Keith Jackson

You said you spent £5000 on this cruise. That would get you at least a balcony cabin on a two week cruise on (how can I put this?) a different cruiseline which may be more to your taste

sorry but it's just not my sort of holiday....however it's dressed up...I week I could just about bear , but a fortnight started to send me up the wall...:)

Keith, is it cruising in general and/or Thomsons in particular that's not to your taste ?

 

Incidentally, we've done 4 cruises with Princess and each time there has been bingo on offer - always well attended.

 

Does that mean Princess patronise their clientele as well ?

Ive done 3 cruises all with thomson, because thats what I could afford.So it's not like Ive dismissed it out of hand it's had a chance, it was primarily the wifes wish hopefully she's now over it :) Any brand that makes assumptions of it's customers and acts on that assumption is acting in a presumptive and patronising way, but thats just my opinion , I dont like social clubs either...it's so old hat, the impression I got is that my parents could have been well used to this - they cruised 30 years ago and it seems to have not changed....incidentally my mother died last year she was 90 and my father's hanging on at 93

It just shows that no one holiday is going to please everyone. It also shows us that his other half should get a long service medal for living with Victor Meldrew.

Agree first sentence.I think if we'd stayed in Majorca for first week then cruised 2nd week it would have been more bearable,I could have tolerated 7 days [ I have before ] but we all have different tastes, the point being that there were some aspects that didn't appeal to me [important aspects to me]and some that, yeah ok , were bearable,can't understand why my opinion should provoke your reaction except that maybe it's pointed out a flaw in your reality,or do you really think we should all be the same?

....VM

Oh dear

well you cant win them all, "oh dear"?

yes I'm over 60 it doesnt mean that music of the last 30 years doesn't interest me, it doesn't mean I like twisting, rock and roll or skiffle, thats where we >60's were patronised... by assumption, or that I would want to play bingo, there is music of the 60's I like but there's no way it's going to be catered for on something like this which, by necessity, has to think it must appeal to what is perceived to be the widest interest or LCD.As for the canteen, well it was a bit chucked up wasn't it? with congealed pasta and cardboard dry fish, it was convenience food on a mass scale with no finesse at all.

It wasn't a miserable time and the wife enjoyed it...mainly for the excursions...and if it made her , happy thats great, but for £5000 I couldve stayed in a top class greek hotel and had the option of getting out and about as well....roll on Kefalonia

We were on Thomson Dream for two weeks ending 20/6.This was primarily my wife's gig for our 4oth WA.Considering the amount we paid I thought the thing was a bit tacky and cheap.

The whole experience was very dated and boring, discovered that cruising for 14 days is not for me.

Food : the problem is catering for a mass of people, how do you keep things warm and stopped from drying out.The Orion was ok - most people you were coralled with were fine, the food ranged from pretentious to over imagined .The buffets were awful places which reminded me of my works canteen over 40 years ago.Of the three restaurants where you paid we liked Mistral most,the others were ok.

Entertainment: Awful.The piped music was repititious and stuck in a time warp which ended around 1980.It relied on patently cheap Filipino labour, the trio on particular couldnt reach notes and sounded as if they were singing after using a language cassette.The pianist was too loud and the "comedian" had seen better days.

If Ruth Madoc had come on the intercom saying "Good morning cruisers, today there's a spaghetti eating contest" I wouldnt have been surprised.

Excursions: We had three cancelled, some of the guides spoke too much,or had their own agenda, some excursions gave you too much free time others not enough.

Staff : Very hard working...we left our cleaner a tip, she showed no appreciation and didnt say goodbye, wheras previously she was very friendly, maybe we didnt give enough, we werent obliged to.

one sad conclusion. these things are mainly for the over 60's and thats how patronising Thomson treat you,with constant "tributes" to the 50's and 60's,[ and the UK, sorry,but it really is the Fat Man of Europe and what else should you expect when food - not just snacks - are available all day long, with drink packages seemingly designed for some people with a serious drink problem.But then theres not really a lot to do except wander around trying to look young and finding a bar for yet another cocktail of the day,crass, unimaginative and boring. Hopefully my wife will have been cruised out BY now

Looks as though we'll need lunch in these excursion stops.Can anyone give me an estimate of costs to lunch out? Thanks

Oh I enjoy a drink :), I just have to careful not to over indulge:(

I lasted 5 days before being rushed from Katocolo to Patras UH via Pyrgos GH to have a stent fitted, that was my introduction to cruising

Anyway.....whats Deck 9 like for o/s cabins and quality of sleep?

there is not a huge choice of non alcoholic other than soft drinks by the glass & fruit juice(s)

 

there's a supplement for irn bru, red bull, j2o (and bottles of water)

 

there is a selection of non alcoholic cocktails

 

they do a mock-tail of the day... virgin daiquiri's/colada's

 

lattes, cappuccinos & hot chocolate are free on ai (from the bars)

 

they have becks non alcoholic beer but there is a supplement for that

 

hope this helps

Thanks

It does seem as though these cruises are aimed at serious drinkers,and a supplement on N/A drinks just seems peverse,....I enjoy a glass[sarc] of wine, but dare not keep getting "topped up" and on the other hand I dont want to spend the evening drinking micky mouse cocktails either...AI Drinks package wasted on us,rather have had a few hundred knocked off the cost,so the temptation wasn't there...just hope I dont get seduced by all that free booze LOL...Thanks

We are on the Dream on 6th for 2 weeks. When we booked we had a free drinks passage, unfortunately I have to be really careful of the amount I drink, any recommendations for non alchaholic bevs?

is there wi fi in the cabins - andromeda deck

how much is it

if not where is there wi fi

how much

thanks

nautical terms? ...like "Ahoy there shipmate" "scuttle me timbers" and "pieces of eight you scurvy landlubbers" it's very important to learn these in order to communicate with the crew:D