Very dated boat - probably looked good in the 1980's but not in comparison to modern ships. We paid about £800 a night for this cruise - probably about the same rate as some of London's top hotels. In return got dull, luke-warm, very plain food, which we had to fetch ourselves from the buffet. Reception told us not to bother going to the a la carte restaurant - apparently if you wear £150 pair of jeans you aren't as special as someone wearing 2 for a tenner chinos from the Daily Mail special offers page. The board basis was meant to be 'All Inclusive' yet this only entitles you to a 'basic' drinks package - they constantly try to get you to pay £50 to upgrade to a premium package. Not quite All Inclusive then - but I suppose Semi-Inclusive has less sales appeal. Talking of trying to push sales, Thomson has all their staff at it - even the Captain came over the Tannoy at many of the ports trying to flog us bottled water from the ship because it was 'cheaper' than onshore (it wasn't), and advising us to get a Boat Taxi at Venice rather than walking - even though we found out it was only a 30 minute walk.

Poolside it was a bit like Butlins at sea with young 'entertainment' hosts trying to enforce fun on the passengers by playing daft games and quizzes that everyone just googles the answers for. Ruined the poolside peace more than anything else. The water in the pool had an interesting grey colour with plenty of dead wasps, empty beer cups and used plasters floating about all day.

The boat is also badly sound proofed. We booked a suite cabin which is situated on the deck below the 'Medusa Bar' which has mediocre bands blaring out the same old done-to-death songs at volume 11 through till midnight - I appreciate this isn't that late but we have a 6 and 4 year old who wished to go to sleep at 10pm who kept being disturbed by the bass, wailing, stomping feet and drunken cheering. There was no point asking to be moved cabins as they only have 5 suites and I think they are all on the same deck so we didn't bother. Read more