We have just returned from a fabulous 7 days. The whole thing was fabulous. A clean and lovely ship. The staff are excellent can’t do enough for you. Cheerful friendly and helpful. Our room was well looked after cleaned everyday. Top ups for tea coffee milk etc. Our cabin was a balcony deluxe and it lived up to its name.Chocolates on your pillows. Always an animal towel in your bed lol.The entertainment was professional and great to watch.A different show each night. We had waiter service in the bars for our wide selection of cocktails.Irish cream coffees Baileys etc. The food was great .A good selection and always hot. Salads were tasty and tempting. Breakfast has a wide variety of things From English breakfast to continental. Omelettes were delicious. The trips were long days but we made lots of memories. Just need extra stops on the Rome walking tour. We packed a lot in a week but was a great holiday. Can’t wait to go cruising again with TUI. Thanks to everyone. Read Less

This was by far the most disappointing TUI cruise I have been on for the following reasons: 1. The air conditioning was not working for the first 5 days and our cabin was stifling hot which made it impossible to rest well for subsequent activities. 2. The cabin toilet failed to flush on at least 3 occasions meaning we had to rely on toilets around the ship which also failed to flush on occasions. 3. The quality of the Market Place buffet was very poor. The cooked breakfast, for example, was rendered tasteless by the way you cook them. Try for yourself the bacon and sausage and it should be clear what I mean. The porridge was glue-like and inedible, the coffee rancid, the toast rubbery ( although I appreciate other bread was available). 4. We tried the Latitude restaurant and found the service slow and the food also poor, compared to our experiences of TUI cruises. 5. 'All inclusive' should mean you provide at least good service and quality. It felt to us that you were providing poor quality in order to encourage passengers to pay for the additional food packages. 6. The TV did not work from the outset. When finally tuned in, around day 4 of the cruise, it worked intermittently but usually the screen went blank after a few minutes. Interestingly, the channels selling TUI services was working 7. Some gym equipment was not set up correctly and did not work well. The bike leads were loose and should be tidied/taped, for health and safety reasons. 8. We enjoyed a very expensive couples massage. The price was twice what a premium massage would cost at home and I acknowledge I understood this at the time. It was disappointing to be given the hard sell whilst still wearing a towel, for oils and further massages, we were really embarrassed. The massage was good but not good value for money. 9. ‘All inclusive’ seems to mean being offered beer at 9am in the morning and being able to eat quantity throughout the day. Is this really the direction you are heading? 10. We enjoyed a couple of trips. In Barcelona, I was able to get decent internet access for the price of a (decent) Americano in Costa and can of course get free access pretty anywhere in the world. Surely a decent and free internet connection should be provided on the ship as part of the being ‘all inclusive’? I have complained to TUI who wish to present any complaint as minor teething issues with a small discount of a subsequent cruise. This is very disappointing and we will be looking elsewhere in future. Read Less

I really enjoyed my cruise on Marella Explorer. The ship is slightly bigger than the Discovery, which I have also sailed on. The only negative was the 'sail away' party and the first two theatre shows, which could have been better. The 'sail away' party was lead by an excellent female singer. But what was everyone else doing? Very little. This is not the usual experience I've had with Thomson/Marella. This show should be the most important of the cruise but lacked the 'X' factor. The first two theatre shows didn't have a story. SOUL was good but just seemed to be one song followed by another. ROCKOLOGY was similar. But he choice of songs could have been much stronger and need changing. Matt, the cruise director, was excellent. But why have him singing in a small lounge, when he should have been singing 'swing songs' from the musicals on either the main stage or on the deck. All in all though, an enjoyable cruise. Read Less

Wow Amazing is the word to describe our cruise. Embarking was quick and easy. The ship is wonderful she as a small runni g track a small gym a great spa a pub a casino several bars lots of choice for meals our favorite was the dining club this is a payable resteraunt but tbe food was top class we highly recomend it. The shows at night were excellant the attention to detail and the service from all the staff was first class. Our cabin steward effendi dmade our stay brilliant. We will be going again nxt year we cannot recomend this cruise enough you will not be disappointed if you book it. The staff made our holiday very special.The cabins have a minibar that are well stocked. Every member of the crew were excellant nothing was too much trouble.The pool area was excellant waiters constantly fetching drinks for you. The coffee shop serves excellant coffee and cakes. The movies in the cinema were very good. Fantastic cruise all round. Read Less

