Thinking about a Thomson cruise

[hansi]

We are regular cruisers mainly with Princess and P&O, but we have spoken to a few people who have been on the Thomson Celebration. Now I know that we won't get the "Princess" facilities and suchlike, but do you think we would lke it just for a one week cruise in January?

[yorkshirephil]

We are regular cruisers mainly with Princess and P&O, but we have spoken to a few people who have been on the Thomson Celebration. Now I know that we won't get the "Princess" facilities and suchlike, but do you think we would lke it just for a one week cruise in January?

 

Hey Hansi. How are you and Margaret doing? We have recently cruised the Red sea on Celebration after I got permission to fly again. We had a cracking week, lovely weather and a great price, just chilled out on the ship. We have been on Celebration 4 times now, so we obviously like her. The facilities are fine maybe a bit different from Princess, what the ship looses in glitz and glamour she makes up for with a friendly atmosphere and great crew. I think Thompsons entertainment is better than most other cruise lines too. The Red sea cruise is a great taster for trying Thompsons. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

[hansi]

Hi Phil. We're fine thanks, and hope you are now too. We were thinking of the Celebration Red Sea cruise for Margaret's birthday in January and also to get away from this freezing weather. Seems that you like the ship if you've been on that often. The prices are certainly good. Did you book direct or are there deals with agents like the Princess cruises?

[yorkshirephil]

We have always booked direct with Thompsons as they have always given the best price, however TA's do sell Thompsons holidays. I would have a look at their website and compare prices. If you have a Thompsons own TA close by check it out as they regularly run special promotions. If you do book with Thompsons ask them if they are discounting the all inclusive package, I don't think its worth the full price (£170pppw) but they will sometimes discount if the cruise isn't booked up. Watch the prices as they can also fall quite dramatically in the last few weeks before the cruise.

[kruzseeka]

Quite a few of us here use cruisedeals too. It is a TUI company - but for some unfathomable reason, the prices on the Thomson site and their site do vary. It's a good idea to check both to see if you can get a better deal.

 

(I'm not liking the new cruisedeals site though - no doubt I'll get used to it but at the moment it's not so easy to browse the best deals! What do any other regulars think?)

 

I'd endorse what Phil has said - on Thomson it's not the ships which are the attraction - far from it - but the warmth, atmosphere, service and entertainment are superb. I'd suggest if you do book Hansi, you try to reserve judgement until you've had time to absorb these features and not be put off by the dated ship - that aspect I feel sure will fall short of your previous experiences. But we love the Thomson product although I welcome the arrival of the Dream (prices to keep under review!) as a step in the right direction in terms of improving the hardware.

 

Anyway I hope you enjoy your trip if you decide to book. :)

[tenpin]

As a couple who have sailed with Cunard, Princess, RC, Hal & Costa, we think Thomson really are the friendiest ships we have ever sailed on (5) we have booked the Dream for September, and hope that this will be the start of a wonderful friendship with the Thomson fleet.

[hansi]

Thank you all for your positive replies. I picked up a brochure today and will have a look. Hope we can fly locally as going to Gatwick is a bit of a drag.

[hansi]

I've had a look at the brochure but would be grateful for some answers to questions that I couldn't find in there. Firstly, they mention that if you pay by credit card for your your onboard account that they charge a surcharge and if so, how much; what are the price of drinks onboard, is there a gratuity added onto the bar bill, and what sort of price do they pitch the shore excursions at?

 

Many thanks for you help.

[kruzseeka]

I've had a look at the brochure but would be grateful for some answers to questions that I couldn't find in there. Firstly, they mention that if you pay by credit card for your your onboard account that they charge a surcharge and if so, how much; what are the price of drinks onboard, is there a gratuity added onto the bar bill, and what sort of price do they pitch the shore excursions at?

 

Many thanks for you help.

 

 

Hi there,

 

I've just checked the brochure and it actually says 'please note there may be a small charge for paying by credit card'. I don't know when this applies but we've never been charged anything other than the advertised cost of drinks/excursions. Perhaps it depends on the credit card - ours is an M&S Mastercard (I know lots of places aren't keen on American Express). Perhaps some other posters will let you know which cards they've used and if they've ever been charged.

