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stevedeccaman

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    2018 Programme

    in Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson)

    Posted

    Thomson Cruises has unveiled its summer 2018 programme which sees TUI Discovery based out of the UK for the first time, as well as the addition of 15 new ports of call, including Monaco, Ancona and Skiathos Town, and 12 brand new itineraries.

     

    TUI Discovery, which joined the Thomson Cruises fleet in summer 2016, will be moving to new homeport Newcastle from May 2018 where it will visit the Norwegian fjords and cities including Stockholm, Sweden; Tallinn, Estonia and Reykjavik, Iceland. Passengers sailing on these Baltic cruises can also make use of their time in the region with an overnight onboard stay in St Petersburg, Russia.

    In September 2018 and in a first for Thomson Cruises, TUI Discovery moves to Southampton where it will finish its summer sailing four itineraries; Fantastic Fjords, Baltic Treasures, European Experience and Seeking the Northern Lights. The new European Experience itinerary visits Germany, Belgium and France, with an overnight onboard stay in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Seeking the Northern Lights will take customers to the northernmost city in Norway to spot the natural phenomenon for the first time.

    Thomson Celebration will move to Dubrovnik for summer 2018 where it will operate an adults-only programme, which includes no-sea day itinerary. Venetian Vistas now offers customers the chance to wake up in a new destination every day, spending full days in Bar, Montenegro; Korcula, Croatia; Zadar, Croatia; Venice, Italy; Trieste, Italy and Split, Croatia. Thomson Celebration will also sail two new itineraries, Sail Three Seas and Greek Mystique. Sail Three Seas will visit Valetta, Malta; Messina, Sicily; Kefalonia; Igoumenitsa, Greece and Kotor, Montenegro, while customers choosing Greek Mystique can explore Chania, Crete; Piraeus (for Athens), Greece; Kalamata, Greece; Corfu Town, Corfu and Kotor, Montenegro.

    Making its debut in Corfu Town in summer 2018, TUI Discovery 2 will sail four itineraries in the Eastern Mediterranean, and Thomson Dream will be based in Palma, Majorca. Thomson Cruises’ newest ship, which is currently sailing as Mein Schiff 1 for TUI Cruises will also homeport in Palma, Majorca. Customers choosing these ships, along with Thomson Celebration, will be able to team their holiday with a beach break as part of the extensive Cruise and Stay programme, offering further chance to explore the destinations.

    Managing Director of Thomson Cruises

    90 day seat reservation

    in Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson)

    Posted

    this from admin on TUI discovery facebook page

    quote :

    "For everyone confused about some people selecting seats early (normally 90 days before your return flight), just to confirm that you can now select your seats at the time of booking, but only if you're in premium club, or have paid for extra space or extra leg room seats. For anyone who has just paid the 'select your seat' fee the seat plan will still open 90 days before your return flight as it's always done!"

     

    Stevie

    Any last minute peeps for a Grand Suite

    in Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson)

    Posted

    • TRANSATLANIC PALMA TO BARBADOS

    • 29 TH OCTOBER 2016

    • FROM GATWICK

    Tropical Escape

    TUI Discovery

    15 night cruise

    • Grand Suite Cabin × 1 Included

    • Full Board

    • FLIGHTS

    • EXTRAS

    • PRICE BREAKDOWN

    • Online Discount - £1294.12

    • Basic Cruise £4268.00

    • Options & Extras (total) £2.00

    • TOTAL PRICE £2975.88

    • 2 Adults

    +£25.94 per person per night AI

    ==================================================

    -FROM MANCHESTER• Tropical Escape

    TUI Discovery

    15 night cruise

    • Grand Suite Cabin × 1 Included

    • Full Board

    • Online Discount - £393.12 • Basic Cruise £4368.00

    • Tropical Escape

    TUI Discovery

    15 night cruise

    • Grand Suite Cabin × 1 Included

    • Full Board

    • Online Discount - £393.12

    • Basic Cruise £4368.00

    • Options & Extras (total) £2.00

    • TOTAL PRICE £3976.88

    +£25.94 per person per night AI

    note the difference in discount from Gatwick

     

    Stevie note this is not for a standard cabin

    Are returning customers acknowledged ?

    in Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson)

    Posted

    Are returning customers acknowledged ?