This is are third time on this ship it is a smaller friendly ship with a lovely crew. The ship has three amaizing bars plus bars on decks as well. The bar staff were very attentive and always smiling a special thanks to HIlda and Nay Ye from the waters edge who looked after us so well. The band were really good in this bar they were the aucustic soul brothers who had amaizing voices and were really whitty. We stayed in ainside cabin on deck seven this was kept amaculately clean by Candy who was always smiling and could not do enough for us so big thank you to him. The cabin was big enough for us it had lots of space to hang all your clothes a kettle shower very good. Dining was really good we used both the lido self service food always hot a plenty of choices the Orion was waiter service this was lovely food always piping hot the staff who looked after us were amaizing so thanks to Jorges Putu and Rafael for looking after us. Must mention the wine waiter Rajkumar who was always topping us up he was brilliant. The entertainment was exalant this year shows like ABBA Blues brother and much more amazing show team. I was shocked reading some of the previous reviews. This ship is small and friendly will defiantly be going back next year. Ports of call very good. Spain Italy and France Read Less

Can not praise this ship enough excellent staff from entertainment Lisa James and Matt and Lisa Victoria can sing. Cooper on the pool Deck was so helpful and pleasant . Everything about the ship was fabulous and will be booking again. Surf and Turf restaurant good is amazing. The squid and anchor was an amazing stop for us and karaoke was so much fun. The main shoe bar in fantastic and had BGT John Clarke comedy one night. The sail away party was something else. We did excursions one was to Rome when we arrived back to a band playing and staff with trays of ice cold water and the captain and staff saying welcome back madam I felt like royalty. Getting in and 8ff the ship is so stress free everything is so organised. To sum up all the staff are a credit to the ship and captain John was very nice and funny Read Less

This was our first cruise. We had read the various reviews and as a family with children, we wanted to see whether we suited cruising, or it was something we enjoyed. The ship was clean and we could see the staff working hard everyday with maintaining the ships paint and cleanliness. The cabins are dated slightly but the beds were comfortable and the cabin steward was lovely, every day making an animal from the towels for my son. You have plenty of towels, including ones for the sun beds, which makes a nice change. The food is good. There is a selection of restaurants, some you pay extra for more elaborate dining, but the Orion and buffet food is good. The Orion staff were very much a part of the key service you can expect. My glass was never empty and they would talk to you and get to know you all. That little time spent makes all the difference to us and was very much appreciated. The captains gala is a nice feature with photos that you can have. The captain was very informative in his morning announcements and I liked the little humour he would share within his information. Also very much liked that he personally saw off every guest at the end of the cruise. The destinations are a mixed bag. We had been looking forward to Pisa, however we booked a short trip, which left us little time to explore. That was our first lesson and we learnt about what to expect. Monaco and Savona were lovely stops and we did our own thing which is easy with the information provided. I have to say that we had been dissappointed with Toulon. It felt out of place from the other destinations with little to see and do. The ship appeared busy that day, so we thought that others must have felt the same. We made a similar mistake to Pisa in Barcelona. We had picked a short excursion and so didn’t see anything of value and missed the key sites. Our fault in not selecting a more diverse tour. The entertainment is very good. There is something in every bar from acoustic to the full on broadway type productions. The costume to these are extremely good and the entertainment crew very talented. We thoroughly enjoyed the shows every night. What makes this ship is the staff. Yes the lights and decor are a little old and the toilets play up. But the staff in the most are amazingly friendly. They are attentive and helpful. The bar and drinks waiting staff are under pressure and so you do have the wait for a drink, but you can go up yourself when this is the case. We were all inclusive and sometimes felt that we were analysed for having two room numbers for five drinks ordered. I’m not sure what that was about? Basically the family have loved their first cruise. We can’t wait to book our next and know that we know want longer experiences. In that the cruise was a success for us. From reading some reviews maybe the ship sets a expectations for us first timers, rather than for a sessioned cruiser. Read Less