 

Prices of drinks on board we think are very reasonable and compare very favourably (in our experience often much better than) prices charged in restaurants. For example, on Celebration we buy a bottle of wine @ £12 which retails (on offer) at £7 at our local supermarket. We don't think that's a bad mark-up. Wine at our local Italian costing around £12 can be bought for about £4 in the shops! (Thomson will also save your bottle for the next night if you don't want to drink it all.) Cocktails are £3.40 (large choice) and cocktail of the day £2.95. I'm no expert in drinks prices but others on here claim they're very reasonable across the board. No gratuity added.

 

I think if you do a search on the 'Search this forum' box for Celebration drinks prices, you will be able to pull up a fairly recent bar menu with prices. (Thanks for the member who posted this - very useful.)

 

Shore excursions are also very reasonable IMO. Of course, people do say they're way to expensive and if you are travelling as a family of, say, four it won't take long for your bill to spiral. In comparison to DiY options, of course they are much more expensive but Thomson destinations staff are good in providing info/help with DiY options (at least Spirit and Destiny were excellent when we were last on - Celebration quite good, but that may have been because our trip was a one-off itinerary so they were less familiar with the ports.) You can research the excursions and costs on Thomson's site - here is the link: (I think it's the Red Sea you are interested in - if not you can use the same link to navigate to other destinations.)

 

http://www.thomson.co.uk/cruise/ports-of-call/red-sea.html

 

One thing's for sure - they are significantly cheaper than many other cruiselines where prices of 50-100% more is not uncommon for similar trips.

 

Hope this helps. :)

[kruzseeka]

Hello again, Here is the link to the drinks prices posted in response to an AI query.

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1023823&highlight=celebration+drinks+menu

 

 

If you go down the thread a few posts, john_l has posted a link to the bar menu which he copied.

[yorkshirephil]

Hansi. Another good thing about Thompsons is that they take debit cards which many cruise lines don't, and there is no surcharge. As said drinks are reasonable, and thats coming from a true Yorkshireman. Albeit we only did one half day trip I thought they were fairly priced especially as the main trips are full days, I would imagine it would be difficult to DIY too as the ports are mainly industrial with no passenger facilities.

[pauline wales]

Hi there. We are thinking of the Celebration for 31st. December. Did you go ashore at all, if so did you do anything independently? Thanks in advance

[hansi]

Again, thanks for the info, have checked and there are Cardiff flights available for the date we want, but will wait till after Christmas when they may reduce prices. Thanks for the links.

[History addict]

To echo the opinions of previous posters, there are a lot of positives in favour of Thomsons with only a few negatives. In summary :

 

Food - on a par with other lines

 

Cabins - smaller and tending towards shabby at times

 

Excursions - good and great value for money

 

Drinks prices - excellent

 

Tipping - all included unless you want to give more entirely at your discretion

 

Itineraries and time spent in port - about the best line for this

 

Entertainment - the best I've encountered to date

 

Staff - very friendly and eager to please. Well trained

 

Ships - good condition but getting old. You will need to get seats in the show lounge early

 

Thomson is a very good all round cruise line

[kruzseeka]

To echo the opinions of previous posters, there are a lot of positives in favour of Thomsons with only a few negatives. In summary :

 

Food - on a par with other lines

 

Cabins - smaller and tending towards shabby at times

 

Excursions - good and great value for money

 

Drinks prices - excellent

 

Tipping - all included unless you want to give more entirely at your discretion

 

Itineraries and time spent in port - about the best line for this

 

Entertainment - the best I've encountered to date

 

Staff - very friendly and eager to please. Well trained

 

Ships - good condition but getting old. You will need to get seats in the show lounge early

 

Thomson is a very good all round cruise line

 

An excellent summary - one I agree with entirely. :)

 

I would also add that in addition to the interesting itinerary choice and time spent in port, we prefer port days to sea days and think the ratio is excellent with Thomson. Sometimes when we compare cruise prices which look good with some cruise lines there are so many sea days, it's doesn't represent good value to us.

[hansi]

Thank you one and all and Seasons Greetings to you.

[lsu2fan]

Thomson is a very good all round cruise line

 

Happy Holidays from the US.

 

I hope that someone can help me with some questions about Thomson:

 

My DW and I are looking at a 14 day Thomson cruise due to sail from Jamaica in Dec. 2010. Where can I get information on the cruise only rates? Or can we get rates including air from the US rather than from the UK? Is this even possible?

 

I sent an email to a travel agency in Surrey but didn't get a response.:(

 

Thank you and Happy New Year's.

