jake 26

I don't think they should be. I have seen lots of people on ships who seem intent on throwing as much booze down their throats as possible.

 

What I would prefer is you have a drinks account credited with a reasonable amount of money and you can have any drink you want 'free', including premium brands, until the account is depleted, after which you pay the list price.

 

What would a reasonable amount of money be?

I would say £125 per person per week, or £250 per cabin for 2.

On board we are 'Sundowners' so we don't drink until 5pm and that for us is a tipple on the balcony until after sailaway, then a decent wine with dinner, and maybe a drink in the theatre later.

We were not on AI during our recent 14 night Discovery cruise and our drinks bill, which included 3 litres of spirits from the on board shop, plus mixers, was around £300. Some of the wine we chose was around £18 a bottle.

If we had purchased the AI when we boarded the cost was around £790 for the two of us (£726 if purchased on line). I know some early bookers got it free.

So your plan would suit us as we could have the choice we prefer.

P&O add a non itemised service charge to their drink prices. This is because bar waiters are not part of the £5.50 per day discretionary service charge scheme. I have heard that this charge is 12% and you can not remove it.

Tipping on P&O is now £6 per person per day.

We are considering a 2018 cruise on Discovery 2 and I am keen to find our how Thomson (Tui) compare to P&O as they are who we cruise with most and since the drop in exchange rates don't feel we can consider the US lines at present. They is not a great difference in price between Thomson and P&O and wonder which is the better value if there is anyone who cruises on both lines could advise.

No contest in my opinion.

We have cruised extensively with P&O since 2004 and we have both logged over 9 months at sea with them, and sailed on all their ships bar Britannia, in many areas of the world. However, from around 2013, we felt that things were changing and the introduction of the bigger ships had a negative impact on many areas that were a trademark of P&O - staff friendliness, service levels, food quality etc.

We lost interest and returned to more land based holidays.

A few years ago we sailed on Legend of the Seas with RC,I and that was our favourite ship because of the Vision Class design, i.e. so much light in the dining rooms and Atrium, and it's classic cruise ship design.

When we heard the news that Thomson were acquiring Splendour of the Seas from RCI we were extremely interested as it is the sister ship of Legend, so we booked a Med cruise last October on TUI Discovery as it is now. We enjoyed it so much that, when we got home, we cancelled a cruise we had booked on P&O Aurora to celebrate our fiftieth wedding anniversary in favour of a Caribbean cruise on Discovery.

We have just returned from that and it really did meet our expectations in every way. We have been to the Caribbean before but this was the best.

Dave has succinctly put many of the good points but for us the highlights of the cruise were

1) A very beautiful ship which never felt crowded

2) A very happy crew who greeted you with a smile wherever you went

3) An excellent quality and choice of food wherever you went.

4) The ambience of the waiter dining areas.

5) We always asked to share a table in the MDR at breakfast and dinner and met some great fellow passengers, and that made for a very social cruise.

6) We chose a junior suite which was perfect in size and had many of the attributes of a main suite. It had a superb balcony with 2 chairs, table and sun lounger. We agreed it was the best cabin we'd ever had, and better value than P&O.

7) We found the entertainment similar to P&O, but we did miss a lot of it preferring to socialise or enjoying the balmy nights on deck.

8) We booked 6 excursions which we thoroughly enjoyed and thought were better value marginally than P&O.

Because it was our 50th wedding anniversary we booked a Blessing on Board which occurred on the exact date, in St Lucia, and performed by the Captain. The social hostess, Lisanne, organised the event brilliantly, and a few days later arranged dinner with senior officers for several couples doing similar. It really was professionally done.

So for us Thomson Cruises get 10/10 and we will return.

Just back from Discovery and I noticed a paragraph appearing in the daily Cruise News which offers an upgrade to 'Premium All Inclusive' for £10 pppd which includes all premium brands and specialty drinks.

So I think that is a precursor to what is going to happen with the AI package I.e a dumming down of the existing package and a charge levied for a proper package.

We are currently in the No. 1 lounge at Birmingham Airport.

We stayed at the Novotel across the road overnight and checked in Premium club this morning. Fast track through security was excellent then into the lounge for a nice complementary breakfast. A very relaxed start to our flight to join Discovery.

