After a very early flight from East Midlands being delayed as the pilot was late, we arrived in Palma for the short trip to meet Tui Discovery. After several cruises on smaller Thomson ships we were impressed with the size and look of our week's floating hotel and after a quick embarkation process we were directed to our cabin, on the seventh deck with a balcony, a new departure for Thomson's as there are very few balconies on the smaller ships.

The cabin was larger than previous cabins with a queen sized double bed and a three seater settee with room on the balcony for a table and a couple of chairs. Plenty of hanging space and drawers and mirror fronted cupboards around the dressing table. The fridge was stocked with chargeable drinks. The TV had a limited choice of channels but we were not intending staying cabin-bound.

Having arrived before lunch we made our way to the Islands self service restaurant where a good choice of hot and cold food was available, found a table by the window with a view over the harbour and ordered two glasses of red wine as we had booked all inclusive. Now, one of very few negatives. It was impossible to find what drinks were available while in a bar or restaurant as the drinks waiters did not have a wine or drinks menu to look at. It became obvious that "all inclusive" does not mean all drinks were included and it was hard to find out what was available without adding to the cost of the "all inclusive" package we had paid for. The latest technology wall mounted information boards did contain this detail but were useless if sitting in a bar. It also became apparent that different bars around the ship had different selections of drinks which varied in their "all inclusiveness". If I were cynical I might think this was done on purpose. Read more