| Holiday-Truth Readers Reports |
 Mrs Bush from Cheam/Surrey sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Portland(Thomsons)
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10
2009 |
Mrs Bush
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness |  | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Mrs Bush said: My mum and I sailed on the Thomson Spirit (Jewels of the Med) on 9th October and we enjoyed ourselves very much. I had sailed on the Thomson Celebration in January of this year with my husband to celebrate his 50th birthday and had an outside cabin on the 2nd deck, so I thought I would try an inside cabin to see what it was like. It was fine, there wasn't much vibration but the only thing I missed was seeing what the weather was like in the morning! The cabins are spacious enough with plenty of wardrobe space and the shower is very good. The cabin staff were amazing and left little towel animals for us in the evening and chocolates on the pillows. The cabins were kept immaculate. The weather was a bit hit and miss but most days we were able to sit on deck for a couple of hours after returning from our excursions.
As neither of us had been on this particular cruise before there were lots of places we wished to see. We decided early on to book the Thomson excursions and we attended the Destinations Presentation before booking the same. We went on the Sicily Panoramic Tour which was a little pricey I thought but our guide was very knowledgeable and made the trip interesting. Sardinia was beautiful and we went on the trip to La Madelena also very pretty and definitely worth a trip, although don't waste your time going into the cafe recommended by the guide "Garibaldis" we were totally ignored and not even given a menu to look at so we got up and left. Your time is best spent looking around the town, make sure you go to the loo on the ferry as there didn't seem to be anywhere to go on La Madelena!!! We went on the trip to Sorrento/Amalfi, I was so looking forward to this trip but unfortunately the weather wasn't great and it didn't show the two places off to their best effect. Sorrento was busy, had two coffees outside a little bar and it cost over 6Euros, which I think is pretty steep but that was nothing to compare to the cost of two ice creams (albeit big delicious ones) in Amalfi which cost 10 Euros, the guy asked me did I want to sit down outside, I nearly fell down. This was a very long day but once again the guide was excellent, and there was plenty of time in both places to look around yourselves.
My favourite destination was the trip to Port Grimaud/St Tropez, this was a lovely day, Port Grimaud is a lovely pretty place and St Tropez was much nicer than I had expected it to be, ice creams only 2.75Euros:) St Tropez old town is very pretty and definitely worth a visit. My mum and I had both been to Barcelona before, because the ship docks right in the centre of Barcelona there is really no need to go on an organised trip. If you get off the ship you can go on a sightseeing bus for 21Euros, excellent value, you can get off and on when you like and it goes the whole way round Barcelona. La Rambla is fabulous and definitely worth a visit. Don't forget the market, it was great.
All in all the cruise was great, the ship, the food and entertainment are all first class and I would definitely go on it again. Have to try the Destiny/Calypso before though.
I hope this has helped anyone wishing to book.
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Bev from Ampthill sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2009 |
Bev
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness |  | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Bev said: We had a superb holiday to the Norwegian Fjiords on the Thompson Spirit.
The staff were absolutely fantastic and I mean everyone. Our cabin was kept beautiful all week, towels changed daily and the room attended to twice a day. The food was excellent. Our waiters were so attentive that we chose to stay with them in the Compass restaurant every evening, but the waiters in the Lido and out on the decks were also very friendly and helpful.
The entertainment team were great but I have to say I really enjoyed the comedian, Lloyd Hollett, his shows were hilarious. Obviously, Lloyd was staying on the ship all week and all credit to him, he was very friendly and willing to chat to passengers in his own free time, even when he was out on trips.
I would definitely travel on the Spirit again. I liked the fact that it wasn't a huge ship, I liked the interaction from the staff, the cleanliness of the ship, the choice of activities and entertainment and the quality of the tours we went on. I have done two med cruises in the past with another company and this one was far better. |
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Hendry from Edinburgh sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2009 |
Hendry
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness |  | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment |  |
| Hendry said: The serious complaint we have was the stench of sewerage on the main deck No 5. It was there throught our cruise. On disembarking at Newcastle the sewerage and I finally met on deck 6. This was overflowing from the gents toilet and about to exit the room. No one was cleaning it up! It was reported. I must say I cannot abide blocked toilets for any reason, there is absolutely no excuse to allow sewerage to egress from a vaccum system. So for that reason I would not use Thomson again. This was our first cruise which was totally ruined. Thomson Spirit was carrying on to Harwich and I dread to think of the poor unsuspecting passengers being faced with what we had endured. It would come as no surprise if an outbreak of dysentery results, will wait and see. |
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jenny from Birmingham sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2009 |
jenny
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| jenny said: the cabine crew and entertainment staff were excellent. especially Strum Jam the band in the Horizon Lounge.
Unfortunately the captain never showed himself, not even at the captains party; to top this we hardly ever docked and opted for the cheaper option of tenders which caused real problems for many holiday makers. Norway was wonderful but I'd never user the Thomson Spirit again without some assurances of improvements.
Check prices as even though we paid early to ensure discount (thats what they told us) many people actually got 2 for 1 plus other discounts as thomson got desperate to fill the rooms |
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Goff from Neath sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thompsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 4
2009 |
Goff
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Goff said: Just returned from our first cruise on the Thompson Spirit to on the Red Sea Magic cruise,the ship was spotless, crew even varnishing the handrailing whilst in port.Our cabin should have been deck 3/4, but we ended up on deck which was better, our two chambermaids were from the Ukraine, they couldn't do enough for us.
The food was ok, could have been a bit hotter for me, soon seemed to get cold, enjoyed the Captain's night.The staff were outstanding, all ways with a good morning etc, always smiling, & very polite.
Spent most nightS in the Broadway, the team there were very professional, & worked extremely hard every night.
Would definately go on the Spirit again, fancy the Baltis cruises later this year. |
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Bella from Cumbria. sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 1 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 3
2009 |
Bella
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Bella said: THOMSON ‘SPIRIT’ RED SEA CRUISE. 26TH MARCH 2009 FOR 7 NIGHTS
I have posted in May 2009. All Excursion prices quoted correct March 2009 under ‘Ports of Call’ below.
THE SHIP VERSUS PRICE
I give Thomson ‘Spirit’ 5 Stars purely because of the excellent price of £435pp for Cabin 403 - quite a discount on brochure price (incl flights from Luton). Booked one week before departure direct with Thomson. If we had made a decision to book a couple of days earlier there was availability on a lower deck at a cheaper price - less than £300 pp (incl flights).
Any price approaching brochure price (and we met people who had) I would give it 3 Star because it is a 3 Star ship. Nothing wrong in that at all - it’s a great little ship (but it does come under Budget Cruise Category). I am not saying Budget Cruising to be derogatory - just telling you what to expect - it is not RCI / Princess etc. This was our second time on ‘Spirit’, so we knew what to expect. Yes, we would sail on her again if the price was right. Don’t expect any ‘glitz’.
Many people say on Forums they have had a 5 Star cruise on ‘Spirit’. Don’t let this confuse you. They are saying they have had excellent value for money. In the nicest possible way, here is an explanation:- you can have a 5 Star shopping experience at Lidl or Netto because the price is excellent for what you are buying but the store aesthetics are basic, so you know you are not shopping in Harrods Food Hall. Compare prices before you book Thomson or any other cruise line on internet, teletext, weekend newspapers. Sometimes there is very little price difference between Thomson and the real 4 Star ships.
Really lovely passengers on ‘Spirit’ (another Thomson cruises we have been on), that is without doubt.
‘Spirit’ is 26 years old (1983) – very old by cruise ship standards. A ‘higgledy-piggledy’ looking little ship from the outside. Small, 33,930 tonnes. 1254 passengers. ‘Spirit’ is well known for its vibration problems. Sometimes when watching a show, passengers visibly ‘wobbled’ in their seats.
‘Spirit’ is kept immaculate.
Thomson charge £12 PER WEEK for use of safe in your cabin. Greedy I think.
This particular cruise probably not suite to young children. The ship is small, so not a huge amount in the fun department for them, plus the long coach journeys to places of interest.
We did see ‘Costa Europa’ following us. Tonnage 54,763. 1,488 passengers. Complete refurbishment 2002 (built 1986). Looked very nice, and very sleek compared to ‘Spirit’, even though there is only three years age difference. Remember though, ‘Costa’ are an Italian cruise line, so English passengers will definitely be in the minority after Italian, Spanish, German.
I will make an attempt to add some photographs under ‘Photo Galleries’ over the next few days (after 8.5.09). Never done this before, so can’t promise. Hopefully, if it works, there will be lots of the ‘Spirit’, plus ports of call to show ‘what you see is what you get’.
ENTERTAINMENT
Once again, based on the price we paid, the entertainment (shows) were good. I am going to be very honest and say they are NOT London ‘West End’ standard (although they may well perform excerpts from West End Shows) and with the greatest respect, anybody who says they are West End standard has not been to a London West End show. Your excellent local amateur dramatics probably performs West End Shows too!! SOME of the boys’ costumes were definitely ‘one-size-fits-all’, you could see where they had been taken in / let out, taken up / let down several times, because the young team come and go throughout the season, chasing the next best assignment. Some of the boys’ costumes also lacked style.
The song/dance team certainly worked very hard every night, and seemed to get very little free time with all their other duties and rehearsals. They also put on two lunch time plays, which were very good.
The big glitzy modern-day 4 Star / 5 Star cruise ships do have shows on par with London West End shows, but ‘Spirit’ is 3 Star - not 4 Star.
The guest comedian Taffy Spencer was very funny (March 2009).
There are also quiz nights, karaoke etc.
CAPTAINS FORMAL NIGHT
Why did they do this on an excursion day instead of a sea day? Do passengers not complain or are Thomson too arrogant to listen to passengers? We were assigned first sitting in Compass Rose Restaurant (this is the only night there is first & second sitting, the rest of the time its open sitting). We arrived back from our Wadi Rum excursion at 5.40pm (our ETA). Unfortunately, Captains Drinks Reception for first sitting started at 5.00p.m - 40 minutes BEFORE we arrived back on the ship. First sitting dinner was 6.00p.m, giving us 20 minutes to RUN back to cabin, two people to shower and dress in formal wear. Nothing short of contempt for passengers by Thomson. The Maitre’D said he would allow us entry to the dining room up to 6.05 p.m. before closing the doors. I can’t say he was being rude because he was polite, just stating the fact!! We did ask in advance to swap to second sitting because we were on an excursion, but we were told over 100 people were ahead of us wanting to swap to second sitting. Captains Formal Night is a very special night for a lot of people, especially if it’s your first cruise, and it was absolutely ruined. Missing the Captains Drinks Reception did not really bother us because we have been on many, but that’s not the point, it was spoilt for many passengers.
CABINS
Our cabin was 403 (standard inside). Perfectly adequate (small) and we never felt the need to pay more for a bigger cabin. Our cabin had no vibration problems. My only criticism, the air conditioning was not very efficient. There are no balcony cabins on ‘Spirit’.
There are no tea / coffee making facilities in cabins, but you can make yourself tea / coffee 24-hours in the self-service ‘Lido’ restaurant.
FOOD – VERY GOOD, ONCE AGAIN BASED ON PRICE WE PAID
‘Compass Rose’ restaurant is Waiter service (smart casual dress minimum requirement). Evening dinner available 18.30hrs – 22.00hrs. Just turn up when you want and you will be seated at available table.
‘Lido’ restaurant is self-service (casual dress at all times is OK, but you would be expected to cover over swim wear).
‘Snack Bar & Pizza Oven’.
‘Sirocco’s’. Located at the back of ‘Compass Rose Restaurant’. There is a cover charge of £17pp.
CINEMA
A good size cinema. Films shown on this 7-day cruise were ‘Mamma Mia’ ‘ Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ ‘Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ ‘Burn After Reading’ ‘Hamlet 2’ ‘Tropic Thunder’. Each film is shown four times a day.
POOLS
Two pools and one Jacuzzi. Not really big enough to call swimming pool, more plunge pools, although one is quite deep.
TOP DECK
Is high fenced off for kids to kick a ball around, but there is no official supervision.
PORTS OF CALL – THIS WILL CERTAINLY ADD TO THE COST OF YOUR HOLIDAY
Be aware, there is very little actual cruising on this itinerary (take a look at the itinerary on a map) and the ports you dock at are working industrial ports, NOT beach tourist ports. Don’t expect Caribbean type ports where the beautiful beaches are right where you dock. On the only sea day the ship sails very slowly because it has such a short distance to travel. If you are looking for a quick ‘cheapie’ holiday and say to yourself “I will just stay on board and enjoy the scenery from the deck”, this is NOT the cruise you for you.
There is lot of coach travel time to the places of interest. The excursions are not cheap (see below), but they are value for money.
PORT NO. 1
AQABA, JORDAN – DAY 1 (this is an overnight port).
We did ‘Wadi Rum – 4x4 Desert Adventure’. Great fun.
Largest and most magnificent of Jordan’s dessert landscapes. Excursion ends with refreshments in Bedouin tent.
Cost £32 adult. Child £20. Excursion duration 5 hours. Journey time from ship to Wadi Rum probably 45 minutes. Excellent value for money.
OTHER EXCURSION OPTIONS AQABA DAY 1
Movenpick Hotel Beach Transfer - Cost £18.00 adult. Child £9. Excursion duration 4½ hours.
FREE Shuttle Bus into Aqaba town (not very far away, could probably walk). Shuttle bus also runs on day 2.
AQABA, JORDAN – DAY 2
PETRA
We went to Petra – the Rose Red City. UNESCO world heritage site. Temples, tombs, theatres and stairways carved out of red sandstone. Amazing place, don’t miss it. You have six hours to tour Petra and lunch at the 5 Star Petra Movenpick hotel.
Petra NOT SUITABLE at all for anyone with walking difficulties / disabilities. There is approx 6 miles of walking if you stay with the Guide – more if you break away and go off on your own, up to 16 miles according to the Guide. NOT SUITABLE for flip-flop type footwear, sturdy trainers minimum.
TAKE A JACKET, no matter how warm it is when you jump on the coach in the morning. The LONG walk from Petra entrance down the ‘Siq’ to ‘The Treasury’ was cold and windy, even at the end of March 2009. NOTE: the walk back is slightly UPHILL.
TOILETS in Petra. There are a few portacabin type toilets dotted around. Not very hygienic, but if you are desperate!!! You will be lucky if there is any loo paper / running water, so make sure you have tissues, and wet wipes.
First class buffet lunch at Petra Movenpick 5 Star hotel after Petra visit. Less than five minutes walk from Petra entrance. The Guide said if you found Petra tiring or felt unwell you were welcome to leave Petra at any time and go to the hotel to rest in the foyer or swimming pool area. Alcohol at the hotel will cost you a fortune, ask the price before you order.
Cost £79.00 adult. Child £39.50, including entrance to Petra and lunch at Petra Movenpick hotel (5 Star). Hotel is less than five minutes walk from Petra entrance. Although £79 is expensive, it is excellent value for money.
Excursion Duration 10 hours. Journey time to Petra 2 hours each way.
If you are a party of four you can save money DIY, getting a taxi both ways, and pay your own entrance fee into Petra. I believe taxi charges approx £80.00 return – so that’s only £20 per person. I believe entrance fee to Petra is equivalent £23 (£1 equals 1 Jordanian Dinar in March 2009), but of course, there is no meal included in this price.
OTHER EXCURSION OPTIONS AQABA DAY 2.
Dead Sea.
Cost £51.00 adult. Child £25.00. Excursion duration 12 hour. Journey time 3½ each way.
PORT NO. 2
PORT SOKHNA FOR CAIRO
We did we did Pyramids, Mohammed Ali Mosque & Nile Cruise with lunch
Pyramids & Sphinx amazing. Just about enough time for your photographs, ‘crouch’ into the middle of a pyramid, and a quick camel ride of you want. The Guide will try to put you off the camel ride, but the choice is yours, and the Guide on the coach will advise you what to pay IF YOU ASK THEM. There are police on camels patrolling so you won’t come to any bother. I guess there is never enough time when you consider what you are seeing, the history, and the fact you may never return.
Entry into Pyramid costs additional £7.50 adult. This price goes up and down depending on exchange rate. Making your way to the centre of the pyramid is VERY claustrophobic and you have to crouch down until you reach the centre where it becomes airless (my husband had to puff on his rarely used inhaler). Then, you have to crouch back out the same way you came in, which means you have two-way people traffic, everybody crouched down. I am only 5ft tall, fit & healthy, but found it a little difficult. The Guide on the bus selling tickets probably won’t tell you this. Some people only made it a few feet and had to turn back, no refund of course. Certainly not suitable for elderly / disabled / claustrophobics.
Nice buffet lunch on purpose-built Nile boat restaurant and short Nile cruise lasting approx 1½ hours. Belly dancer and Whirling Dervish entertainment, although most people went on deck after the lunch.
Even on the Nile boat restaurant they wanted money for using the loo. I felt sorry for an elderly lady who obviously had no change and did not have the guts to say ‘No’. I was shocked to see her handing over a £5 note (yes, 5 UK pounds) and guess what, got no change. The young girl very quickly put the money into her pocket; she must have thought she had won the lottery. Unfortunately I was just passing at the time, so had no small change on me to give the elderly lady, and the handover of cash was taking place as I saw it.
Mohammed Ali Mosque was a bit on the ‘grotty’ side - eg quite a few broken light shades, broken light bulbs in the huge circular chandelier, simple things that could easily be put right. Personally I think the mosque could be deleted from the itinerary, although it was very popular with school children.
I wish they would STOP obligatory visit to papyrus and jewellery outlet (next door to each other). This wasted almost 1½ hours and everybody moaned. Most people came outside after a few minutes and stood around in the street waiting for the buses to leave. Some people passed the time feeding starving dogs their uneaten packed lunches!!! This time would be better spent split between longer Nile river cruise and Pyramids / Sphinx stops, but the travel company will never do this as they must all get some £sd from it.
Cost £72 adult. Child £26. Excursion duration 11 hours. Journey time 2½ hours each way.
OTHER EXCURSION OPTIONS PORT SOKHNA FOR CAIRO
Classic Egypt – Pyramids & Cairo Museum.
Adult £72. Child £36.00. Excursion duration 11 hours. Journey time 2½ hours each way.
PYRAMIDS, MEMPHIS, TOMBS OF CAIRO
Adult £72. Child £36.00. Excursion duration 11 hours. Journey time 2½ hour each way.
PYRAMIDS & CITY SHOPPING
Adult £45.00 Child £22.50. Excursion duration 11 hours. Journey time 2½ hours each way.
SUNSET CRUISE, PYRAMIDS SOUND & LIGHT SHOW
Adult £45.00. Child£22.50. Excursion duration 8½hours. Journey time 2½ hours each way.
STELLA DI MARI BEACH TRANSFER
Adult £22. Child £11.00. Excursion duration 4 hours. Not far from the ship.
PORT NO. 3
SAFAGA PORT FOR LUXOR & HURGHADA – ANOTHER OVERNIGHT PORT
Because we have done Luxor on 7-night Nile cruise we opted for Paradise Island – Sun & Snorkel. A great day beach day.
Approx 1 hour drive from Safaga port to Hurghada – its 60 kilometres.
Then, 45 minute boat ride to Paradise (Giftun) Island.
As you approach Paradise (Giftun) Island your boat anchors offshore (along with dozens of others, it’s amazing how many tourist boats make this daily sail over to Paradise). Then you are picked up by a little boat that takes you the last leg to the shoreline, all very tropical.
Lovely beach, plenty of shelter from the sun if you want it, good buffet lunch, good public conveniences. Cute beach ‘bar’. Soft drinks only.
You arrive at the beach and have about an hour. Then you get back on the little boat back to the big boat that brought you over from Hurghada. You sail round the bay (takes 15 minutes) and snorkel for approx 1 hour. Snorkel gear included in price. Then it’s back to the beach for lunch and more time on the beach.
Cost Adult £49.00. Child £25.00. Excursion duration 9 hour. Journey by coach Safaga/Hurghada 1 hour each way.
OTHER OPTIONS
LUXOR OVERNIGHT WITH SOUND & LIGHT SHOW LUXOR TEMPLE
This also includes Valley of the Kings, Temple of Queen Hatchepsut.
Adult £130. Child £80.00. Overnight hotel. Buffet dinner. Breakfast. Excursion duration is OVERNIGHT. Journey time to Luxor 3½ hours each way.
HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE – 40 MINUTES DURATION
This can only be booked as an ‘Extra’ added to the Luxor Overnight Excursion (see above).
Cost £160 per couple. £110 single.
LUXOR, KARNAK, VALLEY OF THE KINGS
Adult £78. Child £39. Excursion duration 14 hours. Journey time to Luxor 3½ hours each way.
HURGHADA DESERT QUAD BIKING
Cost Adult £37.00. Child N/A. Excursion duration 5 hours, inc travelling time to quad bikes (don’t know how long this takes).
SEASCOPE & HURGHADA CITY – travel time to Hurghada approx 1 hour – it’s 60 kilometres.
Glass-bottom boat that takes you three metres under water.
Hurghada City shopping time.
Cost Adult £35.00. Child £17.50. Excursion duration 6 hours, inc journey to glass bottom boat.
HURGHADA SHOPPING & SHOW
Two hour shopping. One hour Bedouin show.
Cost Adult £26.00. Child £13.00. Excursion duration 6 hours, inc coach journey 1 hour each way.
HURGHADA CITY TRANSFER
Cost Adult £14.00. Child £13.00. Excursion duration 5 hours, inc coach journey 1 hour each way.
SNORKELLING BY BOAT
Cost Adult £21.00. Child £10.50. Excursion duration 5 hours.
SOL Y MAR HOTEL BEACH TRANSFER – short drive from ship
Cost Adult £16. Chile £8.00. Excursion duration 5 hours.
PORT NO. 4
SHARM EL SHEIKH
QUAD BIKES
Cost Adult £29.00. Child N/A. Excursion duration 3½ hours.
RAS MOHAMMED BY BOAT
Snorkelling.
Cost Adult £32. Child £16. Excursion duration 4½ hours.
GLASS BOTTOM BOAT
Cost Adult £22. Child £11. Excursion duration 2 hours.
The End.
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Netty from Lincoln sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 3
2009 |
Netty
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Netty said: This was our second trip on the Spirit - having previously sailed on her in September 2006.
We upgraded to Eagle deck (cabin 006) The cabin was a reasonable size but nothing special and we wouldn't upgrade to that level again. Retiring to bed early on this level might be a problem for some people as you could hear the pianist in the Horizons bar. (not a problem for us though as we weren't looking to have early nights)
Our cabin steward (Carmen) was lovely - very friendly and helpful and looked after us very well, leaving lovely towel animals for us most evenings.
We only ate in the Compass Rose on one evening. It was rather chilly in there. The food was ok but not as good as our previous trip. As this was the Formal Night we would have expected the food to be rather better than it was.
We ate at Scirocco's on one evening. The cover charge for this is now £16.50 per person. I was rather disapointed and would not bother to pay the extra again.
We at in the Lido restaurant most of the time. The food was ok - but not as varied as last time but still of a very acceptable standard.
As usual the bar waiters were excellent - keep an eye out for Farouk, Spikey and the lovely Grace out on the decks and Svetlana up in Horizons!
Onboard entertainment was good. Lots to do for people of most age groups.
This trip had a good mixture of age groups, from the very young to the not so young and all those inbetween!
Would I sail on the Spirit again? Yes. It represents excellent value for money and is a wonderfully friendly ship. |
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Simon & Liz Doyle from Ealing London sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10
2008 |
Simon & Liz Doyle
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Simon & Liz Doyle said: Having cruised before it was with some trepidation that we went on the Thompson Spirit as I thought it would be a holiday camp afloat.
How wrong was I. The ship is well appointed and despite the constant vibration which you become used to after a while.
The food, entertainment and staff are superb. The cruise director Paul was a credit to the company.
The attentiveness of the bar staff and the waiters is beyond reproach.
I do recommend the All Inclusive drinks package that proved to be a great saving.
We will be back for another cruise on this vessel in the future.
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daz + paula from cornwall sailed on Thomson Spirit with
thomsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2008 |
daz + paula
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| daz + paula said: well yet another week flew by on this superb ship,we flew to palma and thanks to thomsons superb organisation we were on the ship within an hour of landing.
the sail away party from palma gave no clue as to what the next few hours would bring !after about six hours at sea the ship was like a thrill ride we loved every minute of the day at sea i would have paid extra for this,but thats just us many people were very seasick and during the lifeboat drill most of the passengers were whishing they weren't there,and my only complaint with the staff were the photographers who were snapping away at people with sick bags dotted around them!!!.
we are fortunate at not suffering from sea sickness but for those that do i wouldn't want my picture taken at that moment.
the captain was excellent, during the day he made a course change to bring the ship in closer to shore and into calmer water (i think he realised how busy the ships doctor was! ).
we neared the coast of southern spain and there was the most amazing electrical storm that went on for at least 2 hours really quite spectacular.
when we docked at villefranche all was calm and sunny a really lovely place with monte carlo/monaco/nice only a short,cheap train ride away the station is only about 20 minutes walk from the harbourside after being dropped off by ships tender.
next up livorno the gateway to pisa/florence/tuscany,
we opted for the ships tour a taste of tuscany well worth the money with a great stop off at a family vinyard with a great cheese/parma ham/wine lunch superb value for money.
next up civitavecchia the port of rome ,as always a pleasure to visit,i always catch the train and do my own thing,its crazy not to do so at only 9 euro for a return ticket,simply get off the ship as soon as you can,hop on the shuttle bus walk to the station buy and validate a ticket jump on the train,1 hour later you are in rome,a metro bus ticket only 4 euro linea b takes you to most of the must see sights within a few minutes,in my mind its the best way to see rome at your pace,all you have to remember is to allow plenty of time for the return trip,the ship leaves at 20.00 hours so you should really have plenty of time .
next stop was olbia in sardinia and what a stunning place ,we opted again for a ship organised tour to costasmerelda what a great place we will definitely return there one day.
the last stop was mahon yet another beautiful place always clean and tidy,the glass bottom boat trip is highly recommended,run with teutonic efficiancy by the german owned boat it really is a great experience.
oh well back to palma for the trip home and planning for next years thomson cruise !!.
as usual the crew was superb,the food excellent,the entertainment was excellent we have done 4 trips on this ship she really has that something,i think a ship is only as good as its crew,from the seamen constantly working,cleaning,painting and always smiling,the bar staff as always are superb,some staff remembered us from previous cruises on the spirit how they do it i don't know,some names that spring to mind are farouk from the lido,spike up in high spirits,galena in raffles bar and the lovely nataliya in the broadway lounge.
we mainly ate in the compass rose restaurant and our table was catered for by delboy and don + robert the wine waiter a really great bunch of guys.
we also met some great people here hello to ian and karen !.
the entertainment was top notch as well we particularly enjoyed the comedy act the harper brothers really funny and great to talk to,
one thing that wasn't seen on previous cruises was a large contingent of russian tourists,these people were amongst the rudest/arrogant people we have ever seen they took over the spa / pool area and treated the bar staff like slaves especially the ukrainian staff many whom we know as friends and to see them treated like that was not pleasant,are these people the new germans? !when my wife opened the door for some of them they barged past here as though she wasn't there without a please or thank you they were mostly aged from approx 55/65 years old i hope this isn't going to be the norm !.
well apart from that gripe it will be thomsons again next year probably the destiny,due to the spirit being in the norway/baltic area,having been there before with the royal marines i will give it a miss a very pretty area to visit but very expensive i seem to recall !
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daz+paula from cornwall sailed on Thomson Spirit with
thomsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2008 |
daz+paula
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| daz+paula said: well yet an other cruise on this great vessel comes to an end.
the usual hassle free thomsons efficiency at check in both at the departing airport and at palma straight on to the coach to the ship they really have this down to a fine art,within 30 minutes we are being shown to our cabin.
sailing out of palma to begin our day at sea in order to reach our first port of call villefranche,at first all was well, a little surface chop on the sea BUT !by morning it was like a thrill ride huge waves with the ship ploughing through them one wave went over the bow and endedc up spraying the lido deck!we are lucky in the fact we don't suffer sea sickness unlike many of our fellow passengers, the ships doctor was kept busy throughout the day and the life boat drill had to be seen to be believed, not many people wanted to be trussed up in a lifejacket and my only gripe with thomsons was that many people who were being seasick were asked to pose for a picture !!most insensitive i thought.
later in the afternoon we went to a wine tasting session which was excellent value costing only £5.00 for 7 different glasses of really nice wine with cheese and biscuits(the wine seemed to counteract the rolling of the ship!).
the captain was excellent with regards to the rough seas,he made the anouncement that he was altering course to bring us nearer land and relatively calmer seas it worked, that evening we were near the coast of southern france and were treated to the most spectacular lightning storm i have ever seen it lasted well over 2 hours.
next day we reached our destination lovely hot and sunny weather in a really charming place the train station was approx 20 mins walk from the ship nice ,monte carlo and monaco only a 10 minute train journey away costing only 3 euro's !
next stop livorno in italy we took the ships tour entitled a taste of tuscany excellent value and well enjoyed by all who went.
next stop civitevecchia the gateway to rome,
i always take the train and do my own thing at 9 euro's for a return ticket on a clean,punctual train its daft not to !just allow yourself plenty of time to get back to the ship the train journey takes 1 hour leave the ship asap to get the early train and you will have at least 7 hours in rome to do as you please.
next stop sardinia a stunning place we took the ships tour to costasmerelda the playground of the rich and famous a fantastic place to visit.
mahon was the next stop yet another beautiful place,the glass bottom boat trips are well worth the money .
then back to palma the cruise was over far too quickly so its 2 weeks next year for us having spent 2 weeks on the spirit a few years ago we will do it again sadly the spirit is in the fjords around norway next year having spent some time there with the royal marines i think we will give that a miss so it will be another thomson ship in the med again for next year.
the crew were as usual outstanding they really are the key as to why this ship is so well loved,
from the mainly phillipino seamen, to the cleaning staff who work non stop, bar staff,waiters,entertainments team and officers and so on .
the entertainment team were excellent led by the cruise director barry summers who was very good and very approachable always willing to chat,
another excellent part of the entertainment was the resident ships band a group of phillipinos called the top men they were really outstanding and very good at queen covers !.
also of note was the talent night on the wednesday,featuring the best elvis impersonator i have ever seen or heard he was a fellow cruiser from copenhagen in denmark singing suspicious minds he was incredible,also a scottish lady sang a great song to her husband in accapella style very moving it was too.also one of the ships crew a young lady by the name of eleyna from the ukraine who did a bellydance it got me a dig in the ribs from my wife !
most of the bar waiters i recognised from previous cruises some names that spring to mind are, farouk in the lido bar,galina in raffles, spike also in raffles,nataliya in the broadway lounge really great personalities who really go the extra mile.
we mainly ate in the compass rose the lads who looked after us were great,robert the wine waiter,don and delboy.
the food was excellent and well presented under the watchfull eye of leroy the maitre d.
all in all another great time was had by most people who seemed to cover most of the planet !the most miserable and downright rude travellers were the russian contingent of which there were many, i witnessed some of them being most offensive to some of the ukrainian barstaff completely out of order in my mind ! since the collapse of communism in the soviet union they have embraced western values and freedom of travel but basic western manners such as please and thank you have yet to be learnt it would seem.
the good thing was on our return to the u.k the sun was still shining !.
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dave & sheila from aberdeenshire sailed on Thomson Spirit with
first choice
on a singles holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2008 |
dave & sheila
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| dave & sheila said: Although in our fifties this was our first experience of cruising.
We chose the Med. Renaisance cruise calling at destinations in France,Italy, Sardinia, Minnorca. We as first timers relied on the organised tours by the Thompson company.
Th wealth of knowlege of the lcal guides was amazing, , we saw so much that on occassion pareticularly in rome couldnt take it all in. ( future city break rquired for rome )
Getting back to the ship. The staff from the young lass who looked after our cabin to the waiters bar staff etc were very friendly and some could remember your names after several days having only spoken to you once before.
We usually took a slf serve breakfast in the morning and in the evening had a relaxing meal with waiter service.
i wasnt aware of any problems with vibration of the ship.we had one short period of rough seas otherwise the weather was great.We booked an outside cabin though wouldnt be diheartened with an inside one as we usually berthed in the early morning so little was to be seen anyway.
The entertainment staff were very good and we had a special guest ( bernie flint ) who was so funny.
would i go on anothyer cruise.... you bet i would. |
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Gill Scott from Sunderland sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomsons
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2008 |
Gill Scott
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Gill Scott said: This was our third cruise on the Spirit and we enjoyed it just as much as ever. Yes, the ship is not the most modern, but I just don't think it can be faulted for the hard-working, friendly crew and the quality of the food and entertainment. We were pleased to see that the ship is offering alternative excursions for those who have already 'done' Rome, Florence etc.
We did notice more of a vibration this time, but it didn't spoil things for us. We also had the smoothest cruise ever - no rolling whatsoever, which was great.
The shows were up to the usual high standard, but the guest acts were variable - one poor, one excellent.
What we really appreciated were the attentive staff - nothing was too much trouble for them. Special mention to our waiters Henry & Chami.
Gill |
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Andy from Portsmouth sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2008 |
Andy
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Andy said: The was the first cruise that me and Elly have ever done and we absolutely loved the whole package / experience - the friendliness of the staff from top to bottom, the amazing 'showteam' that put on West End quality performances twice each night, the visit to the bridge, the cabin stewards, waiters, bar staff - according to the many regular cruisers that we spoke to there is something incredibly unique to the Thompson Spirit about the friendly, intimate, but professional, atmosphere on board that makes it so much more enjoyable than larger, more formal cruise ships that plough the seas - the Thompson Spirit has a fantastic aft deck that is accessible to everybody to sip a cocktail and listen to a band play either whilst at sea or alongside.
We did the Jewels of the Mediterrean Cruise July 08 - the weather and the ports of call were amazing - Palma, Trapani, Naples (the excurion to Pompei awesome), Corsica, Toulon, Barcelona, back to Palma. The Captain always seemed to get the Thompson Spirit in the No.1 berth in the middle of each city.
