Topic: good day all you professionals , please help me lol

well hello there
in a BIG nutshell
we were in asda shopping yesterday , and while me hubby was having his glasses altered , my sister was in the holiday shop next door :D
well, turns out they are offering a cruise to the canaries ,for 7 days on the island escape in jan for £499
shall we go ??

we have never cruised before , so would this be a good start ??
i have read some good and bad reports on here , but i suppose you will get what you pay for

the pool looks smallish .........is it ??
and the ship is pretty "TIRED" i have read
don't get me wrong , i am not expecting the world

just a nice clean room , to put your head and get cleaned up and dressed
have a swim
maybe an hour in the gym , ( can 12yrs olds use the gym ?? , does anyone know )

the places to be visited look pretty good , as i have never been to any
there will be 4 adults and my nephew who is 12
will he have enough to keep him busy ?? , he loves to swim , but when on the ship , is the entertainment ok , as he is over the kids club age we think
whats the casino like ...i might like a flutter lol
and will the cabin for 3 be ok , that would be for my sister and mum , and my nephew ?? ,
we have a caravan , so used to small spaces :D

as i say , it looks really good on the whole ,

oh how do the drinks work ...is it pay as you go , or is it a card system?? and is it euro's ?? what money will we need when visiting the places

well , many thanks in advance for your help any info is much appreciated
sharon (39) :p

Hi Sharon,
Where do i start.
I think one of the best things you could do is go over to the Cruisecritic.com and look at the Island cruises forum.Lots of positive comments and excited people like us waiting to go out on the Colourful Canaries cruise. 3 weeks today for us and can't wait to be back on board.
I am Cymro 1953 on there. And it's a lot more active than here

Also there have been lots of good reviews on here in the review section from people who have just been on her in the past few months.

It was our first cruise Last year and my wife's 50th birthday. We loved her.

Yes she is old and due for refurbishment at the end of this year. But the cabins are kept clean and the beds comfortable. The food in both the Island Restaurant and the Beachcomber Buffet was excellent. And if you want you can eat in the latter 24hours a day.
Both are buffet restaurants, but in the Beachcomber you get a table and go back and forward for stuff while in the Island restaurant you are shown to the table by the waiter and that is your seat for the whole meal while you fetch your food and eat. A bit more relaxed.
The staff work really hard to give you a good time.
Cruise ship cabins are smaller than a hotel room, but like us, as you've been in a caravan you'll be fine.

The price is about the current going price for last minute. Drinks are not expensive, about the same as UK pub prices. e.g. £2.80 a pint. And you can get tea, coffe and water free from there too 24/7

The pool is small, but not much different in size to the big U.S cruise ship we were on in June.
Not sure about lower age limit on gym, you would be more likely to find us in the buffet than there :D The same with the kids club, ours are 21 and 25 and will be aboard this year with us.
The beauty of this type of cruise is that you stop in port every day except one, so you are usually kept quite busy sightseeing.
But the Canaries is a bit more relaxed for excursions with shorter ones than in Europe.

your comment on what you want the room for is about right, that's all you seem to use them for. we were too busy having fun and if you want views go up to the Lookout bar, it has wrap around windows and you get great views as you sail along with a drink in your hand.

The casino has all the usual stuff, but is not huge due to the size of the ship.

This post is getting huge. I'll put anything else in a new one.

Berwyn

Hi Sharon,

Just to mention like you this will be a first time here for us. We are using as a chance for a relaxing holiday after a really heavy sightseeing intensive cruise in June
The cabins for 3 will have a drop down upper berth that is folded away in the day. So the one in the top will need to be able to climb up there.

Drinks : When you board you are given an ID card and this acts as your pass to get on and off the ship and also anything to buy aboard like drinks, excursions etc are charged to this and you will get an invoice at the end and this is charged to your credit card.
The do sell an all inclusive drinks package, but it is not worth it unless, like us, you get it "free" as and early booking incentive. It costs £169 each and last time aboard I added up all the receipts they gave me and it was well under that if we had had to pay for them and we did not go thirsty.

Excursions : In most of these ports you can do it yourself. Both Funchal in Madeira and Las Palmas, Gran Canaria have a Hop On Hop Off City Sightseeing bus.
The island of La Palma is so small you can chill out around town.
The only port nearly everyone recommends not to D.I.Y. is Agadir. They are all doing ship's excursions. We are doing the Taroudant one so you can see an old city and souks and shopping too.

you can see a list of excursions on the Thomson's website
http://www.thomson.co.uk/cruise/ports-of-call/canary-islands-and-morocco.html
click the Island escape tab and scroll down to each port. and you'll get details and a list of excursions.

The wife always insists on doing ship's excursions, as if you go on one, the ship will wait for you if there is a problem and the excursion is late coming back. But if you go ashore alone or private excursion the ship will sail shortly after the departure time without you.
It's not as terrifying as it sounds, they always make sure you know the sailing time and there is a contact address and phone No. for the local port agent in the ship's daily paper if anyone got into difficulties. And the local taxis are good knowing waht time people need to be back for.
The experienced cruisers prefer doing private ones as it can work out cheaper if you have a largeish party and easier to get you about than a big 50 seater coach.

Morocco
Just a hint about money in Agadir. Morocco has a closed currency (you can't get any to take in and you can't bring any out). They will take any money there U.S.dollars,. pounds, Euros.
So as the smalles note you can get here is £5 or 5 Euro, I got a load of U.S.$ 1 notes from the travel agent to spend there. that way we won't end up with a load of Dirhams we an't use and have to leave behind.

I hope this is a bit odf help. Anything else you want to know, just ask either on here or Cruise Critic.

Berwyn

http://s727.photobucket.com/albums/ww273/Cymro1953/

Hi, Those are some pictures of her from last year. We had a balcony cabin but inside from what we saw they were the same. Too damn cold last April in the Med to get much use out of the balcony. Brrr
Hope it will be warmer in the Canaries. But who cares we'll be away on holiday

Berwyn

I've never been on the Island Escape, but on the topic of a 12 year old using the gym, I'd say this: as a very experienced gym user (and a former high school headteacher), I'd say that any gym which allowed 12 year olds to use it was neither following appropriate health and safety practice and policy nor was it acting in the child's interests. Even if they say you can let your child use the gym, do not let him/her.

just on the gym side of it .....we are members of our local sports centre , and just to point out that my nephew is allowed to use the cardio machines ie treadmill , and rowing machine , for a few mins ....thats all he likes to do and then is happy to hold my water bottle lol . we don't make him lift weights or anything ....only my duty free shopping bags will he lift , but thank you for your concern bosscat

QUOTE:

. we don't make him lift weights or anything ....only my duty free shopping bags will he lift ,

If he can manage them, he'll be fine with the weights then :D

:D:D

QUOTE:

If he can manage them, he'll be fine with the weights then :D

:Dexactly thomas lol

well , thank you very much for your replies
really very informative , just what i was hoping for ,
we got it all booked this morning , and it was even £15 cheaper than yesterday lol:p

we are really looking forward to it , and i know it will be fab!!!!!!

i am now going to check out the links you have advised me on , and the pics , i can look over too

the girl was really nice today , and she had been on the ship , so had a really good knowledge , told us about the beds , and about the drinks card

sooooo .... so far soooo good
thank you all again , i really appreciate you taking the time to reply
sharon x

fab photos ...thank you for sharing getting very excited now lol