After a great cruise on Tui Discovery, decided to try Explorer. With it being refitted and rebranded, plus we also were thinking of a Caribbean cruise for early next year. We have cruised with many different cruise lines, including Thomsons early vessels, all round the world. Embarkation was smooth and quickly done. The staff were very helpful and we were soon in our cabin, with cabin stewards greeting us. Our luggage was delivered within 30mins. The cabin( 8103) was well outfitted and clean, the shower area was disappointing with a stained sink, corroding mirror plus an unpleasant smell, which we reported, it faded gradually and did not affect the cabin Spent millions upgrading the ship, needed another few pounds spending on the shower area to get it to the same standard as the rest of the ship. The Market Place food was good quality as was the food in Latitude 53. Apart from the second night when the serving and kitchen staff seemed overwhelmed with an influx of a party of 250 people, the service improved tremendously. The Vista restaurant was very busy and it took 3 attempts to eat there. ( It needs to be larger) The entertainment we saw good and professionally done. The excursion to Carcassonne was disappointing, as we did not have enough free time to explore and it was not a cheap trip. The ports of call were interesting, with the exception of Porto Torres, which was a waste of time, best bet is to go on an organised trip to see the surrounding areas. The bar service and choice of drinks was excellent as was the cabin stewards work. Overall we and our friends enjoyed the experience and expect that the odd problems will be ironed out. My wife considered £39 for a wash and blow at the hairdresser to be very expensive. Disembarkation was problem free. We have in fact booked a Caribbean cruise on Explorer for late January next year, so this cruise didn't put us off. Read Less

First time cruisers, so didn’t know what to expect. Smooth embarkation. All ports reached on time. Excursions very well organised. Loved the restaurants and bars. Waiters very attentive. Lovely selection of drinks. If you wanted to sun bathe there were plenty of sun beds. Cabin had lots of storage, shower lovely. Beds comfortable. Lovely nightclub, didn’t get to bed till 2 as dancing away. Shows very good - drinks laid on for this too. Captain and team very professional. There was a dress to impress night and it was lovely to see people dressed up. We have been really bitten by the cruise bug and are already thinking about the next one. Only negatives are that it is a refurbished boat and some of the windows shabby. A little disorganised when leaving ship to go to our hotel for the week. But we had an amazing time. Can’t wait to do it again. Read Less

This was our first time on Marella Spirit. We have previously been on her sister ship the Celebration which was a little better. The crew on the Spirit were amazing. So friendly and helpful. You could not fault them. The ports of call were also very good. However these were really the only positives. The food was so disappointing. We are used to high quality food on a cruise but what we got was far from it. I would call it 3 star standard. The thing I looked forward to most was pizza and chips on the lido through the day. Usually I really look forwards to main meals in the restaurant. Not on this cruise. We ate at Scirocco restaurant twice which was £20pp extra. The food here was far superior. However we would expect this standard on a cruise without having to pay for it. We had lots of plumbing issues with toilets both in and outside the cabin. Not impressed having to search for 20 minutes for a working toilet and then having to queue for ages to use it. Tui often overcharged for transfers from port and didn’t tell you the other options. For example in Ibiza they charged £7pp return for the transfer and said it was a 50 minute walk if you didn’t use it. We decided to walk. It was only 30 minutes and we strolled! There was also a port bus that left and dropped off at the same place for £5pp and a water taxi that went to the middle of the town just round the corner for £4pp return. No mention by Tui of any of these. The ship itself is old and in my opinion they should have retired her last year. The vibrations were constant, even when in port! She didn’t handle the sea well at all and it was constantly rocky even when the wind speed outside was classed as a light breeze by the captain. I’ve never suffered much with sea sickness apart from a bad bay of biscay crossing but I at some point every evening I was worried about the sickness. Thank goodness for sea sickness bands! It has really put us off cruising. It used to be my favourite type of holiday but now my husband is refusing to do another because he constantly felt sick (never on other ships) and the food was so poor. Not a ship for us. We definitely won’t be back on another Marella/ Tui ship on the future. Read Less

This was the first time cruising for my husband and I and I have to say it was the best holiday we have ever had. From boarding the ship at Palma to disembarking 1week later it was a very pleasurable experience. The ship is spectacular and absolutely beautiful, all the staff work so hard to keep everything running perfectly. We had booked an inside cabin and we were very surprised how comfy the beds were and how much storage space we had. It was big enough for our needs and was cleaned every day. The cleaners on board work incredibly hard to maintain the standards. Dining was a treat and you could eat as posh or as normal as you wanted the choice was yours. We found all our meals in al the restaurants on board to be well cooked, hot and well presented. The choice of food was incredible. We went to the Broadway lounge every night and was never disappointed in any of the shows. The cast of each show were exceptionally professional and did themselves proud. All the bars on board had good entertainment. We never had a reason to complain about anything on board. We booked 3 trips beforehand. These were a half day trip to Mount Etna in Sicily, Pompeii in Naples, and to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The only disappointing one was the trip to Mount Etna. It was a 4 1/2 hour trip but took just under 2 hours to travel there and 2hours back. You only actually got to base camp from where you couldn't see Mount Etna and only had about 30/40 mins there so didn't have time to travel higher up. The other trips we did were very enjoyable. We have definitely been bitten by the cruising bug and would not hesitate to book another Thomson/Marella cruise in the not too distant future. Read Less

