Island Escape

Had been considering a cruise for a while, then last October saw this cruise on the Thomson web site and phoned a friend for advice. It was booked on her advice for the four of us to go together. Then we saw the reviews and knew it was a mistake.
We joined the ship in Palma, after taking ages to get through customs apart from that our only complaints were, the mattress were well worn and on deck 10, 24 hour food, you had to stir your tea or coffee with a drinks straw? It is a bit tired in places but consider the price for the Island Escape and others and you get what you pay for.
We opted for the £98 all inclusive offer and didn't get ignored while they served the paying customers. One waiter was a bit of a misery to start with, then cheered later. Our cabin was kept clean and we tipped our cabin boy Jamie because as soon as we moved out he was in there folding the toilet roll. We had must evening meals in the Island Restaurant, not as noisy as the restaurant on deck 10. My only complaint there is the tables were a bit too close for the waiters to squeeze through. As well as the usual potatoes and beef or chicken, each day they had a separate counter where there was something different daily, Susi, Italian, Indian.
I was a bit concerned about it being full of screaming kids, but as we don't sit round the pool where I believe there was the usual complaint about sun beds the children didn't bother us.
We were advised to book our excursions before we went and booked one for every port. Yes they are quite expensive but we would rather pay a little more and get only an English commentary. Don't book the Barcelona Explorer, get the tour bus in the port. We got on the coach, the guide Robinson told us his name. Didn't speak again until we reached the park and were told what time to be back. On to see the Sagrada Famillia, on leaving the bus we could either wait and he would walk us up to the cathedral or be back there for a certain time. About half the bus, us included went on our way without Robinson. This is where on return half the bus waited in the wrong place. Fortunately we spoke to the guide on the bus which had been following us and discovered we waiting in the wrong place! Because of that we only had a short time in Las Ramblas, most of us walked back to the ship.
This was our first cruise, have already got the next one chosen, anyone who is concerned about sea sick give it a try. My hubby is the worse sailor there is, has felt ill on a lake rowing boat. He wasn't too sure one night when it get a little choppy, but went to bed and slept through it.

Cabin 4553 inside. Bigger than expected, but would chose an outside next time only for the reason I like to see day light.