This was our first cruise and we did a Thomson cruise and stay with 7 nights on the Celebration and then 7 nights in a Dubai hotel.

We decided on a cabin with a balcony (Deck 9 Room 6) and were not disappointed with the choice. The cabin was quite large and the balcony fitted two chairs, a table and a sun lounger which came in useful when all the sun beds had been taken or reserved with towels. Flaverino our cabin steward looked after us really well for the week and the cabin was kept spotless.

As first time cruisers we were surprised at some of the extras - £15 a week to use the safe, £49 each per week for wi-fi (we are both self employed and need to check and respond to emails at least once a day when away), £10 per day each for premium drinks (we didn't upgrade to this but just paid extra for a premium drink if we wanted one which worked out cheaper), £9.95 extra for a steak or lamb cutlets, £15 - £20 per head extra to eat in one of the a la carte restaurants. The paid wi-fi was only available in the bar areas and not in the cabin or restaurants which seemed strange. Read more