Hi people. Just got a letter in the post to say that the Funchal and the Daphne arn't coming to Australia for the 2008/2009 season due to rising fuel costs, and that they are going to replace these two ships with the Athena. My question is, has anyone been on the Athena, and what is she like. I have been investigating, and she looks like a nicer ship, but then read a couple of reviews from another site, and they were terrible, one even went as far to say that she should be on the bottom of the ocean
If anyone can enlighten me I would really appreciate it. This is our first cruise so we have no idea.

shazz_1958,

while I haven't been onboard "Funchal", I have been on both "Princess Daphne" (currently still named "Ocean Monarch") and "Athena".

On paper, "Athena" is the oldest of the three. Built in 1948 as the "Stockholm", she is the very ship that rammed and sank the "Andrea Doria" in 1956! However, she was totally rebuilt in the early 1990ers. Her bare, empty hulk was used to build an almost completely new ship with all-new machinery and all-new accommodations and public spaces. So, essentially you will be traveling on a ship completed in 1994.

IMHO "Athena" is vastly superior to "Princess Daphne", even though the latter one has fairly spacious cabins.

Thanks for that Raoul. How did you find the service, this is what the reviews seemed to be complaining about, and I understand now when I read it should be the Athena instead of the Andrea Doria at the bottom of the ocean. From what you say, it seems we will be cruising on a fairly modern ship thanks again

shazz_1958,

CIC's ships have a maximum of three stars, so you have to keep in mind that you're sailing on a ship which is rated somewhat lower than most of the large mass-market lines' ships.

My experience with "Athena" stems from the time when she operated under charter on the German market, so it is essentially of no value to you as on ships operating under charter, service, Food and other "software" items depend on what the charterer invests / spends. "Athena" has been operating for Spanish operator Vision Cruises this (northern) summer.

thanks Raoul, might have a look for Vision Cruises and see what they have to say. As I said this is the first time for us, so I will keep in mind that they are only 3 star. The cruise is just a weekend at sea, so I guess it is not like we will be spending a couple of weeks on her, so if it is really poor we only have a couple of days to put up with it.