Reviews of Thomson Spirit Cruise Ship, Thomson Spirit, Thomson Cruises

I returned from this cruise only...

Overall Rating:

8/10

Itinerary:

Red Sea Magic

Date of Holiday:

Feb 2006

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

mammamarg

Comments:

I returned from this cruise only yesterday. Cannot fault the ship at all. Extremely clean public areas and also first class cabin accommodation. We were on mariner deck, cabin 150, high supplement but well worth it. Food in Lido and Compass Rose was excellent. We preferred the dining in the Lido as it was self service. Got a bit bored with the entertainment. Mr & Mrs, Catchphrase, family fortunes, that sort of stuff.



The kids club was really good, our 11yr old granddaughter loved it. All children received a backpack the day they went home. Thought the itinerary not very good. We joined at Hurghada, next day was Valley of Kings and Luxor. After that Sharm, overnight in Jordan. Jordan was really good. Not touristy at all. Fantastic bargains to be had at the airport. It is set up like a bazaar where you can haggle for all sorts of goods.



Trips were quite expensive, £68 for Cairo.

The reps on ship tell you to buy water to take with you off the ship. £1 a bottle. When you get on the coach you get 3 bottles for £1!



The courier spent more time trying to sell jewelry on the coach that she did telling us about Cairo.



You are taken to a papyrus and jewelry shop were the prices are really high. Beware.

Red sea magic----

Overall Rating:

9/10

Itinerary:

0

Date of Holiday:

Feb 2006

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

*angel*

Comments:

Red sea magic----



It was a great cruise and hope to go on it again in a few months time. It was my first cruise and I was very surprised how nice it was. There were so many hardworking friendly staff on board, the food was excellent, and so was the entertainment. The dancers were extremely talented and 1 of them was really cute. The cleaners were very kind and always had the room spotless.



On the cruise ship there was so much to see and do day and night, there were so many bars, discos and restaurants, the last day I discovered more places which I had never seen. The excursions were expensive and they were long days, and yet you only went to valley of the kings (Luxor) for 1 hour which was very disappointing.



Overall I liked the cruise a lot but the excursions were a bit of a let down, but hey you can’t have everything.



Angel.

To begin with we was pleasantly...

Overall Rating:

7/10

Itinerary:

Red Sea

Date of Holiday:

Feb 2006

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Miss C Makin

Comments:

To begin with we was pleasantly surprised with a up grade, although the suit was noisy because of its location (outside a bar and elevator) it was always kept clean by our steward, who did an excellent job! The others travelling with us had a different steward and was greeted every evening by a animal made of clean towels, including a monkey hanging from the ceiling, the staff on board are pleasant and a credit to Thomson.



Although the food wasn’t as good as expected, it was ok. Food in the Compas Rose restaurant, was similar quality to that in the lido, and although the cruise is all inclusive (apart from drinks unless you have upgraded)a payment of £15 per person was needed for Sorrocos.



The entertainment and decor was fairly dated, but this is most probably because 90% of the passengers where quite old, I would not advise the cruise for young 16- 30 passengers.



Excursions are excellent although expensive and although some are at a price of £75 not everything is included e.g. you have to pay extra to go in the pyramids and the mummy room, Tutankhamen’s tomb too. Be careful because the guides on the excursions tend to make a profit out of you too! I would advise Cairo and Luxor, Petra involves alot of walking, in all probably about 3-4 hours!



Internet costs are high £13 for a hour and it roughly take about a minute to load a web page, so its advisable to use the net at your resort if you are going there (£3 a hour) much cheaper!!!



The shops on board rarely open and prices are quite high, although drinks on board are cheap.



Sunloungers on board go very quick so try and get some early if you want to sit out, if you are thinking of booking for feb this year or next, i would advise others to book March-April as the weather isn’t too warm and walking on deck is often cold.

Flight with ThomsonFly...

Overall Rating:

9/10

Itinerary:

Red Sea Magic

Date of Holiday:

Jan 2006

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mr E Balmforth

Comments:

Flight with ThomsonFly uneventful. Tried for extra legroom seats as we were at the airport (EMA) early but informed that a £35.00 charge would apply, so had standard cramped seats.



On arrival at Sharm el Sheikh, there is no need to queue for visas as not required for the cruise. Collected baggage as normal and went on transfer buses to ship.



