Funchal - Portuscale Cruises

Hi all,

Before I make a booking on the Funchal for one of her upcoming Australian itineraries, I wanted to find out a little about life on board.

Can anyone who has recently travelled on her, update me on the following (and I do mean recently, not back in the CIC days):

1. do they have formal dress nights in the MDR or is it mainly "casual" dress.

2. being a smaller ship, how stable is she in bad weather? I see that they have recently fitted new stabilisers, but as some of the upcoming itineraries are crossing Bass Strait, which is notorious for rough seas, I wanted to get a better picture of what to expect in bad weather. (Planning to travel with family, but my partner's sister is not a good traveller at the best of times.)

We are only looking at the short 3 day Newcastle to Geelong sector or reverse, but I need to convince some family members that it is ok to travel on a smaller ship. (we/they have only ever sailed on larger "mass" market ships)

Australia's cruise season brochure for Feb & March 2015 is at the following link: http://www.portuscalecruises.com.au/ but there is little mention in the copy about what to expect on board.

Additionally, here is the main web site, but again no mention of dress standards, activities, etc.

http://www.portuscalecruises.pt/en-GB/Portuscale-Cruises--The-discoveries-continue.aspx#.U78av6N--70

I also notice that they have removed mention of their other ships, MV Oporto, MV Lisboa and MV Azores from their Portuguese web site.

Love to hear from anyone who has recently sailed on Funchal for a review.

I have just read that the 2015 Funchal Australian cruises have been cancelled.

See the link on the Australia & New Zealand cruises board:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2096237

I can only say that I was interested in doing a cruise on her, but given the lack of any response to my initial post back in July, it looked doubtful that there was any current information available about the current 2014 sailings.

Rather disappointed they have cancelled, but hope the can try again in 2016 for cruises to/from and around Australia.

Let's just hope the company, Portuscale Cruises, can survive and not send their vessels to the wreckers.

Macntosh, I have the same questions as you about this ship, especially as I am booked on it for Oct 21, 2014 from Bristol to Lisbon. I don't see this cruise listed on the links you provided but have seen it on UK cruise websites. Possibly this ship is being used by Cruise and Maritime for the one cruise so maybe that's why it's not on the Portuscale sites. If anyone is booked on the Oct 21 cruise or has sailed on it recently, please drop a note. Formal nights and seaworthiness are definitely things I'd be interested in hearing about. It is curious and unsettling that some 2015 itineraries have been cancelled. Thanks for any info, Vicki

Funchal is doing 2 cruises for CMV, sailing the last cruises that Discovery should have been doing.

http://www.cruiseandmaritime.com/ship/funchal/calendar

Hi Vicki & Gaelsail,

Well it is very pleasing to hear on the Australian board of CC that those passengers affected by the cancellation of the Australian 2015 Funchal season are receiving their refunds.

Apparently, all cancellations are being handled on an individual basis in order to cover any customers who had non-refundable airfares booked rather than just a "blanket" cancellation policy to cover everyone.

Full credit to Portuscale Cruises for their ethical and honest approach.

On the Australian boards, there has been much comparison to how poorly Celebrity have been handling an itinerary cancellation for Celebrity Century verses how well Portuscale have been managing their Australian season cancellation.

This gives me even more confidence if we decide to book any of Funchal's 2016 Australian itineraries.

I would still love to hear from anyone that has recently sailed on Funchal with a full review of their trip and the ship itself.

Vicki (Amoba) would love to hear back from you after your UK to Portugal cruise next month. As you know, there seems to be a real lack of current reviews of Funchal's sailings.

Smooth sailing to you all...

Hi all,

Looks like the reason for Portuscale cancelling the Funchal's 2015 Australian season is to do with the lack of port infrastructure in Geelong to handle cruise ships. Nothing to do with the line itself.

Here is the information quoting from the local Geelong Mayor.

http://www.cruiseweekly.com.au/news/gm-shock-at-season-axing/19493

Let's hope that something can be done quickly to improve facilities and allow cruises by smaller ships departing from smaller Australian ports. Remember, big is not always better.

We were very tempted to book on Funchal for the very reason that she was small and not one of the mass market ships.

Oh well, will have to wait and see what happens.

Hi Mark, yes, I will let you know how the cruise on the Funchal turns out although, it might be a few months before I'm back on a computer after the cruise. CMV also seemed quite professional about the cancellation of the Oct 21, 2014 cruise on the Discovery which is to be replaced by the Funchal for half of the original cruise. I'm hoping for the best as it sounds like such a nice ship. Vicki

have you seen the posting from grantdrive about his cruise on the Funchal in August of 2014 - I'll try to copy and paste the link here and hope I get it right:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2092724

I did email portuscale cruises about these issues and they, as expected, said all is fine but at least I wanted to bring it to their attention, even if just to make someone aware that we are concerned about matters of stabilization, sanitation, and safety. Vicki

Just back from the Funchal cruise to La Coruna, Madeira and the Canaries, that turned into the cruise to Madeira and Portimao!! Whilst I like classic ships and found the crew friendly and helpful, the ship rolled constantly - even in flat calm waters. When we asked at reception - did she have stabilisers and where they being used, we were told yes and yes and blamed the wind. With such a low, sleek profile and consequently little air draft, I find it hard to believe the wind had so much effect??

I am posting a full review on my blog - see below - and on Cruise Critic when I complete it.

Just back from the Funchal cruise to La Coruna, Madeira and the Canaries, that turned into the cruise to Madeira and Portimao!! Whilst I like classic ships and found the crew friendly and helpful, the ship rolled constantly - even in flat calm waters. When we asked at reception - did she have stabilisers and where they being used, we were told yes and yes and blamed the wind. With such a low, sleek profile and consequently little air draft, I find it have to believe the wind had so much effect??

 

I am posting a full review on my blog - see below - and on Cruise Critic when I complete it.

Hi Sharon,

Many thanks for your update on the Funchal.

Love your blog and the pictures.

I must admit that we were worried about the stability of the vessel and I think you have assisted us in our decision not to travel on her.

My partner is an amputee and finds constant rolling in rough seas very difficult with balance. We have just returned to Sydney on Celebrity Century from South Australia via Bass Strait and experienced 1 particularly rough day where it was safer to stay in bed rather that walk around the ship.

So I can only imagine what it was like on the Funchal.