This was our 5th cruise. We have cruised with P&O (2 Times), Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and now this one and I must admit that this was the worst one if I compare with our previous 4 cruise experiences. The service is amazingly average. If you walk in with an issue at the reception their attitude was - "ohh what you want now" - not that they say it but their response is like that. We were entitled to free ironing one evening and we chose to use it on a formal night. We advised the guy who cleaned our room and he assured us that he will get the clothes done and we should just lay them on the bed. We came back from our excursion at 4pm and the clothes were still on the bed. We tried to get hold of the guy but couldn't. Th reception's response was lazy - they weren't interested. I sent a message to Thompson cruise team via their Facebook page letting them know that the cruise staff attitude towards us and overall, in general, was not high standards and theier response was: "Any complaints when you are on holiday with us, need to be dealt with on-board by either speaking with the staff on-board or raising this with Thomson Rep. We assist passengers who are yet to travel" This even after I explained that I have raised my concerns to the staff on board. The quality of food is average 6/10 - we were on Norwegian Jade last year and their food variety was simply amazing 10/10. Long queues at the restaurants will spoil your evening. They prey on people going to paid restaurants where a meal for two will cost £40. Do not choose them if you are getting other options. They were not very good - believe me. Raj Read Less

Like others we read the reviews for the previous couple of months, which were a mixture of good and bad, and were a bit apprehensive. However we need not have worried. Yes a few bits of the ship were showing signs of age but all the facilities were fine. Our main gripe with the cabin...and others take note...was that it was above the Jubilee Lounge and there was no sound insulation ! We would have expected it to be a bit noisy for the evening's shows but the last show often started at 23.45 ! Thompson must know about this problem but there was no warning. In future we would pay the extra to book a cabin after studying the deck plan !We enjoyed the shows and thought the entertainers were excellent. The entertainers were very accomplished and well rehearsed. Martyn Daniels was also excellent.Entertainment and activities during the day were not really to our taste but as the ship was only a sea for one of the days this was not a problem. On the whole the food was excellent. Agree that sometimes the buffet on Deck 10 could be a bit lukewarm but I did like the fact that there was always plenty of fresh fruit and cheese. The food in the two restaurants was excellent. I am vegetarian and there was always a veggie option.One evening I had 2 starters and a salad as a main as I wasn't keen on the main course. The staff were all very helpful. Not sure I liked the 'Oscars' style of performance management at the end of the cruise though. We couldn't fault any of them. Read Less

We chose Thomson cruises because we were going on holiday with the family (6 Adults and 3 Children). The price was a big factor in our choice and looking for a cruise that would be more child friendly. My partner & i have been on quite a few cruises with cruise lines such as Royal Carribean, Silver Seas, Regent Seven Seas and Celebrity Cruises. We were not expecting the same quality as these lines, but the whole idea of the cruise was to let the children have a good time. On the down side of the cruise, the cabin that we had was very small and admitedly, the decor was quite tired. The cabins for the family however were really good. They were pretty spacious and they both had a fridge in them. Once we had got over the disappointment of the cabin we started to explore what the ship had to offer. We had the drinks packages for all of us. On this ship, the drinks package was very easy to understand. Drinks menus had asterisks next to the drinks that would cost extra. All very simple compared to a lot of the other cruise lines. Although the cabin was disappointing, the cabin stewards were first rate. Always a smile and nothing was too much trouble. On the Sunday each week there was a special offer on laundry - a sizeable bag, washed & ironed for approx 25 euros. No big bags of washing to do when you got home! On the food side of things, there were several choices of restaurant to choose from. We stuck to the same restaurant every night for the first week. The waiters (Manoj & Sumer) were fantastic and the children loved them. We learned that the waiters are rotated between restaurants each week, so when our waiters changed restaurant, we followed them for the second week.We had to leave behind a fantastic wime waiter (Katut) but had an equally friendly wine waiter in the next restaurant (Gabriel). The food was lovely, not over complicated and fancy like may other cruise lines. Anything that you wanted that was not on the menu was no problem, if they had it - you got it. The ports we visited were all interesting. We arrived and docked on time every port. Shuttle buses were there if you wanted to go out on your own. We did four excursions together and each one was really good, reasonably priced and well planned. Top marks for that too. Finally, most evenings we spent sitting on the top deck as the weather was so good and the children just wanted to run around and have fun. However we did go to the Theatre one night and it was very enjoyable. My partner has described this cruise as "Butlins at its best on water" , and I have to say that its a good way of describing it. The poolside entertainment during the day was great for the younger ones. plenty of fun & games and music. Overall we were really shocked at how good this cruise was compared to the much more expensive cruise lines. We have already been looking at the possibility of a future cruise for the two of us with the Thomson line. Read Less

