20 year old ship, No towel animals, No ice in cabin, no free room service!

[wadethegringo]

One of my best cruises ever.

 

We just returned from a seven night cruise on Pullmanturs, Horizon. A 20 year old, Celebrity ship. Pullmanture is a cruise line from spain. They sell all inclusive vacations in spain and mexico.

We sailed from Cozumel Mexico. Seven nights to Falmouth, Cayman, Costa Maya and Progreso.

 

No bar tab, No smuggling. Most passengers on the ship spoke no English.

 

I am working on a detailed "report". I dont want to call it a review due to the it being a total different experience over the mainstream cruises I have taken.

[wadethegringo]

We live in Belize so our transportation to Cozumel started with a flight on Tropic air, the airline of Belize, to Corazol, Belize. We had a taxi that would take us across the Boarder to the bus stop in Chetumal, Mexico. From Chetumal a 4 hour bus ride to Playa Del Carmin where we had a room for the night.

View from the room.

 

 

 

Good food in the morning.

[wadethegringo]

Sunday June 5th

We checked out of the hotel and were off to the water ferry to Cozumel. The rain was coming down hard. The taxi waited for the rain to let up.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4ytMPAEXgUU/TfY7drz9FLI/AAAAAAAAC2I/G_zaeI5NnHg/s640/IMG_0022.JPG

 

After the ferry ride we were able to drop our bags at the ferry dock. We took a taxi to the International peir. Rain, rain rain.We sail at 8pm and were told we could board at 3pm.

No crowds, no lines. The horizon is a small ship but what I did not know is that most pasengers had boarded the day before in Progreso, MX.

 

We were on the ship in no time. Cabins were ready.

Very nice cabin ocean view on deck 10. Cabin had Two beds put together to make a king. a pull down bed and a sofa bed. Only two of us so we did not use all the beds.

The bath was standard with blow dryer, shampoo and bath gell .Then up to the lido for lunch. The food was good standard cruise food with lots of cheese and bread. The one thing I found out about spain is the lack of ice. No ice in cabin or at the buffet for water or drinks.

We found the open bars and enjoyed most any drink with no aditional charge or presenting of our sea pass card.

If you want water you were given a 1.5 litre bottle.

I found the soda fountan machine too. But no ice for that.

The ship seemed empty. All of the pasengers that boarded the day before were on excursions in Cozumel.

The Safty drill was not held until the following day for the passengers that boarded in Cozumel.

Only two beers were available on the ship..XX on tap and Sol in bottles.

 

 

 

More to come.....Lots of pictsand info!!!

[globalwife]

This is great info! Thank you! Can't wait to read more. We took a Pullmantur cruise over a year ago on the Ocean Dream and loved it. Now we are booked for a cruise leaving in Dec from Cartagena, Colombia. It was supposed to be on the Ocean Dream again but just found out today that it will be on the Horizon due to a switch in where the boats will be. Sounds like an upgrade to me. :)

[wadethegringo]

This is great info! Thank you! Can't wait to read more. We took a Pullmantur cruise over a year ago on the Ocean Dream and loved it. Now we are booked for a cruise leaving in Dec from Cartagena, Colombia. It was supposed to be on the Ocean Dream again but just found out today that it will be on the Horizon due to a switch in where the boats will be. Sounds like an upgrade to me. :)

 

Cool, the Horizon looked very good for her age..Nice layout. I will work on more and if you have questions let me know...

 

I could not find info on the cruise before I left...

[globalwife]

I guess I'm more interested in the boat itself since my ports will be different than yours. Also, sounds like Pullmantur is still doing things like they were a year ago. We are going to have a Category F (ocean view) room. It sounds like you might have had a better one. Was there a fridge by any chance in yours? Also from the pics I am seeing, it appears that there is a bath tub and double sinks in the bath. Was that the case for you? Thanks in advance!

[wadethegringo]

The ship was a Celeberty ship. The rooms were nice. No fridge. still had the space where it was for storage. No towel animals.

 

No ice in room. we were told we could get ice, but never asked for it. No ice by the drinks at buffet. You need to get from the bar. when we asked for water we were givin a 1.5 liter.

 

The bath was a standard cruise ship bath. No tub, single sink. Bath gel and shampoo in the bath.

 

Here is a link to some of our picshttps://picasaweb.google.com/shagmedi/PullmanturVorizonJune2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCPeU8-uZ74eY9gE&feat=directlink

[Downdie]

Great to hear that you enjoyed your "different experience" on the Horizon. Your photos brought back fond memories of our cruise on the same ship last year. Now that you've experienced the all-inclusive Spanish style of cruising,what's next? Maybe a trip from Cozumel on Happy Cruises Gemini to Cuba,a much more different experience.

