Martin Breslin

Age: 26
Occupation: Architectural Technologist
Number of Cruises: 2
Cruise Line: Island Cruises
Ship: Island Escape
Itinerary: Mediterranean Spirit

Departure Port: Palma, Majorca
Duration: 7 nights (cruise and stay) Second week in Majorca.
Booked direct with Eclipse
Cabin number: 9526, Deluxe Outside Cabin, Deck 9 (Golden)

Previous cruise experience: 7 night cruise around the Greek islands onboard the Seawing (Airtours)

Registration at Port: OK. They had six desks operating, and there was a 10-minute wait. They took a swipe of our credit card and took a digital photo using a web cam, far quicker and organised than my previous experience.

Cabin: First impressions were great, large cabin with plenty of wardrobe space. The soft furnishings were new, the bathroom needed a refurb as it looked very dated but very clean. We had a two seater settee, foot stool, a couple of chairs and a small table. The cabin had its own television which screened four films each day along with other channels. The cabin Stewardess was excellent she came twice daily changing towels and preparing the beds.

Public areas: These were very pleasant and looked new.

Food: OK but expected better. There are three restaurants onboard. Beachcomber is open 24 hours and offers a ‘hot’ and cold buffet, we rarely ate in this restaurant.

The Island Restaurant opens for lunch and dinner and offers a choice of waiter service or self-service, we experienced a 15 minute wait for waiter service in the evening.

The Oasis Restaurant is a la carte and is open for dinner (bookings only). We dined here most evenings, it was easier to make a reservation after 9pm and you shared a table with other passengers. The food and service here was better than the other restaurants.

Overall, the food was OK - the service in the restaurants was good.

Bars: There are a number of bars throughout the ship. Drink prices were the same as you pay at home e.g. pint of lager £2.30 (Stella Artois). There was a happy hour each day at the bar near the pool 5pm until 6pm good time to relax with a drink after a hectic day.

Service: As expected with the number of passengers onboard.

Itinerary: Average. We did the Mediterranean Spirit (Palma – Valletta – Naples – Livorno – Toulon – Mahon – Palma).

Excursions: There are plenty of excursions available from the ship, however we chose to do our own thing which can save a great deal of money. For example in Livorno you can visit the leaning tower of Pisa, you can catch a bus to the railway station and catch a train to Pisa a return ticket costs 3 euros. In total the day including entrance tickets into the cathedral and museums cost about £12 pounds for two people.

Entertainment: There was a show every night in the Ocean Theatre. We didn't really see any of the shows due to the time we ate dinner. Daytime activities were a bit basic – lots of quizzes and bingo. One piece of advice, we played bingo on the final day of the cruise, the final winnings for getting the house was in excess of £1000 this only happens on the final day, on other days the prizes are allot lower.

Overall rating: OK, ship was generally pleasant, cabin was great, however the higher you go the more you feel the ship swaying I know because I was sea sick leaving Naples. Food was a little disappointing, the previous cruise we went on was much better. To sum up our first cruise was on a ship half the size of the Island Escape, in the future we will go on another cruise but on a smaller ship.

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