Some delay at the port as computers had some problem but generally well organised. First impression of the ship was that it is about the same size as a North Sea ferry but inside seems much bigger as there are no car decks, the cabins are down where the cars would go, so there is more room for restaurants, bars and lounges.



We were in an inside cabin on deck 3 (extra £35.00 per person upgrade from decks 1 or 2), small but more than adequate. 2 single beds in an "L" shape, loads of storage and on suite shower and toilet.



Three restaurants with food available 24 hours a day on a buffet self service style in the Lido, waiter service 3 times a day in the Compass Rose and a'la carte available in siroccos at £19.00 per person. We preferred the Lido but tried the Compass on 2 evenings, the Captains cocktail night and another when a fish dish I wanted to try was not on in the Lido. Usually the menus were the same or very similar, with perhaps more choice in the Lido. We found the quality of the food excellent in both restaurants but preferred the Lido as you can try small portions of everything and go at your own pace. The Compass menu was for 6 courses, which seems alot but the portions are small so don't be worried about ordering the whole thing. Although the service is very good, the evening meal can take up to 2 hours to complete. You are seated at tables with other guests, which can be interesting finding out about other peoples experiences. The meal times are not set, so the staff tend to wait until everyone on your table has ordered before bringing the first course. We did not try the Compass for any other meals but spoke to some people who never tried the Lido.



Entertainment somewhere all day and night (up to midnight ish). Bad news for smokers though, no smoking in the main entertainment area, Broadway show lounge, at any time, no smoking in the explorers lounge, no smoking in 3/4 of the Raffles bar and Horizon lounge. We spent most of our time in High Spirits bar, about 1/2 no smoking. The entertainment team were excellent; a great selection of shows in Broadway twice nightly and loads of other stuff during the day. There was a good mix of age groups but I guess the average age would be 50 ish.

All staff very good, even the below decks workers always had a smile when passing by.



From other reviews, we noted the comments about vibrations at the aft of the ship and can confirm that it is true. In High Spirits you could feel a slight vibration while seated, at worst like massage chair. I cannot say that it bothered us.



On to the excursions, first call at Aqaba on Friday morning and the planned excursions were to Wadi Rum on Friday pm and Petra on Saturday am. We had decided that the cost of the trips were on the high side so wanted to try making our own way. Shuttle buses from the ship to Aqaba town seemed ok at £5.00 return but found it was easily within walking distance or plenty of cabs available from the port gates.



Worked out a deal with a cab driver, to go around aqaba on Friday (about 3/4 hour), visit Petra and Wadi Rum on Saturday for £80.00 (there is a JD21.00 entrance fee at Petra). It would have been the same price had there been 4 people but Thomson push people into booking with them by first saying it must be booked by Thursday evening and then pushing a news letter under the cabin door on Friday morning with reports of possible terrorist activity in the area. Petra is well worth the visit but do take warm clothing, Petra is in the mountains and it had snowed on the day we visited. Wadi Rum was not so good, a 2 hour trip through the desert in a 4 wheel drive vehicle (ours was a shogun and we heard that the organised trip used open jeeps).



The next day was at sea and time to relax before the Cairo trip. The ship docks at Sukhna, which is 40 kilometres from Suez and there is no habitation around so we decided to book the trip with Thomson. We found out later that although the port gates are a very long way from the ship, there is a free shuttle bus provided by the port and once at the gates a taxi can be organised to anywhere you want to go. Overall the trip was good but low points were a papyrus and jewellery shop where the prices are very high and the museum because our guide did not inform us that you should work your way around following the route by age of exhibit. Also, we were not happy that ticket prices were inflated i.e. £4.00 to enter the pyramid but the price was £2.00 at the gate and £10.00 to enter the mummies room at the museum but the price was only £7.00 at the door. Our guide said the inflated prices were to help us, as we would not have to queue but I would think that as the tour operator is purchasing upwards of 500 tickets, the price should be reduced not increased.



Tuesday am we had docked in Safaga, about 60 km from Hurghada. We heard the destination team telling people that Safaga was not worth visiting but decided to have a walk anyway. We were accosted by a cab driver who said he would show us around for £5.00 (for both). Safaga town is very run down and probably not worth the visit but we then headed the opposite way for 5 km and had tea at a lovely hotel with a private beach. There are about 6 hotels in this area, Holiday Inn being the only one we recognised as part of a group. The tourists here are mainly Russian and German.



