It's interesting to observe that some people seem to aim to find as many faults as possible right from the off with a holiday. We saw it as we boarded the TUI Discovery: a couple were unimpressed with the (moderate) queue to board - though we didn't particularly enjoy the forced couple's photograph after a long flight, coach connection and standing around - and from then, nothing could match their clearly unrealistic expectations of what they thought this holiday provision should be. Within hours they were almost shouting at someone with lines like 'Absolutely unacceptable...' and 'we're beyond disappointed'. Such a shame! It's worth noting, though, that my wife (29)and I (30) were the absolute opposite: we had zero expectations, not only because we'd never been on a cruise before, but also because we were extremely lucky to have been offered this holiday as a gift entirely for free after some family members unfortunately were unable to come on the trip which had been booked last year.

Not only did we not know what to expect, but our previous experiences of mass catering and mass entertainments in enclosed spaces meant that we were also dubious as to how much a cruise holiday would actually be able to logistically deliver on fun, relaxing, luxury experiences.

How wrong we were! The thought that has gone into pretty much every element on the gigantic ship is pretty incredible (see exceptions below, which is nitpicking really but I mention these things as I actually believe Thomson listen to the feedback and respond to it - they must do in order to build up such a slick service). The cabin we had was, again a very good one (Cabin 6062), with a balcony on level 6, midship on the left hand side (never learnt port and starboard properly!), and had a king size bed (2 long singles together but you didn't notice this with with comfortable sheets and bedding on top, which was remade twice every day by the brilliantly subtle housekeeping team), a sofa, chair, large wet room and a balcony with table and chairs which we could connect with the next door cabin to be with the in-laws for a pre-dinner drink. Read more