We are now back home in the UK (where yes it's raining) and are grieving to be back on this lovely ship and hope to return in a couple of years or so. |
| |
Gordon Bloor from Chorley, Lancashire sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2008 |
Gordon Bloor
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Gordon Bloor said: Ships staff were excellent, the entertainment was very good apart from the Cruise Director who when he sang left a bit to be desired. Also he needs to get some new jokes.
Food onboard was very good, with loads of choice at every meal and always very hot.
Ports of call, very good but could have stayed longer in some places. The shore excursions are good value for money if you are first or even second time travellers.
The ship overall was excellent, although there was a slight vibration which I believe was going to be sorted out at the end of this season.
I will definately travel with Thomson again, as they take all the hassle out of the travel arrangements. |
| |
Maureen Ward from Harwich, Essex sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2008 |
Maureen Ward
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Maureen Ward said: Our cruise was 20th June around the Med,on the THOMSON SPIRIT, being our first we were unsure of what a cruise entailed. I must say it was FABULOUS. The staff were always cleaning, be it on deck or the cabins, when we went to breakfast in the morning, by the time we got back our cabin had been cleaned by our little lady 'Victoria' she was so polite and nice. The food was absolutely great, I can only say 'watch your waistline', there is no much to choose from and all the food was delicious, and well presented. The Lido self service bar seemed to be open 24 hours, and the Compass Rose Restaurant was superb, the waiters were quick, attentive and also many had excellent voices, (2-3 Elvis's), they would sing as they worked, it was great.The Staff were very happy and seemed to be like one big family, always laughing and very pleasant, nothing seemed to much trouble. The onBoard entertainment was great, the troupe worked really hard and put on great shows every night, we also had many other things we could do be it tennis, to bingo, to occupy us whilst on board and the trips were great. Each night we had an itinerary posted under out door for the next day to tell us about the next place we were visiting and how we could get around, etc.
I could not fault this ship and its staff, we had a wonderful time and will certainly be cruising with them again. |
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Suzanne from Shropshire sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2008 |
Suzanne
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Suzanne said: Just got back from our first ever cruise which was overall FANTASTIC. Great ship, staff are brilliant. Food/drink/entertainment/cleanliness all faultless. Weather was hit and miss around the med and had a couple of "rolling" nights but we weren't sick thankfully. Destinations were good although we weren't keen on Olbia or Trapani and wished we'd done an excursion on those days.
My only problem with the ship is the constant vibration and mild engine noise - you do get used to it but it would be so much better if they could sort it out. I slept with earplugs each night because our cabin sounded like it had a washing machine going on inside. We were on deck two and sometimes we would get awoken too by the ship pulling into dock in port. These things did not spoil it for us at all though and I think we would go back on the spirit again - we did two weeks but I may do one week next time - put on 5lb in weight!
Also Thomson excursions - generally very good but expensive. We spent £400 on them but we did budget for that because we knew what we were doing before we went. We had the drinks package for free on the ship and so all of them we had were free which was good but the cost of the drinks is quite resonable anyway.
PM me if you have any questions. |
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Mick and Mandy from Westhoughton/Bolton sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2008 |
Mick and Mandy
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Mick and Mandy said: Just got back 23/05/08 from the med.cruise on the spirit.been on once before in 2005, we re-took our vows on board then for our silver anniversary.
Took mother this time (81yrs but dont tell her we said). Did everything through Thomson and they were fantastic, from arriving at Manchester for departure to arriving back again after the holiday. cant even begin to tell you how helpful the staff were with mums wheelchair, into the dining room,off and on the ship, nothing too much trouble. Jenni from housekeeping kept our room spotless(disabled cabin , massive, lots of room to manouvre round).Luve and Bobby in the Compass Rose Restaurant.Made a fuss of Mum every night and made her feel special.Food was fantastic,different menu every night (I dont know how they manage it)they arent just service staff they're entertainers as well.
You can do as much or as little as you like, no pressure anywhere. Lots of guided tours available or just shore access if you prefer. I'm not going to say anything negative because personally, I couldnt find anything negative about the whole thing. All in all a brilliant holiday for mum and a nice break for us. The staff treat everyone well,please treat them well in return. We are looking to go again but next time probably the Norweigan Fjords. Thanks for reading. |
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Helen Lindsey from Nottingham sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2008 |
Helen Lindsey
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew |  | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Helen Lindsey said: This was our grandsons first cruise (our fourth), he loved every minute! Nothing was too much trouble and we found every staff member we met pleasant and helpful. The cabin was roomy and had loads of storage space but four adults may have felt a bit hemmed in. The shows were excellent, our grandson loved them all!The food was good, my only gripe was the childrens menu was so boring and if children ordered from the main menu they got an adults portion. We went on two organised trips Monaco and Pisa which were well organised and the guides brilliant. All in all a good time was had by us all, our grandson is already planning his next cruise on the Spirit. |
| |
Ang from bournemouth sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2008 |
Ang
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Ang said: Loved this ship, very clean and tidy, when the ship is docked staff are even painting its outside bobywork. Maid cleaned our cabin twice a day morning and evening we were very pleased with her.
No complaints about the food, 24 hrs a day. Real english bacon and tomatos in the morning and more fruit then ive seen in the supermarket, the food is being cooked all day long, at 4pm them lay on sanwiches and cream scones as well as still cooking hot foods, they always have 1 hot pudding plus cold puddings, we were eating creamcrackers and cheese at 2am most nights before going to bed.
We didnt go to see a show every night as we spent time sitting on deck with a drink in the evenings or went in the bar with the disco and band in but the shows we did go to see were really good. There are many bars plus casino all very good with some kind of entertaiment going on.
We have been back a week but are already looking to see what other destinations the spirit is doing as we want to sail on her again later in the year, we dont have one thing to complain about we loved the boat the staff and the trips, well done spirit
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| |
DB from Bristol sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 4
2008 |
DB
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| DB said: We’ve just returned from a 13 night ‘Ancient Voyage’ cruise aboard the Thomson Spirit. I have mixed emotions about our experiences.
The draw for us was the number and variety of ports of call. I have to say from the outset that the Spirit always arrived on time at every port and in some cases had really good berthing slots. There was plenty of shore time in each port which was useful in a couple of cases (Cairo and Rome in particular) as the big attraction for some ports was a long way inland. We had no problems with the itinerary and enjoyed good weather right across the duration of the cruise, which made it even nicer.
We used a combination of Thomson excursions and independent visits for our ports of call. If you view the Thomson excursions in the context of a fully serviced trip then they are not bad value for money, we took two half day trips and a full day trip to Cairo with Thomson and for all the other ports we did our own thing.
The issue for us came with the Spirit herself. Despite having spent some time in dry dock over the winter, the Spirit still vibrates badly, even when docked. I know this could be considered as part of the charm of an older ship, but at times the vibration was excessive. The Spirit broke down a couple of times, once during the stay in Civitavecchia and again at sea the following day, this doesn’t bode well for a busy summer season ahead.
We paid quite a lot extra for an upgraded cabin. We weren’t impressed with the threadbare bedding and carpets, the bloodstained and dirty towels or the condition of the cabin generally. The stewardess was quite outstanding and swapped the linen when we asked, unfortunately these swaps became an almost daily event. On a positive note, there was always loads of hot water available from the taps and the pressure from the shower was consistent throughout the cruise. The soundproofing between our cabin and the next was very poor. The people next door suffered from the coughing and sneezing virus that swept the ship and we really suffered with these poor people…
Our biggest gripe was with the food. The Lido buffet isn’t really very good, there’s adequate choice (usually), but the quality is pretty poor. The Compass Rose Dining Room isn’t much better, but the outstanding service there makes up for this, every waiter seems to be an Elvis impersonator. We had very high hopes for Sirocco’s based on our experiences aboard the Celebration. The food is probably worth the additional cover charge, but we found the service very intrusive, we tried Sirocco’s twice and then cancelled our remaining bookings. Afternoon tea in the Explorer Lounge seems to have been replaced with a tray or two of sandwiches in the Lido buffet.
There are loads of reclining chairs and sun beds on deck. The practice of dropping your towel on a sun bed to reserve it seems alive and well despite messages to the contrary. A new version of this seems to be in operation… Hiding the sun bed mattress in your cabin! We couldn’t move in the corridors some nights due to the number of mattresses going in and out of the cabins.
The shows and musicians aboard were all pretty good, we enjoyed the piano/violin duo, who were very skilled and were able to adapt their repertoire to match the mood.
In summary, we enjoyed the ports but we enjoyed the ship less.
In view of the additional cost of the cabin upgrade we have trouble justifying the price. The same money would have bought us a balcony cabin on a premium ship. Compared to previous Thomson cruises, there’s evidence of penny pinching in operation. This seems particularly evident in housekeeping and food areas. We won’t use Thomson as the provider for out next cruise.
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James Ellis from London sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thompsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10
2007 |
James Ellis
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| James Ellis said: We have just enjoyed the last Jewels of the Mediterranean Cruise of the season.
The ship is clean The crew is constantly cleaning polishing and painting the public areas and the fabric of the ship, one is proud to be seen sailing on her.
The food is excellent and plentiful never a moment when you cannot get some refreshment. I wonder why I only gave it four stars, maybe I have been watching too many chef programmes?
The staff mostly from the Asian continent and some from Eastern Europe really make an effot to make your crusie pleasant and comfortable every one of them was pleasant.
The only area of frustration was the reception who althogh frigidly polite in manner were rather unhelpful.
I considered that perhaps my manner was causing their lack of initiative but in conversation found that others were of the same opinion.
The entertainment team are worth a special mention, they are each very talented and worked so hard to give very professional performances. The singing was harmonious, the choreography was superb, and the shows well plotted and written. No expense had been spared on costumes and the stage fittings and lighting would be the envy of many provincial theatres.
In summary WORTH EVERY PENNY.
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| |
Terry and Pat Unsworth from Cheshire sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2007 |
Terry and Pat Unsworth
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Terry and Pat Unsworth said: We sailed on the Spirit on a three night break, visiting Amsterdam (berthed in Ljmuiden) and Bruges (berthed in Zeebrugge). As you will see from our ratings, we had a great time on board. The ship is clean and well appointed, Crew are, as usual, friendly, efficient and very helpful. We ate in both the Compass Rose restaurant and the Lido restaurant and found the meals in both to be varied and satisfying, with waiter service in the Compass Rose attentive and efficient. The cabin was nothing to shout about but quite adequate for our needs and kept spotless by our steward.
But, oh! what a disaster when it came to the advertised excursions. On a ship carrying something like 1200-odd passengers, calling at Amsterdam and Bruges, it would not seem beyond the bounds of conjecture that most people would be interested in going to visit these places. Thomsons apparently failed to make this leap of logic and were woefully underprepared for the demand. The two most popular tours, Amsterdam and canal tour and Bruges and chocolate factory tour, were oversubscribed by 4.00 pm on the day of departure and closed to further bookings. This was before the usual "where to go and what to see" introduction to ports of call, which did not take place until 5.00pm! We heard that there were only two fifty seater buses arranged for Amsterdam and canal tour but that might have been malicious rumour as we could find no one to substantiate it.
However, Thomsons did arrange a "get you there and do your own thing" sort of compromise. They put on two shuttle buses (again 50 seat jobs) to run people to the hydrofoil service into Amsterdam and later to collect them and return to the ship. This would have been fine had not the overspill from the excursion turned out to be around four or five hundred people.
This resulted, in our case, in a wait of an hour and a half to get on the bus and when we left there were many,many more still waiting. But we didn't go to the hydrofoil as by this time it was fully booked until 3.00pm and took only fifty at a time anyway. Instead we were taken to the centre of Ljmuiden and left at the bus stop to catch the local number 82 into Amsterdam. Another half hours wait and the bus came. We stood for the entire 45 minute ride.
Prior to going, we had asked if the amusingly titled Destination Service desk could let us have a map of the city to help us get around. Their response?? Sorry, we don't have any as it's our first time here this year. In the end, our day in Amsterdam was reduced to around four and a half hours. And during all that time no Thomsons employee attended to explain what was (or was not) going on or answer questions from the assembled multitude.
Have not Thomsons heard of the world famous "Six P" formula?? Readers not familiar with this should ask a friend. Many in that queue were first time cruisers and the experience has deterred them from further cruises, at least with Thomsons.
The Bruges excursion was slightly better in that we did get onto an excursion with a guide but had to settle for a visit to a brewery rather than the chocolate factory we would have preferred.
If others who were involved in the Great Amsterdam Fiasco should read this account and feel I have been factually incorrect, please post your own account and put the record straight, even if it means adding to the catalogue of woes. |
| |
Lauren Hayes from Loughborough sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 1 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2007 |
Lauren Hayes
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Lauren Hayes said: My nan and me went on a cruise to Iceland. It was my first and deffinatly not my last. I cannot fault the staff but a special mention goes to jonny one of the waiters who i will never forget. He made me feel at home right from the start. I met lots of lovely people throught the crusie and i will never forget them.
I cannot fault the staff for the tidyness of the ship whereever i went the was somebody cleaning.
The food was fantastic i ate in the compass rose twice and all my other meals in the Lido. The midnight buffets were amazing and not to be missed.
The ships staff could not have been more helpful, they all amde me feel right at home.
The on board entertainment was fantastic. the shows in the evening were great and a real treat.Speacial mention to Zoe who was the true star on the stage.
The game shows mostly by Diana or Diane (not sure which one) were brillent. Notto be missed.
Iwould deffinatly sail on the Thomson Spirit again it was the best experiance of my life so thank you. |
| |
barbara from cumbria sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2007 |
barbara
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| barbara said: Hubby and I have just come back from another brilliant cruise on the Thomson Spirit. It was the Fjordland Splendours sailing out of Newcastle. As usual the food was excellent we only dined in the Compass Rose for the Captains Evening the rest of the time we ate in the Lido which means if you enjoyed trying everything you could go back for more, which we did on several occasions. The only downfall is trying to get into your clothes afterwards. The staff in both were brilliant and the crack was excellent. We have sailed with Thomsons on several occasions and Neri one of the waiters remembered that he gave us extra chips every night when we went for our late night snack (did we really need it!!!!!!)on a previous cruise.The entertainment as usual is first class there is something to suit all ages. It is the friendliness of the crew that draw you back to Thomsons year after year. We are already planning our next one with Thomsons. |
| |
Doug from Leicester sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2007 |
Doug
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Doug said: Our first cruise and it certainly will not be our last. The scenery on fjordland splendors was out of this world.
The entertainment on board was superb thanks to Kate and Paul and the rest of the entertainments team. The bar and restaurant staff were extremely welcoming,friendly and efficient. The food was wonderful in all three restaurants. Cabins and the rest of the ship were spotless. |
| |
Julie from Mirfield, W.Yorks sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2007 |
Julie
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Julie said: We've just been on our first cruise and it was one of the most enjoyable holidays we've ever had.
Travelled on the Thomson Spirit from Newcastle on the Baltic Adventure visiting Denmark, Estonia,
St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm and Warnemunde, Germany.
We travelled for the first time with my wheelchair (I have MS) and booked a cabin specifically for disabled passengers.
The cabin was on Deck 7 and was very spacious and comfortable, with a double bed and forward facing window and is located just beneath the bridge deck. In an emergency there are approximately 8 steps to get to the lifeboat station but a strong young crew member was assigned to help me so no problems with that!
(The lifeboat drill took place only a short while after we left Newcastle).
I found it very easy to get about the ship as there were plenty of lifts and level flooring everywhere.
The food was delicious. We ate in the Compass Rose restaurant in the evening which is waiter service. The waiters were always attentive and very friendly. On the first couple of evenings we sat where we were shown to sit but after that we asked for a specific table by number and sat there every night for the rest of the cruise.
We used the Lido self service restaurant for breakfast and lunch and found a good and varied choice of food.
The nightly entertainment in the Broadway Show Lounge was very impressive (and I don't say that lightly). The Moulin Rouge show was absolutely fantastic.
The show team performed a different show on the vast majority of evenings with the other two evenings covered by two separate comedians from England. I'd not heard of either of them before but they were very entertaining. The staff in the show lounge reserved several tables every evening for passengers using wheelchairs. This was unexpected and extremely kind of them as it saved wheeling about trying to find a table and squashing the feet and legs of other passengers!
The Ports that we visited were all extremely interesting and the only concern I had was that the vast majority of excursions were not suitable for passengers in wheelchairs or people who had walking difficulties. The only excursion suitable was the panoramic tour of St. Petersburg. At other ports we took a ride on the shuttle bus (provided by Thomson) to the centre of the Cities being visited and did our own thing.
We found that the majority of our fellow passengers were from either the North East of England and from Scotland. Most of them were retired and in their sixties (we're in our fifties) but there were quite a few younger adults, but only three children on board.
Perhaps this is not surprising bearing in mind the places being visited and it was not the school holidays.
By the way for those thinking that Baltic means freezing - while the rain lashed down in Britain the weather on board and in our ports of call was sunny sunbathing weather. In fact it was sweltering in St.Petersburg.
All in all we had a wonderful holiday which we would be very happy to repeat and have no hesitation in recommending a cruise on the Thomson Spirit. |
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Natalie from Liverpool sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 4 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2007 |
Natalie
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Natalie said: Hello. I travelled on this ship when it was doing the Med itinery and I had an amazing holiday.
Ship Cleanliness = excellent. Always people painting and hoovering, and generally tidying up after everyone! The cabin maids really do tidy up very well, twice a day! and you get little chocolates on your pillow at night and some fantastic towel sculptures!
Ship Food = excellent again. Always something available. Whether its from the buffet in the Lido or outside on the pool deck there is always something available for everyone.
In the evening, the formal restuarant, the compass rose, has two sittings. We always chose the first one as you could just turn up to eat, whereas if you waited for the second sitting, we usually saw people having to que and wait for the dining area to be re-sorted. However, if you do not feel like dressing up or eating formally, you can go up to the Lido and have a more casually buffet. Both equally fantastic!
Ship Staff = fabulous. Always could not do enough for you!!! Very friendly and a great hit with the kids!
OnBoard Entertainment = in my opinion, the most amazing part of my holiday. A special mention to the showteam who were on at the time if any of them read this:
Kate Darby, Paul Fisher, Daniel Kent, Paul Thornhill, Alice Bell, Gemma Lomax, Curley Cait, Sarah and Zoe.
And also to the entertainment team, Mick Dundee, Gareth Cole and Sian Hopkins.
Together they all did FANTASTIC shows every night. Including Africa and Venetian Nights. The costumes were amazing and they performed their hearts out every night.
They also put on spectacular deck parties twice a week, and unfortunatley we had some bad weather on our second weeks deck party - so they brought it inside!
They also have dance/singing lessons for those who want to give it a go and I would really recommend giving the Line Dancing lessons a go! They are a lot of fun!
As this was my second cruise, i once again thoroughly enjoyed it and have already booked the Thomson Celebration for Summer 07!
And yes. I would recommend travelling on any of the Thomson ships to anyone! |
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Vivien-Marie from Manchester sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2007 |
Vivien-Marie
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Vivien-Marie said: Just returned from our first ever cruise, 11th-18th May on the spirit Jewels of the Med.
We booked this cruise at the very last minute, 5 days before we sailed and we found many useful tips on this site before sailing.
We had quite a late flight from Manchester so arrived on board around 9.30pm. Quite quick through all the procedures but other passengers arriving earlier in the day said they had horrendous queues.
Staff showed us to our inside cabin on deck 3/4, it was big enough but it was strange waking up and not knowing what the weather was doing until we put tv on to look at the outside of ship. We had actually paid for an upgrade to this deck and not sure it was worth the extra, only advantage I could see was that we were at Reception and Compass dining room level.
The sailaway party was brilliant, unfortunately we missed the start of it as we were still eating due to our late arrival - in future we would choose an arrival for earlier in the day to give us plenty of time to unpack and settle in, but at price we paid for the last minute booking I cant really complain.
We loved the cruise, the food was excellent although tended to stick to cold salads etc in Lido self service as hot food wasnt hot enough for me, I am a bir funny about that but it certainly didnt bother a lot of other people. The barbeque was nice, breakfasts always plenty of choice.
Compass restaurant was very good, ate there a couple of nights.
Entertainment was very professional, as stated earlier cruise director Richard Sykes was exceptional but he did say this was his last season cruising after 7 years so I imagine he will be a hard act to follow.
Followed other members advice about the trips, the only problem we encountered was that the trips for Sun?/Mon had to be booked by Sat lunchtime and what with evening arrival then 10.30am lifeboat drill on Sat we hadnt time to study the trips on offer, so for Naples we just got on an open top tour bus from the harbour for a tour around town.
We booked the marseille trip onboard, a tour around the town then a trip to the lovely seaside village of Cassis about an hour away - excellent trip.
Barcelona 4 hour trip was a bit too long for us but still interesting but think I would have seen more of the town from an open top bus rather than the Thomsons coach.
Overall a really good week but tiring - dont know how people do 2 weeks!!!
We had a late evening departure back to Manchester so we had time to go around Palma on last day.
Will def be looking at another Thomson cruise for next year |
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maureen bantock from ipswich sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a singles holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2007 |
maureen bantock
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| maureen bantock said: cruised on the mediterranean renaisance from 4th to 11th May 2007.
this is the second time that we have been on the spirit and again we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. the enthusiasm of the staff is wonderful.a special mention must be made of the waiters in the lido restaurant, and also the tour director richard sykes and his very hard working entertainment team.
only one real point to make is that we feel that the entertainment in the broadway show lounge is becoming dated and dreary.whilst the entertainers were wonderful and so hard working, the content of some of the shows are boring especially the its all in the stars show, and just dancing and singing every night, does become boring. Especially enjoyed the comedian.magic act(father and son) and suggest that they vary the entertainment by bringing the talent show forward so everyone can enjoy this at a more normal time.
The catering staff did a wonerful job, with typical pub lunches being available sometimes in the week in one of the bars.
Will be back again. |
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Hchy Girl from Manchester sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a friends holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2007 |
Hchy Girl
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Hchy Girl said: Itinary - Meditereanean Reinassance May4-May11 2007
Start Palma - arrived at lunch time and after lovely lunch in waiter restaraunt got citysightseeingbus around Palma (keep ticket for 10% discount off fare in next city if you decide to do the tour there)
Day at Sea - this is where things didn't quite go according to plan a force 6 storm hitting the boat with plates sliding all over the table- everyone staggering and alot of people being sick. Good news 2 out of the 4 of us had good sea legs and were not unwell, however we did retire for a few hours to bed as it was very hard work standing up.
villefranche - beautiful little town - but we chose to go to Montecarlo on the train DIY. No problems finding anywhere visited the palace, watched the changing of the guards, and then took tourist train round - enjoyed going round the gand prix track - will bring back memoroes when we watch end of May on TV
Livorno - again DIY on train to Florence and the sightseeingtourbus. Very informative and some wonderful buildings to look at- really enjoyed
Rome - again on train DIY bus tour. Unfortunately the day we were there was a taxi strike and they were protesting whioch slowed all traffic down to a snails pace. it was just too hot and too much traffic to go to spanish steps and Trevi Fountain - but got to see everything else and it really is worth making the effort to see.
Alghero - disappointed with this stop. From the boat I was expecting great things. Got the tourist train round the old town- really not worth seeing- very narow streets with not alot on them. Then walked to the beach which was full of sea weed and small coconut balls??whatever they may be?
palamos - what a surprise - a lovely town with a fantastic beach all within walking distance so we didn't venture on any trips at this port.
Back to Palma for the journey home
Summary
Fantastic ship with free A/I just couldn't fail to enjoy. staff are friendly and helpful but as tips are inc then you do not feel there is a purpose to the help, if you see what I mean. However did tip staff we felt had given us OTT service and there were a few of those.
Cruise Director is Richard Sykes who is just great. Have been a few time on the celebration when the director was Stephen Guy- another excellent entertainer. However David Bradshaw was the cruise director when we went on last November and what a differennt atmosphere he created - no team spirit to say the least! Turns out he is no longer with Thomsons perhaps the numerous complaints made about him had some bearing - who knows.
We had inside cabin- friends o/s cabin imo I only sleep in cabin so not looking for views and in a force 6 storm with the sea slapping against the windows i can think it is a positive advantage inside cabin.
All in all a 10/10 cruise - not all the entertainment was to my personal liking but they certainly do have choice so if you don't like A you can always do B.
Go enjoy and I am sure you will want to do another |
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Amy from Marske sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 5 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10
2006 |
Amy
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Amy said: Wow, what a fantastic cruise. The worst part was having to go home :(.
Well done to the show team: Kate, Ernesto, Gemma, Paul, Cait, Paul, Sarah and Dan, I thought you were all great and the shows were the most magical part of my cruise.
Alice and her entertainments team (Sian, Gareth and Mick) were great and the Victoria Wood Set was really good.
There were many activities to join in on the ship (I did Salsa, Line dancing and Singing) and wonderful excursions off it (I went to Monaco and Monte Carlo, Pisa and Monuments of Rome).
The food was exceptional, we all dressed up and ate in the Compass Rose every evening and were waited on superbly by Jose and Ludivic as well as our wine waiter Vesco.
I can't put into words how much I enjoyed the cruise, and at 17 I can definitely see a few more cruises in my future.
The week was especially emotional as it was the last week for the present crew before the spirit goes for its refurbishments and I wish them all luck with their futures (hopefully back on the Thompson Spirit!) |
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spark from cambridge sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10
2006 |
spark
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| spark said: First time on a cruise, and will definately be doing another one, this ship was spotless and always being cleaned 24hrs a day, had a double bed on the bottom deck and the room was very big, compared to some friends we met who had a porthole room on deck 4, turned out to be a blessing as we had a couple of rough nights at sea and they closed the outside decks and lifts down, the lower down you are the less movement of the ship you can feel. Our room was cleaned twice a day and you had your bed turned down in the evening with chocolate on your pillows,
the ships food was good and wonderful in the compass rose in the evening, waiter service excellent and they even sing during the meal,always friendly with a big smile and always remember your names and your drinks, a big thank you to SU THU out on the lido deck what a great guy!
ports of call, wouldn't go to palermo sicily again it was filthy with alsorts on the floor to tred in or fall over and you dice with death trying to cross the road and you get hassled alot, walked around for 3 hours then back to ship.
Naples we went to pompeii that was good but din't venture into town as were told more life threatening than sicily, ajaccio corsica was lovely, toulon was nice very good for shopping, and barcelona was beautiful spent hours there ,
We had a wonderful holiday and met 2 great people from surry, would definately go on the spirit again or try another thomson ship, overall excellent |
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Edwards Family from West Lothian sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10
2006 |
Edwards Family
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Edwards Family said: We have just returned from sailing the Med aboard the Thomson Spirit on 20/10. The ship was great although the layout was very muddled, with the pools on seperate decks and nothing central to focus on.
We felt that the High Spirits lounge could have been better vented to remove the smoke from people smoking as it made it very uncomfortable for the children and non smokers who wanted to enjoy the game shows.
The food was exeptional, we ate every night in the Compass Rose which offered a great service. A special thanks to our waiters, Stephen and Dan who worked extremely hard to serve us a wonderful meal each and every night. Thank you "Stephen" for all your flowers and excellent service.
Thank you also to "Spencer" who served us usually at breakfast in the Lido and also enquired that we were OK every night in the Compass Rose. "Angel" lived up to his name by being attentive and helpfull when ever we where around, he always had a smile for everyone at all times, he has never changed from the first time we met him on the Sunbird (our first cruise) 3 years ago! Also thank you to "Farouqe" one of our drinks waiters who took time to visit us every day at breakfast he was on our cruise last year aboard the Emerald.
The entertainment was exeptional. The shows in the Broadway Theatre were a favourite amoungst the kids, 15 and 12. This is all thanks to the show team who are very good at what they do, especially "Dan" and "Cait", who are amazing singers. Also "Carl Schofeild" the guest comedian, he was a great laugh and certainly cheered us all up, along with "Elvis Parsley" the waiter, who took part in the guest and staff talent show and sang almost every night in the Compass Rose resturant.
Thank You to the girls in the kids club for providing entrtainment for the youngest of our 12 year old. This helped her meet some friends and prevent her from getting bored. She was very pleased with the setup even although she was the oldest there.
Although we all loved the ship we are very fond of the bigger, more grand ships and would prefer not cruise on the Spirit due to this. Many thanks to everyone and we hope to cross paths with you all again in the near future. |
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john cain from widnes sailed on Thomson Spirit with
thomsons
on a friends holiday.
There were more than 6 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10
2006 |
john cain
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| john cain said: Just returned from Spirit (13/10),usual high standard.
This was my 11th Thomson cruise,last one on Destiny in May.
The week was brilliant,there was 10 people in the party,family + friends
I had booked the Blessings package + if anyone is thinking of doing it,do it.we where really spoilt from dinner at captains table to cabin decorated by Elina our cabin stewardess.to the lads in Compass Rose serenading my wife thanks, Elvis + Angel + the other singers.Everyone clapped us into restuarant.
The ceremony itself on the bridge was lovely +Captain Konstantinos Skourlis made you feel relaxed + very special.
The ceremony was at 18:30 just after leaving Propriano just as sun setting.
Special thanks to Lisa-Jane (Social Hostess)for organisation.Bought Blessing package of Weeks Cruise video/Blessing video + all photos (40) for £70,Cruise + Blessing videos great but photos a bit hit + miss.
Dinner in Compass Rose every night @ table for 10,food brilliant + service by June + Gabby excellent.
Special mention to Farouk + Spike in Raffles + JJ + Benji in High Spirits also i think its Cherry (Oriental girl)in High Spirits (Does this girl laugh/smile in her sleep ?) brilliant.
Ports,,Why Propriano,one small street nothing there>.
Unfortunately Mahon was a Bank Holiday (Police Day or something) all shops shut.
Only one downer,who controls air conditioning,all public rooms + bars were FREEZING,ladies all wearing cardigans or shawls + still cold,it was main talking point on ship but nothing seemed change.
Still,,booked on Destiny for next May.
Johhny C
|
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daz+paula from cornwall sailed on Thomson Spirit with
thomsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2006 |
daz+paula
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| daz+paula said: cruise number 3 in 18 months on this ship,she is that good,we did 2 weeks this time,romance romans riviera & jewels of the med.the great thing about 2 weeks is that when everyone on a 1 week cruise is about to disembark looking sad,you can say to yourself yippee i still have another week to go!!most of the crew were still the same as my last cruise sept 2005,most still remember my name ,did quite a few ship tours but a lot can be done diy ,rome is simple and very cheap to do,just make sure you have the correct ticket for the train you are travelling on some people who were from the destiny which was in civittavechia at the same time as the spirit,had the wrong ones,they copped a very large fine from a very butch female ticket collector!apart from that its just a one hour trip to the rome termini, then you just hope onto the metro train and go to where you want to go,total cost 20 euro's for 2 people!if you can ,try to learn a little italian ,the locals really appreciate it,the only downer was it poured with rain!lots of enterprising people flogging brollies for 5 euros each,when it isn't raining the same people sell you genuine fake designer watches!!this was the only day it rained.la spezia is a lovely place,go for a walk when the ship docks,then do the afternoon trip to pisa,there was a bit of a riot going on due the home football team (pisa)playing their bitter rivals, cars burning out side miracle square!!.next stop genova,we went to portofino the playground of the rich and famous,loads of 30 metre plus luxury yachts for charter starting at $30000 a week !! next stop marseille the trip to cassis was breathtaking a beautiful place,then on to palomos did our own thing there,back to palma for the day what a great place the marina is the size of a small city,took a long walk down to the cathederal/town centre the funniest thing we saw there was a family of very obese girth looking at the mmenu in the pavement cafe called moby dicks,one of them said very loudly i aint avin any of that its all foreign muck lets find a macdonalds !!priceless ! maybe they should have went to blackpool..next day spent at sea,then palermo sicily,took a trip to cefalu,a beautiful fishing town, water 24 degrees.next stop naples,a dump of a city so we went on the ships tour to sorrento and pompeii,well worth the money the backdrop of vesuvius is truly awesome.ajaccio corsica next did the same tour as last year a taste of corsica even the tour guide was the same, a chap called david who gave a great commentary,he was amazed when i told him i did the same tour last year,the fact there was free wine and nougat had nothing to do with it i said,the guy who runs the nougat factory is still as bonkers as ever!.then on to toulon a naval port but with a great town centre,then on to barcalona,with hindsight i should have gone ashore with some members of the crew who i knew, they went to see the park guelle i went to las ramblas i didn't like it at all pickpockets,beggers and traffic either side of the pedestrianised las ramblas made for a hazardous trip and once you have seen one human statue you have seen them all, haris the barkeeper on the lido deck showed me his photo's of the park guelle very impressive.all in all another fantastic cruise on the spirit,the entertainment was first class,the food ditto,the crew well what can i say they are superb,always happy always smiling nothing is too much trouble,our cabin maid inna always working even on the night of the crew deck party!.the phillipino crewmen one who every time the mooring lines were shipped he got out a pot of paint and painted the parts where the rope wore away the paint he had painted at the previous port of call dedication to duty springs to mind.a big hello to the three amigo's as i call them helen,laura and gina promoted this year from the lido to the broadway lounge hiya girls,haris the greatest friendliest barman you could ever wish to meet make mine a pimms mate !galina the lido waitress,the incompararable elvis parsley!!spikey in high spirits,the gurkha security chaps never seem to get a mention in any cruise reports so here goes well done lads, adrianna from the broadway shops,who remembered our run ashore from last year comparing perfume prices in the shops!and last but by no means least the lovely natalya from the lido bar her smile is priceless,.the dilemma we have now is what thomsons cruise to do next?the spirit is in the frozen north next year,having been one of the frozen chosen in the royal marines i think i will give that trip a miss! we will do either the black sea,the adriatic or the aegean,decisions,decisions!! whatever we choose it can't come soon enougth whatever we do it will be 2 weeks preferably at least one week without kids!there was one very loud very boisterous monster onboard the second week,drowning people beside the pool,and pinching peoples drinks as they went for a swim!! if ever there was a case for bringing back keelhauling! and finaly thank you thomsons this ship and her crew is a credit to you look after them |
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Phil from Bath sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2006 |
Phil
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Phil said: Sailed in the last week of September on the Thomson Spirit. We'd never been on a cruise before and had very little idea of how it would go. The week in the med was billed as adults only and it was. Our flights, transfers, room etc were all smooth.
