We're on the Celebrity Infinity right now. Just pulling into Vigo where I will post this. We're in Aqua class, eating in Blu. Those of you concerned about the quality of the ship, shouldn't be. The ship is fine, with constant maintenance. The staff are consistently helpfull and friendly. The food is excellent with only a few exceptions. We were offered half price dining in SS United States, the first night as well as mid cruise. We've had free shuttles in Bilbao, and La Rochelle. The wifi on board is terrible. So we stop for coffee in each port and use the free wifi of a cafe. The weather has been cool and overcast with occasional light rain. The Bay of Biscaye was so rocky last night that the closet doors and drawers were opening and slamming shut all night. It was impossible to sleep. We should have brought duct tape. We're worried that our two sea days heading back to Harwich will also be rough seas. Pro's The food in Blu Really nice staff Comfortable bed (we had an egg crate put on) Great and interesting ports Con's Had to fight for the 300 obc. Guest services said my TA hadn't booked 123 for us, although the free gratuities came thru. Some rough seas     Read Less

This was our first Thomson cruise and having previously cruised with Royal Caribbean and P&O, the ship looked disappointingly small and lacks the WOW factor!! But it is over 30 years old. Also we feel that we got a good price for our 15 days at sea. We had booked an inside cabin to be allocated on arrival - we have done this before with other cruise lines and always had a lovely double bedded cabin. This was not the case on Thomson Dream as there are a limited number of doubles, many cabins being an unusual L shape which does not allow for reconfiguration. We were not told this when booking and along with several other people, we complained and eventually moved to cabin number 562. We were warned that some people had complained about noise in 562 but it seemed OK. This was until we went to bed when on most nights engine noise was bad and the noise of large items being moved around and dropped on the deck above us, woke us up on about 50% of the nights on board ship. The ship also had a tendency to judder and vibrate when at sea and this could be felt in some public rooms. On a positive note the entertainment was second to none - the fantastically talented team led by Cruise Director Richard worked incredibly hard and were exceptionally friendly. There was an excellent range of musical shows, plays and game shows. Rod Taylor, the guest speaker was highly entertaining and the comedians were also great. The only issue with entertainment is that to get a good seat in the "show lounge" which is not theatre style you need to be at your seat up to an hour before the show starts. Also some people save seats for fellow passengers which is highly annoying!! Food was good, although desserts were unimaginative - I stuck to cheese and biscuits most nights. Formal dining (Compass Rose) was sometimes rushed - on one occasion my dining companions 2nd courses arrived before I had finished my appetiser, which was not good restaurant practice. The Lido buffet always had a good choice of food and generally plenty of seating, especially for dinner - the stir fry food was excellent, as was curry night. We dined about 50/50 in both restaurants. All staff were attentive and friendly from the cabin stewards to the waiting staff and bar staff. Drink prices were reasonable - many passengers had a drinks package but with beer at £3.70 a pint, 150 ml glass of wine at £3.90 or £14.50 a bottle you need to drink a lot to recoup the outlay. All in all this was a cruise that started out badly but grew on us because of the friendliness of the staff on board and the excellence of the entertainment and we would consider going again.   Read Less

We arrived in Harwich at the same time as the world and his wife. I am expecting to have a hip replacement so was very wary about standing a long time in the very long queue. A girl noticed I was having to use a stick and she invited me to sit inside. Whereupon my husband & I by-passed an equally long queue inside the building and were taken to a priority desk and were seen straightaway. I so appreciated the kind consideration shown to me, and would like to give my grateful thanks to those concerned. We got to the ship and managed the stairs down to deck 3 where we were met by 'welcome back, how nice to see you again' We were last on the Spirit in 2011.Turned out she was our cabin stewardess then, & now. We tried some of the trips most described as 'easy walking' My favourite was the' Dolphin watch' Magical. Far too short a visit though. There were four days at sea, so we attended as much of the entertainment that was put on by the excellent team. Two or three plays were put.on 'Educating Rita' was superb. Well done Richard and Ashley., as for the lecturer, Rod Taylor, he was hilarious telling anecdotes of Morecambe & Wise, Tommy Cooper etc. Brilliant. The Broadway shows were excellent, but the High Spirit game shows were now out of date and not to our taste likewise the so called comedians, some people seemed to like them though. Only 3 of us did the napkin folding demonstration. Wonder why that was! The food was excellent, the singing waiters were fun.Thanks must go to Richard for directing the Cruise so well. He was everywhere! The sun shone every single day except when we got to the airport at Dalaman It rained, also on arrival home. Again I was offered assistance whilst in the check in queue Grateful thanks once more are due. We had a super time on our favourite Cruise ship. we will be back Read Less