We booked the driver for a trip to Hurghada the next morning. The main excursion from here was to Luxor but we had been there for a week and did not fancy a 3 hour bus trip. A bus was available from the ship to Hurghada at £12.00 per person return for about 3 hours in Hurghada. When we met the taxi driver the next am, he told us 3 other people from the ship would be coming with us and he was charging them £10.00 each but our arrangement of £5.00 each was still ok. Unfortunately the family that came with us did not understand the culture and were looking for designer wear shops that simply do not exist. However, we enjoyed our day out and got back to the ship around 3 pm in time for afternoon tea in the Lido.



Next port of call and the last was Sharm, where we had a few free hours to visit the old market area. The old town is walking distance from the port, about 20 minutes stroll. There are plenty of cabs around but they will be charging a high rate for a sort ride.



You have to be out of your cabin by 10 am but can book a cabin for £20.00 from 11 am to 3 pm and there are courtesy cabins available to allow you to change before departure to the airport. Here, many people thought that Thomson had got it wrong as we were at the airport 3 hours before departure and the facilities are very limited (and expensive). We stood around for about an hour before some seats became available. There were many flights going out within a few hours of each other and this caused chaos at security and immigration gates, with queues lasting up to an hour. Why oh why do they do this? It is not the only holiday airport that we have had this same experience, Goa for example was very similar.



All in all we can highly recommend this cruise and this being our first cruise we can definitely say it will not be our last.

It was a wonderful experience on...

Overall Rating:

9/10

Itinerary:

Full Board

Date of Holiday:

Aug 2005

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

JJ Prosser

Comments:

It was a wonderful experience on the Thomson spirit cruise ship. We will be going on it in the future. It had everything you expect on a cruise ship and a friendly atmosphere, very relaxing, fantastic holiday. That is both our opinions Mr. & Mrs. Prosser.



It is quite a experience to go to the cocktail bar and play in the casino but also wonderful just to relax in the self-service restaurant.

It was my first cruise, and I...

Overall Rating:

10/10

Itinerary:

Thomson Spirit Cruise Ship

Date of Holiday:

Dec 2005

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mrs M Opie

Comments:

It was my first cruise, and I can say not my last. I went with

my husband and son who is 4 yrs old and my husbands parents, we amazed at the food which had something for everyone. We were on the Red sea cruise and the places to visit were brill and at this time of the year the weather was good apart from the journey to Cairo which going north you would expect this.



The staff were great couldn’t be more helpful and they cleaned

your room x2 a day! by the end of the holiday most of the staff had known my sons name they were great with him and the kids club was a blessing as we got a few hrs to sunbathe.

Excellent holiday. Already...

Overall Rating:

10/10

Itinerary:

Jewels of the Mediterrane

Date of Holiday:

Oct 2005

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mrs E Hall

Comments:

Excellent holiday. Already booking for next year!



I half expected all the other passengers to be over the age of 70 but there was a good mixture of people and everyone was so polite and friendly. Waiting staff and bar staff were a little bit cheeky towards us and always trying to be “funny”. I suspect that is due to us being the between the ages of 18 and 20!. Never the less, we had fun with them and had too many to choose from at the staff Oscar nominations.



Entertainment and food are excellent! One of their bands, solis trio are terrible though... all the music is coming from the default tunes set in their keyboard! However, “take five” made up for it with their live jazz music!



We had a deluxe suite and it seemed a bit old fashioned at first but it grew on us and I love it now. Hope to go back soon!

Where to start?!

...

Overall Rating:

10/10

Itinerary:

Jewels of the Mediterrane

Date of Holiday:

Oct 2005

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mr K Smith

Comments:

Where to start?!



We’ve just come back from the 1 week Jewels of the Mediterranean cruise with the Thomson Spirit - and I really want to be back there right now to go to the Red Sea!



The Staff are fantastic!

They really do push themselves to get to know you, your quirks and what your personality is like.


It really is a great feeling when you sit down and you can start talking to someone like a friend - they’re lovely.