The cleanliness of the ship and service from the staff was excellent. I wouldn't fault the maids, waiters or bar staff. They were very friendly with the people looking for that kind of thing.
I wasn't impressed by the food but then i'm comparing it to good food and not usual holiday food. I cook better than most of the stuff I ate in the Lido. Hot breakfast was especially bad. I saw plenty of people eating it.. but it didn't qualify as good in my book. The theme nights in the Lido were a nice effort and the variety was good. Was a bit of an effort trying to find the thing that looked nice in the buffet though. Puddings though.. they were fine.
The on-board entertainment wasn't really aimed at a young couple. The comedian dragged on board had a few funny one liners and way too many jokes based around stuff that makes me cringe like minority groups and stuff. I'm sure it was all the rage in the 50's and they're catering to a certain audience.. but I thought that all finished with Les Dawson. I generally avoided the shows as it's not my thing. We found refuge in the Explorers Lounge with the Aquarius Duo. Once we'd found Laura (Piano) and Iby (Violin) we spent the majority of our evening time in there listening to classical music (ironic for a young couple). They were not only very talented but a lot of fun... i just wish I could go see them play afterwards without going to Hungary!
I would return to the Spirit with lower expectations.. that may be more reasonable. I'd be taking along my own evening entertainment though as quite likely the Aquarius Duo will have moved on before I go back. |
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Netty from Lincoln sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Spirit
on a couples holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2006 |
Netty
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Netty said:
There were lots of children onboard when we embarked at Palma which was worrying as the brochure had promised that the ship was Child Free on the dates we'd booked. Much to our relief the children disembarked that day and Thomson lived up to their promise of "child free"
We were very surprised to find a large number of Russians, Swedes and other nationalities onboard. In fact British passengers were almost certainly outnumbered!
Cleanliness:
Hand cleaning gel is sited in all restaurant areas. Cabins and public areas very clean. There always seemed to be somebody cleaning wherever you went! The decks did tend to get a very sooty and some of the ashtrays didnt get emptied for a couple of days but overall fine.
Food:
Lido Snack Bar - Very good. The Chilli was great! BBQ wasn't fantastic the 1st week as the food was rather cold so we gave it a miss on the 2nd week because of that.
Lido Restaurant - excellent!
Compass Rose - very good. Had only 1 poor meal during our 2 weeks onboard (the last night we were there) Our waiter did offer to replace the meals we weren't happy with but we declined.
Sirocco's - fantastic and well worth paying a little extra for (£16 per head) We had 2 meals here and could find no fault with the food or the service. Our waiter Ali was excellent as was the wine waiter Emile who kept trying to flog us bottles of Bollinger instead of the cheaper Moet!
Staff:
Excellent! Watch out for Farouk (Lido deck) Spike (High Spirits) and Lucky (High Spirits) Although all the staff were great these 3 stood out from the crowd. They didnt even wait to be asked before bringing us our next round of drinks! :) Good lads! As mentioned in previous reviews Elvis Parsley is very very funny!
Entertainment:
Excellent on the whole. Always something going on, somewhere and something to suit all tastes. Our main criticism would be aimed at the Gemini Band and the Aquarius Duo. By the end of the 1st week we'd heard all there was to hear and after 2 weeks of the same old same old they were just plain irritating! Also, a couple of the quizzes was repeated question for question from the previous week which gave some people an unfair advantage.
Would we sail with the ship again? Yes, but not for 2 weeks because of the lack of fresh entertainment during the 2nd week.
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tracy siddals from derby sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 6 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2006 |
tracy siddals
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| tracy siddals said: WE TRAVELLED ON 11 AUGUST VISITING SEVERAL PORTS AROUND THE MED. MY HUSBAND AND I HAD CRUISED BEFORE ON BOARD THE SUNBIRD. WE HAD TOLD OUR FAMILY HOW MUCH WE ENJOYED CRUISING, THE PRESSURE WAS ON WHEN A FAMILY TRIP WAS DECIDED. WE HAD PREVIOUS LOVED CRUISING BUT WOULD MY SISTERS AND THEIR HUSBANDS FEEL THE SAME. HOWEVER I NEEDN'T HAVE WORRIED WE HAVE BOOKED AGAIN FOR NEXT YEAR WITH THOMSON. WE ATE EVERY NIGHT IN THE COMPASS ROSE THE ATMOSPHERE WAS LOVELY OUR WAITERS HAMDY AND ALADIN COULD NOT DO ENOUGH FOR OUR PARTY THE WINE WAS KEPT FLOWING ALL NIGHT UNFORTUNATLY AS THE MEN COULD NOT TAKE IT. THEY KEPT TRYING EVERY NIGHT MUCH TO OUR DISMAY. THE FOOD HOWEVER WAS EXCEPTIONAL.
WE WENT ON TWO ORGANISED TRIPS TO ROME AND FLORENCE/PISA WELL WORTH OF A VISIT.
THE ENTERTAINMENT WAS FAIR BUT THE BOYS KEPT US ENTERTAINED, SO WE DIDN'T MIND. THE DRINK WAS ALL BRANDED WHICH IS UNUSUAL FOR ALL INCLUSIVE, YOU CAN NORMALLY DRINK ALL DAY AND NIGHT AND NOT FEEL TIPSY,
THIS HOWEVER WAS PROVEN NOT TO BE THE CASE ON THE FIRST NIGHT.
WE THOROUGHLY ENJOYED CRUISING WITH THOMSON WE ARE DOING THE DESTINY AGAIN IN JANUARY MY SISTER AND BROTHER IN LAW BOOKED WITHIN A WEEK OF THEIR RETURN TO
DO EGYPT CHRISTMAS WEEK.
AND GUESS WHAT WATCH OUT THOMSON WE ARE ALL BACK ON 26
JULY 2007 ON DESTINY TO CHECK OUT IF THE BEER IS STILL GOOD. |
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sarah from newcastle sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2006 |
sarah
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| sarah said: We have just returned from a two week cruise on the Spirit our second.As always in general it can not be faulted.However I must agree with the last two reviews about unruly teenagers and underage drinking.It is a shame other peoples enjoyment and relaxation is spoilt by some selfish individuals, although the parents seem as bad, large groups,shouting and demanding more drinks and generally trying to take over the ship.It will be a tragedy if cruising ends up like holidaycamps.By the way I am not an OAP just a 20 something who works hard and likes to relax on holiday not have it ruined by a certain NORTHERN "CREW" |
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hbrac from Liverpool sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Portland
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 3 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2006 |
hbrac
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| hbrac said: This was our first time on the Spirit and we were not disappointed. Yes, the fabric of the ship is a little jaded and there were the usual maintenance issues but once reported they were quickly attended to.
The food was better than the Destiny thanks to Chefs Lito and Raymond. Order large drinks to save having to keep attracting your waiter's attention.
Our waiters Owen and Mars were true stars and we still have the flowers made out of serviettes in pride of place in our home. The waiter Elvis Parsley was a hoot and Angel says hello to one and all. He thinks he will be back on the Destiny next year.
Our Romanian cabin maids were not as friendly as the lovely Agniya from last year which was a shame.
Hello to Alice, Gareth, Mick and Sian, the entertainments hosts. I know you like reading the reviews. You were fantastic and work so hard. Alice (or should I call you Victoria ) was very good in her take off of Victoria Wood. We forgive you for dragging us up to take part in your shows....3 times. We were amazed and thrilled to win a Thomson mug, pen and bum bag!! Is there no end to Thomson's largesse!
The showteam were excellent.So multi talented. Their "The Importance of being Earnest" was great too. Stu Francis the comedian was a hoot.
I'll say hello here to Alison from Cambridge. We were your co contestants on Top Middle, Bottom.
We didn't go on any organised trips preferring to get off at the ports and do our own thing.
Be alert when off the ship regarding pickpockets. Despite hubby wearing cargo shorts with multiple pockets, a pickpocket on a crowded No 1 bus at the port in Palma tried to reach down into the zipped pocket in his legs. A quick jab from me on his arm thwarted his efforts and he got off at the next stop along with an elderly accomplice.
Our ( and other passengers') holiday onboard was marred somewhat by the behaviour of a minority of foul mouthed and unruly teenagers. I really think that Thomson/ Portland need to get their act together on this and adopt a zero tolerance policy on disruptive behaviour and under age drinking. Security needs to be more proactive in squashing this at the outset. It needs to be stated in the brochure and Cruise News that parents will be held responsible for the behaviour of their children.
I understand that after a refit the Spirit will be doing the Baltic cruises next year and its sister ship, the Celebration will be doing the Med. We have already booked!!
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Natalie from Liverpool sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Portland Direct
on a family holiday.
There were 4 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2006 |
Natalie
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Natalie said: hello, just arrived home from two weeks onboard the Thomson Spirit.
It was a fantastic holiday and I have to mention Gareth and Mick, two of the entertainment team who are fantastic and their evening and daytime quizzes are not to be missed!
I would also like to point out that, having sat through most of the showteam's rehersals they dont mime and they are all very talented. A special mention to Kate (who is a fantastic dance captain), Dan, Zoe and Paul Thornhill who have a lot going for them and all the best to them and the whole team in the future.
There is plenty to do, theres the cinema, the internet room, card and reading room, the daily quizzes, the shows and the evening gameshows.
The only bad point I have to make is the lack of security around the ship. Whilst on board there were some incidents involving a few teenagers which did spoil a section of the holiday for most passengers. Fights and damage to ship property could have been prevented.
Apart from that I would certainly go on the Thomson Spirit again. |
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Sandra from Derby sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a singles holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2006 |
Sandra
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Sandra said: We've just returned from a two week cruise (Jewels of the Med. + Med. Renaissance) and this has to be one of the best holidays we've ever had. The ship was extremely clean everywhere and our cabin was serviced admirably by Diana the cabin stewardess - couldn't believe some of the animals she created from towels(even a monkey hanging from the curtain rail on one occasion!) Nothing seemed too much trouble for any of the staff on the entire ship.
We mainly ate in the self service Lido (complete with hand sanitizer at the entrance) and the food was absolutely wonderful - something for everyone and even scones, cakes and sandwiches between 3.30pm and 5pm. We had a very fussy teenager with us and even she didn't go hungry!
The entertainment was fantastic - numerous quizzes in High Spirits with Alice, Gareth and Mick, bingo, deck games, discos, shows worthy of a West End appearance in the Broadway Lounge and guest comedians (Aiden J Harvey one week and Stu Francis another). There were some really good films on in the cinema to cater for all tastes, repeated every 3 hours from 9 am until 9pm with an occasional 18 rated film at midnight + 2 films on the tv in the cabin. The lido deck entertainment on the day at sea included vegetable carving & cocktail making (the cocktails went to members of the audience at the end). There were salsa lessons, behind the scenes stage tours, daily sudoku and crossword sheets in the explorers lounge, definitely something for everyone.
As we were not very experienced travellers we went on quite a few of the organised excursions. These were all organised brilliantly, and the guides we had were exceptional. We did Monaco & Monte Carlo, Pisa, Rome (full day inc. lunch), Herculaneum, Sicily, Ajaccio (turtle protection centre) & Barcelona sights & shopping. We really can't fault any of the trips, although the Rome trip was a long day and very tiring with the heat. We came to realise we were better suited to the 5 hour max. trips. There are leaflets with street maps in your cabin with lots of helpful local information should you wish to do your own thing - may even try it ourselves next time!
All in all a super holiday - we learned such a lot about all the places we visited and feel privileged to have been on such a lovely ship with such lovely staff. Thank you Thomson - we knew we could trust you!
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Alison from Cambridge sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2006 |
Alison
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Alison said: We done the jewels of the Med one week cruise. Our arrival at Palma airport went very smoothly and so did the coach transfer to the ship.
This was our first cruise and won't be our last. We were worried about the age group on the ship as we thought it may be full of oaps, this was not the case. There was a real mixture of generations, young couples, families and oaps. The atmosphere on the ship was very friendly and everyone was up for a laugh.
We have already been and got the brouchure for next summer and am hoping to go for 2 weeks.
The food was fantasic both in the buffet and waiter service restaurants. The staff were very friendly and helpful. They are always smiling which is amazing considering they work 12 hour shifts with no day off!!! A big thanks to Ahmed who looked after our room and also a huge thanks to Natalie from Russia who was our waiter most nights in the high spirits night club. Thank you also to the two waiters who use to serve our curry at 3.00am and have a sing along with us.
The entertainment was great, there was always something going on. We really enjoyed the tribute show to Abba & Queen, it was brilliant. The game shows were really good fun too.
We would highly recommend this cruise. There really is something for everyone.
We can't wait for next summer! |
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maureen from Manchester sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2006 |
maureen
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| maureen said: this was a great holiday, food, cabin and service outstanding - I give 4 star for cleanliness only because of age of ship, they certainly keep it very clean.
Our cabin steward Violetta was exceptional and friendly and attentive. They are always cleaning!
Dinner in both restaurants was very high standard and Sirroccos - for an extra charge is worth a treat.Waiters are all so friendly and funny. Leroy excellent as Maitre D.
The entertainment team worked valiantly against bad equipment - I travelled on the Spirit two years ago and the sound was better managed, it now sounds either too loud most of the time and sometimes singers cannot be heard. I think the team are very talented, special mention to Dan Zoe and both Pauls who all seem to be destined for bigger and better things and certainly a previous review about miming is rubbish. The whole of the entertainment team really made our holiday, Alice and Bob we had met before, and I´m very surprised Alice is not cruise director by now - particularly unimpressed with the one we had who was never around and seemed to hate his job when he did. Stephen Guy and Richard Sykes seem sadly missed on that ship. Sian and Gareth were the other entertainers and performed gameshows very professionally - although not my idea of fun - we did enjoy some of them.They seem to have an intelligent tam this year so less holiday camp. The Victoria Wood evening and the play Improtance of being earnest were the highlight of the whole cruise absolutely brilliant and again proof that Alice is the real talent on that ship.There is certainly room for more of this type of entertainment and less musicals.
The tours this year seemed a lot more expensive than before, we tend to do our own thing in ports - and did all the big trips the last two years. Rome and Florence well worth going to, particularly as the ports for these trips are dull and difficult to find anything much to do.
It is nice to see smoking restricted in areas, although dont understand at all making horizons completely non smoking and the lido still smoker friendly. unfortunately it means all the smokers in a small area of high spirits which makes the whole room unbearable sometimes.
Still enjoy the Spirit and recommend it highly. anyone who can´t have fun and good value doesn´t deserve a holiday. |
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Emma from Liverpool sailed on Thomson Spirit with
kcu
on a family holiday.
There were more than 6 adults and more than 6 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2006 |
Emma
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Emma said: This was one of the most amazing holidays ever it was perfect in everyway and nothing can break the ice of remembering the moments we will treasure forever.
We have benn on this ship 3 times and are going on the emerald in a few days and are hopeing it will be just as good (fingers crossed).
If you every need a holiday this is the one you should choose the only fault is that the water in the pool is salty water, but me and my 11 reletives loved it to bits and i hope this year me and my 15 reletives will love it just as much as this ship. |
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Karen & Pete from Birmingham sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2006 |
Karen & Pete
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Karen & Pete said: This was our second cruise, but the first on this ship. We boarded on Friday 28 July for two weeks. The whole experience was a great success, with a realy friendly atmosphere created by staff and guests. Special mentions to Sabrina our cabin steward, for whom nothing was too much trouble, the bar staff, in particular Iva and Spike in Horizons, which was our favorite bar. All the waiting staff in the Compass Rose including Leroy, Paddy, Ken and Elvis Parsley. Thanks especially for the serenading at the table.
We enjoyed all the shows, especially Africa and Broads on Broadway. Having chatted to some of the entertainers, in particular Zoe, we realise how hard they work on the shows and behind the scenes. THEY DEFINITELY DO NOT MIME.
The ship was always spotless. The cleaning and repairs seem to be going on round the clock.
We enjoyed all the trips and were well looked after by our couriers. We went on organised trips to Rome, Florence, Monaco, and Lisbon and in other ports did our own thing.
The food was excellent where ever we ate. We really enjoyed the formal nights. It gave us a rare chance to get dressed up. Our only critism is too many photographs - two would be enough.
A big thanks to everyone we met - by the end of the fortnight we felt like old friends. Hope to see you cruising somewhere in the future. We've booked up for next year on the Emerald already! |
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Sarah from Leeds sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 5 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2006 |
Sarah
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Sarah said: This was my first cruise, I went with my boyfriend and his family who are seasoned cruisers and had been on the Spirit before. I was just so impressed with the sheer size of the ship and all the things available to do, but I guess if you're used to it you wouldn't be gasping in amazement like i was on the first day!
The cabin we had on deck 2 was really spacious, my boyfriend assured me that the size was above average compared to other ships he'd been on. Very comfy bed and good shower. Our stewardess Monica was so friendly and helpful, especially when i was feeling a bit seasick when she went to reception to get me a tablet, really thoughtful. All the staff were willing to go that extra step to help you out and make your stay as relaxing and enjoyable as possible.
The shows in the evening were amazing, especially the Africa one, when they sang the Lion King songs i had goosebumps. Singing and dancing of the highest standard, not one of them would look out of place in the West End. And Alice, the entertainment hostess, was amazing, a real talent and really funny.
We loved the daytime quiz by the pool as well as the cocktail making to music, very funny! In general, just a really relaxing, fun holiday which has made me want to go straight on another cruise again! |
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Pinchbeck from Lincolnshire sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2006 |
Pinchbeck
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Pinchbeck said: Sailed on 21st July on the Spirit for two weeks, and had an excellent time. I would echo the comments of the previous post, that the ship is spotless but a little dated. I would also agree that Alice should be Cruise Director - she was great!
The food is just fantastic - and so plentiful! There really is something for everyone, we had a 16 year old & a 10 year old who loved the lido.
The staff are very friendly, and the service first class. The waiters really stand out, also our steward Olena was lovely.
We really enjoyed the entertainment, and thought all the production & choreography was fantastic. The entertainment staff work very hard, and I don't think any of them were moming. We thought Africa was the best show. Our 16 year old son preferred the High Spirits lounge. If anyone is reluctant to take kids on board then I would reassure them. The 16 year old hung out with all the teenagers, and didn't arrive back to the cabin until 2am at the earliest! He said it was the best holiday ever! Our 10 year old daughter made lots of friends at the kids club, and loved the entertainment in the Broadway Lounge.
The only complaint is that the walls between cabins are paper thin. We were in an inside cabin on deck 1, and could hear everything our neighbours were saying. I could even hear the guy next door snoring in the night! However, you go to bed so tired that nothing keeps you awake.
One more grumble - the trips are very expensive. Try and do your own thing, Destination Services were very helpful even if you didn't book their trips.
All in all a fabulous holiday! |
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Andre from Rochester sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2006 |
Andre
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Andre said: We sailed on 14th - 21st of July 2006 choosing the Romance, Romans and Riviera all inclusive package The Ship was nice clean and the staff are very heplful.The ship was spotless and very tidy . The entertaintment wasnt really up to scratch especially the Africa show.(you could do btter with the costumes.) Some of the entertainers where miming on the shows. And the rOCK AND rOLL SHOW ON THE DECKS WAS NICE.Mr Karl Schofield was funny. Went to the disco which didnt start until 12 midnight. The disco could start earlier. The Cinemas was good but had to pack a winter jacket in summer as it was really cold. The Captains nite was ok but didnt like the fact that you had to seat with total strangers when having your dinner . The Lido was a very good experience the food and the staff were excellent. The shows could be more varied and cater for the 18 - 35 age group. Overall it was was a nice cruising experience would recomend it. |
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william and yvonne andrew from aberdeen sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2006 |
william and yvonne andrew
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| william and yvonne andrew said: just returned from great holiday on board thomson spirit we have been with other cruise companies before but none as good as thomson staff excellent food excellent were both on diets on return you can dress up or go informal even on the captains night this we like because i cant imagine a case full of ball gowns dinner suits etc our luggage weight was heavy anyway owing to the great ports of call shoes,shoes,shoes!!! well be back thanks thomson. |
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Laura from Lancaster sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomas Cook
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2006 |
Laura
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Laura said: Arrived early on Friday morning, weather was gorgeous. Got on board with minimal fuss and bags both arrived within the 3 hours stated. Ship is really clean and tidy (there was a man painting the ship sides at one of the ports where the paint had been rubbed off at the previous port!). Staff all friendly and willing to help. Cabin steward did a great job, even made towel animals!
Watch out for the photographers though, they take pictures at every opportunity including the lifeboat drill. Food was excellent, although in the self service lido restaurant we weren't allowed to serve ourselves on the week we were there but this changed on the last day. All restaurants tend to have the same food, just depends whether you go for waiters (compass rose) or self service (lido).
Entertainment was excellent, loved the shows by the showteam and the back stage tour of all the secrets (hehe!) and always some activity going on around the ship (would like to mention Gareth and Mick who were hilarious together!).
Only went on 3 trips (Pompeii, Cassis and Palermo and Old City) and went on city sightseeing tour buses in barcelona, which we saw just as much as those on the tour. Disappointed by Palermo, very dirty and didn't appear much to do, but other trips were excellent.
All in all a very organised, friendly and hard work (only because of all the activities, trips, late nights!!!!!) holiday, but well worth it! Loved every minute. ***** 5 stars! |
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chris johansson from perth sailed on Thomson Spirit with
thomsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2006 |
chris johansson
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| chris johansson said: we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise on the spirit,the staff were fantastic, especially our stewardess, elli. and the restaurant staff, mark,bert and brad pitt. the food in the restaurant was fantastic also.The only criticism I have is the price of the trips. we met some wonderful people on board both staff and fellow cruiser. we would certainly go on a cruise again. |
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Ian Steward from Sutton Coldfield sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2006 |
Ian Steward
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Ian Steward said: We prebooked a cabin one year in advance and were not given it.
The cruise was billed as "child Free" it wasn't.
Staff were generally neutral/unhelpful.
Thomson were taken to task and threatened with legal action upon our return by the "Trading Standards Office" who stated they had broken both civil and a criminal law in their financial "double dealings" i.e. delibrately double booking rooms to fill up unsaleable cabins once the unsuspecting holidaymaker is on board.
My opinion is that Thomson are untrustworthy and do not have the holidaymakers best interest at heart. You may have a good holiday with them, but be warned, if there is a problem, be it of their making or not, You are on your own!!!! |
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Pat from Birmingham sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a singles holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2006 |
Pat
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Pat said: We travelled on the spirit and prebooked a cabin which
Thompson deliberately refused to give us when we boarded ship. They put us in an inferior cabin and when
we complained the staff threatened us . They admitted cabin swapping was a regular occurrence and affected a
small number of passengers on every cruise.
Trading standards have said they acted illegally and are currently pursuing legal action on our behalf.
We believe Thompsons are untrustworthy and devious.
No wonder they are cutting 2600 jobs. They just can't
compete. You have been warned ! |
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Ian Steward from Sutton Coldfield sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2006 |
Ian Steward
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Ian Steward said: We arrived on the friday night to be told our cabin which we had booked for a year had been given to someone else. The cabin we had booked was midships due to my partner tending to be sea sick if things get too rough at sea. The cabin we were given was right up front on the promenade deck and bow movement was severe and she was sick. The cruise was billed as "no children under 16". We saw several families with children clearly under 16 and in pushchairs. When we complained the reception staff were generally obstructive and said it was hard luck.Further letters to Thomson upon our return have proved fruitless. My point is this : The basic holiday package, the food, the entertainment would have been enjoyable but was ruined by Thomsons failure to deliver the cabin we requested and "no children on board". Why say these things if they have no intention of providing them.
It became clear from both the staff on boards comments and other holiday makers that Thomson regularly double book a small number of cabins/hotel rooms equating to the number of cabins they have failed to sell at the full price (usually because they are in an inferior position). This in my opinion constitutes miss selling.
If you are flexible in your attitude to choice of cabin and children/no children then I would say the basic holiday provided is acceptable, but if you take heed of what is promised in the brochure and rely on thomson to prebook your cabin when they say they have done then I would strongly discourage anybody from relying on Thomson as they could let you down badly. |
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Stephen Johansson from Perth sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Tomsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 1 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2006 |
Stephen Johansson
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Stephen Johansson said: Didn't like the shows very much [ 3 is my personal view but then again I'm not a show person, I went with her my wife she would give 5 ] but my wife thought they where excellent, the staff where very very nice could not fault them, the comidian on the second week [Andy Rough]was a blast and very kind when we met him. Bert and Mark in the compass rose restaurant where the best I have ever seen, and I even got a birthday card from my stewardess Elli,[who made wonderful towel animals every night] and the captain. the bar staff always remembered your drinks amazing seeing as so many people used the place. I thought the cost of the trips where a little on the steep side I think the people who go to the captain's cocktail party should wear evening wear [some wore jeans which I think was hellish, and disappointing] |
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Irene from fife sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2006 |
Irene
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Irene said: We booked this last june and were looking rorward to going . Not a disapointment.The ship was spotless , always getting painted or cleaned.The food cant be faulted , and the choice exellent.Daniella from romania and victor from the ukraine , of the bar staff, were really great friendly but not pushy. Our cabin steward Sabrina did a sterling job she seemed to be always there with clean towels etc .The venetian night show and the africa, were the ones we liked best.,but all were first class.The show case nigts with Paul and Daniel were again brilliant .the ship had vibration , but hey its a ship what do u expect? The trips we did we thought good value especially Rome.We took the complete vatican city,and never had to wait or queue.staight into the sistine chapel ( what can u say ?)there are no words for it .all in a fantastic holiday . thanks thomsons. |
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Rob & Gaynor from Leek, Staffs sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2006 |
Rob & Gaynor
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Rob & Gaynor said: This was our 3rd Year on the Spirit and the the standards are still excellent staff so friendly. But Thomson are trying to stop some of this in the dining room where last year we were sang to had flowers made and tricks while we dined. Its part of the holiday and not a chore but a pleasure from the waiters don't fix wot an't broke!! Next year we will try the Celebration for our med cruise as the Spirit is relocating. I have read the other reviews from some people who were on the same cruise as us this year and they are not wronge. The only complaint was the deck party Wednesdays i think were a bit of a flop, you can not get 1,000 people on the party deck at one time and i think other entertainment should have been happening in the show lounge.
Had a great time.Chears Joice & Jone
If you have never cruised try it you'll probely get hooked, but try Thomson, up to now never a let down. |
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Roy from Basildon sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Instant Travel
on a singles holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2006 |
Roy
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Roy said: After a good and quick flight from Gatwick we were soon on board,at this point I will point out that my Wife has to use a stick,and a wheel chair for ashore.Our cabin was on A deck inside, our cases soon followed,as we were on the Celebration last year [that one from sthmpton,that got cancelled in Lisbon] we already knew our way around the ship.we ate in the Lido restaurant for breakfast,lunch and tea then we used the Compass Rose for dinner every night,as per usual all the food was first class,could not fault any of it.we treated ourselves to the Sirocco for the a la carte one evening,what a feast,beautifully presented 6 courses with excellent waiters,we were in there for 2 hours and at the end they brought a plate to the table with chocolate fancies,we said we could not eat any more,so they promptly covered it with foil so we could take it to our cabin and eat them later.that meal at home would cost £100+ back home,we paid just £32.
Cleanliness on the ship was very good,every where some one was cleaning,dusting,hoovering and polishing,also when we were in port the outside of the ship also got spruced up,including painting the life boats.
The waiters were all very polite and attentive,must mention,Ali,who who served us in Sirocos,who always found time to help carry my Wifes tray,and said he would pray for Englands football team,our table waiters,Don and Michael who some how one night managed to obtain a real rose for my wife to go with the imitation one he made,which it seems all the waiters are very clever at making,they were both very polite and friendly nothing was too much trouble,one evening I could not make my mind up which desert to have from 2 choices,so they brought up both for me.The wine waiters Min and Man always kept my glass full and were two great characters,always laughing and smiling.Special mention to our stewardess Lori,she kept our cabin spotless and even found time to make special animals from our towels.
The entertainment staff did a good job with quizzes and games etc,it was great fun to see Alice baiting Bob the cruise director who took it in good spirit,Sian,Mike and Gareth and Alice worked well together.The singers and dancers put on very good shows especially Africa and Eltons tribute.They managed to put the Paraguay game on in the cinema,what an atmosphere there was during that game,the other game was sreened in High Spirits in German!
Regards the excursions we only did 3 as so many were impossible for my wife to go on due to her having to use a stick or wheelchair, we managed to go ashore at every port on our own any way,thanks here to the gangway staff, who were there to assist if needed.On all the coaches the drivers were quick to help with stowing the chair and getting it out for us.
The sight of seeing the QE2 next to us in Palermo was breathtaking it caused quite a stir on board and with the locals.
All in all it was an enjoyable 2 week cruise up to the usual high Thomsons standard as this was our 4th with them,we are looking forward to cruising with them again,just to finish we spoke to many first time cruisers who all said they enjoyed it and would cruise again with Thomsons, I think that says it all. |
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Alison Brown from Derbyshire sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2006 |
Alison Brown
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Alison Brown said: Sailed on the spirit for the second time on the Mediteranean renaissance itinery. I was a little worried that it would not live up to our expectations the second time round, I was wrong! It was totally fantastic from start to finish. There have been subtle changes, but all these are for the better.(PG Tips teabags now instead of dust fab!)Every mouthful of every meal(and we had lots)were delicious, especially in the Compass Rose Restaurant. The service in there was top notch and had improved from last year. We sat in Jose, Ludivic and Min's section most nights, they made our meals a special event every evening.We could not dock in Villefranche because of choppy seas, went to Genoa instead, so we decided to eat in Compass Rose that lunchtime, it was lovely, roast beef and yorkshire pud, the waiters were even more attentive as hardly anyone seems to eat in there in the day. Min filled my glass so many times I had to stop him in the end(all inclusive is a wonderful thing)
We could not believe how many staff remembered us from last year, Lovely Daniella in horizons bar even remembered what we drank. Amazing.
The entertainment staff were top notch, we saw all the shows and most of the quizes, my son won the weak link against his dad I think it made his holiday.
We did one organized trip to Rome, the walking tour with lunch included, quite expensive at £137 for the 3 of us, but we had a marvellous guide, and learned more about Rome than we ever would have if we had gone on our own.Note to all the moaners, who were complaining about the amount of walking involved, hello you booked a WALKING tour,where your legs may be required!!
The ship is immaculate and the staff are constantly cleaning.
I honestly cannot think of anything to criticize, it is the ultimate holiday.
We have already booked for next year with friends, sailing on the Destiny, as the wonderful Spirit is mainly in the Baltics next year. Thomsons please bring it back to the med soon!
The ship is immaculate |
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Ian & Pat from North Yorks sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2006 |
Ian & Pat
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Ian & Pat said: Just back from a cruise on the Thomson Spirit, it was our first cruise and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Food was excellent, Staff very friendly and Helpful and the entertainment was first rate.
We did not do any of the on board excursions so can't comment on them though we did do some of our own, more of which later.
We booked this cruise early and so qualified for a free upgrade to all inclusive, I don't think we managed to drink £198's worth but I gave it a go..lol
It was worth the all inclusive bit just to avoid the hassle of worrying about how much your final bill was going to be. I reckon ours would have been around the £150 to £160 mark.
When you first arrive at the Spirit you are given a Thomson credit card with your name and cabin number on it, this is used for all onboard purchases and also as an identy card when you get on and off the ship, you do not need your passports when you go ashore just this card so leave your passports somewhere safe. In fact most people went to reception and hired a safety deposit box for £12 (charged to your card of course)you pay the card off on your final morning before you depart (a statement is posted under your door the night before)unless you pre-register your credit card with reception in which case the bill will appear on your next monthly statement from your bank.
We also took advantage of the cheap cabin upgrade offer and upgraded to an ordinary outside cabin (I like to look out the window when I wake up to see where we are), we also prebooked the cabin for an extra £30 which turned out to be worth it as we were put on deck 4 and these cabins have the larger picture style windows like the deluxe cabins and not portholes.
The onboard entertainment really was something to behold if you didn't like it then you must be really hard to please as the shows were packed out every night and the performers are very talented and fit (a can can went on for a full 6 1/2 minutes at full tilt). There is also an on board cinema showing fairly recent films which we used one night and very good that was to. In the cabins are small T.V's and these also show Sky news and CNN news the discovery channel and 2 different films each day.
The Captains formal do is on the night of the first full day aboard and is entirely voluntary if you don't want to dress up then you can use the self service Lido restuarant instead.
First port of call was Palermo and if you must go on an excursion then do it here rather then go into Palermo because Palermo is without doubt the filthiest city I have ever come across, they must have had one hell of a street party the night before or all the street cleaners have been on strike for months, it definately is not worth disembarking to walk round it hence the excursion trip tip. Next was Naples a bit better than Palermo, we wanted to go across to Capri but Thomson no longer include this excursion option apparently because the Italians have a habit of cancelling the ferries to and from Capri without notice,there were other excursions to Sorrento and Pompeii but we plan to holiday around that area in the future so didn't want to spoil a future highlight so we walked around the city and took in some of the sights (check the terms and conditions of your life insurance policy before you even think about trying to cross the roads here, as we discovered that most Italians are colour blind and don't know the difference between green and red lights at pedestrian crossings) next up was Ajaccio on Corsica and what a nice surprise to come across a peaceful and pretty little town (after the Italian mayhem) we disembarked and turned left into the town and got on A Petit Train (the kind you find at fete's etc)cost was 7 euro's each and the tour takes about 30 minutes we then found ourselves walking round most of the route the train took so could have done the tour on foot for nothing, if you want to take pictures of the Spirit showing its full length then this is the place to do it as in the other ports the views are wholly or partly obstructed. Next stop was Toulon, base of the French Mediterranean fleet and outside the harbour entrance was another Petit Train and this was better value at 5 euro's each and took you to some very nice beaches en route to the town centre, again Toulon was a nice clean and fairly relaxing town with a lovely quayside/Marina and also a nice shopping arcade which had a C & A's in it!
