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Minerva II in Central America |
| Reviewed By: Hall, PEWSEY on 4th Mar 2008 |
| Cruise Line: Swan Hellenic |
Times cruised before: 10+ |
| Cruise Ship: Minerva II |
Sailed:
January,
2006 |
| Destination: North America |
Age: 65+ |
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My wife and I love cruising and in particular we enjoy visiting several countries, that we have never been to before, in a fortnight; a voyage in Minerva II in Central America looked like the perfect holiday for us. We joined the ship on the West coast of Costa Rica after an exausting flight to its capital, San Jose, from Gatwick by Charter Flight via a refuelling stop in the Dominican Republic. If you can afford it avoid such flights and use a scheduled one. On arrival in San Jose there was still a winding drive of 50 miles to go before we boarded Minerva II and then everything fell into place. There were the smiling members of the Crew to guide us to our cabins and to serve us an extraordinarly late meal. We awoke, refreshed, the next day and fell into a perfect routine, for us at least, and I believe for 99% of the other passengers.
Each day a seection of excursions was available, included in the cost of our ticket - sometimes there were two half day excursions rather than a whole day one.We had picked where we wanted to go before we left England but it was not essential to do so. Each evening there were briefings about the next counrty we were to visit, its history , culture and customs - these were normally given by former Britsh Ambassadors to these very countries, erudite botanists or historians. We visited Costa Rica (staying in port for our first day aboad),Nicaragua,Honduras,El Salvador,Guatamala, two ports on the coast of Western Mexico and finished in San Francisco. To us the highlights were the high standards of everything on the ship, seeing the people of Central America at work and play, the massive cathedrals,rows and rows of active volcanos smoking away, watching whales off Mexico's Capo San Lucas and entering San Francisco Bay under the Golden Gate Bridge. I was 67 years old but was amazed how many in their 70s and 80s were aboard. We would give the cruise 9 out of 10; all in all a great trip and the tips were included in the cruise price!
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| Quality of Food |  |
| Main Dining Room
Seafood | | Entertainment |  |
| The best were local players who came on board at the ports where we stopped | | Shore Excursions | |
| Copan in Honduras | | Staff |  |
| No paticular member of the crew stands out; I found all charming | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| We had no children, as far as I could see, with us | | Onboard Activities | |
| Yes | | Cabins | |
| Yes but we always take an inside cabin as we are seldom in our cabin except at night | | Overall Rating | |
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