 9/10

I would definitely do another Island Cruises itinerary, as it was all so fabulous. I would recommend anybody to go on this ship as it was wonderful! There were no problems at all, and the programmed on the cruise ship shown last year has no value at all to what the ship is like now.

I really do miss being on the ship, it was all very excellent (apart from drinks prices, but it was even more expensive on the actual island of Majorca) and hope to do another island cruise soon!

We did stay in Majorca for a week afterwards, but next time we think a Stay and Cruise would be better, rather than staying afterwards, because the hotel seemed not so good. It would have been good to stay in the hotel first, and think to ourselves this is great, and then stay on the ship and be absolutely gob smacked (of which we were anyway!!!!)

Again, I would recommend this cruise to anyone. There were all sorts of ages or people on the cruise, and not too many children. But the children were catered for!

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