We embarked on the Thompson Spirit in Sharm El Sheikh on 7/04/2011 for the Red Sea Magic cruise.On the 9/04/2011 at least a dozen passengers went down with the Norovirus. We were amongst those infected. All were confined to their cabins. All were told to stay in their cabins until 24hrs after the last symptoms had gone ( violent sickness and diarrhoea ) After we came out of quarantine we were greeted with a frenzy of cleaning and disinfecting. The passengers were not allowed to serve themselves at the buffet and all the serving staff had latex gloves on.( TOO LATE)The food was often cold even though the buffet had only just opened.The pool had an oily scum on the surface, I had to ask a ships officer to get it removed, it should have been removed without it being pointed out to the crew.The toilets were continually malfunctioning i.e. not flushing.The ports of call were all industrial ports, ugly, dirty and unless you fancied an hours hot bumpy coach ride there was nothing to see. In 1 week we were only able to get off the ship twice.With one or two exceptions the reception staff were polite (but that was just for show, there was no sincerity)It's not all doom and gloom, the entertainment in the show lounge was first class and the room maids were brilliant, nothing was too much trouble.