Pullmantur cruises are here

Just like everyone else involved in cruising for example travel agents, passengers, ship staff etc I love to visit a ship I have not been on before and yesterday I got to do that, in fact not only had I not been on the ship I had not even heard of the cruise line until 2 weeks ago.

Well the ship was the Empress and the cruise line was Pullmantur, Spains leading cruise line operator.

First impressions of boarding the ship gave me that feel of walking into a good, large 3-4 star Spanish hotel, the decor, flowers and evergreens, the smell and the lifts and stairways all had the Spanish touch. Good, I like Spain.

So that was first impressions, now to learn a little about the ship and Pullmantur.

Pullmantur are a Spanish cruise line and proudly boast to being a ‘Floating Spain’, the company is owned by royal Caribbean and has 4 ships, 2 passed on from Royal Caribbean (the Empress of the Seas and the the Sovereign of the Seas) and 2 from Celebrity, the Horizon and the Zenith.

The Empress is a mid size ship with 1877 passenger capacity and a 48,000 ton weight.

So if they are a floating Spain what about their English passengers? Well they were honest enough to say all their entertainment came with that spanish flavour but all announcements and staff addressed in both Spanish and English and all litrature catered for the english too.

So i’m walking around, looking at the facilities on the ship and come across 1 of many bars, this 1 next to the pool area on the top deck and the waiter offers me a drink, ‘anything you like’ he tells me, anything? What about a cocktail I ask, of course sir he replies this is part of the All Inclusive package!!! That’s right, Pullmantur are an All Inclusive cruise line and yes, cocktails are included in this. This is great news, while more cruise lines are now offering All Inclusive at a supplement I find it hard to make this turn into value for money, I mean I do like a good drinking session every now and then and would definately get my monies worth on 1 or 2 nights but not over a period of 7 to 14 days.

The ship was launched in 1989 and had a re-fit in 2008, still some areas looked like they had missed out on the re-fit but then there were other areas that looked great.

My favourite was the Wu Lounge Bar and Fusion resturant, this certainly would not have looked out of place on a luxury cruise ship and offered Asian fusion dishes and tapa’s, it had its own bar and the waiter seemed proud of his cocktails, although All Inclusive this resturant has a 20 euro service charge and you pay for your drinks but it is a must for the experience and a definate if you’re celebrating an occasion.

Set dining times are a little later than what we may be used to, 7.15 and 9.15 but as I said earlier it is a floating Spain. There is a buffet resturant as an alternative and of course the Wu Lounge resturant.

During a weeks cruising you can expect 1 formal evening, if you’re a fan of this then a good opportunity to make a big effort, if your not a fan then great, it’s just 1 night out of the 7.

My dining experience was in the buffet resturant, lots to choose from too, hot, cold, salads and pastas, rice dishes and vegartarian dishes and even Lobster. Not the paella only I arrogantly thought it may have been, and then plenty of desserts.

There was always a waiter on hand taking drink orders, no chasing after them or queing at the bar and to make the drinking taste that bit better there is no 15% service charge.

However gratuities are added to your room account at 72 Euros per person per week, but when you look at what you get this is worth it and did I not mention, kids only pay port taxes of around £160, the cruise fare itself is free and children are classed upto 16!!!!

I did find the cabins to be a bit on the small side but they were all very modern and comfortable and had flat screen TVs. the Junior Suite cabins looked great and felt great and all come with balconies.

With cruise fares this October from £599 per adult including flights from all London airports, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds Bradford, £649 from Belfast and £699 from Glasgow Prestwick this really is value for money cruising.

Watch out for Pullmantur, they are filling a gap that is in the British cruising market, in fact don’t watch out, join in and experience it.