The food is amazing - having a 24 hour restaurant/canteen is great - especially when you have a really early/late flight and need to grab a bite to eat before you go!

All the food was beautiful and thank god it was self service cause you could easily help yourself to a little more of that particular item you find delicious!



We didn’t actually go on any excursions as we preferred to just do our own thing - as a result we can''t give a value for money rating!


However, in the cruise news they often put little snippets of what you would really enjoy and places to avoid and most of the staff have been to the destinations so they will also give advice - even though they’re not supposed to for obvious reasons ;)



The on board entertainment is 110% BRILLIANT!

I''m 18 and my friend with me is 20 and we both really enjoyed the shows that were put on, the games and the live music!



Lloyd Hollett is an amazing everything!

Singer, Dancer, Comedian, Animator (that’s game show host to most people) and we were extremely lucky to have him on board. However, I have to give excellent credit to all of the entertainment staff who worked extremely hard to put in something for everyone.



One thing to note however, while one of the bands ('Take 5') are amazing - with a really HOT base player and cute drummer & trumpet player there is a band called the 'Solaris Trio' and I wouldn’t waste my breath going in their direction.

Everything they did was mime their music from music playing through the speakers - apart from the odd occasion when one of them might sing.



The Internet Cafe is very expensive - too expensive...

Priced at 30p per minute if you use pay as you go...

You can get an hour for £13 or 1 hour and 40 minutes for £16.

It''s also rather slow with it being a Satellite connection and you are warned right now that not all of the sites you want to go on will work. This is thanks to the ISP being pathetic and not having a clue what they’re doing - we tested a couple of basic sites such as hotmail email and habbohotel.co.uk - parts of which were blocked...


After wondering whether this was somehow to protects kids - we tested a couple of porn sites - and managed get into those with ease! - No idea what is going on there though. After asking a member of the crew who had little to no technical knowledge, he said he would contact the ISP and get back to me - did he hell :P



There is a free water cooler for those who do not go for the All Inclusive package and I’ll tell you it's in the Lido Restaurant just in case you get worried after a few hours and can't find it ;)


Be warned though the water it gives out isn’t too cool :P I suggest getting a full cup if ice before loading it with the water :P



If like us however, you did go for the All Inclusive option - you’ll find it worthwhile...

Knock back a few Long Island Iced Teas or other cocktails!

You can just keep ordering more and more and MORE and they will never question you!



We didn’t go to the Captains Cocktail party - we both work A LOT and we’re not of the breed who believe that you should ever have to get dressed up when on holiday - you're there for a rest for goodness sake!


However - there are lots of people out there who would like this sort of thing and those coming out of the party seemed to be in great Spirits!



All in all - I want to go again!!

First time cruisers under the...

Overall Rating:

10/10

Itinerary:

Idyllic Iberia

Date of Holiday:

Sep 2005

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mr I Sloan

Comments:

First time cruisers under the age of 50 did the Idyllic Iberia 16/9/05 to 23 /9/05.



Can not understand some of the comments made about the ship and staff all I have to say is excellent food cabin fine service exceptional can not wait to go on the spirit again planning it already. Thank you to all the staff that made this possible well worth the money.

What a wonderful cruise we had...

Overall Rating:

10/10

Itinerary:

Romance, Romans & Riviera

Date of Holiday:

Sep 2005

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mrs A Rees

Comments:

What a wonderful cruise we had once again on this ship. We had a suite, which was very quiet and very nice. We have been on many cruises about 20 in the past and would recommend this ship. It is a friendly ship and many of the staff are there year after year. Cruising is a great way to see different countries



The food in the Lido is great you have a huge choice from morning to night. I found there to be many choices. A favourite of mine is the pasta chef who will cook you any combination of pasta and sauces fresh from about 12 pm until about 4 pm. Sirocco’s is well worth the cover charge we have ate at this restaurant every time we have visited this ship and in my opinion is wonderful. The Compass Rose the quality of the food here is also excellent and you can sit on your own if you wish but we found others passengers great company to dine with but you have the choice just ask nothing to much trouble.



The hairdresser was great and the beauty salon equal to any that I have been. The gym is well equipped and has a great view of the sea.