[wadethegringo]

This is great info! Thank you! Can't wait to read more. We took a Pullmantur cruise over a year ago on the Ocean Dream and loved it. Now we are booked for a cruise leaving in Dec from Cartagena, Colombia. It was supposed to be on the Ocean Dream again but just found out today that it will be on the Horizon due to a switch in where the boats will be. Sounds like an upgrade to me. :)

 

I was looking at the info for next year....I might do the same cruise out of Cozumel... It looks like the Ocean Dream for me...

[globalwife]

I was looking at the info for next year....I might do the same cruise out of Cozumel... It looks like the Ocean Dream for me...

 

The Ocean Dream is what we were on a year and a half ago. It was our first cruise so we didn't have much to compare it to. We loved it though. I'm sure the steady flow of drinks helped us like it even more. In my opinion, you couldn't tell it was as old as it was. It has been cleaned up nicely. I think the big realization of how old it is was when we would park next to one of the new ships at a port. I also think there are only 12 rooms with balconies. Looking at the pictures of the Horizon I see a BIG difference though. The Horizon looks much better. For example, it looks like the Horizon has windows in the dining room. The Ocean Dream doesn't. But maybe that isn't a big deal.

 

thanks for sharing the pics. I'm excited about being on a different boat. I wonder if it is a Mexican thing or a Horizon thing that you were not given ice. We had a fresh ice bucket supplied in our room twice a day along with the big bottles of water.

[miamoo]

Hi, I am thinking of booking a mini cruise from malaga in oct/nov this year but trying to work out if this ship will be right for us. Can I ask do you have to leave the ship when it docks? if you are allowed to reamin on the ship do all facilities remain open? thanks

[mcdermott]

I think you willfind that this is the Empress there is nothing wrng with this ship we did the same cruise as you last year and had a great time so much so we are on the ship in Septmber sailing from A Coruna to Malaga

 

This is a cruise ship not a prison ship of course you can leave the ship but make sure you are back in time for sailing for it will sail with out if you are not

 

I take it you are not Spanish but dont worry about the language we found an awful lot of the crew spoke English and were happy to do so announcements were also in Enlish as well as Spanish and Portugese

 

Any other questions please ask :)

[pgintct]

I think you willfind that this is the Empress there is nothing wrng with this ship we did the same cruise as you last year and had a great time so much so we are on the ship in Septmber sailing from A Coruna to Malaga

 

This is a cruise ship not a prison ship of course you can leave the ship but make sure you are back in time for sailing for it will sail with out if you are not

 

I take it you are not Spanish but dont worry about the language we found an awful lot of the crew spoke English and were happy to do so announcements were also in Enlish as well as Spanish and Portugese

 

Any other questions please ask :)

We are doing a 4 night on the Empress in October. I am just a bit nervous now after reading the information about the smoking policies on Pullmantur ships. I just hope that they really do not allow smoking in the dining room.

 

 

[T. Advisor King]

This cruise sounds great. I'd like to hear more about passenger demographics and the "feel" of the ship-board experience.

 

My favourite cruise of all time was a Louis Cruise out of Greece last summer. We sail mainly the mass markets (Carnival, etc) because of ports, itineraries and price, but I sure prefer the feel of the smaller-production lines.

 

The mass market cruise lines cater to passengers who are on cruises to have their needs fulfilled. They want the best of everything and the best of service (but aren't necessarily willing to pay for it -- some are, some aren't). The cruise lines have a very strict formula and what I think is an over-produced way of serving up their product. Service is not just about service, it is about being seen to be giving good service. It is not enough that the hallways are vacuumed regularly. They need to have passengers see those hallways being cleaned and to have each and every crew member look you in the eye and greet you personally as you walk from the pool to the cabin. The simplest passenger announcement isn't just an announcement, it is a carefully scripted and choreographed presentation from Cruise Line Head Office, letting you know all the great things about the cruise and commending you for making such a wise choice by sailing with them.

 

I'm a very low maintenance person. I don't go out for fancy, expensive meals when I'm on vacation because usually I just don't think those kind of meals are very fun most of the time. I don't need to be waited on hand-and-foot, nor do I particularly want to be. I'm not interested in the Captain's party, the returning guest party or the art auction.

 

I just like a ship with comfortable cabins that lets me soak up the sun on a hot Caribbean day or take me to a fantastic port of call, whether that be in Europe, the tropics or somewhere else.

[Railwaylass]

Glad to see some info on here about this cruise line as I am thinking of booking the Zenith from Athens Oct 2012. I have finally convinced my best friend to try cruising and she has agreed only because she wants to visit Egypt and the rate we were quoted for a balcony is so good, especially being AI.

 

I am anxious to visit Egypt myself, as my DH and I had booked an MSC cruise last year specifically for that port but we ended up elsewhere due to the political situation - we still had a spectacular time though!

 

I have been a bit worried that on Pullmantur, inexpensive might mean shabby and that this possibly out-of-the-mainstream sort of experience might not lend itself to my friend getting a true idea about how fantastic cruising is, but I'm really encouraged hearing about everyone's experience!

 

Anyone been on the Zenith? And is the food the usual cruise fare or is it more Spanish in selection?