Early in April this year my wife and I were invited by Louis Lines along with many other European travel agents, to go to the South of France to see one of their ships, the Orient Queen which has recently undergone a full refit at great expense to its owners.
Louis Lines are a budget cruise operator based in Cyprus and are the fifth largest independent cruise line in the world. Of course many won’t have heard of them but to give you an idea of who they are they Thomson Holidays charter The Calypso, The Emerald and, Thomson Destiny from Louis who have only recently purchased 2 ships, the Norwegian Dream and Norwegian Majesty from Star Cruises which they are chartering back to them unti 2009. So this gives an idea of their cruise ships.
We picked up the Orient Queen in Marseille and were wined and dined on our arrival.
Although the ship has a 3 star rating the food was of excellent quality and the Mermaid restaurant was both traditional and intimate and was very well laid out. Staff were very attentive and always smiled!
Bedrooms on the Orient Queen are all equipped with air-conditioning, telephone, plasma TV
and bathroom with shower though some premium rooms have a bathtub. There is quite a variation in size with inside twins being quite small and basic.
However for those wanting more room there is a larger superior or premium room available.
This is also the same with the ocean view rooms though if you feel flush there are 29 suites and 5 huge royal suites to choose from. The room we had for the night was an outside twin which we found acceptable except for the paper thin walls which meant that we could hear everything next door from our noisy ‘neighbours’!
There are 4 accommodation decks on the Orient Queen and 7 decks in all plus a panoramic deck where the second level of the Venus Bar is.
The Reflections Bar has a very low ceiling which is more noticeable when someone is smoking (yes you can smoke in the bar) so we tended to spend time out on the boat deck where there is a lovely tabled area to the rear with waiter service.
The show lounge reminded me of a 1970’s night club with velour seating but it was quite well arranged. The entertainment was pretty decent as the acts, so we were told, were British.
There is also a nice (but small ) fitness centre on the sun deck next to an ice-cream parlour and sports shop.
The reception area has a lovely quaint fountain next to some soft furnishings and opposite is an avenue of shops selling duty free goods.
We cruised overnight to Nice and spent the next morning in port enjoying both the wonderful French sunshine and a good quality glass of Bordeaux!
The Orient Queen is cruising out of Genoa for much of the year on a series of 10-day Greek cruises calling at such places as Piraeus (for Athens), Patmos, Mykonos, Santorini and Katakolon but also has 2 8-day cruises to Libya and Malta on 4th & 12th November.
To summarize, the Orient Queen offers budget cruising at excellent value-for-money with cruise only prices from as little as £319 per person for a 6 day cruise out of Nice and from £539 per person for a 10 day cruise out of Genoa. There are a number of budget flights from numerous UK airports and when you consider that all food and entertainment is included you’ve got yourself a cheap holiday.
Louis Lines, incidentally, operates 4 other ships with some really nice 7 night Mediterranean cruise itineraries out of either Genoa or Marseille from £349 per person on the Coral and 2 3-day Greek cruises out of Piraeus on either the Perla or the Aquamarine from £139 per person. At the moment Cruise Maestro can offer a 2 for 1 on some dates so add yourself a few days in a hotel on and enjoy the best of a cruise and stay holiday for next-to-nothing.
Their other remaining ship, the Cristal has 2-7 day itineraries which include stops at Istanbul and/or Alexandria in Egypt from £369.