The ports of call we had done before so we hardly got of the ship this time but you can book excursions if you wish. The entertainment was fantastic and the sail away party is great fun. We booked the all inclusive on the drinks we find this great value. There are lots of things going on around the ship just read your cruise news and enjoy!



Can’t wait to return for Christmas. well worth the money

I booked the Spirit for my first...

Overall Rating:

1/10

Itinerary:

Not Specified

Date of Holiday:

Sep 2005

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mr E J Fitzpatrick

Comments:

I booked the Spirit for my first cruise in Sept 2005. What a mistake that was.



For nearly 2 grand I expected a lot of things I didn’t get.



Firstly I asked the operator in August when I booked for a double bed. That should not be a problem she said...Lies!!..she put me in the lower deck ..the worst part of the vibrating boat. There are no double beds in these tiny tiny claustrophobic cabins. I complained and got shrugging shoulders and we are fully booked excuses.



Secondly the cabins Air conditioning ( which you had to stand beside to feel it barely on) gave me and my fiancé terrible colds. I got a chest infection and she got a cold ..in the MED!!!!



The maid came in twice a day. If you left a "do not disturb" sign on the door she came in anyway and when we complained we heard her say to other cleaners they do not want service ( some of us do speak Spanish you know!!!)



The TV reception in Cabin had 2 channels...don’t believe the SAT TV ads...its a news channel and a repeating 4 year old film channel.



We ate once in the Compass Rose. the sirocco asked for £40 to sit down so we avoided that...The rose has open dining so if you’re seated beside someone you don’t like ..tough!!!



We mostly ate in the Lido..buffet..where the same meals were served night after night and the food was OK but ran right thru you. The 24 hr menu is lies as well...cheese on toast in the wee small hours ..that’s it.



The all inclusive doesn’t apply from 2 AM to 8 AM so that’s a falsehood as well.



The shops were not open until 6 PM for 3 hours and didn’t sell any medicines or toiletries or any other necessity.



The doctor wanted £30 for a consultation BEFORE prescribing.



Towels were left on sun beds ..hundreds of em..they said this wasn’t allowed but they did it anyway...



The ports were dreadful. If you didn’t pay £100 odd quid for 2 for an excursion you were left in a ***** port...Almeria almost got us both mugged...a disgrace as was Portimao..no directions given. no maps etc nothing.



The stays were only 4/5 hours so you are always clockwatching.



We paid £5 for a bus to Valencia...I stood 30 mins waiting in the blazing sun and gave up as the buses failed to arrive.



It was like a week in a retirement home...I didn’t think adults only meant all pensioners



2 grand plus down the drain.



I wont be back

This was our first time cruising...

Overall Rating:

10/10

Itinerary:

Romance, Romans & Riviera

Date of Holiday:

Aug 2005

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mrs S Burrows

Comments:

This was our first time cruising and hopefully the start of many more to come. The ship, staff, food, booze and entertainment were all first class. Thoroughly enjoyed getting dressed up for the captain’s dinner for the one night, whilst the rest of the week was suitably informal. Also enjoyed meeting different people at dinner each evening as no seating allocation and time which suited us fine.


Saw places which we would never normally see. Did most of the trips ourselves. In most of the stops there was a little train that took you around the area with commentary. Paid to do one of the Rome tours but in hind site could have got the train and done an open top bus tour, instead of just a snapshot of certain areas. As you disembark for the day there is usually someone there with maps of the area and making suggestions. We did not know this at first and struggled a bit. Most things are possible with a little research on the Internet before you travel. Would recommend it to anyone even if seasick. We had a very smooth sail and could hardly tell we were moving most of the time.


Woke up to find docked in a different part of the world everyday-fantastic. Not forgetting to watch the sunset every night with cocktail in hand while the band played.


All the staff were very helpful, hardworking and all appeared to enjoy what they were doing especially the entertainment staff.


Cabin was excellant, have stayed in smaller hotel rooms and paid more.


We paid all inclusive tariffs which was excellent value for money, paid for no alcohol and soft drinks but bizarrely had to pay for bottled water! But no complaints.


There were a few children on board but hardly noticeable as there are that many activities arranged for them you hardly saw them.


Many thanks to Thomson

The whole experience on the...