Final and best stop and the highlight of the cruise for us, was Barcelona, what a beautiful city and this was the main excursion we organised ourselves. There is a specialist tourist bus stop a couple of hundred yards from where you dock, we just bought our tickets at 18 euro's each and jumped on the open topped bus. There is a comentary in English of the sights of interest and the driver also advises passengers when to get off and change for different routes. There are the Blue, Red and Green routes to take, you are given a map when you buy your ticket highlighting all these routes and the places they visit (including the Olympic stadium and village, The Nou Camp stadium (10.50 euros entrance to this) the Sagarda Familia Cathedral etc etc). You can hop on and off these buses all day long at no extra charge and we thought it was a brilliant way to see all the city has to offer you also get a small booklet of discount tokens for most of these sites. Beware when walking down the Ramblas as its got a bad reputation for pickpocketing we saw a Chinese tourist complaining to the police that he had just been robbed.
Right next to the quay where we berthed was a cable car that took you right across the bay to the Olympic Stadium area overlooking the city, I'd have gone on this had I noticed it when we docked, unfortunately I only saw it as we returned to the ship and it was to late to go on it, the views would have been spectacular.
To sum up we had a great time and only had one really rough day at sea between Naples and Ajaccio, free sea sickness tablets are handed out to any passenger who wants them simply by going to reception and asking for them.
The only bad part of this holiday for me was the miniscule leg room on the boeing 757-200 that Thomson operate out of Newcastle where we flew from, at 6feet 1inch I was extremely cramped and certainly couldn't have sat in this space on a long haul flight, if you are very tall it might be worth paying the extra £36 they want for extra leg room seats, don't bother about paying the £12 extra to ensure you sit next to each other as we were allocated seats next to each other at check in without asking on both flights. The in flight meals didn't look much either so don't bother with them as you can have a meal as soon as you board the Spirit in the Lido restuarant in fact you will put on pounds if your not careful, so missing the in flight meals are one way to slim....lol
On a final note we got chatting to an elderly couple at Dinner one night (you do not sit at the same table every night and there is no early and late dinning preferences on the Spirit) and they said they had been on 12 Thomson cruises 8 of which were on the Spirit because in their opinion the Spirit is the Best Ship, Oh and there definately is a vibration despite what anyone else says in fact this is caused by an engine constantly being on to supply the air conditioning and lighting etc and after awhile you get used to it, its worse in the upper reaches of the ship.
If like us you are on an early flight home and don't have time to visit the duty free shop in palma then either do your shopping at the duty free shop next to the ship in palma when you first arrive or use the duty free shop in Barcelona which is situated right out side the ships docking berth in fact you have to walk past it to get out of the harbour. Oh and another thing don't believe that these cruises are for the over 60's brigade there were Babes in pushchairs, Toddlers, Teenagers, 20 somethings in fact all age groups though to be fair most were in the 45-65 age group. Well thats all I can think of so I hope its of some use to you people who bother to read these reviews...Enjoy yourselves |
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Mr & Mrs French from W. Sussex sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2006 |
Mr & Mrs French
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Mr & Mrs French said: This was our second cruise on the Spirit and we were looking forward to it.We were not disapointed as we enjoyed it as much as the first time.We did the Mediterranean Renaissance cruise. Fantastic itineraries.Although we had to miss a port in France due to adverse sea conditions. Staff are brilliant.All of them. They work so hard, always smiling. Anything to keep us happy. Food is always excellent, plenty of choice and plenty of it.Most of our meals were in the Compass Rose Restaurant. The waiters ( June and Patrick )and wine waiter ( Vesko )Recognised us from last year. They saved us a table every night. Not to forget the head waiter ( Angel w/o wings ) These people and all the crew have made sure that we will take another cruise with them.Our cabin was kept spotless by a very polite Ahmed. The rest of the ship was clean throughout, wherever you went they were cleaning, hoovering and polishing, day and night, and when the ship was in dock, they were painting the outside. The entertainment is great, from the plays during the day to the cabarets, shows and comedians in the evening, even our 8yr old could not get enough.We have already booked a Thomson cruise for 2007 and are looking forward to it. Thankyou Thomson. brilliant holiday. Big thanks to the crew who make the holiday. |
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maureen and malcolm from ipswich sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2006 |
maureen and malcolm
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| maureen and malcolm said: cruise was on 5th May 2006 from Palma (Jewels of the Med) and it was to celebrate our Ruby Wedding.
Never having cruised before we selected the SPIRIT because neither of us are into dressing for dinner on an ultra smart basis and neither do we like having to share our table regularly with others.
We dined in the LIDO every day ,3 times a day and we could not fault the food or the quality.
You are able to sit where you like and the theme nights are wonderful.
We didnt do the captains night but equally it was our choice and lots of other peple did.
The entertainment in the main broadway lounge was great and we also did like the classical players in one of the other bars.
There was so much on each night we just didnt get round to going to all the other venues.
The staff were fantastic all round the ship and nothing was too much trouble for any crew member.
We did pay the extra and stayed in a suite which was lovely and a very special mention to the cabin attendant eleana who looked after the cabin admirally.
The excursions were very expensive and another time we may try to make our way on our own,but our take on the situation was that we were on holiday we didnt know where we were going if we ventured on our own and were quite happy to pay the price and be taken door to door.
We had booked early so we had the drinks package included and whilst we are not very heavy drinkers, we did love this,being able to order a drink any time, and a lot of the time I just ordered the non alcoholic cocktails which were great.
We had only been homeone day and we booked again for the next year.
May i finish by saying we have been all over the world on holiday and can honestly say that we enjoyed this holiday immensly and are looking forward to next year. |
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George& Janette Clifton from Kingsteignton Devon sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2006 |
George& Janette Clifton
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| George& Janette Clifton said: Thank you Thomson's for a brilliant holiday. This was our first cruise and we were a bit apprehensive, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. The cruise and all the crew were marvellous. Special thanks to Daniela, our cabin steward she was an absolute gem. We will definitely be sailing with you again. We enjoyed all the trips we went on with you and all the places we saw. Once again thank you very much. |
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Mr & Mrs Rose from Derby sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a friends holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 4
2006 |
Mr & Mrs Rose
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Mr & Mrs Rose said: This was our 1st cruise on the Thomson Spirit.
We joined the ship In Sharm El Sheik. The airport left a lot to be desired but once we got through the staff were excellent.
Our cabin was very big and we were pleasantly surprised to have been upgraded.
The food onboard was quite good for a budget cruise line and Siroccos Al La Carte restaurant was quite excellent.
The Suez canal was the highlight of the trip although we did feel that some commentary during the day would've been nice.
The entertainment on the ship is fantastic. The showteam were west-end standard especially Paul.
We had 2 comedians Stu(crush a grape)Francis who was awful and Andy Rudge who was hilarious.
The musicians onboard were also wonderful especially the Violin Duo.
We visited Cairo, Alexandria, Malta and Barcelona. Every other day was a sea day which made getting a sunbed a chore.
The staff on the Spirit are very good and the waiters and bar staff were especially attentive.
|
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Mr & Mrs B from Norfolk sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 4
2006 |
Mr & Mrs B
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Mr & Mrs B said: This was our first cruise and WOW, not one to be forgotten.
The staff were very fiendly and efficient. They were always willing to help in any way you needed.
All excursions were very well organinsed. On the long trips, we were given a snack box for the journey and on return given a hot flannel and drink to freshen up whilst waiting to board the ship. Each of these trips had police escorts and on any trip an armed guard was also on the each coach. Spare coaches went too on the long trips.
The guides were very knowledgable and very helpful.
The ship was very clean and there were always cleaners around doing various cleaning tasks. We did feel very sorry for one young girl who was trying to keep the glass in the doors free of grease, however, not all guests used the handles, which made her job an endless task.
The food was excellent. We mainly ate in the Compass Rose and was treated to culinary delights daily. (We now have some weight to lose!!!).
The Broadway Shows were of a very high standard. The entertainment team worked tremendously hard to provide these shows every evening (sometimes performing them twice an evening) as well as doing other events throughout the day.
We had an excellent holiday, and hope to return to the Thomson Spirit in the not too distant future. |
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J Westgarth from Bishop Auckland sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomas Cook
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 4
2006 |
J Westgarth
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| J Westgarth said: This cruise is not about the ship as the enjoyment of it is spoilt by the industrial ports it docks into for a couple of days (unless you stay inside that is). This cruise is a ferry between areas to go on trips to see some absolutely amazing places and experience some amazing cultures. If they could stop at better ports (ones which are not smelly, ugly and dirty (except Sharm el Sheikh), there would be something for everyone. Cannot fault the Restaurants, and restaurant staff, the housekeeping and staff, and entertainment and staff, they were fabulous. However the reception and destination desk became a form of amusement a bit like the locals ( I think they must get a hard time, as the trips are expensive and not always value for money (Ras Mohammed trip was very poor, the cruiser was good, but the snorkelling was poor and short)Some trips were cancelled, which does always happen, but these were the only reason some people had joined on board. Reception was not a place you went willingly, as you knew you would get a different answer from every person, just had to go with the flow and remember only there for 7 days. We are all pleased we went, as Jordan and Eygpt are amazing places to visit and very humbling. However, we would still have done such a trip but enjoyed it more if we had been properly informed - like many of the guests. |
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Mandy from Kilmarnock sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson's
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 3
2006 |
Mandy
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Mandy said: Just back from our 2nd cruise on the 'Spirit' and sad to be home!
This time, we did the Red Sea cruise and chose it because of the sites we have always longed to visit. Agreed, the Red Sea is at the limit for distance to be travelled to visit sites but why go on this tour and then complain about long days and treks to see such once in a life time places such as the Pyramids / Valley of the Kings and unforgetable Petra. The jordanian tour company were excellent with superb guides. The Egyptian guides were less professional but very knowledgeable. Don't expect anything wonderful inside the pyramid. Just to see an empty tomb! Petra was wonderful but do wear sensible footwear. The going is very ineven and a long slog back if you don't fancy riding on a horse or camel! Take plenty water.
A wonderful week with great crew and entertainment of a high standard. The Africa show was superb.
After initial doubts about cruising, we are devotees and looking forward to seeing the fjords onboard Celebration in July.
The only downside for us is the cramped aircraft and constant flogging of lucky tickets. Sharm airport is chaos and a survival nightmare. That apart Thomson's do an excellent value holiday. Enjoy! |
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Laura Selling from Northampton sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 1 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 3
2006 |
Laura Selling
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Laura Selling said: The Thomson Spirit was amazing take my word for it the entertainment was my most exiting bit of the cruise you should defently recomend it!
If you have kid's aspecially they enjoyed it so much they said that the entertainment was the best part of the cruise to we had one week on the cruise and a week in the hotel my kid's are 13 & 9 they both enjoyed it just as much and my son is a teenager!
There is alot of choose in the trips you can visit all different places we visited Petra we had another trip in Jordan it is called wadi rum it was fantastic we also went to luxor and cairo it was a very good experiance for me and my children but there is alot of hastling in Cairo trust me don't buy anything that men and women are trying to sell you the ship cleanliness was VERY godd aswell and the food was lovely you have three different resturants the lido resturant that is a buffet the Compass Rose resturant which is very posh and you have to be pretty dressed up to go there but i don't meen in a dress everyday or a tux for the men in the compass rose you have a captains cocktail party it was lovely you have to dress up for that because you have a photo with the captain and 2 more photo's just of your family with a nice background!
There is 1 more resturant but you have to book a table for it, it's called Sirocco's that is very posh you mostly have to be dressed up for that!
The staff are very nice aswell they are so very friendly! On the Thomson Spirit they have a kid's club they keep the children entertained so you can relax by the pool the maximaum age is up to 12 years there is also a video arcade for the kid's aswell when we was on the ship we was on deck 7 we were in a deluxe cabin it was very nice in there I would reccomend you to be in a cabin with a window and not one in the middle we was in one with a window it was lovely!
On the ship they havev camara men so if you see a big black video camara try to get in it because at the end of your cruise they have a dvd which show's your cruise and all of the shows you should buy the dvd because you see all of the show's and everything we got it and it is wickedit also shows it on your tv in your cabin on channel 17 I remember!
I WOULD REALLY RECCOMEND THE SHIP
hope you have a wicked cruise like i did ! |
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Ann & Leanne from Cheshire sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 1 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 3
2006 |
Ann & Leanne
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Ann & Leanne said: Just myself and 15 year old daughter on a weeks break. Weather was wonderful 25-30 degreeds every day! Loved the cruising experience, my first, but hooked and would love to try again, perhaps the carribean, when funds permit!
The staff are wonderful. Our housekeeper Daniella from Romania was a little gem, always chatty and she kept the room immaculate. Made up live a living area in the day, then after 7 all presented beautifully for sleeping, complete with the wonderful towel creation...different every day, and so clever. All the staff pamper you so well. The entertainment (if you partook) was different every day too, they are very professional, I was surprised, having endured some of the spainish resort efforts! No comparison.
Food was plentiful (24 hour if you could cope!)Loads of variety of dishes, expertly presented every time. Could not fault the food in any way. Missing it all already!
Excursions: My only gripe. The guides make a point of telling you how cheap fuel is in Egypt..50p a gallon, and how their cost of living is up to 75% lower than ours. Then, why their government (or is it the Thomson's?) can justify charging £68 per person (no reduction under 12)for the valley of the kings, and the pyramid tour defies belief! Then they make it very clear that you have to pay them extra for entering the pyramid, asking for a further £4 pp (incidentally only £2 if purchased from a small booth 100 yards from the entrance, which I opted for, out of principal) £10 per person for entering the mummies room at the Cairo museum (again, savings to be had if purchased at the nearby booth, I saved £10 for the two of us, as I obtained a student discount for my 15 year old daughter.) I did query with the Travco rep, and expressed my disgust as being charged double. She blamed it on the Egyptian government. There was a fair amount of pressure to be 'herded', not only in to buying at the higher price, but to keep the pace, which was fast, not good for those less mobile or the elderly.
BEWARE: When entering the pyramid. I would strongly recommend those over a certain age, or those less mobile, not to bother, seriously, the entrance is 3'6 in height, by 2' wide, to say you are doubled up for 90% the whole time is no exaggeration! Once you get to the end there is nothing there anyway, just a small 12x12 room with nothing but an egyptian telling you to "mind your head" (who then holds his hand out for the pleasure of doing so...?) and a grave, which has nothing in it! Not worth the effort if you are going to struggle. As we were entering an old chap (who was quite a hefty chap too) was in extreme distress coming out. His lips were blue and I knew he was having problems. When we come out, sure enough, he was on the ground receiving attention from the available reps and other holiday makers. Unfortunately, he did not make it, and I found out the next day he had died.
The valley of the kings was also too much of a fast pace. I am relatively fit (if a little bit of a couch potato for 9 months of the year!), but I found it a gruelling pace. You feel under pressure to keep up, so as not to hold up others or the coach. Could be because of the limited time available, but not ideal.
Ports: A bit military, especially Port Sokhna (for cairo) and Safaga (for valley of the kings). Not easy to escape from the ship, a few taxis at Sharm, but other a long walk before any are seen. Was not ideal as my daughter has mobility problems following long illness.
Would recommend the cruise and stay option, as recovery needed ideally from the must do excusions, so would have been lovely to have had a week in Sharm to do so, was very envious of those that were being transferred.
Overall a must do first cruising experience for everybody. |
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julie knaggs from cambridge sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2006 |
julie knaggs
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| julie knaggs said: just returned from our first cruise aboard the thomson spirit around the red sea, and what a week its been. We all thoroughly enjoyed it and couldn't find fault with any of it.The ship was spotless and the service was first class, everyone went out of their way to help you.We decided to do the rose red city trip to petra which was really tiring and to be honest pretty impossible if you have any walking difficulties,and not just because of the distance, but because of the uneven ground, but well worth it when you get there. We also done the pyramids and nile trip,which we weren't going to do because of the expense,but decided that we couldn't go all that way and not see them and what an experience,we are so glad that we did.All in all it was a first class holiday, probably the best we've ever had and are hoping to do the same cruise again next year on the celebration. My only fault with the holiday was the lack of sunbeds on the full day at sea and the fact that you had to get up at the crack of dawn just to get one.My husband noticed that one particular person had reserved a large number of beds,which thomson say is not allowed,but obviously it still goes on,and we complain about the germans!!! |
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Nigel Dawkins from Hull sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2006 |
Nigel Dawkins
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Nigel Dawkins said: This was our 3rd cruise on the Thomson Spirit. It's nice to see some of the staff agin. One waiter remembered us from our cruise last year.
The tours to the pyromids and the valley of the kings were far to expensive so we decided to stay onboard the ship.
The food was not as good as last year. The meat was very tough and dry although this maybe due to whats available in Egypt.
The entertainment during the day was very poor. Quizes and Veg carving were an annoyance whilst we were trying to relax.
The evening entertainment was good. Bob the cruise director made us laugh and the comedian Andy Rudge made us cry with laughter. The Jolson show was very good as was the French show.
We had an egyptian show one night which was appalling. Far too long and tiresome for us so we went in to watch the Violin duo who were very good indeed.
I doubt we will go back to the red sea again. |
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roger and eleanor from burry port south wales sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2006 |
roger and eleanor
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| roger and eleanor said: this was our third cruise with thompson and the best yet.the food, ship, staff, and entertainment were all excellent but what really impressed us were the excursions, we have cruised with big liners like disney before but the way thompson did the excursions is second to none. Petra was great our two children aged 15 and 9 loved thhorse riding and banter with the locals,Cairo was even better but also sad seeing how the poor live. best of all was luxor what a great experience for our children even though the excursions were long they had a great time, but the words ONE ENGLISH POUND keep ringing in our heads once you go you will know what we mean. |
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Chris, Gill, Dale & Harrison from Sheffield sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2006 |
Chris, Gill, Dale & Harrison
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Chris, Gill, Dale & Harrison said: Well, where do I start apart from WOW!
Fair enough this was our first cruise but coupled with the sights that we saw made it totally worthwhile. I’ll try and do this on a day by day basis.
The flight out was uneventful, made easier by flying from East Midlands, easy, quick little airport, our own check in queue, much smaller than the regular ones made us feel like royalty.
Sharm airport on the other hand, well shambles comes to mind. This airport is designed to handle 3 planes an hour, it actually caters for about 5 times that! Still, they are currently building a new one so hopefully in a couple of years things will be easier.
Got to the ship at about 7pm, tired, hungry and thirsty. But we had to unpack first! That out of the way we grabbed a quick drink before the drill at 9.15. This was actually quite fun and they make it a gentle introduction to some of the staff ie the photographer, we ended up buying the photo of our 7 year old as it was very good.
After that, it was another couple of drinks then bed!
Friday:-Aqaba
As ever I was on sunbed duty and trotted out to the Lido at about 7.30. A few people about doing the same but as the week went on I think everyone had the same idea and by 9.30 there was no chance. This is probably due to the fact that the ports have nowhere in walking distance so if there was no major excursions that day then the ship was almost full.
The highlight was a display by the Royal Jordanian Airforce, fantastic stuff.
Saturday:- Aqaba
This was the one I’d been waiting for, Petra day! Ever since the Indy film I’ve wanted to visit Petra and boy was it worth the wait. A pleasant trip out made better by our guide Mohammed who seemed to know anything and everything remotely interesting about Jordan.
The walk down the Siq is a great buildup. My main thoughts were why did they do that, because they could! So many little needless cuttings into the rock. And the water channel beggars belief.
After a good informative stroll down we were there, the Treasury. More than anything I could have envisaged. And this was just the start. There is so much to see at Petra a day doesn’t do it justice.
Have a look at the stall a bit further down, there is a guy selling the bottles filled with coloured sand. He showed us how he made the camel figures, ingenious. Got a nice sized bottle for 3 JD.
Lunch at the Movenpick was very very nice. As we waited in the carpark to go back we had a group of Jordanians jump out the back of a van and start playing music for us. Very strange to see bagpipes in the Middle East but well worth it. The Jordanians seem very eager to please tourists and it was very much appreciated from my point of view.
Its been mentioned before but a nice little touch is the hot towels and soup waiting on the quayside upon your return.
Evening meal was in the Lido and a few drinks in the High Spirits.
Sunday:- at sea
Sunbed race again! Very relaxing day, eating drinking etc etc.
We were on early sitting for the Captains Night. Not as grimacing a affair as I first had envisaged. It was a very pleasant evening. People have moaned about having to queue up to have the photo’s. So what? Dinner in the Compass Rose was delicious. This was the only time we ate there as having a 16 year old with a bottomless stomach, there was no way he was going to be filled up. Ended the evening watching War of the Worlds in the cinema, still in my Tux!!
Monday:- Port Sokhna – Cairo
We opted for the Pyramids and Nile cruise as we were a little sceptical about the museum. We’d heard it was a little chaotic. Anyway this trip included the Citadel, a must for anyone. Lunch on the Nile was fabulous with a great little belly dancer! The Pyramids and Sphinx, well words can’t describe it. Just be wary of the local traders. A polite no will see most of them off but my man Ahmed, our security guard, stepped in one time. He was excellent, did his job but was also chatty. This got him a decent tip at the end of it.
Tuesday/Wednesday: Safaga
We opted not to go on the Luxor trip think it was a long day for our 7 year old and also flying home the next day so we had 2 long relaxing days by the pool.
Thursday: Sharm el Sheikh
Me and our 16 year old went quad biking in the desert, great fun and thoroughly recommended. You stop at a bedouin camp, albeit tourist made and have some tea, very sweet. There is a toilet which is a brick hut with a hole in the floor and no loo paper so ladies you have been warned! Drip dry only!
Back to the ship for a few hours then off to face Sharm airport again. Nice flight home but then I did sleep for 4 hours!
Staff – only praise. Worthy of mention are Rodica, our stewardess. We had a towel arranging contest, the best I could manage was a hung up skinned chicken. She topped that with a rose that covered most of the bed!
Mick Dundee, one of the entertainment staff. Very funny guy, quick at the one liners. Bob Mcgowan, the cruise director, very camp but very funny. Laura and Lorna in the kids club, they kept my youngest occupied and he loved it.
All the staff in High Spirits, Costa, Galina, Anand.
Food:- As I mentioned we ate mainly in the Lido. There really is no need to go elsewhere. The food was always warm and very tasty. Some good theme nights but watch the beef madras on the Indian night!!!
Cabins:- we had cabin 502, inside 4 berth on deck 3. Loads of wardrobe and drawer space. Watch the toilets. I got the impression that it can only cope with so many flushing at any one time and any more get put into a queue until its time comes round. Caused a panic a couple of times, see above re Beef Madras!
We were also crowned Mr & Mrs Thomson Spirit. I think I earned a few brownie points with SWMBO for knowing her so well! Check out the game shows and don’t be afraid to volunteer.
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sue baker from benington stevenage sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 1
2006 |
sue baker
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| sue baker said: what can I say that the 4 catergories do not.we took the Red Sea cruise
The on board entertainment was as good as any west end show the participents all very talented and so good.
The food was excellent and available 24/7. If you fancied a cup of tea at 2 in the morning it was there for you to help yourselves as was all other foods so you could eat and drink whenever it took your fancy. If going on a long day, trip picnic boxes were provided and nice cool towels met us at the gangplank when we had been on these long trips.
the choice of activities on this trip are endless. Apart from the obvious , the pyramids,Petra,Cairo museum, we did the quad biking in the desert. Four by four driving in the desert, I rode a camel swam in the Red Sea, drunk camels milk, took delicious tea in a Bedion tent, shopped in SharmelShek and saw the wonders of Luxor. All in one week. And I might add I am 60.
This was probably one of the best fun and interesting holiday I have ever had.
Would we go back? You bet we would. |
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J &S Cooper from Nottingham sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 1
2006 |
J &S Cooper
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| J &S Cooper said: Red sea? why not? For the money this was excellent. Been on the Spirit twice before. Still a great ship with an atmosphere of friendly people and efficient attentative crew. The trips on offer are varied and seem at first expensive, but most are great value for money and you are treated as individuals. Go on some of the shorter trips such as the 4X4 adventure in Jordan, Brilliant. Take the locals as you find them, friendly, poor, and trying to make a living. Everything in Egypt is very not efficient. New, smart, innovation and finished are not in their vocabulary, but hey, If you want Vegas go to Vegas.
This was an experience we would not have missed. If you have been cruising in the Med. Then the overnight stops in port will be new to you, and the inability to wander around quaint harbours is frustrating. But you are in a third world area, soak up the atmosphere. This is the first time a large cruise ship has done this area and they are all doing their best. |
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E Cooper from Nottingham sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thompson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 1
2006 |
E Cooper
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| E Cooper said: Red Sea cruise in Jan 06.We are middle aged as were most of the pasengers. First time cruising and it was great. Ship clean and was alwas being cleaned. Food excelent, dirty plates removed immediatly, always free tables. Staff friendly and helpfull.We had a delux cabin and checked the others out when onboard. Would have been happy with any outside cabin as you dont spend much time in them.
4x4 in the Jordanian desert a must. Vehicles built by Scrap Heap Challange, Amazing scenery and great fun, laughed all the way.
Trip to Petra stunning but take note of the trip info sheets.Round walk 7k and up hill back. Dont wear flimsy flip flops like some of the daft buggers.10hr trip. Bus broke down but they take a spare bus.
Cairo, pyramids, an lunch cruising on the Nile not to be missed.11hrs Tour guides in both Jordan & Egypt excelent.
Did not do the Luxor(14 hrs) trip as been before. The trips can be tiring and are expensive but you know that so don't complain. They are worth the money. There are other options to the long trips.We had a half day at a beach hotel and a swim in the sea instead of Luxor.
The confusion and mayhem at Sharm airport on the return is no joke and all the tour operators need to put pressure on Sharm to sort it out.Excellent value for money.
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Ron, Liz Audrey,Ken from Nantyglo sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 1
2006 |
Ron, Liz Audrey,Ken
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Ron, Liz Audrey,Ken said: We were two couples and this was our first cruise - thought we would try one week in case we didn't like it. Wow we were all thrilled.Food and entertainment fantastic, what talented entertainers they are. Thought the Africa night and Al Jolson ones the best. We are now planning our next cruise, and would definately recommend 'the Spirit'. |
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Brian and Elsie from Wrexham sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Cruisedeals.co.uk
on a family holiday.
There were 6 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 1
2006 |
Brian and Elsie
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Brian and Elsie said: This was our first cruise and certainly won't be our last. Came back to the UK having had a marvellous trip but utterly exhausted. If you go on the excursions then this trip is not for the faint hearted and certainly not for small children. Wadi Rum safari was great fun but you need strong wrists to hang on to the truck, all the drivers were Jordanian and mad as hatters. The walk down to the rose city of Petra is 8 klics but came back via camel and donkey....what a hoot. Submarine trip was a bit of a let-down but at least we can say we've been down in one. The Pyramids and Cairo Museum were OK, pyramids are not as big as they appear on tele and the museum is a bit run down. Great to see King Tut's treasures though. If you think London's traffic is bad, wait till you hit Cairo. Luxor and Valley of the Kings was very interesting but had a guide with a dose of the verbal runs and it's a VERY long day! Last morning was spent quad biking in the desert and I haven't had so much fun in ages. My wife hitched a lift with one of the guides half way through as she couldn't take the pounding and she enjoyed that more. Our party of 6 are all in our sixties but there were many passengers from 25 upwards, so don't think you'll be too young or too old!
The Ship, crew, food and entertainment were all MAGNIFICENT, five stars all the way. Cabins were very clean and comfortable. Our request for political asylum on the last day was turned down so we had to come home.
We went with two friends and two family so had a table for 6 at every meal but also chatted to loads of people on the trips. All in all, an experience well worth the effort. Even a bad knee was fixed up by the ship's doctor in time for the next trip.
So if you are dithering, GO, GO GO!!. What are you waiting for? |
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sue & howard from ripley derbys sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a 18-30s holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 1
2006 |
sue & howard
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| sue & howard said: This was our first cruise thought it was fantastic and would defenatley cruise with thompson again
A bit upset when we got onboard and could not get the drinks package so book it before you go if you want this but unless you are heavy drinkers dont bother as drinks very reasnable £3.70 for two double cruise ship brand G&Ts £9.10 for bottle house wine note bottles of wine not included in package £2.30 pint of beer and lots of lovely cocktails £2.25 for cocktail of the day
Food was great could not fault it and we are very hard to please as own a restaurant didnt get to try the al acarte restaurant as fully booked on the last two nights when we was going to go Areil one of the head waiters was brilliant he got us a table for two every night but he is going back to the destiny so look out for him on that cruise ship
We was on deck 2 outside cabin and could see out of the porthole cabin very clean with plenty of storage cabin cleaned twice a day cabin steward very good kept us going with plenty of ice
No need to take lots of egptian pounds as take english but will need dinas for jordon, trips very exspensive and you travel with armed gaurds but you can not go to egypit without going to see some of the sights, we only did the one trip as we went for rest our bus driver was a complete nutter when driving through cario he didnt care who or whot was in the way he just kept going
All the crew was fantastic very freindley and could not do enough for you would recomend this ship a big thanks to all the crew
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Sue and Dave Medley from Southampton sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a friends holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 1
2006 |
Sue and Dave Medley
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Sue and Dave Medley said: This cruise was excellent from start to finish. It is probably best suited to those who are really intersted in Egyptology and you must be fit. I would not suggest taking very young children or babies as the excursions would not be suitable and there are not any opportunities to go ashore on your own as the ports are a distance from anywhere.
The ship is clean, staff very friendly and helpful and the food is great and plentiful. We used both restaurants and were pleased with both. The onboard entertainment was good but I have seen better on other cruises. The cabins were clean and ample space for clothes. The cabin steward was very efficient and helpful.
We did the Wadi Rum desert trip which was excellent fun and not to be missed.
Petra was interesting but a very long walk over sand, cobbles and concrete paths. There are steps but you dont have to do that part.
Cairo and the pyramids was also good but remember to use the toilet on the coach as there are few toilets stops on this trip. We went to the museum which was interesting but very noisy and at times difficult to hear the guide.
We also did the submarine trip which was a change from history but a little disappointing as the sea is quite cloudy and at times difficult to see the fish and coral reef.
I did not go on the Luxor trip but the rest of my party did. They had a fantastic time but came back exhausted. They left the ship at 6.30am and did not arrive back until 10pm.
On all the day trips you are taken to a 5*hotel for lunch which was very good.
Suggest taking some Egyptian pounds for tipping guides and entry into some of the tombs but otherwise you can manage with sterling as there are not many opportunities to go shopping. If you do go, be prepared to haggle.
Security is obviously high in this region and excursions in Egypt were done in convoy with police escort and guard on each coach. The travco company that organise the trips must be congratulated on their organisation and well informed guides.
Please do your research before going on this cruise as it is not a relaxing holiday. If thats want you want I would go elsewhere. This cruise was a great 'experience in the sun' and we would highly recommend it.
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Jim & Linda from Widnes sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 12
2005 |
Jim & Linda
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Jim & Linda said: Along with two of our friends My wife and I have now completed three cruises on the Thomson "Spirit" in the last 12 month. I think you can take it as read we regard the ship and all that goes with it very highly indeed.
The entertainment is of Broadway excellence in our opinion, the performers though very young are incredibly talented, the music, choreography, and content are superb.
The ship itself though showing some signs of requiring a refit (something due in 2006 I understand) is pristine and very well equipped, though there is the usual problem getting deckchairs on days you might want to lie in the sun. We are not sun worshippers, but the "regulars" seem to resent somewhat you taking their "spots".
The food is varied and readily available anytime, anywhere, Quality is very agreeable. From informal food bars, smart dress code restuarant to full Al-a-carte where reservations costing £15 have to be made.
The staff are pleasant and polite, seeming to be mainly Philippino/Malaysian and Indian bar staff and waiters,and eastern European cabin attendants.
some of them are very talented performers in their own right and actually perform at a "Passenger and Crew talent show" one evening during the cruise.
In truth we have deduced a slight lessening of the "whole hearted" warmth they exhibited from our first and second cruise or perhaps its just that the warmth is not such a surprise as the first time.
The cuises we have undertaken are The Canary Islands, the Meditteranean and the Red sea cruises.
Of these our favourite was the Meditteranean, followed by the Canary Islands. The Red Sea is however an emminently missable cruise.
Though the "Spirit" was a great as ever, the ports of call are hopeless, miles from anywhere, with no local facilities really and the trips are quite expensive, we made use of haggling and taxis to visit Cairo and Petra which did make things cheaper and more flexible in terms of times and itinerary.
Yes, The sights like the Pyramids, the Sphinx, Petra are truly awesome and we would like to visit them again.
However if we do it will be by perhaps a Nile cruise or simply staying in in a hotel etc. for a few days, we Will NEVER visit the Red Sea by Ocean going Liner again, purely because of the ports of call.
In Summary, Thompson are clearly well attuned to Cruising and peoples expectations whilst on-board, the ship and its personnel are first rate. Though personally I would advise Thompson to give the Red Sea a miss.
We will undoubtedly share more cruises in the future. highly recommended. |
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Maria and John from Didcot sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Portland
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 12
2005 |
Maria and John
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Maria and John said: This is our second cruise on the Spirit. We paid extra for delux cabin and although you see the deck out of the window the cabins are extremely large. I dont like the thought of being at the bottom of the ship. There definitely is a vibration all the time but you get used to it. We orginally travelled in June 05 on a Med cruise which was excellent although I thought a few more active tours would be good. The Red Sea Magic cruise is the one we went on over Christmas. I think the ship was probably nearly full, surprised at the number of children on the cruise as I would not have thought it was the best holiday for them. Entertainment although good was not as varied as the summer cruise we went on when we had a guest singer and a comedian. I thought there would have been more variety for the Christmas cruise.