    Question I asked on pre travel email reply

     

    Thank you for your email, Please be advised we do run a cruise loyalty scheme which is managed by our cruise operations team.

     

    Customers identified will be provided with gifts/services on-board, however we are unable to confirm this pre departure.

     

    If we can be of any further assistance please refer back to us.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------

    luck of the draw, free key ring with every 10th cruise ? :D

    Discovery Review

    in Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson)

    Posted

    Time to review our week aboard TUI Discovery!!

    Embarkation - very well done

    Cabin (7638 - deluxe balcony at back of ship) - large balcony, had fridge, plenty of storage space, there was 3 of us, my son had a sofa bed that they took down & made up early. Shower is small (not much room to larger up) and curtain sticks to you but after a tip from Cath it became a lot easier, turn on to get wet, turn off & open curtain to wash hair etc, turn back on to rinse

    The evening turn down was lovely it was nice to get back to cabin and read cruise news whilst eating the chocolate that had been left on your pillow.

    Our only fault of the cabin is that most mornings we were unable to go out onto balcony when we docked as it was covered with black soot. Some clothes that I left out occasionally got covered in soot.

    Food - we ate in MDR, Italian, Glass House twice (once for Tapas and once for Black Rock) and the buffet the rest of the time on an evening. Breakfast we always ate in buffet and lunch we grabbed something from Snack Shack. In ALL places the food and service could not be faulted. Waitress/Waiter took drink orders promptly and they were delivered quickly.

    My favourite place was the Glass House although we are at 6:30 pm which was early there was still people in pool/swimwear in the area and this felt a bit odd.

    Drinks - we (including my son) went to bar for drinks at various places on the ship as well as used waiter service at various places on the ship. NO real problem with queues or having to wait ages for drinks to arrive. Bar menu is quite a menu with plenty of yummy cocktails to try. They did run out of a few bottles of the beers in various places but these were restocked when they could but with such a choice it wasn't really an issue.

    Sun beds - there seemed to be plenty, we got some round by pool every time we went for some. We normally reserved then went and had breakfast and then returned to them (so around 9am) at this time still lots available. I can't comment on Deck 10 beds. I did witness on 2 occasions beds next to me being reserved but no one using them for a good few hours. There was no sun bed wars!!!

    Kids Club - very good!! My son used it a few times and enjoyed each session. Especially the trip to the bridge to meet the Captain!!

    Sea day - some of you may have already seen my post about sea day.....after that day I would have said I was never cruising again!! We did take tablets (Boots own brand) but they did nothing, my hubby and I ended up at Reception for their tablets which I believe were Sturgeon (sorry if spelt wrong), so my advice is come prepared. We spoke to people who had cruised many times before and some of them were also poorly. But all was forgotten over the next amazing days.

    Excursions - all well planned. Rome (10 hr trip was good but very hard work in 42 degree heat). My personal favourite was Pisa & Tasting.

    Dress code - this was something that was worrying us, however we didn't need to worry. Every night we smartly dressed for a meal and on the dress to impress night we did not look out of place being less formal than others. There were lots of people dressed formally and again they did not look out of place and I loved seeing them all. It is definitely about personal preference!!

    Entertainment - very good, I even took part and ended up with bottle of Moët!! The game show in Venue was something we enjoyed most evenings a bit of lighthearted fun!!

    Overall experience - AMAZING hard to fault anything, staff excellent as well as fellow passengers (I did not experience slobs or snobs - which is words that have been used in posts in the past). For all yet to sail have a fab time and be yourself!

    Discovery Review

    in Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson)

    Posted

    recent Discovery review ,not mine borrowed from FB Page today

    Stevie:)

     

     

    This cruise was absolutely fantastic , so for all the people worrying about the negative comments" don't "there really is nothing to complain about . Stayed in cabin 2020 it was an outside near the front with a large window , there was no noise or sway . The cabin was spacious and very clean and the cabin staff were excellent .

    The food was amazing , we mainly ate in 47 and gallery 47 there was plenty of choice and the waiters were wonderful they really could not do enough for you , our glasses never went empty . Even the most fussiest eater would find something in one of the restaurants .

    The shows were fantastic and wouldn't look out of place in the west end , not a problem getting seats either .Also plenty of quizzes and game shows if music isn't your thing .

