As a 50th wedding anniversary gift to ourselves, we chose to go on our first cruise. Perhaps our expectations were too high or perhaps we were lulled into a false sense of luxury by 'friends' who derided the fact that we chose Thomson instead of the more up-market companies which they used. Whatever, it was a 7 day good -and bad- experience; the bad, I admit mostly our own fault.

The ship itself is so clean we joked that we were waiting each time we boarded after a shore excursion to be asked to go through a sheep dip! That said, it made us feel very secure seeing staff cleaning literally 24hours a day to ensure our health.

Our cabin (an outside plus) was very nice - roomy in a good position and beautifully attended by MADE, our cabin attendant. The food was perfectly acceptable, with plenty of choice in the Lido. Hardly platinum but still good. The Orion, we felt, was in danger of being pretentious. We discovered very quickly that when we asked for a table for 2 we were left to cool our heels outside the restaurant whilst other more experienced cruisers seemed to have no problem with this request. They obviously knew something we didn't. Read more