Chose this cruise for the itinerary and past good experiences on Thomson cruises. Embarkation at Manchester airport was very slow and disorganised with staff struggling to hand out docs.We travelled as a couple and for the very first time found ourselves seperated on the long flights because we didn’t pay extra to book seats, shame on you Tui, you might expect this on a budget airline, not on a cruise package.

Whilst the ship was nicely decked out for Christmas, the celebrations were somewhat spoilt by some passengers who do not know how to dress on a cruise ship. It seems that because of over capacity in the cruise industry, the operators will let anything go these days. Shorts, trainers and football tops in the main dining room, surely not? The quality of the food was very disappointing, probably the worst we have experienced in over 20 years of cruising. The buffet choices were very limited and repetitive, either under or over cooked!The Christmas dinner was mediocre to say the least, we were on the third and last sitting and the dining room staff had obviously had enough by then and just wanted to get rid of us with rushed service and no offer of coffee/ tea after the meal.

The only people we spoke to who thought all was good seemed to be first time cruisers. Read more