The holiday got of to a good start with out outbound flight on the Dreamliner to Barbados. We stopped in a Gatwick hotel overnight as it was an early flight. Unfortunatley our more local airports, Birmingham and Manchester, did not have a Dreamliner on the return flight, even though Thomsons advertise that their long haul flights are on a Dreamliner aircraft. The staff in our Thomson holiday superstore, where we booked the holiday, wrongly tried to convince us it was, so always double check. Gatwick security check in is a dream, in and out, compared to our Manchester airport experience on previous flights.

Tui Discovery 1 ship is much larger and has better facilities than the Thomson Celebration, which we sailed the Carribean on a previous cruise. The food sadly is nowhere near as good, the steak on 3 occasions was uneaten as it was too tough and the main meal of prawn mac & cheese consisted of a heated pre made bowl of watery food on a plate with no garnish etc, I should have photographed it it was so bad.

The staff as always are excellent and can not do enough for you but in the main restaurant they are too busy as they now have to serve the meals and drinks, there are no longer any dedicated wine waiters. The food in the Italian restaurant always seemed much nicer and better presented but there was not enough variation to eat there every night. The Tapas & Pizza bar, situated in the glass house after 6.30pm, is also worth a visit for a change of scenery and a variation of menu. Read more