Cruising with Pullmantur

[Kazzygirl]

On ‎4‎/‎25‎/‎2019 at 4:10 AM, jeepndd said:

So, we have cruised on one European line in the past, Costa, and the least likable thing about it were the fellow passengers.  Many were friendly and out going and no matter the line there will always be people who aren't so much but our experience on Costa was an inordinate number of the latter.  Would the guests of Pullmantur, in your experience, be mostly delightful or not so much?  

Having sailed both Costa and Pullmantur I have found they do not cater to the English speaker at all.It has really depended on who else on board spoke English and trying to meet up with them.It was a hit and miss . I had even singed up for supposed English shore excursions only to be told on the bus that it would be in Spanish even though there were 10 of us the required min among the packed bus ! What the ???? But they are cheap so its a hard to resist !

[mackfam]

Considering a Pullmantur cruise for the Med in 2020. Wondering what the typical age demographic is on their ships and whether there would be many 20 somethings as thinking about bringing along our adult kids.

[FOXYDEBBY]

I booked the Sovereign May 16 2020. There will be 10 of us Americans, ranging in age from 19 to 75. There will be 3 “kids”, 19, 21 and 23 I think. We are all looking forward to going even though we don’t speak Spanish, but a few of us are trying to learn a wee bit with Duolingo. My sis booked us this cruise and has been on it years ago and said it’s great.

[Stockjock]

I've only been on the Horizon once.  This was my experience.

1. The ships are unmistakably older.  While they are maintained, if you want a state-of-the-art new cruise ship, this might not be for you.  At the time I sailed Horizon, both Horizon and MSC Divina got a 4-star review.  That blew me away, as the MSC ship was head and shoulders nicer than Horizon.

2. The food is simple but generally very good.  Not fancy preparations or super expensive meals, but what we ate was quite tasty.  The desserts were also very good.

3. Drinks are usually included.  This can save you a lot of money and most of the drinks were pretty good.  If you find a bartender you like, tip him.  He'll likely take good care of you for the rest of the cruise.

4. Americans are very much in the minority, but most crew members will speak pretty good english.

5. Entertainment is decent.

6.  These older ships are small, but there are advantages.  They can dock in places that the mega-ships cannot.  They are easier to get around.

7. Pricing is typically very good.  These ships don't have many balconies due to their age, so there's usually a big price differential between oceanview and balcony categories.

I wrote a pretty comprehensive review on Horizon a few years back, so maybe take a look at that and some of the other reviews.  Maybe I'll link to it:

My review of Pullmantur Horizon