As a first time cruiser and after reading so many bad reviews I was wary about the state of the Thomson Dream before I went on my holiday. After a returning I am now looking into which itinerary I should try next time.

The embarkation process was very smooth and fast. I was taken to my cabin. I had pre-booked a single occupancy outside cabin (as travelling in a group of three.) There was plenty of space and storage. The bathroom is as big and well equipped as the two person cabins. There was one bed, two quite big wardrobes, Four long draws, bedside table, large TV, mini-bar, small table, chair and dressing table with stool. My case took about 2 hours to be taken to the cabin but I didn't mind because we had been on a walk around the ship and had lunch before we wanted to unpack. On the first night I did have a surprise. The cabin I had booked was very noisy and whatever was causing it made everything rattle. It felt like the engine was working hard and being the second cabin form the back I just thought it would stop when we got out into open water. Unfortunately this did not happen. Through the night it was difficult to sleep because there was a loud grinding noise on a regular basis. During the sea day the noise seemed to stop. The second night was more bearable but I was concerned that it would start again as none of the staff I spoke to seemed to think the engine was functioning as expected. I was lucky to offered another cabin which was four rooms from the front on a lower deck. I could feel the movement of the ship but only two nights which really made me notice. The rest of the time I was very happy. The cabins were cleaned in the morning and the beds turned down in the evening. Thanks to Beni and Karren who worked very hard, they were always friendly, professional and chatty.

The trips at the ports are reasonable priced, we took part in 'Rome all in one day,' 'Florence on your own' and 'Monaco and Monte Carlo.' Rome and Vatican City is very tiring but we did see a lot of the city and the guide was very knowledgeable. Florence, even as a first time visitor was very easy to navigate. The information from the guide and map helped to make the areas of interest easy to find. Monaco and Monte Carlo was a half day trip which was a nice day. It was also good after two trips last 10 hours each having a shorter day allowed us to have time on the ship. We also visited Corsica on our own. We left the ship with the map from destination services and found the beach and town centre with no problems. Read more