[Cymro1953]

Thomson is a very good all round cruise line

 

Happy Holidays from the US.

 

I hope that someone can help me with some questions about Thomson:

 

My DW and I are looking at a 14 day Thomson cruise due to sail from Jamaica in Dec. 2010. Where can I get information on the cruise only rates? Or can we get rates including air from the US rather than from the UK? Is this even possible?

 

I sent an email to a travel agency in Surrey but didn't get a response.:(

 

Thank you and Happy New Year's.

 

Hi

We hope you had a good Christmas and wish you a Happy New Year when it arrives.

If you have alook here

http://www.thomson.co.uk/cruise.html

That is the main Thomson cruise booking site and in the top left it gives you the option to book cruise only and get a quote.

If you book the whole thing with them (air and cruise) they use their own airline that flies out of the U.K. only.

There are others on here (Season's greetings Kruzseeka :D ) who may be able to point you out to making bookings through online T.A.'s and may save you money.

 

Berwyn and Delyth

[jenny wren]

We have used cruisedeals.co.uk several times to book Thomson cruises ...they are usually slightly cheaper than the Thomson website...so I would advise booking a cruise only ....and then booking your own flights from the States.

I don't know of anyone that has done this and am not sure if it is possible to book from outside the UK .... (there are some american travel agents/cruiselines who will not accept UK bookings) ..

Let us know how you get on..

 

Seasons greetings to all !

[Cymro1953]

We have used cruisedeals.co.uk several times to book Thomson cruises ...they are usually slightly cheaper than the Thomson website...so I would advise booking a cruise only ....and then booking your own flights from the States.

I don't know of anyone that has done this and am not sure if it is possible to book from outside the UK .... (there are some american travel agents/cruiselines who will not accept UK bookings) ..

Let us know how you get on..

 

Seasons greetings to all !

 

Hi Jenny,

And as our U.S. cousins say "Happy Holidays to you".

I just looked on a US site cruisedeals.com rather than .co.uk and as you say they don't even have Thomson's in their cruise co. listings.

 

Berwyn

[lsu2fan]

Hi Jenny,

And as our U.S. cousins say "Happy Holidays to you".

I just looked on a US site cruisedeals.com rather than .co.uk and as you say they don't even have Thomson's in their cruise co. listings.

 

Berwyn

 

Hi Jenny and Berwyn,

 

Thank you very much for your input. I spent a few hours on line trying to get this information. Previously, I had spent some time reading a number of posts in this forum about Thomson that were written by a number of you good folks in the UK. Thanks for those too, by the way, as they contained a good amount of useful information. :)

 

I just clicked on the web adress that you included in your reply and have sent Thomson an email directly. Thank you! I hope that with the time difference that they may answer my query sometime tomorrow.

 

In less than a week, we'll be sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL on Costa's Atlantica. From reading the boards, we see that there will be some passengers from the UK, Canada and from other European countries on this sailing along with a number of us Yanks. We're looking forward to meeting new friends and sharing experiences. :D

 

Thanks again.

 

Jorge

[Cymro1953]

Hi Jorge,

I hope you have success in this. I have been travelling on holiday with Thomson's as at 1st hotel package holidays and now cruise since the early 1970's and they are a great company.

We met some lovely people from your side of the pond when we were on Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas in June in the Mediterranean.

The "new" Thomson ship the Dream is the Costa Europa at present.

She will be sailing out in the Caribbean in winter 2010.

DW wants to go on her to visit Mexico in 2011 to see the Mayan ruins.

 

Berwyn

[lsu2fan]

Hi Berwyn,

 

My DW and I live in the New Orleans Metro area and have been to the Yucatan Peninsula a number of times. The Maya ruins at Chichen Itza are breathtaking. However, from Progreso it is a two and a half hour bus ride each way. So plan on a seven hour trip. Also,depending on what time of year you go it can get extremely hot. But I thought that it was the highlight of our trip and I highly recommend the experience.

 

I've been reading about the Thomson Dream and looking at it's Winter 2010 Caribbean schedule. The Dec. 30 sailing from Jamaica spends two nights in Cuba and also visits a number of ports in the deep South Caribbean that we've never visited. Plus it's a 14 day cruise and we've never been on anything more than a seven day cruise. From what I understand the currency on Thomson is in Pounds. I hope that the exchange by then may be a bit more favorable for us as right now our dollar is not doing well against the £ and the €.

 

Jorge