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Originally posted by topgun:
Sundream. This ship is tired and well overdue for a major mechanical overhaul or a trip to the knackers yard.

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I think she's in for the latter, as she doesn't meet the new SOLAS requirements...

I never liked this ship or her sister, for one thing they had very, very few public rooms...

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Originally posted by topgun:
From our own experience however, we recommend that other ships with Airtours should be avoided, especially Sundream. This ship is tired and well overdue for a major mechanical overhaul or a trip to the knackers yard.

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We still get positive 'Readers Reviews' about all the Mytravel (Airtous) ships. But without doubt, everyone agrees that 'Sunbird' is the best of the bunch.

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Originally posted by Snowbird:
I would like to see what Airtours picks to replace the Sundream and the Carousel.

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Me too... The conventional thinking would be ships from Carnival's Holiday-class but I'm not sure Carnival wants to give those up.

On the other hand, I think Sun Cruises could do with an infusion of capacity - they seem so popular...

And I also think that if they aren't, they had ought to be out there shopping for replacements since their reputation is becoming almost "spotty" when it comes to the two older ships...

Perhaps they could manage to get some ships from Star... Like Norwegian Sea for instance... I don't know if she's up for sale but who says the Holiday-class ships from Carnival are?

Then there's the oft-overlooked option that they might be willing to take the plunge... Yep, I mean NEWBUILDS... Why not? They're a big successful travel company, and none of the competition has new ships... Sounds like an opportunity to get ahead if you will.

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Originally posted by Cruiseny:
The conventional thinking would be ships from Carnival's Holiday-class but I'm not sure Carnival wants to give those up.

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They seem to have a soft-spot for ex-RCI ships!
Funding newbuilds seems unlikely as MyTravel have not had a good year!

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
They seem to have a soft-spot for ex-RCI ships!

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I doubt they have a soft spot for anything. At the time Airtours came about Oslo was doubtless quitely touting their wares to the not-quite-major cruise lines of the world... The more well-to-do of the secondhand-ship set... RCCL was about to take on the first fruit of the massive fleet renewal that is still ongoing - Legend of the Seas. They needed to get rid of ships then and there, and Airtours needed a ship then and there. Thus, Airtours managed to buy out three of the four ships RCCL was peddling over those few years.

They are good for the low-budget market served out of the UK by IT operators like Airtours... Relatively modern, designed for high-density cruising for the masses - this is of course what Airtours was hoping to provide. So they took in three RCCL ships, plus Southward from NCL (surplus because they were downsizing, not expanding) and became Airtours.

Now they managed to send Seawing to the Greeks (and charter it back for now) and they have two ageing vessels from RCCL. The Norwegians are no longer trying to get rid of ships (in fact, they're not Norwegian any more either ). In fact most of the ships for sale right now are worse than Sundream/Carousel - in similar condition but a generation older. The Big Red Boats, Rembrandt, and so on wouln't suit Airtours one bit. They needs some newish tonnage to go with Sunbird.

The best candidate out there right now as a running-mate would be Norwegian Sea, though I've heard nary a rumor that Star has any desire of selling that ship... Nordic Empress could work but I doubt she's for sale either...

On the other hand Carnival would be all to happy to sell Noordam to MyTravel... But she was designed for the wrong market. Ambiguous 1970s Scandinavian decor works better in the IT market than expensive late ocean liner. The Noordam was designed with the very specific purpose of blending in with Rotterdam V, meaning that her specification called for tradition, tradition, and more tradition. She doesn't have a huge lido deck or a big showroom for revues and bingo... She has a wrap-around promenade and a ballroom for concerts and afternoon tea. Sorry, wrong style. I'll be interested to see just how Thomson Spirit looks when she emerges from Greece. I suspect that the first thing on the list is a measure of decor lightening.

That said, Noordam and Sunbird would be one mismatched pair.

On the other hand, Carnival has so many ships on order, they'll probably want to get rid of the ageing Holiday-class vessels... And they'd be a good match for Airtours. Sunbird and the Holiday-ships at least were all built aiming at the same target... Whereas Noordam used a different design philosophy.

Cuba has been added to Sunbirds itinerary. A big plus since Havana remains unspoiled by the lack of visiting cruise ships and is a very clean and historic port to visit.

A big downside is the whopping 20 to 30% increase in Sunbird pricing.

Airtours seems to rely on topping up their ships with about 200-300 Canadian passengers each week. As inveterate bargain hunters, this would make most of us think again.

As an example, Holland America are offering far more attractive prices in January and Febuary in more modern ships with 5 star service.

But I have to say, the atmosphere on board was superb.

Airtours have done a marvellous thing -- they have given us Brits affordable, comfortable, friendly cruising.

(In fact until Airtours came along and gave us Brits package holidays, the only time we went abroad was to defend the Empire!)

(Topgun: I'm interested to know how you reckon Song of America / Sunbird has changed over the years. Is it better under Airtours; worse; or just different?)

Did you just get back from Sundream? Review? Sorry if I missed anything .

However, the only bad things that I have read about Airtours ships are from people that have NEVER cruised on them!

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
However, the only bad things that I have read about Airtours ships are from people that have NEVER cruised on them!

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On the Song of America/Sunbird transition:

We probably sailed on Song of America 4 or 5 times when she was in RCCL colors.
At that time, RCCL straddled the gap between the likes of Holland America and Carnival. The line and the ship was a perfect compromise offering the best of both worlds.
Song of America was immaculately maintained but a very much noisier vessel with its essentially all American passenger list.

After Airtours, we saw a dramatic drop in the maintenance and cleanliness of Sunbird.
This has since changed over the last 2/3 years. We put this improvement down to some Carnival influence at the time that they owned stock in Airtours.

On the passenger side, there was a dramatic change from the American to the British/Canadian complement. I prefer the latter.

On US citizens entering Cuba, there are still embargos against them entering the country. I do believe that this is changing. After all, we made up with Germany in 2/3 years. Surely the States will come to grips with this after forty years. Meantime, we take all the opportunities to enjoy the unqualified Cuban hospitality.

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Originally posted by topgun:
On US citizens entering Cuba, there are still embargos against them entering the country. I do believe that this is changing.

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Actually there are various ways to get to Cuba, legally, as a US citizen... There is the requirement that you can not spend any money in Cuba. That said, US airlines even have scheduled flights to Cuba, you just have to get special authorization to fly on them...