Deb71

Thanks both for your replies, very helpful :-)

Hi everyone, I am researching the various trips available for St Petersburg. There is a Thomson run Panoramic City Tour for 1/2 day which would suit us perfectly, but can anyone tell me if you get off the bus apart from the one photo stop at the Aurora Battleship? Thanks in advance!

Wishing your husband a speedy recovery xxx

Thanks for the reviews Holiday Ahoy and Gill, very interesting :) I too felt a bit pressured to stay on the same table in the restaurant, in the end we let our daughter go first and she decided lol. Interesting the bridge tour was offered as a loyalty reward, I wondered why these didn't appear to do one this time (Best of British) wish Thomson would make these things clear - although it doesn't appear clear to them either :D

I would like to be associated with the remarks of the previous speakers, (kalos & Deb.)

Our 4th on Spirit & yes there were slight differences. We had towel animals every night on Deck 1, Deb, (I must try & book earlier) & singing waiters too.

That's good to know Don :D We must have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, I'll just have to book again :)

Great cruise wasn't it :D Ok the weather could have been warmer but at least the rain held off most of the time and the seas were calm - we've had choppier seas in the Caribbean lol

Our first time on the Spirit and we were very impressed, the public areas seemed very spacious and after our most recent trip on the Majesty trying to find a seat in the Lido (although I know it's recently been altered) we were impressed with the Lido on the Spirit. Nice quiet cabin deck 1 in the middle. Food was great as always! We too loved the Horizons bar, especially the evening sailing away from Tobermory watching the islands pass us by and seeing the lighthouses shining away in the distance, just magical :) The evening shows were just great and our daughter loved kids club.

We saw some luggage being offloaded in Kirkwall, must have been the poor guest who was taken ill in the night, we asked for an update but they didn't know, hope they are ok.

We noticed a couple of small differences from previous cruises - no towel animals for us, no singing waiters apart from baked Alaska night and no tour of the bridge, but obviously this did not stop us enjoying the cruise and I would book the Spirit again for sure! All the staff were lovely as always although we did find the photographer quite rude when trying to sell us more photos.

My husband was mistaken for one of the entertainment staff several times which I found hilarious as he can't sing a note lol

What a shame they are stopping UK cruises, as Kalos said it was such an easy process, we were on the ship before we knew it and disembarking was just as easy. Fingers crossed for the future. Now, in the meantime, where's that brochure........:D

Glad to hear it, I love thomsons and some people turn there noses up. Im going on the 16th, Is it best of british debs?

That's the one :-) Can't wait! That hurricane will be long gone by then....:eek:

That's good to know, we are on her soon (16th) and I'm counting down the days :D

Thanks for that Kalos and Kruzseeka! Starting to gather intelligence for the cruise now and this really helps :)

No advice to give but we are on the same cruise so would find any info really useful, also for Waterford. Not long now, just received the e ticket, woohoo!

Hi there, we are on the Spirit with my 6 year old but not until August. The staff are fab with kids, the waiters always make a fuss over my little girl and everyone is so friendly :) There is always a good selection of food for them. Maybe take a puzzle book/DS with you at meal times to keep him occupied whilst he is waiting, or if you go to the evening shows. I can't comment on the kids club as we haven't used one yet but that would be worth a try if it's open on this cruise? The Spirit has a cinema so that could be worth checking out. There usually isn't much time for them to get bored, the days fly by! Have a great time xx

Hi, we did a tour of the bridge on Majesty last April, I think it was advertised in the Cruise News :) I think it was organised via reception, we booked it as soon as we heard about it as numbers were limited. If you go look out for the photos of the ship when they lengthened it, really interesting!

Does anyone know if Angel is in the MDR this year? :)

I love mojitos :) Rum based, with lime and mint, very refreshing. I always have a look to see what the cocktail of the day is too. Enjoy!

Hi there, we are on the same cruise :) Also thinking about staying in a travelodge/premier inn the night before to have a look around Newcastle. Can't wait!

Just had a look at the cruise I booked for next year, its gone up about £50 and I did a dummy booking with the discount code and it said it wasnt applicable to this booking, strange! But you're right, they will give with one hand and take with the other :)

Deb, Wife and I did the uk cruise last August,it was really good,but we were very lucky with the weather, have been on Spirit 4 times,its a lovely ship, nothing glamorous but really friendly, I did a review on here please have a look. Roy.

Thanks Roy, I've had a look and feel reassured! :) Found some more reviews on another cruise site too, am going to get it booked, can't wait to try the Spirit.

in relation to your cabin query, dont think there are any 3 berth on 1/2 ,so it will be a 4 on deck 1, know a few people who have had various of these with no problems so definately not worth paying to prebook

That's great, thanks for confirming :D

What I meant was I don't think Spirit will be ex-UK in 2015; I'm a year ahead of myself! We loved the Spirit - lovely ship & it will certainly be different arriving at UK towns etc by ship. All the ex-UK cruises on Spirit is year have had glowing reports as far as I have read ;)

Lol, I got what you meant, that's one of the reasons I want to book, looks like we have plenty of time to do future med cruises if the Spirit doesn't operate from the UK after next year. Really fancy Fire and Ice but it overlaps with the beginning of school, grrr. I do fancy this one though, what other holiday can you visit Ireland, Scotland and the Orkneys in one week!

Thanks for both your replies :) Think I night just have to go ahead and book it, can't contain myself any longer lol :D

Hi everyone

Please can some experts on the Spirit help me out....! :o

I'm thinking about booking the Best of British cruise on the Spirit next August. I think there was a similar cruise this year but can't seem to find any reviews, did anyone go on this and what did they think :confused:

I'm happy with the current price on offer - £1400 ish for my husband daughter and I, good considering it's within the dreaded summer holidays. Because it's a one off I can't compare prices aganst other cruises and watch for any fluctuations like I normally do, I know it's complete hit and miss but do you think it may change in the near future (yes I know, get my crystal ball out :D) There is free port parking on offer currently - again, can anyone hazard a guess when Thomsons start adding a charge for it.

I'm basing the price on a 1/2 inside cabin. Having done my research I know which areas to avoid. Looking at the deck plan there are only some 4 berth inside cabins available on deck 1 (850s-890s) and no 3 berth. So I assume we will be allocated one of these 4 berth cabins, which seem to be middle/slightly forward - so I reckon any of these will be ok and probalby won't need to prebook a specific cabin, what do you think?

Any assistance would be really appreciated, have posted on the FB group but no luck so far and I really want to get it booked, just got a tax rebate and thought the sensible thing to do would be to put a deposit on a cruise :p