We are just looking at upgrading to the new Nationwide flex plus account. It does include cruising, worldwide cover and also car breakdown. We have a couple of minor medical conditions and the cost to include those was less buying an annual worldwide policy so we will probably be changing! I also have a zero a/c with Santander which I always use abroad and Post Office credit card which doesn't charge for use abroad.

We have the NW flexplus and the travel insurance cover is excellent. We pay an additional amount for pre existing conditions but it's worth it. We had to claim on one occasion and it was trouble free.

We draw foreign currency on the debit card when abroad and there is no fee, and you get the best exchange rate (as long as you do the.transaction in the currency you are drawing and don't let the atm provider do the exchange)

Also there is no charge on the NW credit card on purchases abroad (there is a change for drawing cash)

 

Sorry of course it is a personal choice and I wasn't decrying anyone who does, its just for us, when there are 8 travelling that money could be spent on Disney tickets or meals etc at our destination. We have flown Premium once, when we got them on a late deal included and I couldn't justify the extra which sometimes is about £250+ pp, but as you said everyone's priorities differ :)

 

I see your point entirely. With 8 travelling that is a lot of extra cash, especially if you are going on a land based holiday.

I think we are looking at it more as couples on cruise holidays where meals and entertainment are included. The premium does add that extra comfort and service dimension.

We personally do not see it as a waste and do not just go for the extra space, but I do understand that we all have different requirements from a holiday

 

 

Totally agree PC.

I think the difference in cost between extra leg room and premium is well worth it for all the add ons like premier lounge access (UK), security fast track, priority boarding and disembarkation, plus extra space and upgraded service. As you say though, it's a personal choice.

Fire and Ice - Wonder how they get a sea day between Invergordon and Newcastle???

To make the cruise 14 nights I should think.

Leave Invergordon late and cruise to the most northern point of Moray Firth then a gentle 12 knot cruise to Newcastle docking early morning.

1) US$ widely accepted. Far better to get it before you go.

2) No visas required for UK nationals,

3) No special requirements for jabs.

4) WiFi on board is slow and pricey.

You're welcome, I might add that the evening entertainment is really quite good it's just the daytime stuff that's a bit 'pants' especially if the weather is poor, you could be wandering around looking for something to do as most 'activities' tend to be aimed at the more 'mature' passenger. Although you might like a bit of towel folding etc. Let's put it this way, on one P&O cruise I was on I took part in a quiz and the prize was (wait for it) a pension book holder (serious) plus there was also an organised discussion on euthanasia Jesus eh? That was a laugh a minute. (I'm honestly not making this up)

 

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

I just spilt my tea laughing, better call the carer...

We only recently moved to Thomson after a lot of cruises with P&O mainly and some with Royal Caribbean.

The 2 latest Thomson ships, Discovery 1 & 2, were originally with Royal Caribbean as Splendour of the Seas and Legend of the Seas respectively. They are Vision class ships, which means they are light and airy,and they have an excellent range of accommodation, including a lot of balcony cabins.

We preferred Discovery 1 to any of P&O's current ships, and are returning to her next week. She is a real cruise ship in our opinion, rather than a floating block of flats.

You will get hordes of children on any family friendly ship in school holidays, and visits to the forums of the various lines will turn up complaints about children in those periods. We don't cruise during school holidays and have not witnessed that problem.

We really liked the Thomson overall product and found our fellow passengers to be a very friendly cross section of society with a good age range. The whole experience was very relaxing and enjoyable.

It's down to individual choice ultimately. The new megaships offer more recreational facilities for families while Thomson offer a more conventional smaller cruise ship experience with good food and entertainment and friendly service.

We did that one last year doing the one on Discovery 2 this year 5 new places for us.

I think both Discovery repo itineraries in November are popular.

We've booked the repo for Discovery 2.

As Thomson may sell you a double cabin for single occupancy at the full rate for 2 people why bother being deceptive by using the no show idea?

Apparently some cruise lines are reluctant to sell double cabins to singles because of the likely reduction in on board spend, which, if the idea was popular, could be significant.

Maybe Thomson do not regard that as a problem, but it is not something they would encourage.

I can't see any problem doing that. You'll be paying for 2 people as the "second person" will lose their money. Thomson may suggest that he/she claim on their insurance, but they'll have no way of knowing or even caring if they do

I agree. I've heard of this before with travel agents suggesting that a single traveller books for two with a 'no show' on departure.

