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(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.

Marella Spirit Review

great ports of call

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