This was our second voyage on Infinity (we have also sailed on Eclipse - far superior in our opinion). We have also sailed with Carnival, Princess, RCL and P&O. We were very unhappy on first Infinity cruise (July 2014, Iceland and Fjords)- ship- tired and in need of TLC, crew - apathetic, food - repetitive, mediocre and tepid). Entertainment - poor. We were offered an upgrade to Concierge on our second cruise due to the aforementioned problems. To be honest I would not recommend paying extra for Concierge as apart from the bottle of sparkling wine and the departure lounge - in our opinion, judging by cabin size and fitments it was not any bigger or better than a normal balcony. The second cruise (September 2014, France and Iberia) was a lot better. Change of Captain and a lot of new crew members in particular the entertainment team - who were extremely good (Alejandro and Mickey), fabulous acts on in the theatre - much better. But unfortunately the food was the same - pretty dire. We did complain about the food but they just fob you off ("Its only you British that complain about the temperature of the food, the Americans don't mind") - thats from the Maitre d! The ship was still in a shabby condition. The Captain had a Q&A session on the last day at sea and a lot of people were complaining about Celebrity seeming to be on economising measures generally throughout the ship (which were denied) and the condition of ship. The Captain said that all directives concerning the ship come from Miami! We will not be sailing with Celebrity again. Read Less

Just returned from mediterran Explorer cruise, there was 6 in our party and we all agreed that we had a great time. Staff were all very welcomeing and friendly. Cabins were spacious and kept clean throughout the whole day by smiley by Ida & Anna. Food was good with plenty of choices we ate mainly in the Lido lounge. Entertainment was excellent cannot praise the entertainment team enough,every night was like going to a west end show they all worked so hard and once again very friendly when meeting them out and around the ship. Wine waiters gave a very efficient service always delivered with a smile and a friendly word. We thought the excursions were a bit over priced considering at most they only lasted for half the day and next time would use hop on hop off buses located just outside two of the ports ( Malta & Athens )or trips being offered outside by taxis. Only one big complaint the vibration throughout the ship needs to be sorted,we did get used to after a few days and I suppose it rocked us to sleep at night but it really isn't exceptable ! Read Less

Just back from 15 nights Med Explorer. weather fantastic the whole time .....makes a big difference . Embarkation at Harwich was tiresome simply due to the number of passengers all arriving at the same time ....long cues ...wait of about an hour...unless you are in a suite or de luxe cabin when you get priority boarding......straight on ...great Food was first class in Lido self service restaurent .... but wouldn,t recommend the compass Rose ....the manager seems to have forgotten that whilst we all like a laugh the quality and general feel of the place was more like a glorified school canteen with staff hurrying about and hurrying everyone up .....all a bit frantic. Also thought the Captains night was a bit flat with a considerable number of passengers ignoring the event completely. The ship had balcony cabins on deck 9 .......problem was that people on the upper deck were always leaning over and having a smoke etc....looking down .....wasn,t a sight you would want to see.....i am sure people in these cabins forgot that quite often they were being observed from above....certainly no privacy. don,t how much they cost but would n,t fancy a one . we had a nice cabin on deck 8 and was really pleased ...roomy ,quiet and spotless Excursions were great ...and glad we didn,t go to the north Africa ports( change of itinerary) ....ship went to Majorca and sicily instead....great. Best trip Malta Enterainment run by richard was of a lesser quality than previous years .......but got to say they all put everything into it Needs to have a rethink about some of the things ....seem to be free wheeling at the moment. Staff on the ship were in the main excellent with just the odd waitress who let them down .. disembarkation was well organised ....we paid to keep cabin till we were ready to leave the ship ...and airport from Turkey was usual busy but ok .....flight on time . All in all after the third holiday in 3 years on the Spirit I still think it is an excellent cruise ship ......well run and well organised ....i can recommend it . good value .We were on drinks package ...well worth it . you get well looked after . . Read Less