There is nothin wrong with that at all as the cruise line does not lose on it fare wise.

I know it happens on P&O, but they don't advocate it because the on board spend income is lower than 2 people sharing the cabin.

So yes it is legal and there won't be a policy against it.

We have had ports cancelled twice without replacement. Both were on P&O ships

The first time was when it was too rough to tender into Tobago, and the second was because of high seas and crosswinds at Cabo San Lucas made the docking approach too dangerous. In both cases we were advised that there were no available ports near enough which wouldn't impact on the future part of the itinerary.

Last autumn, on Discovery, we were unable to tender into Villefranche because of a storm, but we put into Toulon instead, which is a large port and was close by.

I understand that there are quite a few factors which affect the tendering operations such as wind strength and direction, wave height and swell, size of tenders, and the height of the tendering platform etc. I don't think the decision to abandon the visit to Cozumel would have been taken lightly, and passenger safety is paramount.

However I do think that Thomson were remiss in not advising you of the itinerary reversal.

If you click on 'news' at the top of this page you will see an announcement by Thomson that in summer 2018 they will be using Newcastle as the home port for ex Splendour of the Seas TUI Discovery, which is a beautiful ship about the size of Aurora, and has lots of good sized balcony cabins, good food and entertainment, and an inclusive drinks package. The brochure is released in late April.

We have been with P&O many times but we tried the Discovery last year and really enjoyed her.

I hope this snippet helps.

Thomson are really spreading their wings with a very interesting range of ex UK and fly cruises.

Excellent.

Thanks for posting Steve.

Sure, but the point is at Gatwick Thomson never weigh it., I wonder how many travellers do before they leave home.

We always do, and we carry a hand scale with us because we've been caught out on returning flights, and its quite embarrassing to have to open suitcases to transfer items out of our hand luggage. Each time their scales said we were 1 kg over.

If your luggage is bonded as in a cruise then if your hand luggage is over you either ditch something or pay excess which can be £16/kg.

No doubt that it breached the rules but the point is Thomson never measure hand luggage nor weigh it

Not so at Malaga where the authorities can be extremely strict, Western Mediterranean cruisers take note.

But what exactly is the definition of hand luggage? Is it luggage needed at hand during the flight? Not these days, it's treated as just an extention of the hold luggage.

Fortunately a fair proportion of passengers do not see it that way otherwise it could be chaos.

There is no reason why it should not be treated as an extension of hold luggage as long as it complies with size and weight limits, and does not contain sharps, inflammable items etc as prohibited under aviation rules.

I agree WCM

Size is more important than weight, and the size limits on Thomson flights are 22 ins x16ins x 9 ins which is quite reasonable..

If we all kept to that there would be no problems with overhead locker storage.

That capacity will easily facilitate a change of clothes plus all other required travelling paraphernalia.

Celebration is then heading north to visit various European ports before arriving at Newcastle where she will operate in the Baltic, Norway etc.

Later in the year she heads back to Malaga before going to the Caribbean for the winter 17/18 season.

So she's not winding down.

I prefer commonsense to 'prescriptive code'.

What is wrong with a short (or long) sleeved shirts, trousers and shoes for men as smart casual?

Yes, I think this is the problem. Everybody knows what "black tie" means and almost everybody would know that "formal wear" means jacket and tie. Once we get into the realms of "smart" and "casual" wear then danger is ahoy as these are totally open to interpretation. Quite what "dress to impress" means, I don't know. I like to think the ladies are impressed by my open-to-waist Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts but you never know...!

What? No gold medallion:):cool:

 

I think the problem with the Thomson's code is that in a effort to appear more easy going it is so open to interpretation that it is open to confusion. If it says, as I think I saw somewhere, something as simple as "long trousers and an open neck shirt must be worn in the MDR" , then jeans, smart or not, a polo shirt and trainers meet that code. I have seen posts on other sites saying people were turned away in jeans and trainers. If so , they shouldn't be. If they don't want these to be worn in the MDR it should say "no jeans,trainers etc". The word "smart" should never be used as it is totally subjective.

I have always understood 'smart casual' to refer to a sleeved shirt, long trousers and shoes, as opposed to 'casual' where t shirt, jeans and trainers fit the description.

I think the word 'smart' does not imply that the latter attire is scruffy but is used to define the difference between the 2 modes of casual.