Food was good and plentiful although menu seemed repetitive in the Lido restaurant.
Drinks package not good value on this cruise as the drinks are reasonably priced and as the tours take you off the ship for most of the day you need to drink an awful lot to get value for money. Note that water, mini bar and some drinks are not included in the package.
Only one day at sea and it was difficult to get a sun bed. Although they request you dont reserve the beds everyone does and all the best spots are taken by 9am.
The tours are expensive and very tiring but we did Petra and Cairo but decided against Luxor as we wanted some time to just chill out and relax.
There was little information on what to do and where to go in the Ports which is a shame as the ship overnights in two of them. It seemed as though we were not expected to step of the ship unless we went on an excursion.
One thing to remember - if you need to use the toilet in Egypt there is always someone there expecting a tip of £1 for the privilege of giving you some toilet paper or handtowel. I suggest you search out some Egyptian pound notes and use these to tip! There was even a charge in the 5* hotel we had lunch at in Cairo.
All in all we enjoyed our cruise but we both were not keen on overnighting in the ports it just felt like a hotel rather than a cruise liner. We were fed up with tipping its worse than USA. Be prepared for Sharm airport - its chaos. |
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Ray & Bob from Sidcup sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a friends holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 12
2005 |
Ray & Bob
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Ray & Bob said: Went on the Red Sea Magic cruise over Xmas and apart from an itinerary which doesnt suit us it was great. If you dont join the excursions (about 70 pounds each) there is not much else to do as the ship docks in the middle of nowhere!. Apart from the Pyramids we were on all the trips which was very tiring, leave ship around 0700hrs - returning around 2100. Food and service very good apart from getting wine in the Lido and the Compass Rose restaurant. We found the wine turning up when we were 2/3rds through the main course. We were not on the fully inclusive package and generally people that were thought it was not good value. Entertainment was good with lots going on. Have booked the Thomson Celebration for a Canary Islands cruise over Easter 2006 which feel the itinerary would more to our taste. (Celebration is the sister ship to the Spirit so comments about the ship should be the same) |
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Ian & Wendy from Thame sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Cruise Deals
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 12
2005 |
Ian & Wendy
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Ian & Wendy said: We had never cruised before, apart from numerous Turkish Gulet cruises which we love, and neither of us really fancied a cruise on a bigger ship so we booked this holiday (Red Sea Cruise)to find out what it was that we didn't like about it. That's where it went wrong. We loved it.
The ship was great and we managed four excursions. They are a little pricey but I am so glad we didn't wimp out.
We had the Wadi Rum jeep safari, Petra (wonderful), The pyramids and nile cruise and then Luxor.
I hate coach travel but at least these were efficient.
We dined both in the Lido buffet and in the waiter service Compass Rose.
We had no problem with being seated with different people each time and once we had made some new friends we just turned up together and got a table for 6 with no problems.
All of it was repeatable and we would definately go on the Spirit again.
A pity, perhaps, that the dress code was often ignored in the Compass Rose. It's not asking too much to leave the jeans and T shirt off for an evening and smarten up a bit.
Most enjoyable. |
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magsandjbl from Leeds sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 12
2005 |
magsandjbl
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| magsandjbl said: Holiday was 7 days from 1.12.05, Manchester to Sharm-el-Sheik. At arrival the rep guides you to dedicated immigration desk with form you have completed, no $15 visa to pay. Coach transfer approx 30 minutes to ship check in to complete another immigration form and obtain boarding card. Suitcases delivered to cabin door very quickly.
Accomodation on deck 3 inside cabin was well furnished and comfortable with air con.
Used the Broadway restaurant a few times with waiter service at fixed times and was served promptly every time. Varied menu throughout the week and food quality good.
Lido restuarant is buffet with 24 hour good food availability. Tea, coffee and drinking water also there on self service at no extra cost!
Alcohol and soft drinks were not expensive (considering this a floating hotel) and opting to pay £260 per couple up front may not have been our best decision?
Stella lager £2.30, Gordons gin or Bacardi £2.40, Tonic 330ml can £1 and house wine £2.10 per glass means that you have to go some !!!
Suffice it to say we are from Yorkshire and did our best.
You have to produce your cabin card and sign a paper slip for every drink, for the on board account and their stock control.
There was no problem with drinks service and friendly waiters were constantly there with no anticipation of tips. We did however make some appropriate money transfer to the staff.
Entertainment at all locations was first class day and night.
The trip to Cairo with guide to see the sights was good. Coach travel is not really for us, no compaints about service from Travco. We did not sign up for Petra and have been to Luxor in the past.
There were lots of photo calls and information about passports. Administration on board was efficient and 99% of crew were focused on customer service.
Each guest can complete a critique form to nominate 3 crew members who provided good service and focus on individuals who may need advice!
Near to end of stay you leave suitcases outside your cabin and do not see them again until baggage reclaim in UK - this is excellent service.
Our comments regarding Sharm-el-Sheik airport are not too favourable and will be placed in that forum.
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carol & richard godfrey from hurstpierpoint sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 11
2005 |
carol & richard godfrey
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| carol & richard godfrey said: we sailed on the spirit for the red sea magic cruise,
this was our second cruise on the spirit and our 13 cruise in all. although we were very dissapointed with the itineary of this cruise and the cost of the trips it was a once in a lifetime experience. I am not well at the moment so we were unable to take the trip to petra but I am glad i didnt go as people said it was a lot of walking down loads of steps, also we missed luxor but again we were pleased as it was a very long day but we did do the cairo and the nile and that was an experience. we were dissapointed that
when in port you were to far away to go anywhere unless you spent a lot of money on taxis. we felt that the cruise news could have given you more information and perhaps a little more entertainment during the day if you didnt go on the trips apart from sunbathing there wasnt anything to do,
we did go on the beach trip and the glass bottomed boat but on our departure day we should have been going to nanna bay but this was cancelled by thompson
as we had to leave the ship at 1-30 although our flight wasnt untill 16-45 had we had known we could have taken the trip and made our own way to the airport but apart from that everything else was brilliant the entertainers were really first class the shows fantastic and although the food wasnt quite up to the standard of last year you certainly had nothing to complain about if anyone wants to know more
about our cruises and ships we have been on check out my profile. the choice of food and the availability could not be any better there is food available 24 hours a day the pre bocked drinks package is well worth the money but make sure in the restraunt you order your house wine by the glass and you can also have sparkling wine happy cruising no 14 coming up next year |
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Ms Fryer from Birmingham sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 11
2005 |
Ms Fryer
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Ms Fryer said: We have just returned from a week cruising the Red Sea. We had a fabulous time, all of the staff were excellent and helped to make our holiday special. The only issues we had was with the lack of space and sunbeds during the days at sea. We were informed that the ship was actually only 2/3rds full and as a couple, we had difficulty finding beds, I can imagine that when full it would be very overcrowded.
The trips we very expensive and I felt a little bit of a let down, however this said I would definately cruise on the Spirit again. |
| |
mr. mrs. perry from gt yarmouth sailed on Thomson Spirit with
cruise deals
on a friends holiday.
There were more than 6 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 11
2005 |
mr. mrs. perry
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| mr. mrs. perry said: Just came back from the red sea cruise. thre was 8 in our party, and we had a great time.We have been on bigger cruise ships before and allthough this one is getting worn we still liked it!Food,shows, staff,was excellant,the only problem was, the days at sea theres not enough sun beds!WE HAD TO GET UP AT 8 to get 8 sunbeds, We didnt do this on the next day at sea and had to sit on the deck! The excursions was expensive £140 for a couple to sea pyramids, 30 coaches in a convoy with armed guards WOW! well worthit though. You can pay £4 extra to go inside pyramids, which we did, dont bother, it was terrifing, you have to bend in half, going down small steps, with loads of people pushing some dark bits,hot and humid with little air! when you get there only a small room with no air. Overall it was a tireing holiday but great experiance. |
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Dave Brierley & Mavis Brierley from Cleator Moor Cumbria sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 11
2005 |
Dave Brierley & Mavis Brierley
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Dave Brierley & Mavis Brierley said: Enjoyed cruise from start to finish first time with thompson's cruise ship's ,been with p&o & air tours before and this cruise was every bit as good and even better than the p&o cruise's.
Must warn fellow passengers that the trips ashore are very hard work but well worth the effort, food at the hotels on trips was first class and staff were polite and friendly.
Shows onboard were very good and no trouble getting a seat not like the larger p&o cruise's.
My only beef was in the dining room not with food which was first class,just with no set dining times you were given a new table each meal time thus been seated with new dinner company each meal time, so the ritual speech of is this the first cruise was repeated every meal time,also on the formal night we were seated with Russians who could not speak any english
so a night to remember was a night to forget.
I realise this is my preference but it is easyer to make lasting friendships by having a nice chinwag with friendly company each evening.
To anybody considering a cruise give it a try you might have a pleasant surprise. |
| |
lynne&paul from mansfield sailed on Thomson Spirit with
thomsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 11
2005 |
lynne&paul
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| lynne&paul said: having just arrived back home from our red sea cruise on board what we can only describe as a superb holiday on board the very friendly thomson spirit, the ship was kept spotless(but looked a little worn in parts, the food excellent,informal in the lido restaurant,more formal in the compass rose if you so wish,the waiters are all very attentive and extremely friendly,the on board entertainment first class,the shows in the broadway show lounge especially the"moulin rouge" and the "africa"shows were superb,as were the entertainment programme in the high spirits bar.The excursions although a little expensive and very long days,were extremely enjoyable and are trips that would be a shame not to go on(must see's)the armed guards on each bus and escort should not put anyone off.if we had any criticism's it would be the endless queueing to get on and off the ship for the trips.having said thati feel this cruise was a brave decision by Thomsons to sail in in the red sea given the present climate. All in all a fantastic holiday and we will be sailing on the Spirit again |
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c morris from swansea sailed on Thomson Spirit with
thomsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10
2005 |
c morris
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| c morris said: This was our first and last ever cruise with Thomson.
My husband is disabled and we booked a disabled cabin only to find when we got to the cabin that the wheelchair wouldn’t go through the door. The ship staff were excellent but the Thomson reps on board were not at all helpful...it seemed like we were a hindrance to them.
The worst part about the holiday was not being able to go on any excursions as they were not disabled friendly so we were stuck on the ship for a whole week looking at the filthy, dirty docks that the ship docked at. As we couldn’t go on any excursions there was very little to do during they day...infact we were bored out of our minds until the evening meal.
The food was absolutely fab and the evening entertainment was great too.
I would advise any disabled person who has very limited mobility to stay well clear of this cruise unless you want to stay on the ship for the duration of your holiday...but to me a cruise is about seeing different countries...
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catherine and charlie from rainford lancs sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10
2005 |
catherine and charlie
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| catherine and charlie said: The cabin was nice and big. The trips aboard were really expensive for what they were. The food well were shall I start vegetables cooked yes well cooked hot you are joking luke warm sometimes just cold myself and a few passengers had bad stomachs the day the ship was at sea some people were confined to bed for a couple of days when you complained they said nobody else had reported any problems who are they kidding everyone we spoke to said they got the same response so come on Thompson get you act together because off this my gp thinks I have now got a bug and I will have to take strong antibiotics. So anyone considering going on this ship should read the reviews first because if my husband and myself had read them we would not have go on this trip I have paid dearly with my health because of this you Thompson need to get you act together because were I work a lot off people have asked me about this cruise and I have told them never never never go on a Thomson cruise because you could be suffering just like me for months after. I suppose this won't get printed bit you never know. We went on the emerald 5yrs ago and it as perfect no illness no rip off tours everything and I mean everything was spot on take some tips from this little ship and maybe just maybe you might get some right |
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Graham Edwards from Norwich sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10
2005 |
Graham Edwards
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Graham Edwards said: They say in business that you are only as good as the people you have working for you. It is easy for me to say that our cruise on the Spirit was really excellent because it was. But one mustn't forget why the ship is so good. It is the crew that make the trip what it is. They, but for one or two minor exceptions, are as good as it gets. Your cabin is cleaned twice a day - once during the morning and again whilst you are out enjoying your evening. Whenever you bump into your cabin stewardess they are cheerful, helpful and happy. When it comes time to eat you experience a level of service that would be hard to beat anywhere. The waiters and wine waiters just cannot do enough for you. Not only do they excell themselves as waiters but thet entertain you too. Eating in the Compass Rose is an event in itself. And the quality of the food equals the standards of service. There is something on the menu to suit everybody. The waiters make a point of remembering your name - how they do it I'll never know. Generally speaking bar staff are just as good, but I have to say one or two are letting their colleagues down. But it's a minor point and not a problem. One or two of the reception staff could do with a course on customer service skills. They get the job done but lack the personality required for front of house. The crew (for want of a better description, the sailors) do a fantastic job. The ship is kept in immaculate condition at all times. I'm not the best person to give an opinion on the standard of entertainment because it's not an important part of the programme for me. What I did see appeared to be of a good standard with some fine singers and dancers making up the team. What I can say is that many of the people on board that I spoke to who do enjoy the shows all spoke highly of what they had seen. We were very lucky to have good weather every day of the cruise and on the days at sea there was plenty of room for sunbathing and no shortage of loungers. A minor criticism, which I know others have commented on, is the use of plastic plates and cups in the Lido Restaraunt. I can accept that for those eating and drinking on deck it makes sense for safety reasons but I cannot believe it is necessary for those eating inside the Lido Restaurant where it gives the feeling of dining in the works canteen. I know others have commented on engine vibration. All I can say is that I have been on many ships that are 20 times worse. In fact our cabin was one of the quietest and vibration free cabins I have ever slept in on any ship even though it was on deck 2. Something that I wasn't impressed by was the Shore Excursions operation. I accept that the service they offer is of benefit to many of the passengers who may not venture assure if it were not for the security they feel comes with an organised trip. However, many of the ports could be easily explored without the need for what I consider to be overpriced excursions. The excursion team do anything they can to convince people to the contrary just to sell their tours. They also avoid answering questions where the reply might put people off going on a tour. For example, when asked why we would be travelling in a police escorted convoy with an armed guard on each coach between Port Said and Cairo the excursions manager replied that it is just the way it is done. I thought it had more to do with the massacre of tourists on a bus some time back. Why not give people the truth and let them make there own minds up. In fact the opinion of most people was that no terrorist was going to stop us seeing the pyramids and if your name is on a bullet there is nothing you can do about it.
In actual fact the trip to see the pyramids would be almost impossible to do without an organised tour. But at £65.00 per head do we really need a compulsary shopping trip to a tourist shop as part of the programme. An extra hour at the pyramids or on the Nile would have been far better. Notwithstanding that, I would suggest taking the trip if you are calling at Port Said or Suez.
The excursions that were offered in Italy and Greece were not good value. A 20min. walk from the docks in Athens and you can take the Metro to the Acropolis for 75 EU cents return. A shorter walk takes you to the station when you call at Rome which is about an hour away by train. Just a few Euros buys you a round trip plus Metro day pass to the city centre. From there you can see the city easily by foot and metro with the help of a 5 EU guide book and map. In Naples we took a taxi to Pompei and Sorrento. We had the cab to ourselves all day from 9.00 until 5.00 for 140 Euro and the driver was happy to take 6 people for that money in his 7 seater car. In Messina it was even cheaper at 110 EU for a taxi all day. Once again it was a Merc. that would easily have taken two couples. The cheapest excursions come in at around £29.00 per head for a 4 hour tour. Malta was the same. Valletta is a short walk from the ship. If you want to travel further you cannot fail to find the bus station that offers cheap travel to anywhere on the island with the added bonus of riding in a 1970's coach.
All in all an excellent cruise. I would definitely sail on the Spirit again so long as she was calling at interesting ports.
Lastly, the flights were excellent and on time both ways, and coach transfers were efficient at start and finish of the trip.
If you fancy a cruise give the Spirit a try. I doubt that it compares with P and O or Cunard but neither does the price. It is most unlikely you will be disappointed with this ship.
PS The cheapest cabins are more than adequate. In fact some of the expensive ones on the upper decks have lovely windows, but, you have to keep your curtains shut because people can walk past on deck at any time. |
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Jean and Bob from Sth Manchester sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10
2005 |
Jean and Bob
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Jean and Bob said: Jean and Bob from sth.Manchester.Having just read how Oday rated the Thomson Spirit after his/her trip Nov 2005 I felt I had to even the balance so to speak.
My wife and I returned last tuesday from the "Flavours of the past" cruise which we both thoroughly enjoyed(our first but not last).Although it was a very intensive itinery we survived and returned home ready for a holiday!!
Regarding the Spirit,the only problem I had was the engine vibration which could be felt in most areas of the ship and this should be sorted out during it's refurb in early 2006.The ship was kept spotless,entertainment was very very good(I even had a singing lesson with two of the entertainers).The staff could'nt do enough for you and the food,well,too much to cope with but we managed!!Good quality in all three restaurants.The icing on the cake for me though were the sunsets,to see the sun setting on the horizon is a sight to behold - the Pyramids were pretty good too.. |
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Steve Myers from Sheffield sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thompsons agents
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10
2005 |
Steve Myers
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Steve Myers said: Just back from the Spirits Maiden cruise into the Red Sea. Sailed from Palma Majorca via many places down to Port Said then down the Suez Canal finally through into the Red Sea to Sarfaga. We went for 11 days but some stopped on for 13 days and finished at Sharm Al Sheik. 1st cruise taken due to Mexico being shut for the Hurricane Wilma. Will not be the last cruise as it was totally excellent. Food fantastic either self service or waiter served. 24 hours food to much to eat. Cabaret was very good each and every night with good singers,dancers and Comedians. The ship will now sail on 8 day tours from November through to April when it will return on a simialar one off return to the Med leg. It will then dry dock for the spring for re-furb ready for the summer 2006 months. If you have money to spare then the return leg will be worth your while in April. I would definately recommend this cruise ship, and I can't understand why it needs a refurb yet as it is imaculately clean inside, only assume it must be an engineering re-furb.
Never been on a cruise try it. Tips included in the price and if you want all inclusive then book it when you book the holiday. Check out the trips all we went on were very good and I am glad I didn't take the cheap option of doing the shore leave myself. Youir choice but when you travel all this way you need to make the most of what you can see ! ain't that the truth.!!!!!!!!!!!1 |
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daz from cornwall sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a singles holiday.
There were 1 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2005 |
daz
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| daz said: 2nd trip this year on the spirit,wonderful!the romans romance, and riviera was the cruise i went on, sailing from palma to la spezia the med was as smooth as glass !!weather was very warm,got a nice bronzey in the first 2 days,la spezia was a nice place i went to the naval museum very interesting place, the trip run by thomsons to pisa was excellent the guide in pisa was the image of arthur daly in looks and mannerisms he was very proud of his city and this made his commentary all the more interesting, the girl tour guide on our bus was stunning she was called viola and her command of the english language was amazing,next stop civitavechia,caught the train to rome and went for a yomp around the city in my own time, spent loads in the shops lost about 10 years of my life crossing the roads!followed example of an old lady who just walked across the crossing, the traffic doesn't seem to stop at crossings like in this country you just have to go for it .corsica was next went on proper tour with the ship, went to a nougat factory run by the most bonkers person i have ever met he was a cross between basil fawlty and the gendarme from allo allo he was hilarious tons of freebies on offer of every thing he made very good it was too,essential oil factory and winery also very good a nice town centre as well,next stop sete in france very nice place,the mariners cemetery was breathtaking such a peaceful place, plenty of seafood eateries in the town well impressed the whole town was exceptional would like to go back again,tarragonna next stop this town had it all very cosmopolitan went on a run ashore with 2 girls from the ship it was a shame their boss made them take price lists from the duty free shops and compare them with the prices on the mainland!!we had a really good laugth getting the info covertly without the shop keepers knowing what we were up to, hello iryna and adrienne!!i wont forget that trip in a hurry it cost me a fortune buying aftershave and cologne while the girls got the info they needed while the shopkeeper was attending to me, all in all a wonderful cruise the staff were exceptional in all departments names that spring to mind are haris the barkeeper from cyprus who remembered me from the last cruise he even knew what i drank his first words when he saw me were pimms and lemonade?!!, winston the phillipino barman,the 2 crazy waitresses helen from the ukraine,and laura from transylvania all from the lido bar they worked very hard but provided endless entertainment while doing so when the assistant bar manager wasn't looking,. he seemed very miserable and i sensed the bar staff thought so as well, he isn't a patch on the beautiful desi who was the assistant bar manager on my cruise in april,, my 2 friends from duty free iryna and adrienne. my cabin maid who seemed to work non stop, vana the sun deck drinks waitress with her beautiful smile and amazing memory she remembered me from my last cruise as well,fiona the social events organizer for arranging the solos dinner and forwarding my letter to an ex crewmember, the entertainments team were outstanding especially the girl singer who mistook me for being an ipswich supporter!!!, up the hammers!!and the show put on by the ships company was amazing, eric or erica as he likes to be called has to be heard to be believed where does that voice come from? all in all a great cruise on a very happy ship i will definitly cruise on the spirit again..thank you thomsons the ship is a credit to you........ |
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Sutton from Birmingham sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2005 |
Sutton
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Sutton said: Cruise & Stay - Spirit - Jewels of the Med
then Hotel Santa Lucia, Palma Nova 30/9 - 14/10
Never cruised before always done the traditional 2 weeks in hotel/beach etc (half board). So booked the cruise and stay to ensure got best of both. All we can say is that the stay after the cruise although a really fab hotel, felt like a come down from the ship. So if you are thinking along the same lines, then do the stay first so you get the best bit at the end and you end your holiday on a high.
First, the flight as usual with Thomas was excellent, well looked after, quick delivery of luggage at Palma, straight onto coach to ship. Off the ship collect passes and labels for cases and they ended up outside the cabin within 15 mins. We did the AI upgrade which we got free, and I must say if was excellent value for money and would recommend it.
We got quite used to everything being billed to us as ZERO. The ship was exceptionally clean. And our cabin stewardess, Nelly was so friendly and she could not do enough for you. Our room was always so tidy and she made our sons put up bed up every evening whilst we were out and turned down the sheets and placed chocolates on them.
What can we say about the food. You could not fault it whether you ate in the Compass Rose or the Lido. A quick hello to Ned and Spencer who were extremely courteous and friendly. The rest of the staff were also brill. Especially those who worked in the High Spirits where we usually ended up (particularly Bianca).
The entertainment was also excellent, we did not see all the shows but I agree that Mick Walker was excellent. He put in two performances over the week and he had us in stitches. My son got on really well with Keef and Lloyd. Especially Keef who went out of his way to make sure he was amused whether games or on the sports deck. Not to mention that he was standing in for the DJ who left 2 weeks before and did not get to bed until 3 am most morning and then was up again at 7 am. You were a star.
But our favourite would have to be Sue Denning, (Ent Manager) who came from just up the road from us and she was brilliant. Always had the time to stop and have a chat, she was really down to earth.
PORTS: Palermo - feared for our life crossing the road and very dirty. Naples - did Pompeii and although it rained, our guide Nanda (who had a really sexy voice) was most informative and we found the trip very pleasant. Sardinia - very nice but the drinks were expensive. Toulon - got the train to the beach which was nice. Barcelona - our advice is walk up Las Ramblas and get the red open top route and then jump on the blue one. You can't beat it. All cost 44 euros. Get off an one when you liked and they came very regular. Barcelona was our best stop. I went there once but I was only 12.....
All in all an excellent cruise.
ONLY A COUPLE OF MOANS:
Yes I agree with Keith and Wendy the older people were rude and thought they took presedence over other folk for some reason. One of the old bats made my son cry all because he was trying to save some seats for us in the Broadway Lounge - so she got a peice of our mind (not that it did any good). Don't know if it was the time of year but there were a good percentage of older people on this cruise.
Wish the pools had been freshwater.
They had a wonderful Lido Deck for outdoor parties and they old had one the night we left Palma. (could have been down to the weather though in all honesty).
Need more activities in the daytime - it goes a bit flat in the day especially if you don't get off the ship.
HOTEL: Excellent food location, the pool was wonderful although a bit cold but they do have an indoor pool. The staff were miserable (compared to the ship anyway) again the hotel was full of older people (but the rep says this hotel attracts this generation), the beds were a disgrace. Other than that it was a good quality hotel.
SUM UP: An excellent holiday. But next time would do STAY AND THEN CRUISE (OR JUST CRUISE).
Sadly I am not a good flyer and we have decided to try the The Legand of the Seas for 2006 from S'ton.
But I feel sure that we will definitely Sail with Thomson again, perhaps in the Red Sea. Thank you all keep up the good work. |
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MARGARET COOPER from CHEADLE sailed on Thomson Spirit with
THOMSON
on a family holiday.
There were more than 6 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2005 |
MARGARET COOPER
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| MARGARET COOPER said: This was our first cruise, but it certainly won’t be the last. Everything about the spirit was first class, from the cabins, maids, food and the waiters were all excellent. Can find no faults at all with this ship. Looking forward to the 2006 brochure. |
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Keith & Wendy from Aberdeen sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2005 |
Keith & Wendy
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Keith & Wendy said: Just back off Jewels of Med Cruise (30th Sept)We have only cruised once before on Carousel (Airtours) and have had this Spirit cruise booked for 11 months!! We therefore have been looking forward to this for a very long time.
THE GOOD POINTS. The ship staff make this ship. They are wonderful, always smiling, always happy to help and very very hard working. A credit to Thomsons.
We had a cabin on deck 2, inside, more or less right at the fromt of the ship. Great position as you could not even feel the boat moving no creaks or vibration. Also the cabin was very spacious compared to Carousel, 2 double wardrobes and 2 three drawer chests. Our cabin steward Tyna was excellent and we had the most wonderful towel animals each night. The best was a frog which she clipped to a trouser hanger, hung it from the TV unit, rolled up some toilet paper to make it look like a cigarette in its mouth, and put my glasses on it. Absolutely brilliant!
Entertainment was also excellent. We had a comedian called Mick Walker who was very funny. Sue Denning (Light entertainment Manager) was also excellent. Very professional shows put together by all the team who could all sing and dance very well. We also like Karl Morgan (Cruise Director) and he had a wonderful singing voice.
The food was in general very good. We both like vegetarian meals (we are not complete vegetarians) but sadly the choice in Compass Rose was not so good. Only 1 vegetarian dish on the menu. We ate some evening meals in the Lido which on the whole was good but occassionally you did encounter luke warm food. The pasta chef was wonderful as was the freshly made pizza.
THE NOT SO GOOD POINTS. The majority of people on this cruise were over 60. We sadly met alot of very rude and ignorant people. Meal times made me ashamed to be British. They were like vultures around a carcass, pushing and shoving to get in. At 3.30 when afternoon sandwiches and scones came out was like mass exodus from all areas of the ship to the Lido!!No manners, no please and thank you. Very very disappointing. Other examples like letting somebody pass in the corridor/stairs, again no thank you. Similar pushing and shoving to get seats in the show, to get on and off the ship etc etc.This sadly put a big dampner on our cruise. We also don't like the fact that smokers were allowed to smoke outside the reception/compass rose area. Everytime you walked in or out of the restaurant you were faced with clouds of smoke. Also the corridors to the cabin were reaking of cigarette smoke.
PORTS OF CALL We did not do any organised trips. In Palermo we purchased two tour bus tickets at 15 euros each. This was a shambles. There were far too many people trying to get on this bus. The queues were horrendous, people arguing shouting. We could not get a seat upstairs and did the tour sat downstairs trying to see through windows that had black dotted patterns on!! A total waste of money. Next was Naples which was dirty, full of beggars and very shady looking characters. Unfortunately the weather was awful, lashing rain and thunder and lightning. We took the hydrofoil over to Capri (it was very very rough) and spent a little while walking around Capri. Olbia (Sardinia) was quite nice, pretty shops selling lovely Italian shoes and clothes etc. The next Port was our favourite, Toulon. A beautiful place, lovely narrow streets full of the most amazing shops. A beautiful waterfront with some fantastic seafood restaurants. Last port was Barcelona. We did not get off the ship as we have done Barclona before.
SUMMARY Overall an enjoyable holiday but very strange that we did not enjoy this cruise as much as Carousel.
Cannot quite put my finger on what it was but we both left feeling we did not want to do another cruise with Thomsons! |
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John & lynn Chambers from Birmingham sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2005 |
John & lynn Chambers
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| John & lynn Chambers said: We traveled on the Thomson Spirit doing The Mediteranean Renaisance Cruise. It had taken me 30 years to persuade my wife to go on a cruise and I must say that it was well worth the wait. Never having Cruised before we were concerned that we might have to dress up to the nine's each night but we were pleasently surprized that smart casual dress was normal apart that is from the Captains cocktail party on our second night aboard, which in my opion must be quite a bore for the Captain having to perform twice (two sittings) every week and try to keep smiling for all those photo's which by the way are a bit of a rip off.
The ship was very cleen and it seemed that the staf never had any time off as every time you looked around they were there tidying your cabin or generaly making sure everything on board was spotless.
I can't remember having had such wonderful food morning day and night for the whole seven nights on any holiday that my wife and I had been on,and the staff in the restaurants were magnificent, with special thanks to Ricky & Bing who looked after us most nights but all the staff in the Restaurants were superb be it the Compass Rose or the Lido, well done all of you.
As for the rest of the staff be it the Crew, Hotel reception or bar staff I cannot praise them highly enough,if you go on this Ship be sure to leave them a small tip even if it's only a few euros as they are worth every cent.
Now for the On Board Entertainment,as this was a thomson holiday I was not expecting much in the way of entertainment as I was expecting the same old routine of the thomson reps working there socks off but not quite getting it right,well what a surprize was install as the entertainment team led by the "Excellent" Sue Denning put on a really superb line up of activities even if you stayed aboard during the day, and each night a different show with a quite superb cast of performers singing dancing and acting all strutting there stuff and getting a well deserved ovation after every show. Our particular favourite was the "Moulin Rouge" which was performed with lot's of energy.
Just a little note here for any lovers of Top of the Pops or programs were the performers dance but have to mime because they can't do both at the same time this set of performers put them all to shame,they must be bloody fit.I watched them rehearse a couple of times and they were so particular that they got things right,and they did.
A special mention also to Lloyd who did game shows as well as sing and dance, and a fair bit of comedy in the other lounge after performing in the maine Broadway longe shows,this guy has a bright future let's hope the TV scouts pick him up soon.
Not only but also we had a guest artist on board namely Alan Rudge a comedian from Wales he was so funny that my sides have only just recovered from all the laughing, he had us in stitches.I never did buy his flipin DVD though (only a few left £10 each or 15 euros)He also did a comedy workshop with Sue and Lloyd that was very amusing.
I have left the trips untill last as these are allways a bone of contention regarding the cost's, well all I will say is get on as many as you can as you may be missing out.If you don't like the prices of the organized trips then do them on your own,for instance we could have done Nice, Monaco,Monte Carlo by the local train and bus for a fraction of the cost,the same goes for Florence & Pisa where you can get the train.The Rome trip can be quite easy to do for about 11 euros return on the fast express train from just outside the port into the heart of Rome. the choice as they say is yours but which ever way you decide just enjoy it.For Corcica if you dont fancy onother trip just stay in the port of Ajaccio for the day and relax and the same goes for Mahon in Menorca.
I can't wait to go on our next Cruise and it won't be 30 years in the waiting this time, "all aboard & all a shore that's going a shore"
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P James from Birmingham sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2005 |
P James
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| P James said: An important thing to note is that if you are going on the Spirit out of the school holidays, forget it. My 12 year old was bored! In fact there were so many old people on this boat that it was like an old age pensioners Bournemouth holiday. I am not sure whether it is like this all the time, but almost everything entertainment wise was geared up for them. Rushing to get into dinner each night so you could rush to the show in the Broadway - not our scene at all and with this we were very disappointed. If this cruise is not for children then we should have been told.
However on the plus side, the staff could not fo enought for you. The boat was spotless and they were always cleaning it and painting it. They were polite and dirty plates etc were cleaned away quickly.
If you are going on the Jewels of the Med, go on a trip for Sicily and Naples, as they are both dirty and you fear for your life whilst crossing the road. We went to Pompeii and although it rained it was very informative. Sardinia was very nice and also Barcelona. But to be honest although the ship has its good points, we were happy when our second week came so we could get to our hotel.
I realise that either the timing (month) was probably not right and the weather was not that good either, but if I cruised again I would need a much larger ship with more entertainment on hand to chose from. |
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Gill Alcock from Cheadle Stoke on Trent sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Air miles
on a 18-30s holiday.
There were more than 6 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2005 |
Gill Alcock
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Gill Alcock said: Just got back from Romance, Romans & Riviera cruise
on the Spirit. 23 September 2005.
There were 8 of us in our party and all of us enjoyed it tremendously. no complaints at all.cabins were roomy & clean,cabin maid brilliant (anna maria),
dinning room staff marvelous,they could remember all of our names day after day. special mention for elroy & jerry also hennry & ronnie they maid meal times special. The weather was fantastic all week.can't wait to go again, How anyone can complain about this ship I don't know they ought to stay at home.
Food was great in both the Lido & The Compass Rose
All in All a great holiday sad to leave the Spirit. |
| |
val from derby sailed on Thomson Spirit with
going with thomsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2005 |
val
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| val said: haven't sailed on the spirit yet going for 2weeks on the 30th sept, read all the reviews, my husband pat says by time we go will know every bit of the ship.having been on the topaz afew times including her last voyage. seeing the spirit in balcelona and palma always said one day we will go on her.owing to health problems, have finaly got to go.anyone that will be sailing on the spirit on the 7th oct and has been on the topaz will see her in cititaveccha on 11th oct as the peaceship |
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Mary from Brighton sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2005 |
Mary
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Mary said: Have just returned fron the jewels of the Med which was our 2nd Thomson Spirit cruise and won't be our last.An excellent holiday once again.
Our cabin was a standard outside with double bed on deck 2 as I love being down near the water looking at the waves at night.One or two plumbing problems i.e no hot water on a couple of occasions and toilet not flushing but both were dealt with very quickly.
