posted 02-05-2000 10:17 PM                    

Any comments are greatly appreciated

posted 02-06-2000 04:14 PM                       

I hope you really enjoy your holiday.

posted 02-06-2000 09:23 PM                       

Joe at TravelPage.com

posted 02-16-2000 12:28 PM                    

See you on board!

posted 02-16-2000 07:13 PM                    

skilius

posted 02-17-2000 06:58 AM                    

Snitch

posted 02-24-2000 08:14 AM                    

Garry

posted 02-24-2000 09:38 AM                    

I am glad you had a good vacation there is nothing worse than getting away from the grind on a holiday that goes sour...

posted 02-24-2000 12:58 PM                       

A CRUISE around the Caribbean sounds like something only lottery winners can afford.
But for less than £700 you can join the beautiful people and live like a lord, waited-on hand and foot aboard the luxury liner Sunbird.
And if you're lucky, you could even win your money back.
My itinerary took me to Antigua, a pretty island with 365 spotlessly clean beaches. The picturesque Nelson's Harbour is a 20-minute taxi ride from the port town of St Johns, and well worth the journey.
Then to St Maarten, half Dutch and half French and the best place for buying jewellery and gadgets if that's what you fancy.
The prices are cheap and the sellers are willing to haggle ... because they know you'll be visiting other cheap islands later on your cruise.
Take a tip and buy your stuff here. On later islands, the shopkeepers know you're running out of options so they are less likely to strike a bargain.
St Kitts & Nevis (correct with ampersand) is stunning.
I went on a boat ride through a gorgeous rainforest, ending up at a super bar for a couple of refreshing rums! It's a really good "chill out" place, man.
Dominica was the most interesting. Get a gang up and hire a dockside driver to give you a tour.
For about a tenner each you will get an insider's look at this fabulous island, better than any organised tour.
But the best trip of the lot was on St Lucia. Pile into the back of a Jeep, bounce along rough tracks, skinny-dip in a sparkling natural spring and go walking up a river. Relax in the sun and knock back some rum. Paradise!
When you get to Curacao it's time for one of three things — rum, sun or shopping. It's also your best chance to marvel at Captain Philip Rentell's skill. The harbour is only a bit wider than the ship, and he has to turn it through 180 degrees!
Aruba is your going-home port, but nip ashore first and take a walk along the harbour for a gawp at some of the most luxurious — and expensive — playboy yachts you will ever see.
When you're on the ship, Sunbird has so much to do that you won't be bored.
In fact I reckon the destinations aren't the main thing about the holiday ... the ship is.
It's massive. If you go to the Chart Room bar, perched up the aft mast, you're effectively on the 11th floor!
It's the best bar on the ship, and not well signposted — on my first day, from the outside I didn't realise it was a bar, I thought it was some sort of control room. Doh!
If you're a first-time cruiser, your cabin will seem smaller than expected — unless you've shelled out for one of the super-swish penthouses.
But you won't be spending much time in there anyway, you soon get used to it ... and your cabin steward does all the tidying up, no matter how messy you are.
By day, anything goes. Flop out on a sunbed, have your drinks brought by the passing waitresses, dip into one of the two swimming pools ... and relax.
At least two nights aboard are "formal" with some people even going the whole hog and wearing tux and little black dress!
Meals are excellent. Every night at 6.30 or 8.30, a six-course dinner is served to five-star restaurant standards. There is a choice of at least five main courses every night — I didn't see the same thing twice on the menu! There's a buffet running almost all the time, too — there are only about two hours, in the dead of night, when you can't find somewhere to eat but even then there's room service.
Watch your on-board spending, though. They give you an onboard charge card and you sign for all purchases — drinks, excursions, casino chips, hair-do's, everything except your food — and it's easy to lose track.
The bill gets popped under your door on the last day ... ouch! Did I really donate that much to the casino?
Sunbird carries more than 1,500 passengers but never feels overcrowded.
Facilities include two swimming pools, a casino, beauty salon, sports deck, gymnasium and sauna.
There are six public lounges, the biggest — called, oddly, the Can-Can — featuring the ship's spectacular West End-quality stage shows and cabarets.
Most of the passengers are British and Canadian, and the average age range is 40-45 years — cruising's no longer for crumblies!
Hardest thing about the holiday is the flight, about nine hours each way. But the Airtours aircraft seats are comfortable and the service better than most holiday charter flights I've been on. No trouble with the baggage, either. Check your cases in at the special "Cruise Only" airport desk, and the next time you see them, they're either in your cabin or on the home airport carousel.
In May the Sunbird returns to Europe, for a summer's cruising around the Mediterranean.
For a brochure call Airtours on 0870 608 1947 or visit their website at www.airtours.co.uk, or go to www.sunquest.ca/destinations/crusunbird.asp to see deck plans of the ship.