Some teething problems I think. We were in a suite so had priory book in, but when we got to the coach for the transfer to the ship, they waited an hour thinking more people were to come, who didn't arrive. Only when everyone got bad tempered they took us to the boat. We had priory book in but Only one staff member was dealing with our line, so was slower than the other. The photographer went before we were all checked in so none of us got a boarding photo. The person giving out the cups of water went so we didn't get a drink despite the hour waiting on the coach and 45 mins at check in. This was a cruise of two half's for me. Ship is lovely, shows were highest quality, rest of the entertainment bit same e same o every day. Used the spar excellent . Hubby booked us in for photo shoot, think they should have warned us they were not normal price but £100 each! But they were good so ended up getting 6 but won't ever do that again. We paid £200 each for the weeks drink package but service was so slow specially in the Broadway lounge where there were only 4 waiters. If you got one drink during the show you were lucky, long waits in the venue to specially during the quizzes that were the same thing daily, but the entertainment guys put their all into it. Not enough seating at breakfast, so people hanging round the tables waiting for a seat, no trays anywhere so lots of backwards and forwards to get breakfast. I'm not sure it was good value. I was also a bit upset to find other passengers only paid £120 ea some free. I had no complaints about the food but the Itilian restaurant only had two me use that alternated. The salad course and sorbet course dont exsist any more the Waite for the restaurants could be up to an hour.We could not land at one fester nation due to bad weather so we spent an extra day at see, there were no special arrangements in the way of entertainment for this. Customer service was excellent a big well done to them. Trips were great as always. We went during term time in England but unfortunately holiday time for Scotland so there were loads of kids running riot all over the show and was very upset when the lady to my left let her baby scream for 20 minutes through the Broadway show. They were running between the contestants during the quizzes. The ending of the captains cocktail party and formal night was a disappointment and the entertainment was geared up to the youngsters I'm 57. This was at least our 10 cruise and the one I enjoyed the least. I feel everything about cruising I enjoyed has been taken away, it felt like Butlins at sea. On previous cruises we were handed hand towels when we got back from trips and a drink. That's gone, some days the crew would have a little band to welcome you back, that's ended to. All that made crushing special has been stripped away. All that put me off after years of only doing Thompson cruises, I'm booking another for Venice October. If that's the same I won't be booking more with them sadly. Read Less

1st ever cruise & what a fantastic experience . From the minute we got of the coach at Palma docks to the minute we got off the staff where fantastic so polite & friendly. Our cabin had a balcony which was beautiful to wake up to with a different port/country, it was spotless cleaned at least 3 times a day The food in all the eating venues was got of this world & again the service was 1st class, would recommend that you book before boarding for surf& turf & Chinese restaurant's in advance to avoid disappointment as places limited (Extra £20 per head but well worth it) Loads of staff only spoilt by ignorant people demanding drinks etc Not for young children but couples from 30 year you will have a ball Tip we travelled with 2 other couple's & did our own excursions as it worked out cheaper Went to Monty Carlo paid 99 Euros for 6 pints near casino so take care Read Less

We have cruised with Thomson on two previous trips and really enjoyed so decided to go again with this trusted company. We chose the discovery for the itineraries but were chuffed it was on the new ship. The ship is beautiful, the cabins are a really good size, lots of wardrobe space, we had a premium room with a patio window sized window but no balcony. The only down on the cabin was the shower curtain, you expect there not to be much room in the shower but would of been so much better without the old shower curtains, shame Thomson missed the chance to upgrade to a screen whilst completing the refurbishment. Have to say was disappointed with the food, the other ships have amazing choice with well cooked excellent quality food, can't be said for the discovery.Islands self service was dreadful with lots of people complaining, I am a veggie and can struggle when on holiday but have never worried on the ships, this time was very different and I hope they rectify it. The restaurant fared better and the snack shack was ok, no panini's or toasters, generally poor. Service in the bars was slow, again on other ships service very prompt, we often waited 20 minutes to be served, this was another general complaint from other passengers, in fairness they did bring more staff on which helped. Outstanding in every other way, spotless clean in all areas and all staff and crew really friendly, everyone doing all they could to please. Entertainment fantastic as always, plenty going on around the ship, loved the shows in the Broadway show lounge. Itineraries were great, visited some beautiful places. Sorry no captains night just a dress to impress evening. Embarkation and disembarkation very smooth. Well done Thomson, sort the food out and the shortage of waiters and all will be well. Can't wait for the next cruise which will again be Thomson. Please don't loose the feel of the smaller ships, no bigger than the discovery please. Read Less