What a fantastic cruise. I cannot praise the Thomson Spirit and its crew highly enough. My wife and I love this ship and just wish we could afford to sail in her every year. Every member of the crew we came into contact with could not do enough for you and one even remembered us by name from 3 years ago. My wife walks with a stick so handling a tray of food and walking to a table usually means me making two trips. I hardly had to do this during the whole cruise as one of the waiters of the head waiter took her tray and carried it to the table. We had upgraded to a suite and while it was very nice and spotlessly clean, we decided it wasnt worth the extra cash over and above a deluxe cabin. The cabin stewards were cheerful and super efficient and again were very helpful. The ship is getting old and areas of her could do with a bit of smartening up, but thats a minor detail compared to the friendly atmosphere aboard. We met some great people and hope one day we may bump into them again on board The Spirit. Now the minus side. The excursions are overpriced and mostly dissaopinting. We cancelled all of ours after the first two but kept the dolphin boat in Gibralter. Hmm not what I expected at all. Saw a few fleeting glimpses of some small common dolphins and in hindsight would have sooner wandered into the town. The one excursion I did enjoy was Algiers. An experience I will remember the rest of my life. The mini coach trip was better than any fairground ride and how they dont have accidents every few minutes id beyond me. Even a police escort didnt seem to deter drivers from cutting in etc. We approached a dual carrigeway that was at a standstill on our side, so our escort took us ( 6 small coaches) down the wrong side of the caariage way with blue lights flashing. The coach was worth every penny without the experience of seeing a city I would never visit normally. I think the pre excursion talk by Thomsons was a mistake as it put people off. Totally needless as we never felt uncomfortable during the excursion and the only pity was not being able to wander round some interesting looking shops. The return flight from Cyprus is best forgotten as was the arrival at East Midlands Airport. I have made my complaints about it to Thomson and EMA authorities. People with disabilities are covered by EU regulations in the way they are assisted both prior to departure. On board the aircraft and on arrival. Both Cyprus Airport. Thomsons and East Midlands Airport fell far short of these regulations and need to be addressed. However as I said at the beginning the cruise and the ship were excellent and I hope we can sail in her again maybe in 2015 Read Less

On October 1st 2013 we joined the Thomson Spirit at Harwich for a 16 day cruise around the Mediterranean. We took a taxi to Luton airport and along with a host of other people took the free coach to Harwich. That took about two hours and the registration at Harwich was quick and easy. So quick we were in our cabin at 1130, 35 minutes after getting off the coach. Pretty good so far. When I got the initial offer from Thomson the price was very good but as we wanted a double bed we had to wait 24 hours so that they could check if one was available. When they came back they offered cabin number 898, which turned out to be the last cabin available with a double bed. This was the aft cabin on the Port side, so almost in the engine room. Of course they didn’t tell us this. I had to pay an extra £105 each to upgrade to this cabin plus £42 to reserve it. On deck one you are almost at water level and as we had several rough sea days in which they closed the porthole from the inside it was of no use anyway. When in port most of the time all we could see was the sea wall. Great view! It was also a very noisy cabin with water splashing against the hull and the vibration from the engines. My wife is a light sleeper so had a few bad nights while I managed. One other negative about the cabin was the shower. It had a non removable head and in order to get the water at the right temperature you had to turn the only knob which also was the one that controlled the flow of water so it was tricky to get it right. On complaining to reception I was told they were all the same in standard cabins. We have only ever been on one other cruise, the Thomson Dream in the Caribbean last January, and can honestly say that on the Spirit the food, the entertainment and the crew were much better. It was also noticeable that our fellow passengers were much friendlier than on the Dream. I can’t explain that one. The ports we visited were very good and we did take some of their excursions as we wanted to see areas away from some of the ports while in some we did our own thing, Valletta in Malta being an example as we had stayed there for two weeks a couple of years ago so knew the island fairly well. We did our own thing and even took a bus ride. The flight home to Luton from Paphos was a bit of a disaster as like many others we had tickets which said we were getting an in-flight meal so didn’t bring anything with us. It was soon announced that Thomson stopped in flight meals several years ago but offered those that bought something a receipt that we could send to Thomson. I wonder if I shall get a response as they are not very good at communicating to their customers. Overall it was a good cruise and we would go on the Spirit again but it would have to be a few decks up from where we were this time.   Read Less

