"Misdescribed and poor value service"
We took the Anek Lines ferry to Igoumenitsa from Venice this summer, with two young children, mostly to ensure them some comfort and minimise the amount of time they would spend cooped up in the car. The trip was not as expected...
First the positives: the cabin we booked was clean and comfortable, though the air-con did not work on the outbound trip which made the room rather hot and stuffy (no opening windows of course!).
Other than that, the experience was pretty poor:
The port in Venice is quite hard to find and not a great deal of guidance is provided as to its location
Poor signage in the ship makes it tricky to navigate into the passenger areas from the car deck - which is a problem if you have to literally squeeze between lorry trailers carrying baggage...
We found the staff terse and unfriendly (with a couple of exceptions)
Food was awful (though not excessively priced)
A large number of passengers camp on the deck, either outside with hammocks, tents, inflatable mattresses, or in the corridors outside your cabin. Ferry or refugee repatriation craft?
The stairs between decks are very steep and I managed to trip down them on the outbound, badly twisting my knee
The brochures show passengers enjoying a swimming pool, but on the boat - there is none... This is no cruise ship.
There are no facilities whatsoever for children, no playground, no TV zone, nothing at all. 26 hours (minimum) is a long time to spend staring at a mobile phone...
The ferry was late leaving and arriving both on the outbound and again on the return - as confirmed by other passengers who had previously used the boat, this is apparently a common occurrence
On the return trip our cabin did not have any shower gel. As the ship had run out we were requested to use the shampoo instead...
Without exaggeration, a cross-channel ferry between Dover and Calais is larger, has more facilities and is more comfortable
Given that the trip takes 26hrs (minimum), I would absolutely recommend anyone to drive rather than take this ferry. It is really quite expensive (fuel for 1,000km, a nice hotel and a good evening meal for a family of four would be massively cheaper), and the same trip can be completed in roughly the same time, driving.
Anek Lines? Not good...
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Overall Rating:
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General:
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Catering:
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Cleanliness:
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Staff:
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Punctuality:
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Recommended?
No
Reviewed by who travelled with Anek Superfast on Forza
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