This summer some friends and I were looking for a 'cheap and cheerful' med cruise and chose Thomson's Island Escape.  This was a very poor decision!  Having read other reviews on the site we were expecting an older ship, but were reassured by comments that service, food and entertainment were good.  Let me start by saying that it is very hard to find information about this ship on the internet and now we know why.  This ship is more than 25 years old and is little more than a ferry.  Cabins are tiny, shabby and uncomfortable.  The bathrooms have old, decaying fixtures and grubby shower curtains.  Loos are stained.The food is very hit and miss.  Breakfast in the main dining room is ok, and the pastries delicious, but lunch and dinner was not good.  Overall we were very disappointed with all food even the Oasis restaurant which costs £12 each per meal.  This is not even to the standard of other cruise lines main dining area.  We tried to eat off the ship as much as possible.  Generally there are limited options and everything is done on the cheap.Service is good.  The staff work hard and are very friendly, but they seem to be under pressure to ensure good reviews from customers as some of them were very concerned about reviews and 'begged' us to give good comments.We tried several times to see the shows, but there is not sufficient space and couldn't get in to see any of them.Considering the price we paid for this cruise £440 each (excluding flights) we knew we weren't going to have luxury, but neither did we expect it to be so bad.  I very strongly recommend that you do not book a cruise on Island Escape.  It really is pretty awful.