Overall Rating:

10/10

Itinerary:

Jewels of the Mediterrane

Date of Holiday:

Jul 2005

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mr S Hamilton

Comments:

The whole experience on the Spirit is the holiday of a lifetime. The waiters, bar staff, Entertainment crew and Housekeeping all went about their jobs extremely professionally and efficiently, ensuring that our cruise was as enjoyable as it could be. The staff made attempts to learn passenger’s names and went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that we were well fed and watered.



The rooms were well air conditioned and clean and TV services and Phones were brilliant and the phones were reasonably priced. A comment in rebuttal to a comment made about the Plastic plates and cups by another reviewer, this was merely a safety measure in case of stormy weather rocking the boat.



Overall, a fantastic holiday which i will definitely do again Please go on the Thomson Spirit. It is the holiday of a lifetime

We went on this cruise to fit in...

Overall Rating:

8/10

Itinerary:

Not Specified

Date of Holiday:

Jun 2005

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mr A Phillipps

Comments:

We went on this cruise to fit in with a pre-arranged holiday period. This was our second cruise on the Thomson Spirit, the first being in June 2003 (also our first cruise).


Our cabin was on 1 deck forward on the port side. Having been on deck 3 last time we found no difference in the size or standard of the cabin. In fact the only difference was the need to use the lift more often. The ship is still well run and the crew work very hard to make your time onboard enjoyable. There are no fixed tables in the restaurant and you are lead to an available table on arrival at the entrance.


This is good as you meet different people each evening. The down side to this is that, at the end of the cruise you have been waited upon by lots of different waiters, and its hard to single out one to thank with a tip. I think that a post box should be available so that the tips could be shared out.


Vibration is still a problem and I cant see that after two years of being in service, that this is ever going to be put right.


The entertainment staff are very good and work hard to give performances that would look good in the west end of London.


Now for the minus points of the cruise. First there was a delay to the ship sailing due to the late arrival of a London flight. Hence the sail away deck party turned out to be a deck party. Whilst I am pleased that the ship waited for the arrival of these passengers I think that we should have been informed that the ship would not be sailing on time. We waited until midnight before we gave up and went to bed.


The late sailing, 2am ?, caused a problem with the next port of call at Alicante giving much less time to go ashore.


The ship then had to leave early to make up for a strong current on her journey to Gibraltar.


Gibraltar was very nice. Being Sunday most of the shops where closed. The view from the top of the rock is worth the cable car ride (£8.00 each). Don’t buy an ice cream or lolly when up on the top as the monkeys will grab it off you. Believe me they are experts. We saw this monkey grab an ice lolly of a man as soon as he came out of the shop. It was out of his hand and the monkey was over the other side of the railings before the guy knew what had hit him. We all kidded him that he would be fined £500 for feeding them.


The next day was Portimao in Portugal. Tender to shore, waste of time should have gone on a trip. Bus service to the town but not the beach.


Tuesday was Cadiz and we booked a trip to Seville (£45 each). Seville was nice with orange tree lined streets. The palace was included in the trip and worth a visit. The Cathedral was an extra 8 euros and contains the tomb of Christopher Columbus. The view from the top of the bell tower was good, after a rest to recover from the 36 ramps going around each wall to get there. No lunch was provided in with the trip, and there are not many shops to buy food. We made some buns at breakfast and took them with us.


Wednesday the ship pulled into Motril. this was only to let those off who had booked a Thomson trip. The ship then sailed to Almeria arriving at midday. We had booked a trip to the Alhambra Palace in Grenada (£69 each). Although we thought that this was expensive it was a good trip. Three course meal included with wine and coffee. The palace is spectacular to say the least with many intricate carvings and hand made tiles. The journey back to the ship took two hours, arriving at Almeria at 5 in the evening.


Valencia was our last port of call. A free shuttle bus to the gates of the dock and the No 4 or 19 bus into the centre (1 euro). At 36 degrees it was too hot to be walking around and we did not stay too long.


All in all a nice cruise but we would not chose that itinerary again.

Review: Jewels of the...

Overall Rating:

10/10

Itinerary:

Not Specified

Date of Holiday:

Jun 2005

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

tgibbs

Comments:

Review: Jewels of the Mediterranean: June 10th – 17th 2005

This was our second cruise on the “Spirit” and our ninth cruise in all. We had previously been on the “Spirit” on the Fortunate Islands cruise in March 2004. We have been twice on the “Emerald” and on four five star ships with other cruise lines.