Just returned on October 16 with Thomsons Spirit Mediterranean Odyssey – Harwich to Cyprus We were bussed down from Newcastle at 5am & had to change to feeder coaches at Cambridge services which was a bit worrying in case our luggage wasn’t on our coach! (1 hour 45 mins at Cambridge) however when we arrived at Harwich 2pm everything went well, we had lifeboat drill before we sailed at 4pm, cabin was booked previously 326 on same level as reception & the compass rose restaurant as we have been on this ship before Weather was a bit choppy crossing Bay of Biscay, deck party was held in ‘high spirits’ (1st day was at sea) The itinerary was great, lots of ports of call, some of which we had visited before, a bit of nostalgia Weather was great from La Rochelle 25 – 30 degrees Most ports of call we were docked near the centre of towns Food & drink Breakfast & lunch we ate in the Lido Restaurant – self service Dinner we ate in Compass Rose – we knew Rambo & Sam were on board so we requested a table with them, table 66, if you want the same table it pays to go in between 6pm & 6 30pm Shows – we tried a few but not our scene, all second rate in our opinion only ones we enjoyed was the comedian on the second week Les Bryan we went to both his shows (not the first week Lloyd Hollet not our scene) High Spirits – a resident band & quiz shows once again not our scene Horizons – great 3 piece group – the best singers & musicians on board – Edgar, Ronaldo & Cesar as well as our waiter Nelson. PS. he loves chocolate we used to give him our chocolate from the cabin Lots of activities on board throughout the day including a few singles meeting with Lorna (social hostess) - a friend came with us & went to some of them Sun beds a bit of a problem especially days at sea but plenty of lounges to sit in Temperatures in lounges were good no need to wrap up at all day or night Trips – we only did 1 in Lisbon – unfortunately there were 2 marathons on which meant we had to take a few detours, but it’s a lovely clean city – a lot of people were dissatisfied with some trips provided in other places Hop on Hop off buses were often available where we docked & are great to get a feeling of the places we visited (don’t forget to take passports as proof of age as most have discounts for older people) Flew back from Cyprus as this was a transition cruise, the queues at the airport were long as all Thomsons passengers were in 1 long queue but quite well organised, the only problem we had on the flight was that our documentation said that we would be provided with in flight meals which was totally inaccurate (Thomsons do not serve in flight meals on short haul flights any more) fortunately I had some snack bars with me & took some sandwiches from the ship just in case, reported this problem but up to now had no reply, probably won’t   Read Less

Previously sailed with Thomson on the celebration in February 2013 (Red Sea) and loved it so much we booked this cruise. We choose it because of the ports we would visit are some of the smaller ports, and this being our first long cruise being a young couple, we thought it represented an excellent chance to see places we might not see on larger ships. There were several issues leading upto the departure date, flights not being included in the holiday package, paperwork being printed incorrectly on numerous occasions and some question mark over having to pay for the transfer to harwich (resolved after 4 phone calls). The departure date itself went as planned from east midlands, embarkation was handled efficiently and we were soon joined by our luggage in the cabin. Thats when things started to go downhill, despite previous information saying we could make the beds into doubles, they couldn't be altered which gave us both height issues given were both 6foot plus. We also felt that even with the addition of some extra padding, the mattresses were very,very firm and totally unsuitable to anyone with joint pain. The food even at embarkation tasted poor and dry, throughout the holiday this did not improve. We also noticed how the atmosphere on board felt somber compared to the party atmosphere of the celebration. The staff were always willing to assist and are always cheerful, but we felt being a young couple this presented an issue with some staff and passengers on board, and quite often we found ourselfs ignored when it came to service. The ports were all worthwhile, we took some excellent star cycle tours with Dominique which we would highly recommend. On board entertainment wasn't quite to our tastes, but i have never seen such a hardworking entertainment team who managed to pull off ten or so different and varied shows. Guest entertainment comprised of 2 comedians and a singer who i cannot rate highly enough. Given the quality of the food and bedding we felt we had no other choice but to draw this to the attention of Thompson, who have so far remained silent. Otherwise it was a reasonably enjoyable cruise, but we we neither be recommending nor traveling with Thompson cruises again. D.Thomas   Read Less