We had been given all inclusive free this time for booking early so we certainly made use of thatIt was nice trying out all the cocktails- something I wouldn't normally do in case I didn't like them.The only extra we spent on drinks was having room service bring us morning coffee to our cabin as we do like one as soon as we wake up .It was delivered within minutes of our call.Our favourite bar was Horizons both in the day and for the cosy atmosphere at night.Apart from captains night we ate in the lido and being a vegetarian I was pleased to find some unusual choices.On the last night we decided to have dinner in the Compass Rose and we really wished we had made the effort to eat there earlier as it just seemed to make the meal more of an occasion in lovely surroundings.
Apart from Barcelona we took the excursions which I agree are rather expensive but we like the convenience of it.My favourite was the rickety train trip to Gallura on Sardinia where you stop halfway and sit and have bread and cheese and wine overlooking a lake.Sicily was a bit of a disappointment to be honest as everything was closed
I can't really find anything to find fault with (apart from the bad weather on the last two days)but I did feel that the main shows although enjoyable were not quite as good as last time but I really liked the guest comedian.The service was excellent but I have to admit that last time our cabin stewardess always seemed to be popping in and out seeing if we needed anything but this time we did not see her all week which surprised me.Overall a superb cruise and can't wait to return.
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we&jon from n west sailed on Thomson Spirit with
going places
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2005 |
we&jon
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| we&jon said: jewels of med - 19th Aug till 26th,...first ever holiday without the children (courtesy of babysitting sister) ist ever cruise - much better than expected, cant wait to cruise again (even taking children next time)ive read other comments about fuel leaks /noise/bathroom water cold etc etc we did not experience any of this, but in fainess we paid to upgrade to the higher deck so it was worth it, although i do agree with some other peoples comments about the vibration, it was quite bad i actually had to get up out of bed at times to stop my head bouncing on the pillow with the ships vibration.(I have been told there was a problem with the ballance of the propshaft so when i book again for next year i will only do so if i get a firm guarantee that the problem has been cured !)
if not i will book their other ship as overall the service we received was good .we found no problems with cleanliness, the food was excellant,the staff were excellant the entertainment was either excellant or butlins-ish, individually the entertainers were good but when they tried to lay on a production (for example africa or elvis night) it was so bad it was embarassing ,which in itself made it amusing.
the excursions were overpriced but this is what i would expect from any tour company, but it is your choice, i chose to pay on some and use the local hop on hop off buses on others.
so after 7 nights on board i only had 2 bad experiences:- # one the lazyness and the attitude of the receptionist in the hairdressers #2 the manners and the rudeness of some of the russian passengers and their lady friends.
considering how many hundreds of people on the ship i certainly dont find this cause for complaint. .
ive read other peoples comments about the high photo & video prices, to which i agree ,i would have been willing to pay these high prices for the memories sake if the photography had been of a higher standard than the amaturish efforts for sale.
incidentally you could tell whereabouts you were in the queue on the captains night as his smile visibly fades the later your photo is taken with him . (this is also emphasised after his welcome speech as himself and all his staff discreetly abandon the champagne that he has just invited us all to drink).but then again i do understand that the captains night is just part of his job and something he has to put up with every week of his working life (i just wish he had done a better job of disguising his boredom and apathy )
please dont thing i am complaining after my few nigles,i am just stating facts, on the whole it was an absolutely amazing experience made all the better by the friendly helpfull professional attitude of the general ships staff.
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Mike, Sara & Emily from Essex sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2005 |
Mike, Sara & Emily
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Mike, Sara & Emily said: This was our 3rd cruise, our 2nd with Thomson after sailing on the Emerald last summer. The embarkation was handled very smoothly and we were allocated a comfortable outer cabin on deck 3.
We found the Lido restaurant to be better than last years Emerald equivalent but did not like the free seated Compass Rose as much as the Emerald.
The entertainment was generally very good - Lloyd and Keef especially. However, despite being an excellent singer, Karl, the Cruise Director, had the most irritating talking voice and condescending style. Also, Emma B was like a fish out of water, especially when performing in the otherwise excellent Moulin Rouge. The rest of the entertainment team were excellent.
The excursions were overpriced. Do not be afraid to travel independently. In La Spezia we travelled by train to Pisa for a total of €25 - the cheapest Thomson excursion would have been £80. The next day the train was €9 per person for a return trip to Rome - £32 per person was the cheapest Thomson option. We were generally dissappointed with the ports we visited. Sete and especially Tarragona were industrial ports with shuttle buses needed to visit the towns.
Despite the above critiscms, we enjojed our cruise tremendously and are already planning next year.
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Steve & Helen from West Yorkshire sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Portland Direct
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2005 |
Steve & Helen
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Steve & Helen said: We travelled with our two children (boys 12 & 14). This was our first cruise and we all had a fabulous time.
The staff on the ship were very friendly, worked extemely hard and took the time out to do the extra things (small things like remembering our first names).
The food in both restaurants was good and at times excellent, Al (in the Lido restaurant) gave our 12 year old a special recipe of ice-cream and remembered it every night.
The entertainment was very enjoyable, although we agree the three piece band were a bit predicatable. Sue Denning's cabaret ~(comedy act) was first rate.
We did the Sorrento/Amalfi coast trip and wished we'd only done Sorrento as we didn't get enough time in the town and spent a long time in traffic on the Amalfi Road.
All in all Thomson and all the staff were extremely proffesional and we would definitely book another cruise with them it was fantastic. |
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Sandra Gowers from Surrey sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2005 |
Sandra Gowers
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Sandra Gowers said: This is our second time on the Spirit and we chose the Romance, Romans and Riviera itinery. As usual you couldn't fault the staff and I feel humbled that some of them spend 8-9 months away from their families to serve us. The excursions were expensive and we avoided them, however we should have gone to Caucasonnes and Florence as the ports you have to dock in, Sete and La Spezia were either closed (it was Sunday) or a dump. Rome was a breeze, you just catch the train, 9 euros from Civitavecchia station and it includes the metro. Once in Rome just hop on a tourist bus as they drop you at all the key places and you can get on and off as many times as you like. Thomson would charge you 32.00 sterling for the privilege. I agree that the entertainment team were not as good as last year but they were still excellent, especially Lloyd and Sue. We too had an overpowering diesel smell one night. It never occurred to me that it may have been a fuel line. One of the stewardesses did confess to me that this would be her last year as 'the ship needs replacing, it keeps breaking'. I have to agree that Gemini, the trio, were hilarious and we got very good at mimicking 'Lollipop'. It has to be heard to be believed. He got great applause because it was so unbelievable. The logistics of getting us all on and off went very smoothly and I couldn't fault it. However Thomson ought to take seriously some of the comments as they shouldn't get complacent. Food in the Compass Rose was very good, the Lido was of a different calibre but also good. Our favourite bar was the Horizons lounge as no children tend to be up there so nice and peaceful to read. |
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Luke from Ipswich sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2005 |
Luke
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Luke said: Well Where do I start it was like heaven. It was easily the best holiday ive had ever!!!Absolutely out of this world.
The ship was fantastic, when we got there they took our luggage off for us. We were given our key cards, they we were personally escorted up to our rooms and had things explained to us, before we set off to do our own thing.
The ship was emaculate every night both the pools were emptied and cleaned, the floors were always clean and the apartments emaculate.
The food there was brilliant everything you could imagine was there. There was a choice you could have a proper waitered meal where you should have 2 waiters serving you but they all help to make sure your ok.
The entertainment was brilliant it was out of this world there was something for everyone. During the day there was always something for everybody. If you wanted a energetic game of deck hockey or just a quiet drink listening to soothing music in the raffles bar, it had it all.
I would strongly reccommend this cruise to anyone, it was the experience of a lifetime.
I would like to thank all the staff on the Thomson Spirit for making the holiday totally a magical experience!!! I'll see you next time
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David Bone from Harlow Essex sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2005 |
David Bone
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| David Bone said: Having sailed on the spirit last year we decided to go again this year. The cabin was adequate for a party of four although the beds are bunk beds we stayed in an outside cabin on deck three and could feel the vibrating as commented on by other reviews even when lying in bed or sitting relaxing in bar and entertainment lounges. The entertainment was definately not as good as last year the shows in the broadway lounge were like talent shows compared to the west end shows of last year. The group did not seem to work as a team. Sue Denning in the caberat show was very good and professional. The daytime entertainment was naf and the groups were wooden with no enthusiasm.The excursions were very expensive especially if you are a family of four we took the half day pompei tour which was very good. The Bormes Les Miserable tour in Toulon was expensive and did not leave very much time to enjoy the town of Bormes as we spent a long time on the coach the tour was very steep walking up to a church which you didnt even get to go in so we decided to explore the town ourselves and left the tour enjoying the market and bars we had coffee coke and two oranges and this came to 15 euros very expensive! We enjoyed the Barcelona Nou Camp Stadium tour but this was 100 euros so if you can do this on your own you would certainly save money and have more time to explore the shop as this was rushed to get back on the coach. In the compass rose the food was good but as mentioned in other comments you do have to share your table with other people on quite a few occassions we only had a table for four once. I don't think we will be going back on the spirit again as the entertainment really let it down this year. |
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Dennis and Shiralee from Chigwell,Essex sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a friends holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2005 |
Dennis and Shiralee
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Dennis and Shiralee said: We had outside cabin on deck 4. It was rather small and VERY VERY noisy!The cabin no was 561 and it turned out to directly under the galley. Therefore from 4 am in the morning there was plenty of noise from above.
The cabins shower room was in need of a redecoration and it was impossible to regulate the temperature on the shower resulting in varying degrees in heat and causing my wife to scald her back.
Our maid Anna was very good and looked after us.
The food was adequate in the Lido and good in the Compass Rose. The Lido was very busy around 9.30 am in the morning. I food the food in Lido to be rather cold on a number of occasions.
The Ship Staff were excellent with the exception of Linda Reyes who I found very patronizing and for us she let the rest of the ship down.
A big thanks to Tay Za,Dennis,Winstone,Joshua,Laura,Mollow,Alex and Jane.
You guys were absolute stars and made our holiday more bearable.
The onboard entertainment ranged from excellent to poor.
The two groups they had on board were :The Gemini Trio who very polished but rather predictable. The singer had a weird voice and his rendition of "lollypop" was hilarous.The trouble was he covered this rack on every occasion.
The other band was a five piece outfit and these did not appeal to me in the slightest.There were very wooden and showed no enthusiam towards their gigs.
The rest of the entertainment team were very good and a special mention to Sue,Lloyd and Emma B .
I must also mention a couple of other points.
We had a Shipping fuel leak on board and Thomson's attitude towards those affected was disgraceful. Many suffered sore throats(my wife for one),Mouth ulcers(myself) nausea,Asthma and other ailments.
I cannot stress enough the noise we had to endure.
Please Please if go on the Spirit ensure that you do not hve cabin 561.
Remember that number 561 !!!
Overall we were very disappointed with our cruise and it not come even close to when we went in February on the Spirit.
I feel that since the demise of Airtours that Thomson can run rough shod over the rest of us.
I would love to meet the crew again but feel that in the present mood this will be unlikely. |
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Ann Andrews from Broadstairs sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2005 |
Ann Andrews
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Ann Andrews said: Our family has just returned from a week's holiday on the Thomson Spirit having booked the Jewels of the Med cruise and just wanted to add a little more info to that already stated on this site. We stayed in an inside cabin on deck 3. As some people have mentioned before, the ship vibrates even when docked which takes some getting used to! This is the reason I personally would not choose to sail on The Spirit again as you gently vibrate whether lying in bed or watching a show but other people may not be bothered by this.
Food was generally very good - as a veggie I found the food varied and delicious. We chose to eat in the Lido apart from one occasion when we opted to try the Compass Rose as it was my husband's birthday. Despite there being many tables for 4 available we were shown to a table for 8, again some people may prefer to meet their fellow cruisers over dinner but we were disappointed not to have been offered a table for 4.
Entertainment was good, shows were varied and perfomers of a high class. Unfortunately it rained for most of our day at sea and it would have been nice if some extra entertainment was laid on even if it had only been a couple of quizzes.
We chose to go on 3 excursions. Our first trip was to Pompeii as our children were very keen to visit. I did not think I would enjoy this much as my husband and I had already been several years ago but the guide we had was so informative that this was my favourite of the trips we booked. At Olbia, Sardinia, we opted to book a beach transfer. Do not book this if you want to visit a quiet beach!! The beach was huge but packed and had only a couple of noisy bars. We also took a sights and shopping trip around Barcelona, an hour of which was taken up with walking around the outside of a church! We had chosen this trip as Barcelona has been in the headlines a bit recently regarding pickpockets but having walked down Las Ramblas we felt fairly safe and just took normal precautions against theft.
The one thing that did make The Spirit stand out for us was the staff who were truly amazing and a real credit to Thomson. |
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Jimmy from Rugby sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2005 |
Jimmy
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Jimmy said: OK,here is my review.
I cant say to much,as we will be going through legal stuff soon with Thomson.
The check in was good,all our bags were in our cabin within the hour,we did have the wrong grade/class of cabin,but I was told the ship was full,so no other was offered,and of course NO refund !
The staff i.e bar staff Waiters etc were more that good,they use to play with our 10 month old baby daughter all the time,these guys need a tip ! We were told NOT to tip them,but after our 14 nights on the ship I did tip them.
The food in the Compass Rose was good,the food (buffet) in the Lido was OK,but seemed warm not hot,plenty of it though.
We didnt use the entertainment,as we had a baby,but I have given it full marks,as people tell me it was good.
On our 4th night the engine room had a fault,the fuel line split,and we told the front dest at 01.30hrs,we were told to sleep in one of the show lounges or on deck !!!!......I took my daughter and the cot and we stayed in the Broadway lounge,NOT GOOD !...My partner the next day was in the Hospital with breathing problems,and had to have Oxygen and a course of injections,still no cabin change !
That evening we were put in a single cabin untill the Friday,and had to return to our old smelly cabin.They offered us £30,yes £30 refund !....I said NO !
All in all we did have a good time,but the management of this ship needs sacking !....The people in the engine room admit to smoking,and puttinf our lives at risk.We are going through some legal stuff at the moment,so I cant say to much.Would I use them again?...Not if it was FREE,Thomson are the worst company I have ever come across,and they should be BANNED from being travel agents.
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Julie from Southampton sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Spirit
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2005 |
Julie
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Julie said: The check in service was excellent on arrival and we were in our cabin within about 3 minutes from setting foot inside the ship. When we had unpacked we made our way down to Raffles bar for a cool drink in the relaxing surroundings. That evening on entering the Compass Rose we were most disappointed to see that there were not many tables for 2. Whilst we like to meet new people we were not keen to do this whilst trying to enjoy our food. The food in this restaurant is very nicely presented and quite immaginative.
Because of the lack of dining for 2 in this restaurant we only used it 3 times and the rest of the time ate in the Lido. The food in this restaurant was ok but lacked the wow! factor that we had experienced in the Waterfront restaurant on the Ocean Village last year. As we both enjoy eating out we were not overly impressed with our holiday food.
The bar staff on the ship were mostly friendly and very impressive especially how they remembered who had ordered what and how many drinks they could balance on a tray! Our cabin steward Delroy was great and made us some fascinating towel sculptures.
We did enjoy the entertainment especially the shows in the Broadway and some of the quiz nights in High Spirits. We enjoyed the Bingo sessions as well as we won 3 times! Sue and Lloyd had a really good banter going on and did make us laugh.
We did not go on any excursions as they were very pricey, but Thomson had chosen some good destinations which you could get to and from easily on your own. The only critism I would have is what is the point of travelling to Gibralter for Tax Free shopping on a Sunday when there are only booze and perfume shops open.
On reflection we really enjoyed our holiday as we met some friendly people on this ship and most people were up for a good time. The biggest disappointment was the dining and food quality which would make me think twice about travelling again with the Spirit (No I am not a 30 stone women who thinks about nothing but food! but I do like to enjoy what I am eating) |
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Jim and Carole Gordon from Aberdeen sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomsons
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2005 |
Jim and Carole Gordon
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Jim and Carole Gordon said: First cruise - fantastic.
From check in onwards no problems other than photographs. Too expensive and really bad service. Lost photo with Captain which was highlight for our son.
Cabin size fine (Deck 4 outside, 4 berth). Storage brilliant. No problems with plumbing.
Food excellent in Lido and Compass Rose.
Entertainment first class. They all worked really hard.
Trips are expensive but sometimes worthwhile e.g. train journey in Sardinia.
Service throughout the ship was excellent especially Delroy (fae Drumchapel!!)
If you take a teenager with you (as we did) ensure they go to the Teen Welcome on first day as Ben met other teens from day one which gave us a break for the whole week!! He thoroughly enjoyed himself.
Overall we would recommend cruising and in particular Thomsons. |
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Gordon White from Bellshill sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a friends holiday.
There were 6 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2005 |
Gordon White
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Gordon White said: Have made a comment allready but could not help writing in again about the comments that Frank Murray made, I nearly fell of my chair laughing about his comments. This guy must need his head looked at for the rubbish that he wrote on here.
I have been on 6 Cruises before this one and Thomson Spirit was one of the best yet. I will have no hesitation about booking the Spirit again .
It was also our friends 50th Birthday and we had the Waiters sing at our table and also got a cake, so tuff luck frank, go and get a life.
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Rob&Gaynor from Leek, Staffs sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2005 |
Rob&Gaynor
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Rob&Gaynor said: We have been on this Ship before but on a Cruise and Stay. Don't do the stay do a 2 week cruise.
This is one of the friendelist places to Holiday.
The staff are great and the food is faultless and the ship is spotless. The trips on board are expensive so try to do your own thing you'll save hundreds of pounds and if you are all inclusive it's not an expensive way to travel.
The photos are still a rip off at £15 a picture so don't buy. Pisa was £35pp for a half day we did it for £3 each on the local buses in 4hrs.
Rome was done on the train for 9e each return and we were back by 3pm, having done the open top bus tour for 14e each(£50-£100 with thomsom)and not to much trouble but remember to valadate your train ticket any where in Italy. Loads of other stop most very good but a couple not.
The shows were not as good as last years and mainly musicals and were in nead of some variety.
Still we had a brill time and have booked for next June. |
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Tricia Vickers from Tyne and Wear sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a friends holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2005 |
Tricia Vickers
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Tricia Vickers said: Third cruise with Thomson everything 100% this time did find too many unsupervised children in all areas at all times.Week one was Jewels of the Med first port
Palmero,Sicily had a walk into town everthing closed as it was Sunday very dirty place had coffe back on ship by 11am.Ship excursions rang from £24 for half day to £39 for full day trip.
Naples,Italy ship exc price £22 to £43.We did Sorrento & Amalfi Coast £39 full day lovely but felt like been on bus for hours as you only have 2 hours in Sorrento an 2 hours in Amalfi.According to others Naples was very dirty with not much going on.
Olbia,Sardinia got free ship shuttle into town not much open as everywhere closes betwwen 1 and 3.
Toulon.France beuatiful place to walk into with some nice shops.10 minute walk off ship.Ship exc cost betwwen £24 and £39.
Barcelona,Spain just outside terminal got hop on/off bus(NOT THE ORANGE ONES) all day ticket on all three bus routes 15 Euros pp see all sites.Ship exc cost betwwen £23 and £28.Cheapest place for duty free cigs.
Palma Majorca got taxi in to town 7 Euros.Very big and cheap Carrefour supermarket aon left of terminal.
Second week was Mediterranean Renaissance
Villefranche,France tender to shore then bear right max 15 min walk to train station 18 Euros for 4 return tix.When you get off train stay on platform C and descend by the escalator brings you out on the sea front.Very clean everywhere.Went to Prince's Palace done shopping in the village visited Cathederal had lunch then walked down past Grand Prix route then got on local bus 3.50 Euros for 4 over to Monte Carlo tried gaming machines in Casino but if you want to have a look at the gaming tables you MUST have photo id with you.No children allowed in Casino had cold drink and people watched at Cafe de Paris.Spot the face lifts a mile away !!!All very reasonable prices to our amazement, we thought it would be expensive.There is a local shuttle train for about 5 Euros taking you around.On the way back had an hour on the beach at Villefranche.Brilliant day one Not to miss.Ship exc £25-£35 we saved £93 between us.
Livorno,Italy you can walk into town where they have lots of good shops but we done trip to Florence £23 drop you off and pick back up 15.30 ok dome was fab but just ok.Ship exc between £23 and £47.
Civitavecchia,Italy ship exc £30 up to £110.do it on your own get free ship shuttle bus to train station and return tix 10Euros we got shuttle bus to end of port then local tour bus 20Euro from port to Sistene Chapel return 17.30 back to ship.Once in Rome there is hop on/off bus.
Ajaccio,Corsica had walk in to town ok.Ship exc cost between £23 and £35.
Mahon,Menorca beuatiful port to sail in and out of.When you get off ship some steep steps ahead of you will take you up to centre well worth climbing steps for.Ship exc £19 or £55.
All staff on this ship are excellent service was always 100%.Photos are still a big rip off.All excursions are per person so can add up to awful amout of money.Did not see any shows as people stay in the show rooms all night saw comedians they were good.Poolside entertainment ok but staff displays were brilliant showing how to fold towels/napkins, ice carvings,cocktail making etc.Sunbeds are a problem but remember you are only allowed 45 mins away from beds so do as we did give benefit of the doubt waited 1 hour then removed towels as some people put towels on beds then go out for the day. |
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kevin marshall from reigate sailed on Thomson Spirit with
thompsons
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2005 |
kevin marshall
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| kevin marshall said: just returned from cruise (05/08/2005)started well at airport got to palma transfer easy ,when we arrived at the dock was treated realy well no probs getting luggage too cabin as this is all done for you shown too our cabin loads of space tv hair dryer air con all working only thing was water tended to be a little cold somtimes.ships clealiness was second too none staff were always cleaning all around the ship,ships food was 100% we ate mainly in the lido found there was somthing for all tastes couldnt fault it (plastic cups and plates were not a problem for us)they were always clean service was a bit rapid as soon as you finished eating a waiter wanted too whip your plate away but overall excellent,the ships staff done everything they could to help you nothing was too much trouble a credit too thompsons not sure about the tipping but we did leave a tip for the waiters at the end of the week our cabin stewartdess was brill she came in twice a day and lokked after us ,onboard entertain was magic there was somthing for everyone we tried all the bars found the high spirits the livlyest in the broadway the staff put on some good shows but towards the end of the week we found it a bit samey but good anyway ,we would most deffintly recommend this cruise and would travel again with them .personly unless you are a realy heavy drinker i would not pay the extra for al because prices on the boat were average (£2.45 a pint)we spent about £200 all week which is not too bad concidering the amount we drunk if u work it out. |
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Gordon & Margaret from Bellshill sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a friends holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2005 |
Gordon & Margaret
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Gordon & Margaret said: My Wife and I and four friends booked this cruise to cellebrate a 50th Birthday. Having cruised on 6 other occasions we were not sure about Thomson. I can only say that it was one of the best Cruises we have ever done.
The All Inclusive!!! Deffo a good thing to do, WE had our moneys worh for the 2 weeks in the first 2 days.
The ship was spotless and the cabins were spacious.WE had breakfast every morning in the Lido Resturant and also had an evening meal there on 2 occasions. The service and the staff there was excellent.
WE had the same table in the compass rose resturant every nite and also the same waiters to serve our meals. (Give these Guys a tip, they deserve it)
The entertainment was good, something there for everyone. We spent alot of time in Raffles Piano Bar, the service in there was excellent, the bar waiter, Dennis (tip him as well) great guy. I must also mention Alexander, he was the bar waiter on the Lido deck and also in the theatre, this guys service was second to none. WELL DONE THOMSON SPIRIT.THANKS FOR A GREAT HOLIDAY!!!
The only thing l would like to comment onis the price of the trips, they are a bit of a rip off. WE have always made our own way around. You can get the Train to Rome than a Taxt to St Peters square for 1/4 of the price and also have more time to yourselves. And Taxis are also a good deal, if there are two or more taka a taxi or gat someone to share with you.
Also the Photos on the ship. You get klicked all the time by the ships photographer. We never bought any as these are a complete rip off. If Thomsons could get it in to there head to lower the price of these pics then more people would but them. They would be better selling 10 @ £5.00 than 1 @ £15.00. It's not rocket science, come on get the prices down a bit.
OVERALL.
Fantastic Cruise and we will deffo be on the Spirit again. |
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frank from glasgow sailed on Thomson Spirit with
thompsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2005 |
frank
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| frank said: we went on the thompsons spirt for my 50th birthday. this ship reminded me of my navy days. the food was about the same. the beer was un drinkable and put me off drinking it.the only thing that was good was the intertainment. i wrote to thompsons complaining butbasicly got told werer to go.
it wasn't there fault talk to he tour operator that i booked with cruise control.
any way my 50th birthday was a shambles no singing no happy birthday......................
never again
bigf7777@ntlworld.com
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Rosib from Surrey sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2005 |
Rosib
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Rosib said: I sailed on the Spirit in June 05 with husband and took my mother who had her own cabin. We chose this ship as the single occupancy wasn't too bad. I was expecting the worse having been on far more expensive cruises. I can honestly say we were more than surprised. This cruise offers a really good value for money experience. I cannot understand any negativity with regard to the food. If I had to sum up the food I would say it is really good, not fantastic and not inovative but really good in the Compass Rose Restaurant. The buffet in the Lido is just that but standards here were good. If I had to make one negative comment it would be that there is limited deck space when you have a day at sea or a lot of people wishing to sunbathe at the same time. The entertainment is marvellous. I think if you have to pay for the all inclusive - don't - unless you are an alcoholic. We were AI and like a drink and added up how much our bill would have been and we would have broken even, so you would be better paying for your own choice of wine instead of having to have their house wine. We would definitely go back on one of these cruises if the itineray was what we wanted. |
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Janine and George from Nottingahm sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2005 |
Janine and George
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Janine and George said: My Partner and I Went on a two week cruise on the Thomson Spirt In June 05. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, we are only in our 20's and admittedly were among the youngest on the cruise, but we met some wonderful people of all ages. From the moment we stepped of the plane in Palma we were really looked after, we were taken by coach to the ship, which was no longer than 10 mins away. We then went through a checking in procedure were you have your photo taken for your cruise card ( this allows you to get on and off the ship and is also for all your purchases on board).
We were then taken to our Cabin by our House maid, and our bags were delivered to us about 20 mins later. We had a deluxe Cabin on deck 6 (room 215) which was excellent it had a double bed, mini bar, two wardrobes and plenty of draw space. The bathroom had a bath and shower, we also had a Television and a hair dryer. We had a window that looked on to the promenade deck which was excellent for seeing the views when we woke up each morning.
The Ship Has a Restaurant called the Compase Rose, this served Breakfast in the mornings, then a 4 course meal for lunch and in the evening it was a 6 course meal,this was all waiter service, the food in here is excellent from the soups and salads to the steaks, Lamb, fish etc. usually had about 6 different main courses to chose from each day. We ate in here most evenings as we loved how much your were looked after, once you had told the waiters your name them seemed to never forget it. One tip in here is if you are on All inclusive do not order a bottle of wine with your meal, as if you do you will be charged for this , If you order by the glass this is free and you can order as many as you like. You do have to dress smartly in here but as long as the men had Trousers on they didn't need to wear tie and jacket every night. My other half even wore jeans and a short sleeved shirt some nights and didn't look out of place at all.
If you prefer to eat more casually you can dine all day in the lido, this was a help yourself buffet, where you were not required to dress up at all. The food was also very nice in here . We ate our breakfast and lunch in here most days. They also did two theme nights per week in here which we did attended one evening, this was a Indian night, this was excellent with lots of curry's to chose from. There was also an out door eating area that severed pizzas, chips, hot-dogs, salads and pasta meals.
If you were still hungry after 1 am, when the buffet closed there was a night menu that you could chose from, the chefs would freshly prepare you any thing off this up until 6 am (when breakfast started!) this included chips, toasted sandwiches, curry's, salads, burgers etc
You could never get bored in the evenings with all the bars and entertainment to chose from, Our favourite Bar was the Horizons bar on deck nine, this had the best views from the front of the ship and was a lovely cocktail bar that had piano and violin players, playing music while you drank, There was also the Raffles bar that we also seemed to find our self in most evenings, this is the bar that has the Casino in ! this is on deck 5. The evening entertainment was of a high standard in the Broadway show lounge, they had two showings per night but you did need to get there pretty early to get a decent seat, this was also on deck 5 but had a balcony area looking over the stage on deck 7, also with a bar in. You could also watch a film in the Cinema we never did this but there were about 6 showings a day of quite up to date films. Most of the bars closed at around 1am but if you were still up for a few drinks you could go up to Deck 7 to the High Spirits Night Club, we stayed in there many a nights till 3 - 4 am it basically closed when everyone left. But be warned after 2 am all your drinks are not free if all inclusive, and although they may not warn you these drinks will get charged on to you account. Make sure you get a few rounds in just before 2am !
There were plenty of activities on in the day on the ship, if you did not get off to explore the destination you were visiting. We did get of every day but still managed to go to a wine tasting class, saw the vegetable carving and ice carving demonstrations. There were games played through out the day and bingo late afternoon, we did not go to this, but met one lady who had won £400. There were also exercise classes and line dancing if you fancied it. There are two Swimming pools one with a kids poll next to it and the other with a whirl pool, also there were separate male and female saunas indoors next to the gym.
The ports of call we visited were Sicily - here we got the coach offered by the port in to the town, this was quite a small town with a few shops we had a little walk around and got the coach back to do some sunbathing on deck.
Naples - The ship docked 5 mins walk from the city here. We were not very impressed with Naples as there were dead rats and stray dogs sleeping every where, the traffic was awful, the Italians seem to have no road laws. We did go on a horse and coach tour around the city, this was an easy way to see all around, be very careful if you do this as the man tried to double the amount he had told us for the trip when we got off. You should pay no more than 30 euros make sue you barter with them before you get on.
Sardinia - again here we just walked around the town we docked in and headed back to ship for lunch.
Toulon- We had booked on one of the ships trips on this day as we wanted to Visit St Tropez. We left the ship at 9am and arrived at st tropez at around 10.45. We were then given about 3 hours to look around the designer shops and the Bay. We did stop for lunch here but it did cost an awful lot, we had two sandwiches and two glasses of lemonade which came to around 40E, In the afternoon we were taken to Port Gramound, this is like the mini Venice of France this was a lovely little place worth seeing. We arrived back at the ship at about 6pm. We did enjoy this trip but the ships own trips can be expensive this cost us £35 each.
Barcelona - We decided that we would do our own thing here instead of paying for the ships tour which again was around £35 each. We got to see much more than the people on the tours and was very easy to do on your own. We got a bus that was parked in front of the ship to the centre of town, here we bought 2 tickets for the open top tour buses, these go all around the city with there different routes blue, green and red they all last about 2 hrs each you are given a map when you buy the tickets. We first walked up the rambles were all the street entertainers and shops were, then we chose to do the red route , we then went up to the castle which is the highest point, there were marvellous views over the city from here. We then took the cable car down which was lovely, and then got on the blue route to go and see the Gudi Buildings definitely worth seeing, we got a taxi back to the ship all this only cost about £30 fro the whole day for the two of us.
Villefrance - Here we wanted to go to Monte Carlo, and again did this ourself allot cheaper than the ships trip. When we got off ship we walked along the sea front until we reached a corner with some steep steps this was just before the beach started, we got two train tickets from the station at the top this cost 9 Euros for two, the train ride was about 15 mins and you got off at the 4th stop. Here you were in the bay of Monte Carlo, we walked up a steep hill to the left and reached the famous Casino, we did go in and off course lost. We then had a little walk around, and some dinner in a bar at the front of the bay watching all the ferrias etc drive past, then got the train back to Villefrance.
Livorno- Here we wanted to go to Pisa to see the leaning tower we first got the ports free bus in to the centre of town.We then went in to a tobacco shop and bought two return tickets for the bus to the train station, and return tickets for the train to Pisa this cost a total of 12 Euros this was very easy to do once at the train station you must validate your ticket in the little yellow box all around the station before you get on the train. Once at Pisa it was about a 20 min walk to the Tower, if you just keeping walking straight when you come out the station you will come to the tower. We did catch a taxi back to the station but this only cost 5 Euros.
Rome- Here we went on the Ships do it your self tour to Rome as we were unsure of catching the train to Rome by ourself as it is over an hour away. This cost us £30 each. The coach picked us up in the morning at 9am and we arrived in Rome at 10.30, we were then left on our own until the coach picked us back up at 5pm. It is very easy to see all the sights in Rome including the Collusem, Spanish steps and travai Fountain etc. They were all with in walking distance of each other and defiantly worth seeing. We paid 10 Euros each also to get in to the Colosseum which was fantastic. It was a lovely clean city.
Corsica - Here we got the free bus in to town, which was again put on by the port to get you to the town centre. This was only a small town with a few shops we had about an hour off the ship looking round and getting a few gifts then went back to top up the tan and have lunch.
Menorca- This was a very pretty dock and was extremely close to the town centre. You got off the ship and walked up some stairs, very steep though in to the town itself, lots of nice shops here great for spending all the last Euros.
On the day before we were due to Leave we had to pack our cases, collect some security stickers and coloured tags from reception, place these on your cases and put them outside your room that night before 3am, these were then collected through the night. The next day you had to leave your cabin by 8am. There was a supervised room that you could leave your hand luggage in, until your coach came to take you to the airport. We didn't leave until 5pm, and was allowed to still use everything on the ship, including food and drink until then. When the coach arrived you had to leave the ship, collect your luggage from the dock side and put it on the coach. There was a Thomson rep on the coach, to tell you which desk to check in at, at the airport, which all went very smoothly.
we would definitely recommend this holiday to all ages, it is the best holiday we have ever been on and will most certainly be doing a cruise again.
