This is our review of our first Thomson Fly/Cruise with it's good points and bad points. Let's take the bad points first. Booking for the 'Pharaohs' cruise was straightforward and we paid in full in June. After the riots in Egypt, Thomson changed the name and itinerary to 'Delights of the Promised Land. We received no notification from Thomson but thanks to information on 'Cruise Critic' we had the revised itinerary. When we got on board talking to other passengers that had been notified, we learned there was a £50 per person refund because of the change. Our pre-booked cabin 453 was the smallest we have seen (always book the outside plus if possible) and it had a nauseating sewage smell present, which took 4 days to get sorted. We also noted in the early mornings we had no hot water before 7am, this did not get sorted. It did appear that if you had any complaints, no one wanted to know and we had to stand our ground to demand an official complaints form from reception. (not the standard survey form).

Other than the niggles mentioned the good points were exceptionally pleasing. We ate in most of the eateries but not the a la carte. All produced excellent food and the selection was varied, the service was also excellent. Queues could form at the buffet which was double sided, although we only saw one side used at anytime.

Entertainment was varied and plentiful and on a 7 day cruise impossible to sample everything on offer. However, the showtime shows in the Jubilee lounge, which included covers of Queen, Michael Jackson and Moulin Rouge were outstanding, as were Muzzik Unlimited who performed before the main Read more