I have cruised with Thomsons many times, the party I was with hadn't cruised before so I thought id introduce them to an excellent cruise company. The flights from Edinburgh was excellent, the embarkation ran smoothly. They all enjoyed their first experience in cruising. The cabins could have done with being a little bigger but it did the job. The dining room staff was excellent esp the staff in the Four Seasons restaurant, everybody from our wine waiter called Preach to our waiters named Fryann and Yankee and Head waiters Stephan and Aerial, they were excellent and entertained us all everynight and made us feel so welcome. Ports and shore excursions were covered so well, with tours everyday or you could just hope in waiting taxis. I would definitely recommend this ship or any thomsons cruise liners for the future. thank you the crew and staff that made our holiday complete Read Less

My wife and I have been customers of Thomson since 1994 and have cruised four times - two on the Majesty and one on the Dream (and now one on the Discovery). Our cruise was the inaugural cruise and was very disappointing. We embarked at Mallorca and had to find our own way to our cabin (3529). We never saw our cabin steward throughout (if we had one that is). We only saw cleaners daily. The cabin was spacious and there was a lot of storage for an inside cabin. A downside was the telephone mounted on the wall on the right in the middle of the cabin. To answer it at night we would have to get out of bed, put the light on to see the telephone. Bedside lights were overhead in such a position as to make it impossible to sit up and read unless laying and sitting sideways to one corner. Everything else was fine. Eating: Firstly `Islands` (the Buffet) was very badly laid out and very disorganised. The food was edible but nothing startling. The staff cleared away the table almost before you finished. We did not eat there much. 47 degree Restaurant was very attractive but the staff were evidently inexperienced in the main. It could take ages for the courses to appear and clearing away was slow and irritating at times. Half of the staff appeared happy but the other as if they did not want to be on the ship but they themselves were willing and worked hard. Gallery 47 was the best and that was an Italian part situated above 47 degrees. That was better staff and they were more on the ball and very much happier. The food was not too bad but again clearing away was slow. My big gripe was handling the wine. I had a bottle of Pino Grigio which they kept losing (I am not a very heavy drinker). Every evening (in both restaurants) they took ages to find that bottle and once, in desperation, I bought a bottle of Merlot but it happened with that as well. I noticed on occasion that my Pino Grigio was not mine but somebody else`s. Still, I wanted wine and so I just accepted it but the next evening when they found it, it was a bottle with less in it. Neither restaurant was staffed exclusively with males but had a selection of female waiters which was a nice change. For the size of the ship it did a lot of `rockin-n-rollin` as we approached the edge of a depression more than once and I wondered if we were too slow for the stablisers to operate correctly. Would we go on the ship again - maybe in a couple of years. It was expensive for what it was this time and my wife and I are thinking perhaps we should have a change and go to P&O or the like. Read Less