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Mr A Elliott from Morpeth sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2005 |
Mr A Elliott
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Mr A Elliott said: This was an excellent holiday from start to finish. If you go this holiday you must go on the excursions especially Rome and Pisa. On the ship the food was fab, the staff was very helpful and they knew you by your first name by the second day. The entertainment was excellent but the only fault was it was a little short. The second week we went to a hotel called rey don jamie in Santa Ponsa which was fab, could'nt fault it food fab entertainment good staff friendly. We would recommend this hotel to anyone. |
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tony and debbie from chepstow sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2005 |
tony and debbie
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| tony and debbie said: we sailed on the spirit in february this year, and were so impressed with the value for money we booked again in early june. Bristol to our cabin took under three hours and having sailed the Caribbean from Florida with 10 hour flights it was great. our cases were in our cabin within 5 minutes, within 30 minutes of arrival we were recognised and treated royaly.
the maitre'd Leroy Brown treated us better than on any cruise we had been on before, a credit to the company with nothing being too much trouble. we have sailed several times on carnival and island escape and i was puzzled to see the food on the spirit marked down, both of us are discerning and found the quality and choice outstanding. all staff were very friendly and efficient, my only grouse is as always the casino is a tad small. overall great value for money more space in the room than we have had elsewhere, we are planning a trip on the spirit very soon. |
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frank murray from glasgow scotland sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 6
2005 |
frank murray
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| frank murray said: we read all the reviews and thought the spirt was a great cruise.............]
i was going for my 50th birthday. i never got a mention of my birthday at all other then a note from my room attendant.
the food was worse than my navy ships unless you wetn the ala carte menu and paid an extra £30.00, which i did on my birthday and it was better.
the drinks.
we were all inclusive and had to pay extra for bottles of wine at our meal, and my white russians unless i ordered with ti maria insted of kula. the rooms were noisey but liveable. it has 110volt and 220 volt. there was an ironing room an the 1st and 6th floor with washer and driers. it cost £10.00 for safety deposit box at reception not in the room. we came from glasgow and all our meals were set up for early dinner setting and we had to get up at 9am to change it. they do have tables for 2 if requested. the food was the worst even breakfast. you had to get up before 12pm or all you got ws pizza and rubbish hot dogs, the coffee was served in plastic mugs.
the entertainment was great but drinks and food were the pits this was my 5th cruise and the worst............... |
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Brian Baines from Scunthorpe sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomsons
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2005 |
Brian Baines
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Brian Baines said: Went on our first cruise in 2003, on the Spirit. Just had one week to try it out.
Was so impressed with the whole thing, we went again in 2004 for another two weeks on the Spirit.
Again we had a great time and couldn't fault anything apart from maybe the itinery, some of the destinations were less than inspiring.
I'm surprised at some negative comments about the food as it was spot on all the time we were on board.
We have just come back from a week on the Destiny, which is nowhere near as good food wise, but is better if you are sunworshippers (which we are not)as the pool area is better and there are loads more sunbeds.
We would go on the Spirit again, but not the Destiny.
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Alison Brown from Derbyshire sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a singles holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2005 |
Alison Brown
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Alison Brown said: We sailed on the spirit for a week on 27th May.It was one of the best weeks of my life.We were first time cruisers and knew roughly what to expect from reading all the reviews, but it exceded all our expectations.From the minute we saw the ship whilst on the transfer bus it was fantastic. Our cases were outside our cabin within half an hour of arrival. We had got a free cabin upgrade to a deluxe because originally last June we had booked to travel on 17th June, which after we(and probably quite a few others) had booked Thomson decided to make adult only!we were pretty hacked off at the time but in the end it couldn't have turned out better. The cabin was lovely, far bigger than we had anticipated, lots of storage space and very quiet, but having seen the outside cabin,when we go again (next year I hope)can't really justify the £600 extra it would have cost,everything is too fantastic to spend time in the cabin.
Staff were cleaning constantly all over the ship, we never had to wait more than a few minutes for a drink in any of the bars or restaurants, we were all inclusive, which is obviously fantastic value, especially if it is free at time of booking.You DO NOT have to pay for wine in the Compass Rose if you are all inclusive unless you order a bottle, so don't order one, simply ask one of the many wine waiters for a glass and you may have as many as you wish. We ate in the Compass Rose every night, lovely, but the food in the lido is excellent also, we just went for the whole cruise experience and dressed up every night, Even my 14 year old son thought it was great.Entertainment was as much as you wanted it to be, quiet piano bars or the disco in High Spirits. We never intended to go on any of the organised trips as we knew they were expensive. In places like Barcelona (we took th open top tourist bus good value at 17 euros , it takes you all round the city and you can get off at any point you wish)it was easy to explore yourself, but not perhaps in other places, especially the Italian stops, next time we would budget for a couple of trips. |
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valerie palmer from newton aycliffe sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2005 |
valerie palmer
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| valerie palmer said: We travelled on the spirit on 27th May, as a special treat for our silver wedding anniversary, we had a wonderful week, starting with the flowers in our cabin and champagne with chocolate dipped strawberries. Our cabin was on deck 7 room number 114, it was a really large room as it was a slightly different shape to the other deluxe cabins, with a bath and shower and loads of wardrobe and drawer space. We had a large window with no realy restrictions on the view, although the cabins further along from us would have only seen lifeboats from theres I think.
The room was spotless and nina, our housekeeper, kept it that way twice a day throughout the week, nothing was too much trouble for her.
We had breakfast in the lido buffett restaurant for the first three days until we found out you could get breakfast in the compass rose restaurant, freshly made to order with waiter service, what a lovely way to start your day.
The entertainment on board was excellent, something different everynight and all to a very proffessional standard.
We were all inclusive for drinks which was really nice, I tried to taste all of the cocktails but got stuck on number five - the mambo - it was georgous and i stuck to that for the rest of the week!!
The waiter service in the showlounge meant know queing at bars which was a bonus!!
All in all the whole cruise was an excellent first time experience - from the delicious food to the wonderful entertainment, and sunshine all the way - we will definately be doing this again!! |
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paul cheryl naomi alison from birkenhead merseyside sailed on Thomson Spirit with
cruise control
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2005 |
paul cheryl naomi alison
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| paul cheryl naomi alison said: what can i say had a brill time looked after really well zhana who cleaned our room twice aday fo und my expensive sunglasses i thought were lost when i entered the room found my daughters teddy monkey wearing them entertainment was fantastic enjoyed every show even watched and met comedy impresionist aiden j harvey who was afavorite of mine when i was 10 years old had to get used to being waited on the compass rose resteraunt was brill looked after by dodi lem andreas also jean piere in the piano bar will gladly play a song for you if you ask him he played my fav beyond the sea if you dont enjoy this cruise you dont deserve to be on it
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David Robinson from Penrith sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2005 |
David Robinson
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| David Robinson said: This was the very first cruise we had been on and I can tell you it won't be the last!! We had a fab flight out on the Friday morning with excellent cabin crew. When we got to Palma there were reps there to assist you in any way possible. After the very short bus ride we arrived at the dock side.... FANTASTIC! We got on board and the week just got better and better. The first night was the sail away deck party and that was just fantastic everyone was up dancing and having a ball! I must admit the first day we got our money out of the all inclusive upgrade! If you like a drink I would reccomend you getting this package. The food was excellent we wnt into the compass rose every evening at 6.30pm and we had something different every night. All the staff could not have been friendlier from our cabin stewardess who cleaned our cabins twice a day to our wine waiter in the restraunt and the waitress in the broadway mezzanine everyone was just so friendly. We were in a deck 8 deluxe cabin which was very nice but as we hardly spent anytime in it we felt it was a bit of a waste of money to upgrade. I am glad to say that we have already booked for next year as we enjoyed it that much and we are going on a 2 week cruise next year rather than just 1 week as it just wasn't long enough. If anyone was wanting to go on a cruise for the first time we would reccomend the Thomson Spirit all the time. |
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Derek,Julia & Dot from Gillingham, Kent sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a friends holiday.
There were 3 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2005 |
Derek,Julia & Dot
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Derek,Julia & Dot said: Our tickets were to be picked up from the Thomson desk, which concerned me, but I need not have worried, as they printed tickets whilst we waited. At Palma, all went smooth & we arrived at the ship to find envelopes waiting for each person with luggage labels & boarding cards. After sticking labels to luggage we went to the next stage which was to validate your card with your photo. During the day I took my Credit Card to reception so that all our cabin expenses could be deducted. On entering ship we were individually taken to our cabin, shown round & our cases arrived about 15 min later. The cabin, on deck 3, was a good size with queen-size bed & plenty of wardrobe & drawer space. Good advice I picked up from the forum was to take an extension lead. We could plug mobile phone chargers, hair tongs (not mine)& kettle. On exploring, we did get lost a couple of times but all was spick & span with very friendly crew everywhere.
We went to the excursion talk Saturday, which was very informative for the organised trips but little info for DIY travellers. We booked Florence/ Pisa, Monuments of Rome & the half-day panoramic tour of Corsica. On Sunday, because of the Grand Prix, Monaco was out of the question. A choice of trips were available but we went ashore by well organised tender to Villafrance, took the land train for a tour & really enjoyed the town. Monday was the Florence & Pisa trip. Absolutely wonderful but tiring. Tuesday was Rome! I still can’t believe I have seen all those historical places. It was a bit of a cultural overload so, after a hectic 2 days, Corsica on Wednesday made a welcome respite. Thursday Mahon. As we were there a couple of years ago we decided a leisurely day was in order so just strolled around. In each cabin was a map of the ports & the Cruise News kept you up to date about most things.
We queued for about ¾ hour to join the Captain’s cocktail party, with the obligatory photos taken every so often. He must get fed up posing with everyone every week. After meeting the Captain he introduced his officers & senior staff & we all went our separate ways to bars, restaurants etc. We are not much for sunbathing but, if we wanted to, the facilities were there. Entertainment was very good & varied both in the Broadway lounge & in the other bars. Breakfast in the Lido can be taken inside or out with a separate counter outside serving poached eggs etc. We ate in the Compass Rose most nights & were very satisfied with our meals. On Wednesday night, after the restaurant was closed, the chefs etc laid on the most superb buffet. There was a queue to take photos first & then those who wished could tuck in. In th Compass Rose on the last night all the chefs, waiters & other staff were introduced & sang to us. We tried the casino & won then lost about £30.00 between us. Real high rollers, us. This was our first cruise. I hope it wont be the last & all in all a terrific weeks holiday to be recommended to all.
smee
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fay, clive & bethany brandwood from worcestershire sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2005 |
fay, clive & bethany brandwood
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| fay, clive & bethany brandwood said: 30.4.05. No tickets had arrived, so we had a long wait at the airport. Massive queue!!! However when we eventually arrived we were very impressed. This was our 10th cruise and 6th cruise for our 5 year old daughter. All in all the whole week was excellent. My mother came with us (at 79 years old her 4th cruise in 12 months) she is totally hooked. It was our first time on the Spirit but everything was excellent. The food was beyond belief, from lobster and fillet steak to steak and kidney pud, something for everyone. We have eaten in some very posh end expensive restaurants but the food on this ship takes some beating. The staff on board are a credit to themselves and Thomson. It is a great pity that the British are not as enthusiastic, consciencous and polite when dealing with the general public as the crew on the Spirit. The whole entertainment programme was brilliant. Our cabin girl Ludmina was superb. A massive thanks to Laura and Nicola from kids club who entertained our daughter Bethany all through the cruise, even when she was the only child there. A cruise is for any age group, everyone is catered for. We have also been on the big American ships, but the atmosphere on an English ship would be very difficult to beat. Looking forward to our cruise at Christmas on the Celebration!!! |
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Chrisie from West Wales sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2005 |
Chrisie
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Chrisie said: Flights Outward smooth as clockwork, we arrive before lunch and our luggage arrived soon after. Home flight was pretty grim: There didn’t seem to be anyone to assist or point the way either in getting onto the coaches or at the airport.
Our Cabin Was a very quiet inside cabin on Deck 2, forward. It was very comfortable, with plenty of storage space, and everything worked. Radio, Lights TV etc. The only problem was that the hot water was usually slightly less than lukewarm with the odd and unexpected scalding dowsing. Our cabin steward, Ana Maria, was very helpful and kept us going with ice cubes.
Entertainment. was excellent, with 2 shows nightly (including guest performers), at about 8.45 and 10.00. A deck party on the first night, a couple of midnight cabarets and a Commitments/Blues brothers tribute, as well as a routine from the deputy Cruise Manager who was excellent entertainment. The Freedom Band, excellent and very versatile, guest comedians Lee Wilson (Of “The Comedians”) and Kev Orkian who is also a great pianist. There was one afternoon play, Hobson’s Choice, very enjoyable.
Food The food was great with plenty of choice in both main restaurants, plus the a la carte not to forget the servery on Lido deck. Some people were put out by the plastic cups and plates in the Lido restaurant. There was 24 hour access to tea coffee and water. There was also very good tea, coffee and hot chocolate available from the bar. We had one Grand Midnight Buffet during our cruise. The meat was very good quality and tender. There was always at least one vegetarian choice. .
Ports We were given a printed leaflet including a map for each port. There was a choice of shore excursions. Some people thought they were expensive, but they all had a good take up. I heard complaints that there were not enough ‘easy’ tours for the less mobile passengers.
A.I. This was our first A.I. cruise, and we enjoyed it tremendously. It felt quite decedent to go to the bar for our coffees after meals in the Lido. We would have a couple of glasses of wine with dinner and sometimes lunch, as well as cocktails in the evening and the odd sherry or liqueur. not being drinkers, I don’t imagine, pound for pound, we got full spending quantity out of AI, but we got great quality, in having paid ahead for all our drinks, and not having to give any thought to the cost of drinks throughout the week.
General. The ship was very clean and bright. The bar staff were fantastic, all the crew were friendly and helpful and worked really hard to make everyone’s holiday enjoyable..
Niggles Still not enough shore info for independents, music over amplified, not enough inside seating for smokers. Not much daytime entertainment, deck games, Quizzes a bit thin. Ship still judders quite a lot even when in port. Pretty much abandoned to our fate for the journey home.
|
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J Francis from Wirral sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thompsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2005 |
J Francis
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| J Francis said: Just returned from jewels of the Med cruise
As first time cruisers we only booked for one week - the only disappointment of the week was having to leave. |
| |
Kirsty from Grays sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Going Places
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 4
2005 |
Kirsty
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Kirsty said: i am 15 years old and i thought that the cruise was really broing. the entertainment that was there was good but there still wasn't enough entertain ment during the day. i also think they should warn you there is a chance of sea sickness!! |
| |
Colin & Carol from Torquay sailed on Thomson Spirit with
cruise control
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 4
2005 |
Colin & Carol
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Colin & Carol said: All in all a good, value for money cruise, good entertainment very professional,good friendly service in the bars especially high spirits, compass rose not so friendly
Disapointed with quality of the main couse meat and presentation (too much food on your plate)Compass Rose.
Ordered the lamb in Sirroco's, inedible, waiters very apologetic and tried to serve me something else can't believe an alleged chef could send out something like that. Didn't let it spoil our 20th wedding aniversary, more wine please waiter.
Luckily my wife is a fish eater all of which was fine. |
| |
Albert from leigh sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 4
2005 |
Albert
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Albert said: We travelled on the Fortunate Isles Cruise the ship its self was very nice.We had our first meal in the Compass Rose service was very slow so after that we ate in the Lido.Some of the staff are very miserable the onboard entertainment is excellent especially the Moulin Rouge Show Richard Sykes cruise director is brill as is Lloyd all in all a great cruise would go again. |
| |
Barry from Nelson sailed on Thomson Spirit with
TUI
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 3
2005 |
Barry
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Barry said: This was our first cruise , we were delighted by the "better than expected" standards of food, service, cleanliness & the overall experience.
The was only one "downside" which did not spoil the overall holiday.
As a special treat we decided to eat in the "A la carte restaurant." at an additional cost of £15 each.
The food was really good , beautifully cooked and presented and the waiter service was top class.
As "almost" non-drinkers we decided to opt for one glass each of "house wine". This was served and tasted as if it was not much stronger than water !!.
However when the voucher was presented for signature we were casually informed "The house wine is double price in this dining room" , this is something that everyone needs to be aware of, the "perception" is of being ripped off.
An E-mail to TUI brought the expected reply (nothing) |
| |
Ken and Barbara Shaw from Cumbria sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 5 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 3
2005 |
Ken and Barbara Shaw
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Ken and Barbara Shaw said: This is the first time we have sailed on the Spirit having previously sailed with Sun Cruises on the Carousel and Seawing and this is the best ever Cruise. The cleanliness of the Ship was 100% at all times we seen our cabin stewardess Cristina clean the bathroom with a toothbrush. We have never been looked after as good as the staff looked after us. One night my husband was not feeling too well and Cristina later on that night phoned him to ask if he was okay and did he need anything.
The entertainment on board was first class never missed a show in the Broadway Show Lounge. The game shows in the High Spirits were equally as good and good fun. The atmosphere at the Sailaway Party and the Party in the Park out on deck were brilliant. All the entertainment staff work extremely hard.
We had breakfast and lunch in the Lido Restuarant and evening meal in the Compass Rose and could not fault any of it. We sat at table 89 for the whole week and were well entertained by Mark and Patrick who sang to us most evenings.
On arriving on the Ship it was good to see Leeroy Brown the Restaurant Manager who was previously on the Carousel.
Would we sail on this Ship again???????When does it set sail???????tomorrow. |
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MARTIN & MARIE from SOUTHAMPTON sailed on Thomson Spirit with
THOMPSON
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 3
2005 |
MARTIN & MARIE
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| MARTIN & MARIE said: This was our first cruise,the best holiday we have ever had.This ship could not have been kept any cleaner even down to daily scrubbing of the decks, and constant washing of outside windows!
The Compass Rose Restaurant was great if you liked to be waited on.Sirrocos Restaurant was excellent but could not eat all that was on offer.The Lido Restaurant was self service but for us the food was equally as good. There are a lot of crew working behind the scenes who deserve a lot of credit.
All crew that we came in contact with were excellent. Special thanks goes to Frankie in the Horizon Bar, JJ,Lorenzo & Si in the Lido Bar not forgetting Anastasia in reception for making our week so special.
The entertainment on this ship is first class.All the entertainers work very hard during the day and in the evenings.Credit for all the great shows.
A special thanks goes out to Richard Sykes who made Laura's week (our daughter)very special giving her more confidence and help with her singing.
If you are thinking of going on a cruise and have not been on one before we would recommend The Spirit.We are sure you will not be dissappointed. Great value for money and well looked after.This ship has not seen the last of us, we hope to be on it again before the end of the year !! |
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Tony & Helena from Macclesfield sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 3
2005 |
Tony & Helena
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Tony & Helena said: This was our first cruise and we chose a great ship to start off with. So much good feedback has been given about the Spirit that there is nothing to add. So the ship is not the QE2 but you won't have a better time or get better looked after than you will on the Spirit. We upgraded cabin to a double on Deck 6 Promenade deck and were very pleased we did so, great position. Must give a big 'plug' for the FREEDOM BAND' which plays most nights in the High Spirits loungbar. Great lead female vocalist and excellent musicians. |
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Lucy from Notingham sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Lunn Poly
on a family holiday.
There were 1 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2005 |
Lucy
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Lucy said: Does anyone know wether Reilly still works on board he was one of the dancers very cute. |
| |
J. Morgan from Swansea sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2005 |
J. Morgan
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| J. Morgan said: This was our second cruise on the SPIRIT. It gets better (if that is possible)
We stayed in the Arona Gran in Los Cristianos for a week then joined the SPIRIT for the second week.
The ship is very clean and tidy at all times. The food is varied and excellent. Dining options are there to be taken advantage of. Use them. You wont be disappointed whichever you choose.
Staff were fantastic, always smiling, helpful and polite. Nothing is too much trouble for them.
The entertainment is first class. Costumes are outstanding. Richard Sykes has an excellennt team of dedicated proffesional performers. Well done too you all, you have so much energy. It shows that you all enjoy doing something you love.
Would we sail on the SPIRIT again? YES. We will be back on board in September for the Jewels of the Mediterranean. Really looking forward to it already.
Anyone one that has not been on a cruise before, try it. You will not be disappointed. HAPPY CRUISING |
| |
Hamrag from Glasgow sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2005 |
Hamrag
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Hamrag said: Having cruised twice before, once on the island escape and once on the carousel, this ship was the best of all three regarding cleanliness and general condition.
The cabins are excellent, with nice decor, lots of room and storage space (with more than enough hangers), hair dryer in cabin. We were inside deck 2.
We would describe the food as very good, although the island escape was slightly better at excellent.
All staff were very good, bearing in mind these folks work long hours for very little pay.
The on-board entertainment team are fantastic, one of them is an "older" guy called Frankie who is absolutely talented and a fantastic encouragement to the younger members. They are highly motivated, enthusiastic and totally committed to entertainment. It is evident that they work extremely well together as a team. Well done to all!!
If the spirit, island escape were lined up together and going the same route and ports we would embark the spirit with island a very, very close second (only because the ship is older and showing this a little). We would not go on the carousel even if the other two ships had already sailed. |
| |
Tony and Debbie from Chepstow sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2005 |
Tony and Debbie
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Tony and Debbie said: We sailed on the spirit on 18/2/05, we have cruised on carnival ships on three occasions and the island escape once. We read all reviews on the spirit for this trip,and it was pleasing to see most were very positive.
The trip from cardiff right to our cabin was excellent,we were on deck three outside cabin,the cabin was far better than we expected very roomy and well laid out with more storage than on any other ship we have been on.
The staff,food and entertainment was first class, Although we love the caribbean, this cruise with the short flight and excellent value for money has made us change our future vacation plans.
The next trip we will get a room with a window instead of a porthole, On my wish list for the spirit would be a little more to do if you dont want to get off, also a bigger or better laid out casino, we both love casino's and the spirit could have another roulette table, more american slots instead of the tight british pub ones, The weather was not great but compared to the artic uk it was good. Overall outstanding value for money will be back on the spirit as soon as possible |
| |
robert CURRIE from airdrie sailed on Thomson Spirit with
cruise deals
on a singles holiday.
There were 1 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2005 |
robert CURRIE
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| robert CURRIE said: great time on board the ship very clean and spacious.
food was great in the compass rose, favourite bar was the horizons lounge, entertainment was great led by richards sykes although the only complaint was the take over of the entertainment by the family from birmingham as noted by an earlier poster |
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Marj from Surrey sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2005 |
Marj
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Marj said: We were on Thomson Spirit from 18th – 25th Feb 2005.
Flight from LGW to Tenerife North was on time leaving and arrived in Tenerife about 10 mins. early.
We collected our luggage from the Carousel and were directed to the waiting coach, once at the quayside we checked in, were given stickers with our cabin number to put onto our cases (which were then delivered to the cabin).
We boarded and were shown to our cabin, the cases arrived minutes later.
We had a cabin on deck 6 (promenade) it was very spacious with 2 windows and plenty of drawer and wardrobe space, a kingsize bed, table and 2 armchairs, and a fridge, very nice indeed.
The ship itself was spotlessly clean, and in our opinion the food was very good in both the Lido and Compass Rose.
There was freshly made pasta and pizza on the outside Lido deck at lunchtime, as well as a good choice inside, and usually the chef carving various meats.
The open dining arrangements suited us very well, more so than on other cruises where we have had early or late sitting.
The entertainment was excellent, as has been said in many previous reviews.
We thoroughly enjoyed our week on the Spirit and would certainly go again.
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| |
Jennie from Rainham sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Fast track Holidays
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2005 |
Jennie
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Jennie said: I was on the same cruise as William who posted his report previously and would just like to add a few more comments. This was my 14th cruise and I have sailed with P&O, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Carnival etc. I was impressed with this holiday - it was good value for money.
I was with my 82 year old mother who walks with a stick. We had an outside cabin on deck 1 and had a porthole which was really a waste of money as it was quite frightening to see the waves covering the porthole. Also, when in port, if the ship was docked on the portside all we could see was the side of the dock. The access to and from the ship was difficult for a disabled person - there were a lot of steps to negotiate if the exit point was on deck 4.
The entertainment was excellent - I believe that they were the best singers and dancers I have seen on a cruise ship. However, the rest of the entertainment was dominated by a family from Birmingham and other passengers who wanted to participate in the quizzes/tv games were not able to do so. I managed to play the 'Weak Link' one day but as the Brummies had 3 family members playing I was voted off early on (they failed to answer any questions - even with the audience shouting out the answers!)
Ports of call -
Gran Canaria, we went on a trip to the old town and the crater.
La Palma, we were there on a Sunday and it was shut.
Madeira, we had afternoon tea at Reid's Palace Hotel which was very nice.
Agadir, did the horse and carriage trip with a visit to the Medina. This was the best way to buy souvenirs as there was no hassle.
Lanzarote, rode a camel up the Fire mountain for 20 minutes and then went to the top of the volcano and also drove through the National Park. This was by far the best trip of the cruise - even though it rained!
The weather on the cruise was not good - apart from the last morning. If the sun is out then there are not enough sun beds to go round.
We liked the option of dining at a time convenient to us, but on the evening of the Captain's cocktail party we had an early seating for dinner. We met some lovely people at the meal times in the Compass Rose restaurant - especially William, John and Bill (the twins from Birmingham)and Pat and Nicky from Taunton. We only lucked out once with a man seated at our table on the last evening. If we had eaten with him on the first night I would have spent the rest of the time in the Lido!
On the whole we had a good time and found the cruise to be excellent value for money. |
| |
Lynn, David and Jean from Stoke-on-Trent sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomsons
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2005 |
Lynn, David and Jean
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Lynn, David and Jean said: Would just like to add a few comments to say how excellent out holiday was on Thomsons Spirit. As with previous comments we found the cleanliness outstanding, and the same goes for the food, any time of day it was superb. Before going I read all these reviews and was not put off by some of the negative comments, all I can say is if people did not enjoy this holiday for the money they paid they should stay at home in future, as they are never going to be happy!!!!
I too saw a waiter cleaning seats with a toothbrush to ensure cleanliness. The cabin girl worked so hard especially to entertain our three year old daughter with towel animals. Finishing touches that made a holiday special.
The waiters had magnificent memories and always had suprises on the table for my daughter when we went into dinner making every night very special. A big thanks to Marius and Jay!!! At breakfast time in the buffet restaurant, my tray was always carried to the table to enable me to look after my daughter and also they would fetch her anything she wanted so none of us had to leave our seats (never seen that in a 'motorway services' anywhere!!!!).
We all enjoyed the on board entertainment and found the shows very good. Also the entertainers would involve my daughter whenever she wanted to get on stage and dance, especially on the two disco nights on deck. The entertainers managed to make the sail away party similar to a New Years Eve Party the atmosphere was that good.
We only went on a couple of the organised trips with having a small child however, the ones we did do Agadir and Lanzarote were well worth the money. At the other ports we made our own way using a Taxi without any problems at all.
The weather was awful, however, being a person who worships the sun, I have to admit this was probably one of the best holidays I have ever had and my family agree with me.
If I was to make one small critisism it would be a need to arrange more entertainment small children. Their was childrens entertainment but only for a couple of hours and the weather was bad so plans to put more things on for them would have been a good idea. Perhaps even a cartoon channel, ball pool, toy kitchen/shop etc. The Kidzone room needed up grading the toys were poor and it was locked quite often and this was a safe area for children to play in. The decks are obviously very dangerous and open for small children, so they do need good toys and a safe area to run in. You can only manage to carry a few small toys from home with you.
Having said that my daughter had an excellent time as she was treated like a Princess by all the staff and also fellow passengers.
My husband and I have cruised before on another ship which was supposed to be more upmarket, however, this ship far exceeded our expectations for the money we spent. We will be recommending this cruise to people in future.
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Shelagh from Wirral sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2005 |
Shelagh
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Shelagh said: We have just returned from our first cruise. The Thompson Spirit exceeded all our expectations and we had previously read all the reviews. We could not fault anything except the weather and nobody can do anything about that.
The family all stayed in the one cabin and there was enough room and excellent wardrobe /drawer space, I have stayed in worse 4 star hotels. we spoke to people who had been on luxury cruises with other companies and they said the cabins on the spirit were the biggest they had ever had. The food even for a fussy child was superb and the waiters could not do enough for you, the Lido was sometimes busy but there were so many staff who were always cleaning and clearing it did not matter. We even saw staff cleaning marks on the carpets in the early hours with a toothbrush to remove marks.
The entertainment was first rate, the previous reviewer complimented the entertainment but only gave one star however the majority of reviewers on this site gave everything 5 stars like me
we had a wonderful time and I would definitely recommend the spirit |
| |
William from Leeds sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Rise Travel
on a singles holiday.
There were 1 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2005 |
William
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| William said: I have just returned from my first ever cruise,on the Spirit.There is no way i could ever find fault with it.The staff from captain to cabin steward,where so polite cheerful,and could never do enough to make your cruise more pleasant.The restaurant waiters where so cheerful.They would introduce themselves to you on the first day,and ask your name.which they never forgot.Being open seating at meals you met different people mostly.But at times you would be sat with previous people you had met.Myself being on my own i met some wonderful people.I used both the "Compass Rose" restaurant and the Lido.But they where both clean and the food excellent.It did not matter what time of day or night you wanted something to eat or drink,you could always get something.
The drinks prices where very reasonable.
The entertainment, first class.A different show every night,and a top cabaret artist on 2 nights.
The cabins.I had a twin to myself,which had plenty of room.So i cant comment,on the single cabins.The cabins where always spotless.Towels changed whenever needed through the day.At night,there was always a different animal made up using your towels.I had a Swan/Rabbit/octopus.Also chocolates left on your pillow each night.
The captains cocktail party night,i enjoyed very much,followed by a gala dinner.Which would have put some 5* hotels to shame.
At the end of the cruise you had to nominate 3 members of staff for an oscar.That was a pity,as i thought,all the members of staff,regardless of department,deserved an oscar,as they all went out of there way to be so helpful. |
| |
steve and ann from llandudno sailed on Thomson Spirit with
thomsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2005 |
steve and ann
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| steve and ann said: just finished our crise on spirit, overall we enjoyed it BUT we feel that this ship is definatley very downmarket, the lido restaraunt is very similar to a motorway sevices cafe on a bank holiday monday, crowded and brash, the food was edible and ok but low quality surroundings, yes u coud eat in other restaraunt but that was not a lot better, entertainment was excellent, our inside cabin was good too, flight was terrible, storms caused us to have a frightening aborted landing, this of course is not thomsons fault however they are to blame for the ship, to sum up, crowded, cheap and cheerfull. |
| |
Graham from Chorley sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 1
2005 |
Graham
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Graham said: Spent 4 weeks on the Spirt in the last 12 months. Twice in the canaries and two weeks in the med. About to travel again on the transfer from the Canaries to the med on the 29th April.
The ship is a 3+ star and a Travel Inn of the seas Clean and reasonably presented. The cabins are slightly smaller than some other ships and the sound insulation bewteen cabins almost non existent.
A strong vibration is evident to the rear of the ship and I suspect that cabins here may be subject to this. We have always travelled in the centre of the ship on decks 3 and 4 which seems OK
The food is slightly better than you would find in a three star hotel, but can be bland when eaten for two weeks. The food had improved a litte on the cruise on the 6th Jan this year.
The ships staff are very good, but for those of you on all inclusive the waiters in the compose rose are past masters at keeping your glasses of wine to a minimum. There must be a bomus system on what they dont serve. There are limited wine coolers in the wine cellar and you may find wine wine can be sometimes slightly warm.
I did see a number of shows but not being the sort of person who goes to shows I have maked this at 3 as I have little to comapre with.
Overall I would give a rating of 3 for the holiday as a whole, and as I am paying a 3 star price I get what I expect. You will have a good holiday, with good company, on a reasonable ship at a resonable price. You might find if sunbathing is your objective that the British can beat any other nation at reserving sunbeds. Have a good holiday.
|
| |
A & Stephen Davidson from GLASGOW sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 1
2005 |
A & Stephen Davidson
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| A & Stephen Davidson said: This was the first time on a cruise for myself & my husband & we had a fantastic time. Arrived late on friday from Glasgow and after a slight delay in the luggage coming through were taken by coach to the ship.There you get your picture taken for your security pass before you get on , put your cabin number on your luggage & it is taken to your cabin very soon after your arrival.We then thought we'd check out the Lido Restaurant & had a lovely meal, so much to choose from.The sail away deck party was good & before bed happened to be passing the Lido again & couldn't resist a late night snack, a hotdog ! This became a regular occurance most evenings, well your on holiday after all! The staff were fantastic, drink & food waiters couldn't do enough for you & as soon as you finished a meal in the Lido your plate was taken away & if you want more you get a clean plate. The Compass Rose restaurant was great aswell with the waiter service & we shared tables with some lovely people. One night we did manage to get a table for 2 as it was later in evening & not as busy. Booked into Siroccos (£15 supplement a head but worth every penny)on the Tuesday as we were at sea all day & it gave us a treat to look forward to. Dylan our waiter was fantastic & the food out of this world, recommend the Duck & the prawns, but i don't think you would be disappointed with any of the food. A few people were having birthdays & they got a special cake made.
Every night the entertainment was superb, Richard the cruise director & his team are very professional, from Moulin Rouge to Westside Story not to mention the games, Dominique with the weakest link who does a very good impression of Anne Robinson.We also done the napkin folding , the waiters are very talented.
Ship was very busy on day at sea so loungers few & far between unless you're up early but you can go to the cinema or see a show.Only one thing to complain about , you get your picture taken at every opportunity but they can be costly @ £11.95 for most so i would suggest you get your picture taken whenever you see the photographer set up & chose the best ones & buy a couple but it would be very expensive if you wanted them all.If they reduced them in price people would buy more.
