Hi Smokey,
You pinched my question to Fay, I wanted to know why there was not so much as a syllable written about other ten pounders in the report, then l realized that there is more on the way. If l am not mistaken this was just a precis; the best is yet to come.

Was a visit to the offices of M.S.C. an own goal l wonder Fay? No upgrade, faulty crockery, hissing radio? Oh dear. It isn't British is it? My sign is Libra, the scales, so in all fairess l have to declare my admiration for you on the word processing front. I am so envious of the fact that you belted along seamlessly,and with such pithy narrative. Have you done this before? Travel writers beware,those who sit at the foot of the greasy pole that is journalism get itchy feet.

Surely you must have though that there was always the chance that you would not be given the title Melody Mermaid 2005 by your fellow post and pre cruisers when you wrote this pessimistic account laced with gloom and cynicism?

Joan.

I will have to get a bigger suitcase if I have to take flannel and waste bin. vivien

Thank you scarlet for the pictures. Happy, suntanned, sober looking HT members.
dizzy

Glad you like the photos Dizzy. These are of course the censored ones. Notice there are none shown after 9pm!!

Scarlet.x.

hi fay,
i was just wondering as you were in an Inside cabin ,how were the light bulbs and were there enough of them to put on your make-up,oh and did you try the hairdressers and beauty salon?
kate

Thanks for your review Fay. I personally find all reviews worth reading. Any and all information is gratefully received. Better to be prepared.
I totally agree about the Alitalia flight and had posted previously - however hopefully things will have improved by 11th July. I am excited about the cruise and still won't believe it till I'm on the gangplank. I didn't like the sound of all the queuing you had to do, especially the fiasco with the excursion tickets. Usually these things run like clockwork - obviously because they do them all the time. Its a wee bit worrying if they can't get the basics right. Usually when you're with your husband you can get a perspective on these things but when you're on your own things do worry you more. I still don't know which tours I should book thru the ship and which ones I should tackle on my own. I am hoping more Melodians will post reviews and I'll get a better idea before July.
Thanks again for taking the trouble to post your review.

I agree that all reviews are worth reading, good and bad, to get a rounded and fair picture. But in my opinion they have to be relevant to everyone's prospective experiences and not just things which affect oneself.

Broken windscreen wipers, drunks in the loo and where you sat in the plane are not, just to mention a few, things that are likely to affect mine or anyone else's enjoyment of our own holidays yet to come.

I can understand that should one be affected by things that annoy and irritate it could spoil the holiday but wouldn't it be fairer to those yet to travel to be a little more equal-handed with positives as well?

Alli

scarlet.......... thanks for the photos good to see some pics from the ship

Firstly, I'm glad most other Melodians had such a great time, and I hope all present and future ones do too. I had high expectations, and if I'd known then what I know now I would have lowered them and not been so bitterly disappointed - which is why I chose to post in such detail, in the hope others (especially people who have cruised before) will have fewer (if any) disappointments. I wanted to provide a list of things that could go wrong, and while I expected plenty of flak for my efforts I didn't expect the tirade. Whenever I started to think things weren't so bad after all and started to enjoy myself, something else went wrong. Yes, I did enjoy the company of so many Brits, as I think I made clear, but you get that on every ship. I loved the excursions, again I think I said that earlier, though I couldn't understand everything that was said.

Allisu - I'm not answering PMs as I want to end this saga asap - but I don't agree with your criticisms - I tried to give as much info as possible not because I'm insensitive but because I was trying to lower other people's expectations. I've now caught up with the forum, and I agree with those who praised Ayesha, she was excellent - sorry, that was one of the points I forgot. Another was that I wasn't the only person to have problems with excursion tickets - the crew member in charge stood near the coaches with a pile of them before every excursion, checking her list and handing them out to other passengers too.

MEH - I was on Bahamas deck, yes there's a hairdryer - and shampoo and soap are replenished twice daily.

No, there's no self-service buffet in the evening, only for breakfast and lunch, so if you're late back from an excursion I've no idea what the procedure is - unless you want to wait for the midnight food.

Anthony Haines - I thanked the crew profusely too, I don't know where you got the idea I didn't. They were mostly excellent, hardworking and helpful.

I certainly DID have lots of fun, as I think I explained, but new problems appeared at frequent intervals (again, I think I made that clear). As for the recycled food, I was far from the only person to notice that.

I'm really sorry if I've upset you, but whenever I've glossed over difficult truths in the past I've had reasons to regret it - and have tried to learn from my mistakes.

Have a great cruise everybody, with lots of fun.

Fay

ps The drunk in the loo didn't spoil my fun, nor did several of the other things I listed - I just wanted to prepare future Melodians about what could happen, then you don't get such a shock if they do.

Hi folks
Can somebody tell me where to see all the photographs that have been mentioned?

Hi Wull,
If you go to the "photo galleries" at the top of this page, click on page 2 - Cruise Photo Album. Picture on right hand side says "Album: New Photos Cruise May 2005"

Scarlet.

Hi Meeeeyyyy

I think you have misunderstood - rather than explain again on here as I feel we have probably left this subject behind I am sending you a pm. It's ok - I don't need you to reply.

Alli

Thank you for the information re-hairdryer etc. Fay.

This may have been mentioned by someone but, the older one gets, the more the memory goes. Are tips added to the onboard account? There is no mention of this in the documents from MSC.

I don't care if there is no face flannel - I never use one!

I agree with Fay that you should look at both sides to be prepared before you go. We all have different expectations. Like Myles, I have only cruised QE2, but he was quite happy on the Melody so I am going by what he said although I don't think I would like the drunks in the toilet either.

I must remember my camera and take some photos inside the cabin. I usually forget it and have to use the camera on my cell 'phone! The problem here is that I don't know how to download from the 'phone!

Maureen H.

Scarlet

Thanks for info re pics as they are not in the same place as yesterday and I spent ages trying to find them today! Are there just the 5 or are there some more pending? (or have you told us this already and I've missed it?!)

Alli

Hi
link to Scarlet's photos

Fay thanks for your reviews, just helps us all not to expect to much and hopefully we will all be surprised if it turns out different.
Some of us are still not fully believing its going to happen till were on board anyway!

Now from reading the other reviews, (not many yet) everything looks good when you had that many ding dongs

Peter

If anyone wants to do Pompeii independently there is some good information here:

http://www.rebecca-east.com/traveltoPompeii.html

...and train timetables here:

http://orario.trenitalia.com/b2c/TimeTable?stazin=naples&stazout=pompeii&datag=27&datam=09&dataa=2005&timsh=14&timsm=00&lang=en&nreq=5&channel=tcom

Looks like there may be a problem getting to the photo gallery

just tried the link earlier on this page and the link from the top of the page and neither are working

looks as if i will have to try and look @ them later