Let me start by saying we had a fabulous holiday around the med on this ship and I'm sad to see it go. This ship has had its fair share of bad reviews however as a first time cruiser I have nothing more to compare it with other than the time I had onboard. Yes with the age of the ship it was a little dated but it certainly exceeded my expectations. Embarkation was swift and so well organised we quickly were given key card to our cabin and everything was ready for us to settle in. The cabin was 7550 on deck 7. It had 2 twin beds and a fold down bunk which was not needed, a picture window, It had lots of hanging space and drawer space and space under the bed to put suitcases. Believe me I took a lot of clothing and there was more than enough room for what we needed. The bathroom again was small but perfectly adequate with shower sink and toilet with toiletries. Satpal our cabin steward deserves a special mention. He was a most efficient cabin steward who kept our cabin extremely clean and tidy and basically looked after our room for the 2 weeks we were aboard. I loved the towel art he added as finishing touches and he was so happy and polite. Let's move forward to the dining areas. Dining was buffet style unless you booked a la carte at an additional charge. It was help yourself style and for what I paid for the holiday I most certainly can't grumble about the standard and choice of food. There was carvery meat and veg on every night and many different alternatives. Choices of starters and desserts too? The waiters again were extremely helpful and Midy and Ronny deserve a medal for looking after us. They looked after us so well it made our mealtimes very special. Drinks on board were all inclusive unless you ordered cocktails, branded drinks and speciality coffees fro the cafe. The unbranded drinks were excellent and the supplement cocktails were at very reasonable suplpliments we tried the hot stone a la carte and found it a great experience. Next to mention was the entertainment. Ross the entertainment director has a very special team of entertainers. Including Ross they are all extremely talented and provide entertainment as good as the west end. I can say this as I've been to watch many shows in the west end and I found the musical showson ship as impressive. The other entertainment was from a very young team and I can't say enough how talented this young team was. As for Ross he was fantastic (and doesn't do the amount of work for a chuffing 0/10 and quite rightly too) it certainly wasn't Benidorm at sea as one review described it. We did many excursions and I thought were organised extremely well and I thoroughly enjoyed them even though I walked my socks off. However I didn't go on a cruise to spend my time on the ship when there was so much to see. Finally all people I spoke to had a fabulous time and were pleased,they booked it. There were many planning to cruise again with thomsons in the future because of the experience. Hopefully this review will set those peoples mind at rest for the four weeks of travel this ship has left. Read Less

Just returned after a great week on the Dream. We were a bit sceptical about booking it again after reading some of the problems they seem to have had with pipes bursting ,but no problems while we were on board.Our flight from Manchester was on time and a smooth trip and the transfer and check in was fine. I must say this was the first we have got on the ship and not had someone escort us to our cabin. We had an inside cabin on deck 6 ( not keen on inside but as it was a last minute booking had to have what was going. The cabin was comfortable and kept clean by our steward. ))As everyone always says the Dream is a bit dated now but it looks like a ship unlike the NCL Epic that is always in Palma on a Saturday ,but everyone to their likes. We like the Dream for it's size and amount of passengers so you get personal service from the staff. We ate breakfast and lunch mostly in Sirens. A very good choice of food hot or cold (sadly still no ice cream in there). Dinner was taken in the Orion as we like to be looked after by a waiter .We kept the same waiter all week . A young man named Jing and he was 1st class along with his assistant Heri. Our wine waiter Risa was also 1st class. I have read some reports about the food being cold and having to wait a long time for it .well we never found that and we did eat at a busy time 20.00. I'd like to say a big thank you to the bar lads in the Ocean bar (Rufino,Steve & Lito) excellent service along with boys and girls that waited on us with our orders Heart and Soul entertained us in the Ocean Bar and they are very good. We are not much for the shows but everyone we spoke to that had been said how good they were. We do always go to the cruise show which is on mid week at 23.30 and put together by members of all departments on the ship and they do it in their free time we find the ship is always spotlessly clean and there is always someone cleaning somewhere Our ports of call where good. We did not do the ships trips as we had been to them before so just got off the ship and explored on our own All in all we had a great time. Will we sail with her again Yes will be there Dec 30th I would like to say if anyone from Thomson's read this you can be very proud of your staff on the ship and make sure you do not lose them because it is them who bring passengers back again and again And to finish it is a shame the the people at head office are not as caring. Read Less

We have just returned from a seven night cruise on the Island Escape starting from Palma and visiting Ajaccio, Livorno, Villefrance, Toulon and Barcelona. This was our first time on the Island Escape and indeed was our first cruise. So what is there to say about the ship and the experience. Well it's a tale of many parts, some good some not so good. The ship itself is an ageing refurbished car ferry. Although clean and functional it has reached the point of no return really. There are numerous areas where the accommodation is worn and damaged. So it most definitely is not plush. In a way we didn't mind that so much. But we did object to the fact that the main cafeteria called the Beachcomber was too cold. We saw quite a few older passengers huddled against the cold that was caused we were told by the fact that the air-conditioning could not be controlled to particular zones. The next part of our tale which was the very friendly staff. They were kind and helpful. The service in the dining rooms and bars was excellent. If you put a plate down or finished your drink the plate or glass was gone and staff offered to get you something else. Another part of the tale was the catering. There was a constant supply of freshly cooked food all day. I really do mean all day. The range of meals can best be described as basic English fayre. But it suited us and we had no concerns about that at all. I am very fond of custard and crumble and was pleased to see it served every day, The dining rooms were spotlessly clean. Yet another part of the tale was the entertainment. This was very popular each night with the theatre being full for a range of shows such as games, comedies, musicals and reviews. To be honest and not to be unkind the shows reminded me of well meaning and earnest sixth form presentations - they lacked any real merit or content but the staff tried hard. We only managed to ensure about 10 minutes before the experience was too unbearable. The captain tried his best to shake hands with passengers and to grin his way through painful photographs with passengers ... It must be hard to remain enthusiastic each week. I felt a bit sorry for him having to do the rounds and to profess an interest in people's life-stories .. I think that on board prices were expensive and there was a feeling of Thomson always wanting you to spend money on something or other. The wife said that the hairdressing prices were well above high street rates. To be frank they must have been high for her to notice. We thought that the excursions were unreasonably expensive. Our advice is to avoid them and make your own arrangements. So overall would we travel on the Island Escape again. Well the answer is yes ... if ... if the main package prices were competitive and if the destinations suited us .. So, we can sort of give the Island Escape our endorsement .. it's worth a try but don't expect a plush cruise ship ... which is okay for us ... Hemster Read Less