We were on deck 1 outside & on the first night didnt sleep very well because its like sleeping in the kitchen with the washing machine on but once you are used to it, no problems . Nobody seemed to be seasick either.Suggest booking one of the trips to Morocco because most people that got a taxi outside ship wished they had. We went on the souk & medina trip (£16 each), the souk is an eye opener & if you dont like bartering then don't go. This is their culture & not something we're used to but the medina (old town) was beautiful & items there are fixed price so no need to barter ! Wooden boxes & sequined slippers were beautiful. So we would highly recommend the Thomson Spirit cruise & can't wait to cruise again. |
| |
mrs brown from leeds sailed on Thomson Spirit with
thomsons
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 1
2005 |
mrs brown
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| mrs brown said: where do i start it was great from getting on the ship no queues or hold ups at all, luggage arrived in cabin about 10 mins after us all the bars are good and the quality of food excellent you can have 6 course meals waiter served in the compass rose resturant or if you prefer buffet in the lido which is open 24 hours lots of choice and a carvery every night.
entertainment on the boat is second to none the shows on a night were great, also if you didnt want to see a show there was a comedian, catchphrase, family fortunes,weakest link and all sort of quiz games played upstairs also quiet bars if you just fancied a quiet drink, also the casino. the entertainment during the day was good also sports games for the fit quizzes, music played, vegatable carving and napkin folding is a must know it sounds boring but what the blokes can do with a napkin or a vegatable is amazing.if you diodnt want to get off the boat plenty to keep you amused.
cabins are spacious we had a deck 1 outside cabin for 4, 2 sets of bunkbeds we have 2 teenagers aged 15 and 16 and didnt find it a problem 4 large wardrobe and lots of coathangers t v as well that shows sky news, films, and discovery channel
we went to las palmas this had a nice shopping centre and quite a good few shops la palma we didnt get off the boat it was sunday and nothig was open but people that did says it was loverly maderia that was lovely took the cable ride up to the top that is a must, morrocco had bad reports about that got off but didnt like it so went back to the boat quite a few people got accosted and asked for money even threatened some off them so just be careful ,lanzarote again good for shopping and a beach and tenerife lots of shops.
the staff are fantastic the cabin maid makes lots of animals for your room out of the towels. they come in a morning to clean up then again on a night to put back your covers and leave choccies on your pillow everyone is so polite and friendly and we made lots of new friends.
what to wear i was really worried about this because having a 14 yr old lad that lives in tracksuit bottoms but saying that he was fine he made friends with some other lads that was his age and they were just the same because we went all inclusive he just went with them to the lido buffet and ate there you only have to dress up 1 night which is the captains cocktail party all the rest of the nights were smart casual during the day people wore shorts and t shirts.
going home the day you go home you have to put your luggage outside your cabin the night before with labels on for your flight and the day you leave they call your flight number and you get off the boat and go to a designated area where you check your luggage in and then get back on the boat, you dont see it again till you get to your english airport its great no messing about to check in at resort airport.
you are just so looked after it is unbelievable this really is heaven nothing is too much trouble for any of the staff and a wide age range it will be a long time before i go on a land holiday again even if you dont have the all inclusive drinks are not expensive 2.20 for a pint of beer 1.80 for a bottle smirnoff ice ect even my teenagers loved it and cant wait to go again so that saying something.
me and my husband had our marriage blessed which we booked in england that was so romantic can thoroughly advise it |
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Alan and Deb from Bury sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a singles holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 11
2004 |
Alan and Deb
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Alan and Deb said: The wife and I took a cruise to celebrate our 40th birthdays, and everything on board ship was first class. From the cabins, food, entertainment and of course drink. We went all inclusive which meant our drinks were included in the price. I would like to moan about something, but I can't. It was fantastic.
On the wifes birthday, I had breakfast brought to the cabin, and for £50 not only did she have breakfast in bed. This came with champagne and chocolate strawberrys,and if that wasn't enough, the waiters sang to her during dinner whilst presenting her with a birthday cake. For those of you unsure whether to try a cruise or not, all I can say is you wont be dissapointed. We are hooked and will be doing it again soon. On board the Thomson Spirit was the best holiday we have ever had, and we both strongly recommend you do it.
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Owen from Newton Abbot sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Portland Direct
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 11
2004 |
Owen
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Owen said: My wife and I joined the ship in Tenerife and as this was our first cruise we were expecting a wonderful time. The ship was clean and tidy and our cabin steward was fantastic. We were expecting fantastic food but found it was no better than any 3 star spanish hotel. The dining arrangements need to be changed as you could end up sitting with some extremely boring people, after 2 days we ate in the Lido. The ships staff were excellent, always cheerful and helpful. We thought the entertainment was dreadful, the reps thought they were special but we have seen far better shows in 3 star hotels. This cruise has put me off cruising for ever.
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Ian & Karen from Sutton Coldfield sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 11
2004 |
Ian & Karen
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Ian & Karen said: We went on the Colourful Coasts cruise departing 19.11.04. This was our first cruise but it won't be our last. We booked via the net and got a great deal. including the free all-inclusive deal.
Our transfer from the airport and onto the ship was fast and trouble-free, waited only about 5 minutes for our photos and cabin details. We spent the first couple of hours working our way down from Horizons Bar, stopping for a drink to try out our AI cards at every bar we found. Cocktails were wonderful!
Our cabin was on Deck 3, and was fine. Plenty of storage space, and clean and well-kept. Our cabin maid was always around, and although a bit lacking in English, she was always helpful and friendly.
We ate every night in the Compass Rose, and the food was superb. French night was especially good. It was a great idea to work it so that you got to sit with different people as the tables were filled up. We met some delightful people, everyone seemed to have entered into the spirit and wine and conversation flowed every night. (Far more civilised than the Lido, which was fine for a quick lunch or breakfast a couple of times.) We also used the Compass Rose for most breakfasts & lunches. The waiters were amazing. Some would ask your name as you sat down, and never forget it - even 3 days later!!
The afternoon teas and midnight buffets in the Lido were good, but the Buffet Magnifique was quite spectacular. You have to see it to believe it, what talent those guys have.
We used most of the bars, our favourites were Raffles, for a pre-dinner cocktail or two, and the Explorers for a relaxing drink in the daytime. Horizons was nice in late afternoon, especially if we were approaching port, and their cocktails were the best.
We did not take any of the excursions as we prefer to make our own way, which was easy and much cheaper. Some people said they were expensive for what they were, especially in Agadir. (One woman said the dinner there was the worst meal she had ever eaten! Probably camel was the conclusion.)
The shows in the Broadway Show Lounge were the unexpected highlight of the trip. Having expected Butlins Redcoat style, how wrong could we be? Every show was quite superb, the performers were extremely professional and worked so hard to keep the standard high. Special mention for the 2 best singers, Mark and Lauren, who were exceptional. We did the backstage tour and when you see the tiny space they work in it is even more amazing. Particularly liked the Queen tribute, and Rock & Roll, although the costumes from Moulin Rouge were fantastic.
So, the food, service, entertainment and destinations were excellent. The organisation of the whole operation was superb, (rather better than Thomson package tours) and even the weather was good. Any criticisms? Well, the photography was a bit of a shambles, and the pictures were scandalously expensive. So many prints were simply wasted due to price. Why not charge a fiver and sell ten times as many? A real shame, as the photography staff all seemed a bit clueless too. A minor irritation though.
Advice? Take the AI option if you can. Even if you book too late for the freebie, it is often £49, a bargain. Enter into the cruising spirit, dress up on Captain's night, and use the Compass Rose. You can eat in a cafeteria anytime. And get a good seat for the shows.
We are now cruise converts. Not every holiday, but hopefully one a year. And Thomson, never my favourite company in the past, excelled themselves. Why pay more? Go for it!!
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Mrs Julie Hargreaves from Stoke on Trent sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 11
2004 |
Mrs Julie Hargreaves
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Mrs Julie Hargreaves said: We sailed on the Fortunate Islands Cruise from 25 November to 2 December, we left the Spirit the day before the Ship began its journey to Gibraltar to dry dock. We embarked on Thursday evening at about 10pm. (most people seemed to come and go on Fridays) Luckily it was not raining and there were not too many people embarking at the same time as the wait for security photo taking was on the dockside and took about half an hour. We identified and put our cabin number stickers on our luggage and we made our way on board, we were shown swiftly to our cabin, soon to be followed by our luggage. The cabin was a four birth, outside, Deck 3.
The cabin was comfortable, clean and neat. There were two single beds, and two bunks above (one folder down as there were three of us in the cabin), four good sized wardrobes with plenty of hangers. Three full sets of draws t.v in cupboard, a vanity table and chair. Ice bucket filled twice a day. Fresh towels when ever you needed them. Our cabin stewardess came twice a day, she seemed to materialise from thin air, made the cabin ready for the day by making beds etc. turning sheets up, then ready for the evening by turning sheets down and placing chocolate on pillows, even turned the lights to a relaxing dimness. Had a towel swan and flower made during the week, this was a nice touch. In the shower room there was plenty of space to store things, complementary toiletries and a never ending supply of loo rolls and tissues. However our sink had the gell coat peeling off which looked messy. The water for the shower was sometimes red hot sometimes freezing cold in a split second with no warning, this is something that should be sorted out, it does say check the water temperature before getting in the shower, but when it changes so quickly checking did not really come into it.
The rest of the ship seemed clean, although there was a smell most of the time, especially up on the sports and sun deck, which seemed to be coming from the air conditioning and/or venting pipe up there. We spent quite alot of time up on those two decks as our son enjoyed playing table tennis, also it was quiet and peaceful to sit and read. Around the Lido deck and the area out side the fitness suite got very busy on the hotter days, on one day the ship ran out of towels for use on decks. We did see staff clearing towles off un-ocupied sun beds.
The gym was nicely equipped, the sauna's were ok although the changing rooms felt a little used and looked abit tired.
The films on in the cinima could have been better, only one was suitable for family veiwing, the others seemed to be more for the older guests.
We enjoyed the Explorers lounge, it was relaxing, no smoking, the waitress was friendly and cheerful, the piano and violin music played there in the evening was gentle and calm.
We used the Internet lounge, to e-mail as this was much cheaper than the phone.
We ate in the Lido it was relaxed and informal, the food was good, soup and main course had a selection for vegetarians, the desserts however could have been more clearly labelled to say if they were suitbale for vegetarians or not. I really did not like the coffee from the machine in there, it was not nice. My husband and son said the tea was ok. My son had pasta most evenings in the Lido, the chef was great and knew what he liked after only one visit! The food waiters were good, clearing away quickly. The wine waiters however were very slow. They seemed only to look in the main dining area, if you sat around the edge, which sometimes we did through choice, sometimes because they were the only tables available we were lucky to get a drink before the end of the meal. On one occaison we waited so long my husband went to the bar only to be told to 'sit down and wait as we will be served'. We did wait we did not get served though! Other people seemed to be having the same problem.
The evening entertainment in the Show Lounge was very good, the team were great, dancing, singing giving it their best even when the sea was rough (which it was on probably 4 out of the 7 nights) There was also a guest comedian who was funny as well as observant. The two bands playing around the ship were ok,looked and sounded like they had played and sung their songs alot of times though, which was a pity.
The staff at reception were curtious, helpful and always looked too busy, not realy much time left for smiling.
We went on two excursions, one to Funchal, this was good, enjoyed the cable car ride, could have done with more time at the Gardens and less at the lace shop. The other trip was on the submarine on Lanzarote, good fun, lots of fish, two ship wrecks and no locusts! Everyone on board the ship had heard that there were millions of them at Lanzarote, it had even been the news, we saw some, but they were not everywhere and not the plague reported.
On board ship we went on the bridge tour, it was interesting, it was during a rough crossing to Agadir. The 2nd officer explained in detail what everything was and how it worked. He explaned that the ships stablizers were only used if it was force 4 or above, they were out a couple of times during this cruise!
The Cruise News was useful, appeared under the door in the evenings. One day we did not get one, but picked one up from reception.
We booked early so got all inclusive free, we are not big drinkers but it was nice not having to pay for anything at all on ship. Coffee (Not from the machine in the Lido), hot chocolates, juice, the occasional shandy etc. We did buy bottled water on two occasions from the bars on ship but mostly bought it when we went ashore as it was a fraction of the price.
We could hear some noise in the cabin, but that was the air conditioning, we did not hear noise from the bar's or disco's, nor from the engines and we slipped into port with no sound, we woke up in a new place every day.
The weather was not as good as was expected by us or the staff, it rained in Funchal, then all day at sea it was raining, windy, cool and rough, at one point the elevators were out of use and the doors to outside were locked! the next day in Agadir it rained the whole time.
On the day we disebmarked, we had to leave the cabin by 9am. We had to put the luggage out side our door the evening before. We had to make sure we had all we would need for the day in hand luggage as we did not leave the ship until 6.30pm. The hand luggage was kept in a watched room, a few cabins were made available for guests leaving that day to freshen up in. (Fifteen to twenty minutes use.) We could use our all inclusive up until one hour before we left, which was good.
Throughout our stay on the Spirit we felt secure, the embarcation cards were scanned as you went off and came aboard ship. We hired a safe deposit box at reception for passports etc (this cost £10 for the week).
Having to sign slips everytime we ordered a drink was a pain, ordering for three meant three slips a time. A mass of paper at the end of the cruise. It was good to get a running tab mid week,(again pushed under the cabin door) then a final one on the morning of leaving.
We would sail again on the Spirit, but we would also like to give some of the other Thomson ships a try over the next few years. |
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luci5 from Aberdeenshire sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomsons
on a friends holiday.
There were 6 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 11
2004 |
luci5
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| luci5 said: What can I say about the Thomson Spirit that hasn’t already been said? We had a brilliant week aboard from 5 November 2004 on the Colourful Coasts itinerary.
Our flight from Glasgow was delayed due to a technical fault, but we were kept advised throughout which made the wait bearable. We were even told at the outset that it would be a 3 hour delay and this prevented the anxiety of wondering when we would actually fly. The pilot made good time and we landed in Tenerife after 3h 50m instead of the 4h 30m expected.
After collecting our luggage we boarded the coach for the 40 minute journey to the port at Santa Cruz. At the quayside we received an envelope with our invitation to the Captain’s Cocktail Party along our cabin number on sticky labels. After the embarkation and boarding pass photos were taken we identified our luggage at the quayside by attaching the sticky labels. We finally embarked just before midnight and were shown to our cabin just as our luggage arrived.
We were impressed by the size, layout and décor of the cabin. It was slightly wider than ones we’ve had previously. The beds were in L-shaped formation with the TV above, there were two large double wardrobes with plenty of hangers, a large chest of drawers, a bedside chest and more drawers in the dressing table. There was a huge mirror, approx 8’ wide above the dressing table which made the cabin seem even bigger.
The only problem with the cabin was that the air con didn’t work. This seemed to be a common complaint among passengers we spoke to. However most complained that their cabin was too cold, but ours was stiflingly hot, enough to melt the chocolate that was left on our pillow every night.
We were impressed with the cleanliness and décor of the public areas, although the carpet was worn in some areas of the stairs which was surprising seeing as it was refitted only 18 months ago.
We found the choice, quality and portion sizes of the food to be good in the Compass Rose restaurant, especially the Surf and Turf on the formal evening. We mainly ate snacks in the Lido Café and again there was a good choice.
The staff were extremely friendly and helpful, apart from Reception where a smile wouldn’t have gone amiss.
We didn’t go ashore at any of the ports as we’d done the same itinerary twice before.
Apparently on the day at sea it was quite difficult to find a sunbed, but we didn’t notice as we were so busy going to Pilates, a short play, backstage tour, etc.
We had the all inclusive package, but drinks prices seemed reasonable at £2.35 for spirits with mixer, £2.20 for a pint of lager, £2.75 for a cocktail and 95p for cans of Coke, etc.
This was our first cruise on the Thomson’s Spirit, but I doubt it will be our last as we thoroughly enjoyed our week aboard.
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Peter Jones from Scarborough sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 11
2004 |
Peter Jones
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Peter Jones said: The ships design left much to be desired. We have been on several cruises and this was the worst designed ship we have been on. Company has skimped with the luxuries one expects on cruises. However the food was acceptable although the desserts were extremely disappointing. The entertainment, though limited was of a good standard. The biggest plus factor of the cruise was the staff, they were the best staff I have seen on any holiday I have ever been on. Quick, courteous, friendly and always having a smile on their faces, nothing was a problem for them, we did not see a grumpy face or have a negative reaction throughout the week, the staff were simply tremendous. In spite of limitations of the ship and entertainment I do feel that the cruise was good value-for-money. |
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Kevin Beattie from Walney Island .Barrow-in-Furness sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 11
2004 |
Kevin Beattie
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Kevin Beattie said: My wife Claire and I have just been on our first cruise,onboard the Thomson Spirit we did the colourful coasts cruise .Everyone was very friendly Staff,crew and fellow holiday makers,we took the all inclusive option however drinks prices seemed realistic and by no means over the norm.Ages on board went from small children(although not many) to a lady we met who was 91.Our standard outside cabin was larger than many hotel rooms and as you can see from my ratings everything was excellent.I am already looking to book another thomson cruise in the very near future. |
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James Giblin from Formby Merseyside sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Lunn Polly
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 11
2004 |
James Giblin
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| James Giblin said: Cruise date 11/11/04 to 18/11/04. This is the second time I have sailed on 'The Spirit' this year. First cruise (2 weeks) 17/6/04 to 31/6/04.
Accompanied my disabled Mum (Rita) with the help of her sister Mary this time. First time was accommpanying both my parents. My eldest son Alex (16) joined us in the second week.Sadly my Dad died in October and this trip (already booked by Dad)was therefore a sad time for my Mum.
That said.... The Thompson Spirit is a cruise for everyone.
Nothing can be spoken of too highly. The staff are exceptional. They work so hard (to a man....or woman) and are about the smiliest people you could ever wish to meet. Many remembered us from our first visit some five months earlier, which is remarkable given the number of new passengers joining the ship each week.
The high profile people are of course the Entertainment Team, headed by the truly talented Mr Stephen Guy - his organisational skills are remarkable. The shows are a delight and you will not find more talented performers anywhere!The singing and dancing (Tribute to Queen esspecially)is stunning, girls and boys alike. Most are leaving the ship after a 9 month period on, 3rd December. Enjoy the vacation guys. Stephen Guy is staying with the company in the roll of Ops Director, and will be office based for a while. How they will replace him, only God knows!
The waiters are just fantastic - no exceptions.
Cabins are lovelly if a little jaded insome parts. The ships cleanliness is a tribute to the hard work of all the crew.
The Food.... Fabulous. Just read a review from a bloke called Andrew from London who was on The Spirit in May........What planet is he from? There is no way the food in The Compass Rose, or any other of the ship's resturants could be described as 'bland'. Something went seriously wrong with his taste buds if that is what he thought. The menu is of the highest standards of ANY resturant. I ran a chain of 22 resturants for 11 years throughout the country. Sir, you are mistaken.
On that note....
Will try another Thompsons Ship next year. But will take my partner Alison, and hopefully my 3 teenage sons who I know will love it. |
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b cummings from blackpool sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 11
2004 |
b cummings
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| b cummings said: This was our second cruise, the first being on RCI's Voyager last November.At first sight we felt a little dissapointed as the RCI ship was bigger and more luxurius, however any such feelings were soon dispensed with as we settled in. The friendly atmosphere and laid back ambience was if anything better than that on the Voyager.The check in at Palma was swift and efficient, a line of young attendants waiting to escort passengers to their respective cabins, the suitcases arrived about an hour or two later giving us time to visit the Lido restaurant and start making inroads into our all inclusive deal!.
We got this package free by booking early and boy was it worth it, the normal price is £130 for 7 days.
The sea pass card is stamped AI and can be used straight away and also up until one hour before departure , although we were still geting drinks up to half an hour before, having a 18:30 departure.
Those who are paying for this and feel they would not get their moneys worth must be farly light drinkers, after all with Martinis and cocktails costing from £2.25-£2.75 each, Stella and Bods £2.20 and spirits around £2 incl mixers, it does not take long to rack up £20 plus, especially if you kick off at lunchtime with the cocktail of the day and finish around 1-2 in the morning (not forgetting the obligatory couple of glasses of wine with dinner), like we did, and I can assure anyone reading this that we are not a couple of plonkers so to speak.The excellent freshly made capuccinos would normally cost around £2 and are also included in this package.
Our cabin was fairly spacious and comfortable but did not have a double bed (doh!)still after 30 years of marriage and a skinfull of cocktails who cares.Also deck two where we were (cabin 653) was to the front of the ship near where the gangplank was usually put down and we did experience a fair amount of noise, also the walls are quite thin as we found out when our neighbours got up every morning around 7, much banging of doors and flushing of toilets.Next time I book , and we intend to return to the Spirit as soon as time and funds allow, I will pay a supplement for a cabin a little higher and request a double bed, the port hole we had being a little low got all the spray from the ships bows giving the impression it was stormy and wet outside when in fact it was not (except for one particular night when it was in fact quite stormy). I would imagine those on deck one with a porthole would appear to be virtually underwater!
Anyway about the ship itself. Quite easy to navigate once you got the hang of where the lifts and bars were. There are only 4 main bars of which one (the explorer bar) was non smoking. All the others have a separete smoking area, usefull as while I do not indulge my wife does, incidentally cigs cost only £1.80 from the bar for 20. Our favourite was the Horizon bar on deck 8, nice views, excellent service, all bars though were good for service, we always finished off after dinner at the High Spirits bar for some late night entertainment and dancing, this stays open I believe until everyone has left, though as the AI ends at 2am I suspect it will be soon after this.
Various game shows and quizzes are held every night, usually in the High Spirits and the show lounge was always full as the ships entertainers are very professional and work very hard, any one could I am sure get through to the finals of X factor or pop idol (mind thats not saying much I suppose).
Don't miss the captains night if you like dressing up, we do and my DJ was packed along with a couple of suitable long dresses for my wife. I was suprised at how many people had in fact made the effort as one of the earlier reviews suggested that not to many wore dinner suits, this was not the case here, the queue stretched right around the deck, this is the place to get your photos taken, though the one we had with the captain could have been better, would have been nice if he had smiled, still once he has shaken hands with around a thousand people (there are two sittings this night), then he must get bored I suppose.Quite a few of the 'peasants' opted for the usual open neck shirt and casuals and went to the Lido instead.
Some actually said they preferred to eat there as well, presumably as you can fill your plate to overflowing there it suited them. Whilst the food in the Lido is very good it cannot compare to that served in the Compass Rose restaurant. One of the high lights of a cruise to me is the cuisine, having the waiter arrange your napkin on your lap, placing the knifes and forks correctly,(they even have proper fish knives and forks), taking your wine order and bringing the bread basket etc., this all adds to the experience. The surf and turf on the captains night was superb, tender fillet steak and a whole lobster tail, the waiters will also expertley remove the flesh from the bone for you if required. Other nights featured amongst others, rump of lamb in garlic, beef stroganoff, beef wellington, pork medallions, red snapper, always a choice of vegetarian options and a pasta course. Some previous review felt that the portions were not big enough so they went to the Lido. Well all I can say is they must be big eaters as lets face it, you get 6 courses if you can manage them, starter, soup, salad, main course, dessert and cheese and biscuits plus liquers (on the AI of course).Anyway you never go hungry as pizzas are always available from 1am until breakfast time at 7am on the Lido deck.
Must mention that at lunchtimes in the Lido there is always a hot roast being carved plus plenty of other options, also on the deck the pasta chef will prepare your pasta fresh with a choice of sauces.
Tried the cinema a couple of times when it clouded over, ok not wide screen or dolby digital but they did show sky football! Managed to catch about 20 mins of man u's champion league game whilst my other half was getting ready,(shes not a football fan so no point in starting a row ).The entertainment around the bars was a bit laid back so to speak, a rather boring jazz type pianist and a couple comprising of a Yehoudi style violin player and matching piano, would have preferred a Jerry Lee type of player and maybe a Chuck Berry guitarist, still some seemed to like it and anyway it was of to High Spirits after dinner for some serous drinking and dancing. The on board shop had a few good bargains, treated my wife to a new leather handbag (to go with the gold ring i bought her in Gibralter!).
Which brings me finally to a quick word about the ports of call. We were on I believe the sunset cruise, Gib was the first port, we explored on our own as my wife hates cable cars decided to forget about the apes and did some browsing instead, cigs only £8.50 for 200 and spirits £4.50, mind leave the electrical goods alone unless you want to pay over the odds, for a supposed duty free place for example the Sony digital camera I had bought from Comet just before the cruise for £130 was selling in Gib for £190.
Casablanca was a waste of time unless you want to be continualy harrassed by arab cab drivers who were massed around the ship attemping to grab those leaving. Anyway it was Sunday and also Ramadan so there was very little open, so spent most of the day on the ship.Madeira, Funchal was much better though after a sunny start the heavens opened, spoke to some who had booked an excursion and the view was non existent due to the clouds. Finished at Las Palmas but as we were familiar with this port spent our last day sunbathing and downing more cocktails prior to leaving at 18:30. We rented a cabin for the day for £30 as we had to vacate ours by 09:00. Much better though than sharing one as you are only alowed about 15 minutes with this option.Tips are included on the Spirit but we dished out a few euros to those waiters that we felt had been particularly good to us plus our cabin girl (even though she forgot to fill the ice bucket on a couple of days!).
Regarding sea sickness, we took some sea legs tablets but fortunatly never needed them, even though one night as mentioned earlier, was quite stormy and rough, people were having difficulty staying upright later in the eve in the High Spirits bar, even the sober ones, sick bags had been left dotted around the ship by the staff, must have a strong constitution though as I was fine, my other half was a little queasy the next morning though and passed on breakfast but otherwise did not need the tablets.This is one time where having a cabin on a high deck would have been rather unfortunate.Of course it is November, could have been worse though, at least we did not book a Caribbean cruise in September around Florida!
One final point re sun loungers, can be difficult to get on sea days, would reccommend the top, deck 8 as not everyone can be bothered climbing all the way up there.I think that is about it, any questions I will endevour to answer. We will be looking to go again next year, if not the Spirit then possibly the Destiny or Celebration, hopefully fo two weeks his time or maybe a cruise and stay. |
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Jean and Bob from Sth Manchester sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10
2004 |
Jean and Bob
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Jean and Bob said: Jean & Bob from south Manchester.Having seen how Oday rated the thomson spirit after his/her nov 2005 trip, I felt I had to even out the balance so to speak.We returned last tuesday from the "Flavours of the past" cruise,we really loved the cruise (our first but not last)although it was a very intensive itinery we survived and returned ready for a holiday !! Regarding the Spirit,the only problem I had, was the engine vibration which was felt in most areas of the ship and this should be sorted out with the refurb in early 2006. The ship was kept spotless,entertainment excellent (I even had a singing lesson with two of the entertainers). The staff could'nt do enough for you and the food,well,too much to cope with but we managed! good quality in all three restaurants.The icing on the cake for me were the sunsets, to see the sun setting on the horizon is a sight to behold. |
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Mrs Mulligan from pontefract sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10
2004 |
Mrs Mulligan
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Mrs Mulligan said: Just got back from our first cruise and WOW what a fantastic time we all had!!! Cleanliness: I saw a member of housekeeping on his hands and knees cleaning the edge of the carpet with a toothbrush what more can I say. Food: They'll have to roll you down the gang way, great selection, Lido is great for informal but Compass Rose is something special. Captains dinner is a great occasion. The scones at 4pm are a must! Staff: Housekeeping:- our maid was Natalya she gave a five star service, our daughter was so excited with the shapes she made out of towels, swans, roses etc
Restaurant: The waiters were fantastic and wanted to be friends with you throughout your stay, special mention to Rudy and Ludy. Bar staff & Wine Waiters:- You have waiter staff at all the bars and restaurants excellent service special mention to Stephen wine waiter Compass Rose and Lorenzo bar staff in the High Spirits bar. Ent team: Fab - For us Matthew had the best voice and a great personality. But all the ents team are great the quizzes and games are great fun and the ents hosts are very comical. Special mention again!! for Eden who made us play the games and for being great with our daughter. Shows in the Broadway are brilliant and the comedian was great. Kids are ok to watch comedian even the late night one. Kidszone: Jo and Lou have this mastered, our daughter was so happy during this holiday she didn't want to leave, they had two sessions per day, 2 hours at a time and twice during the week they even eat together in the evening (movies and munchies nights) giving parents the opportunity for a romantic meal together.
We were on the Med Renaissance cruise calling at Cittavechia, Livorno, Santa Marguerita, Toulon, Mahon & Palma. We prebooked two tours initially (very expensive) we booked Rome on your own, which was basically coach there and back and 1/2 day trip to Pisa which was a guided tour but we left the party on arrival, the cost was £170.00 for 2 adults and 1 child. You can do all the trips very easily without paying a fortune. In Cittavechia there is a train station which takes you into the centre of Rome and the same for Pisa. Costing no more than 10 euros. Santa Marguerita is a very beautiful little town, we spent a couple of hours there and then caught the bus (10mins) to Portofino for 1 euro each, the price for this with TUI is £29.00 each!! this includes a little boat ride to Portofino but it is a little boat and not worth it. Its our first time in Italy and won't be our last, the history, people and music! I certainly fell in love with Italy. We were due to sail into Toulon but due to the problems with the port blockades in France we had to sail into Villefranche another beautiful town, from there we got a taxi with Matthew from the ents team to Monte Carlo 50 euros one way, this was only because the train was cancelled which cost 8 euros. Worth ever penny what a fantastic place we saw the group U2 and Cat Deeley on the quay side. How the other half live! Very exclusive resort Aston Martin's everywhere and the Saudi Millionaire Khasaggi's yacht was in the harbour, it was half the size of the Spirt (slight lie maybe) and it even had a helicopter on the top deck. Don't miss the ship sail into to Mahon it's something else, lots of shops to look around, Palma shopping however is unbelievable, we've been to Majorca many times but have never visited Palma before.
The week was fantastic wish we'd been there two, the only disappointment that we had was that we didn't know where the photo's were been taken on the Captains dinner so we missed out, having read the reviews I now know, don't make the same mistake as the photo's are great. The highlights of the holiday for us were the sail away party on the Lido Deck from Palma, Rome, Pisa & Monte Carlo. But most of all the service, staff and attention to detail that Thomson provides throughout the holiday. What a great way to see the world. Asta la Vista.
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David from Walsall sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thompsons
on a friends holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2004 |
David
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| David said: Have made several cruises before mainly out of the USA. This was the first time on a Med Cruise. We found the ship to be very comfortable and all the staff excellent. As for the food, there was something for everyones taste. We took the all inclusive and our cabin was on deck 7. Cabin was comfortable and the cabin staff excellent.
Although we probably did not spend more than our allowance on the all inclusive, it was nice to know that we didnt have to watch our spending on drinks and have a nasty suprise at the end of the voyage.
The big advantage over other cruise`s was that you were not given envelopes at the end of the voyage to tip people that you probably have never seen. You could then remain free to tip staff that did give you good service.
All in all we thought good value for money coupled with very helpful staff.
We shall be booking again at some time with this cruise line. |
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carol from lincoln sailed on Thomson Spirit with
thomsons
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2004 |
carol
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| carol said: Our first cruise and we thought it was fantastic - the ship was ultra clean - the food was excellent and always well presented and hot - staff very helpful and friendly. Could not fault anything. Would definitely return to this ship again. Entertainment better than some west-end musicals. Food available 24 hours a day if you wanted it. |
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Lynda from London sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Portland Direct
on a singles holiday.
There were 4 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2004 |
Lynda
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Lynda said: We have just got back from our first cruise. We took a 5 year old and parents in early 70's. Everyone had a lovely time and the weather was very kind, which helped. Entertainment was of a far better quality than I was expecting with some good shows and a great Deck Party when the ship left the first port.
Jo and Lou in the KidsZone were great with the children and my son just loved going up there. It helped that there was only 8 children on board. I understand that in July and August there can be 50 children so he got very individual attention.
The oldies loved the shows and the free All Inclusive upgrade went down well. The staff and passengers were very friendly and you could dress up or down as you wished.
One blight was that our cabin was flooded by a burst pipe. It was clear that the cabin would not dry out but it took sometime to secure a new cabin with 3 beds. They kept offering a cabin with only 2 beds and my son on a roll out bed on the floor. Eventually we managed to get a delux suite which, although very nice, confirmed to me that it is not worth the extra.
Our original cabin was perfectly adequate with plenty of storage space.
One other critisim which I believe can be said of all cruises is that they have very little local information on the ports of call, because they want you to go on their tours. However most places had a tourist information point as soon as you got off the ship. Naples, Palma, Barcelona and Marseilles all had "hop on off off" buses to use. We found taxi's in Spain to be reasonable.
Despite the blips, I would go again on the Spirit. She was a beautiful and welcoming ship. Smaller than some of the others we berth against but we looked like we were having more fun! |
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becky from nottingham sailed on Thomson Spirit with
lunnpoly
on a friends holiday.
There were more than 6 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 9
2004 |
becky
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| becky said: hi i think that the cruise was brillant the staff was very helpful you didnt have to do any thing the
entertainment team was fantastic and out of all of them danny was the fittest by any chance does any one no his last name i would recommend a cruise to any one |
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MacGregor from Ormskirk sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2004 |
MacGregor
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| MacGregor said: This was our 1st Cruise as a special holiday for my 40th birthday. As we didnt know what to expect we booked a cruise and stay, by the middle of our 1st week we were so impressed we tried to stay for our other week it was full! All i can say is "FANTASTIC" so much so we booked for this year the day we returned we are on the Thomson Destiny this year hope its a good as the Spirit. Our second week was spent in the Bonaire in Majorca which was also excellent. |
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Lynda Woodman from Yorkshire sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2004 |
Lynda Woodman
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Lynda Woodman said: we went on the 19th August on the images of the riviera.The ship was fantastic and as it was my 3rd cruise with thomson i was used to the first class treatment. i really have to comment on how friendly the staff were especially the entertainment team and waiters! the best bart was the different range of activities and locations in fact when i got home i wanted to go right back. I would like to go again but we may try another ship in the fleet. one things for sure thomson made sure i'd never forget that holiay! |
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Amy from Bornemouth sailed on Thomson Spirit with
Thomson Cruise
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2004 |
Amy
rated the Thomson Spirit as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | <
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