    Excursions were well organised and went without a hitch . The cruise news is posted in your cabin and gives you all the information you need for the next day . Also there are giant iPads around the ship which provide additional information .

    The all inclusive bar menu gave you plenty of good quality choice and the measures were very generous , sometimes the wait for a drink could take a while but there was always the option to go to the bar yourself .

    All of the staff are so friendly and work incredibly hard and always more than happy to help .

    The pool area is very clean and there are plenty of sun beds we never had a problem getting one even on sea day

     

    I hope anyone about to go on has a fantastic holiday

    Recent review Discovery dress code

    in Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson)

    Posted

    another review 23 July

    Stevie:)

     

     

    ----------------------------Ok so here are my thoughts on Tui Discovery and The Magic of Spain itinerary. If I forget to stop I'm sorry, you can always stop reading. Also this is only my thoughts and opinions ( of which I also am entitled ) you do not have to agree with me. First of all I love this ship and I will be more than happy to cruise on her again, soon hopefully. We had a junior suite on deck 8, Cabin 8050, I loved the space we had and the balcony was a great size. We had a kettle and also coffee maker, Clarins shampoo etc. And twice during the week we had little extras, one of them was foot balm. I would say that we did hear a bit of noise in the evening ( John of course heard nothing ) lol but it wasn't too bad and not all the time.

     

    The food in The main resturant was lovely and the staff we great. We ate in Gallery 47^ ( upstairs Italian ) a couple of times and again food was good but I would say they need to vary the menu they only have 2 menus and they just alternate each day. Chefs special the Linguini was excellent although you do have to pay £4.95 extra but they prepare it at your table ( I posted photos before ). We also had breakfast in main resturant and there is always plenty of choice. Islands buffet for us for lunch and afternoon tea, always plenty to chose.

    As far as drink is concerned, and this is the last time I'm going to mention it, we never had to wait long for a drink but however if we didn't see a waiter we went for it ourselves. After all there is no rule to say you cannot go to the bar. Also the have little pop up bars that they have on the pool deck and beside snack shack in the afternoons when it is busier.

     

    Entertainment was very good with a couple of guest acts in as well. Although I enjoyed the shows I think they have done better in the past but different people have different ideas and we did still enjoy them. Some of the game shows in The Venue I thought were a bit similar but a laugh .

     

    Ports

    Gibraltar, we did Alameda gardens and cable car.

    This was a bit of a disaster as they only had shuttle buses to take everyone so lots of waiting about. I'm not blaming Thomson this was down to the tour operator but they need to get it sorted. The excursion was ok the benefit being that you didn't need to wait in the ridiculously long queue for the cable car.

    Lisbon

    We did the Lisbon Panoramic tour which I would recommend however I did start to get fed up getting on and off the bus for photos.

    Cadiz

    No excursion today, you can easily walk into town from the ship, not a lot to see near the port but very pretty.

    Malaga

    Today we got the little shuttle €5 return it doesn't take you very far then you have to walk to the town centre. We decided to walk back and really it's not too far. Wish we had just walked both ways. Also you can walk to the beach from the ship.

    Cartagena

    This was our favourite port, it's very beautiful. I can recommend the Ports of Culture excursion we really enjoyed this and it finishes near the town centre then you can walk back to the ship.

     

    Finally, ( if your still with me lol ) the staff in Tui Discovery were all fantastic nothing was too much trouble and they were all very friendly. A big thank you goes to Ronaldo who was our cabin Steward.

     

    If you made it to the end well done you are amazing and thank you for taking the time to read. I'm happy to try and answer any questions but once again this is only my thoughts and opinions.

    We had a fabulous week, hope you all to do.

    • Thanks 1

    Lorry attack in Nice

    in Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson)

    Posted

    So sad an evening celebrating freedom turned into a tragedy

    my heart goes out to all those involved

    :(Stevie

     

    Summary

     

    A lorry has ploughed through a crowd during Bastille Day celebrations in the southern French city of Nice

    At least 84 people are dead, including many children, the interior ministry says

    A further 18 people are in a critical condition in hospital

    The driver of the lorry was shot dead, French media report

    French media reports say he was 31 and known to police

    French President Francois Hollande said the country was "under the threat of Islamic terrorism"

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