Sailed on the Thomsons Dream for 2 weeks 19/7/2014 until 2/8/2014. What a great disappointment this ship was . Why this ship is classed as 'Platinum' is beyond me as frankly I have stayed at better Premier inns and have received better service than what we got on board 'The Dream' . The first week we were on board we had no water on decks 6 and 7 due to a burst pipe, we were given 2 bottles of water per cabin to wash with . Ok these things happen, but I feel we were not updated often enough about the situation .We were reimbursed £75 a cabin for two days without water . We endured a catalogue of events whilst on board for two weeks, too many to write a review on . We have been on 4 Thomsons cruises in the past, but never sailed on this ship before. and we have never had to visit the reception so many times before due to lack of service in the cabin, down to a very rude maintenance guy who was obviously very disgruntled because he had been called out to repair our cabin door at 11pm, which might I add had been reported approximately 2pm that afternoon. The ship is very dated, and to me has a huge problem with the plumbing. The public ladies toilets were constantly blocked, full all the time of un flushed waste and at times, as you can imagine smelt awful. Now that by no means is Platinum ! On a positive note the service in the Orion Restaurant was good and these guys work tirelessly to make sure you have a enjoyable dining experience. This ship has a lot of issues to address . We certainly wont be sailing on her again. Hugely disappointed, no way did we get what we had payed for. You need to take a good look at this ship Thomsons and rather bring it up to what you advertise it as (Platinum) or take the Platinum title of it, Or better still put in the Dry Dock ! Putting a beverage tray in the cabin and a small flat screen T.V does not entitle it to be sold as Platinum. Sorry but have to speak as we find ,and we found it very disappointing from the service down to the cleanliness . Read Less

Our trip started on 14/9/13 with an early morning flight from Manchester and landed in Palma 1045 local time. The transfer to the ship was fine and check in was quick. We were shown to our cabin 7185 and did not have to wait long our luggage. Our cabin on deck 7 was a good size but the bed was very uncomfortable. We have been on the Dream several times before so we know our way round the ship. We normally eat breakfast and lunch in Sirens and normally find the food good. I am disappointed they have taken the good ice cream away in Sirens and you have to rely on an cheap one outside by the pool Dinner we take in the Orion and were very pleased to Have Gusmardi as our waiter again. He looked after us well with the help of his assistant Denis. Alvin was our wine waiter soon knew what we liked to drink. On the second week we celebrated 25yrs married and the three lads did us proud with service and they arranged for the waiters to sing to us round the table. Having been on the ship before we knew a lot of the staff from previous trips Our evenings were normally spent in the Delo bar or Ocean bar . In the Delo Luke played the piano very well He also sang for us on our special night with the help of Jun the bar man Cel kept the drinks coming. In the Ocean bar Lozenzo and Jonathan kept the bar running smooth. Heart & Soul played well and kept everyone dancing. I do find the staff on thomson 1st class and always have a smile for you.We had the drinks package which was included in our price. I do think if I had to pay full price for it we would not bother as Thomson have taken a lot of the branded sprits off and are at suplement. Some of the ports of call are a little boring We do not like Tangier but that is just our taste. All in all the most of the ports were fine Each time we had been on before the Captain was German and always told us a story before we sailed which we enjoyed , but now he has retired and we had a English Captain ( think it is his first full command) We never seemed to see him walking round the ship when in port. We meet passengers on broad that we knew from previous trips Sadly the two weeks soon go and it's time to fly home The flight back to Manchester was went smoothly except for some people that could not control their children   Read Less