Our attitude to the cruise was very much: “I’m fed up with the weather.” “Let’s go on holiday.” “Where?” “What about Majorca?” “I think I’d like to go to Italy, say Sicily or Naples or Sardinia.” “I was thinking more of the South of France or Barcelona.” “Wouldn’t it be nice to go to them all!” “But I want to fly from our local airport.” “How can we do that?” “By going on a Thomson cruise on the “Spirit.” “Yes, that’s a good idea. It’s a nice ship and we enjoyed it last year.” “And as we will be in Majorca we could have a week in Puerto Pollensa.” “Yes, let’s do that.” “OK, I’ll book it.”



The other reviewers on this site understandably give the ship lots of praise. There are, as far as I can see, three main reasons for this.

1) The ship is well designed, has larger cabins than many ships and is in a good state of repair. The “Spirit” was originally built in 1984 for Holland America and named the “New Amsterdam” Then when it became it became the “Patriot” sailing around Hawaii, having lots of dollars spend refurbishing it. Soon after (the cruise line went bust after a few months) it had more big bucks spent on it before it became the “Spirit”.

2) Thomson’s have a good reputation and generally speaking, what they say is what you get. They also have the advantage of flying from local airports by their own airline “ThomsonFly” to the port of embarkation. This makes it easier for people in the provinces to get to the ship. They also have a wide selection of places for an extra week stay.

3) The operators Louis Line has a good reputation established on the service they provided on the Topaz and the Emerald. It is probably true of them that they genuinely try harder.



The ship was decommissioned by Holland America (Carnival), among other reasons, because it doesn’t have balconies – now regarded as a must by many (USA) cruisers. However, the quality of design and build make the “Spirit” a pleasant ship to do “Dinner, Bed and Breakfast” cruising. With only one full day at sea and the other five in port during the day, balconies are not of great use. We’ve had a balcony in the Caribbean when there were a number of days at sea and a balcony going through the Panama Canal when there were lots of days at sea. The Mediterranean is a great place to cruise as the ports are much better than the Caribbean and in the summer the weather is a good.



The Med., it is wonderful to have your “Dinner, Bed and Breakfast” move to a new city each day, stay there all day until you get back and then…move on to the next place as they feed and entertain you. When do you have time or the need to sit on a balcony! We had an outside cabin but we spent less time in our cabin on this cruise that any previous cruise. This made us wonder if we even needed an outside cabin on a short cruise…on our first cruise on the “Spirit” we had a superior (larger) outside cabin on Deck 6. This time we were in a standard (smaller) outside cabin on deck 2… may be we will try an inside cabin in the future. As to deck position…Deck 6 meant we walked down to meals and entertainment and took the lift back to the cabin…on Deck 2 we took the lift to meals and entertainment and walked back to the cabin. Spot the difference!



The standard of food seemed to have improved, especially the deserts. The service in the restaurant was amazing and the cheerfulness of the waiters added significantly to the enjoyment of the holiday. For the first time (as an incentive to book early) we had the All Inclusive Package. We were concerned about its worth as on the first cruise (when we didn’t have the AI) people who did complained about the service…we got our drinks quickly…they seemed to have to wait. This time, however, the service was fantastic and we were fully satisfied with the speed and frequency of service.



Thomson’s are good at getting you from your local airport, flying you to an airport near the ship and transporting you to the ship and back home again…all done perfectly. They are also responsible for the entertainment and given the limited show facilities on the “Spirit” they do an amazing job. Richard Sykes was the entertainment Director and he and his team were fantastic.



Louis Line provide the excellent hotel facilities on board. Any complaints? If you have, pay more, fly from an inconvenient airport and go on a five star ship…and you will probably discover that there is something not quite right with that! On one occasion we almost missed our homeward flight because of the shambles of embarkation with one five star ship and had a confrontation with the Purser of another five star ship over the worst meal ever on a cruise. (I’ve had better food at transport cafes.)



Overall, the experience was great, good value for money and a tribute to TUI Thomson who has got cruising right.



Would we go on the “Spirit” again?…of course not!…that’s what we’re telling people…we don’t want it to get to popular.