Thomson Destiny - Jewels of the Med & Med Renaissance review

[georgegirl]

We did the Thomson Destiny Jewels of the Med & Med Renaissance cruise last August/September and want to share my experience on this wonderful site with great people.

 

It was mine & my friends first cruise ever and was a great experience.

 

We flew into Palma, Majorca landing around 11.10am and we were in our cabin by 12.50.

 

CHECK IN- The checking in onto the ship was extremely efficient. We had to queue to pick up our envelope which contained our boarding passes, stickers for our cases etc. Then we had to join another queue to have our photos taken/passports checked etc. It was very well organised and fast moving. Once on the dockside we found our cases to stick our labels with our cabin number on. Our cases were in our cabin within an hour. On embarking the ship, we were greeted by the friendly crew who were lining up to take the new guest to their cabins.

 

CABIN- We had a small inside cabin. We thought the cabin was bigger than we expected. There is a decent size wardrobe which we were able to fit 2 large suitcases in. There is also a smaller cupboard/wardrobe & a 4 drawer dresser. This was plenty of room to store our clothes for the 2 weeks. The dresser had a decent size mirror. We had twin beds which i found comfy. The bathroom was small bur adequare, albeit a very friendly shower curtain.. We also had a TV which had just a couple of channels. We just found it weied waking up in the morning with no sunlight coming through with it being an inside cabin.

 

CREW All the crew were lovely. Our cabin steward would do anything for us and every evening when we got back our towels had been made into animal shapes etc. All the bar/restaurant staff were helpful & friendly too.

 

LIDO CAFE. We always had our breakfast & lunch here. There was plenty to help yourself to. Breakfast was the normal cereal, cold meats, eggs, sausage, bacon, hash browns, pastries etc. Lunch there were salads, various meats & fish, & wonderful little cakes. The only problem we had here was that a minority didnt know what queuing was and you would think food was going out of stock!

 

SEVEN SEAS. This is waiter service. We had the same waiters during our 2 week stay and they always remembered what we drank. The food was wonderful. Apertiser (smoked salmon, snails in garlic butter, fishcakes) soup, Salad (wardolf, roasted veg & feta), main course (lamb shank, beef roulade, duck a l'orange) & dessert (apple pie, icecream, cheese & biscuit, tiramasu). The waiters were always doing a little sing song for everyone.

 

CLIPPER BAR A great place to drink before evening meal. We would always go here for a cocktail or two before our meal. There was a band, The Sunset Trio, playing here every night. It was a great opportunity to talk to other passengers.

 

CAN CAN LOUNGE. Every night there was a top class show such as Elvis Mania, Moulin Rouge & A feast of Webber.

 

BLAKES. This is a nice relaxing piano bar. This would be our last stop every night after our meal, show in the can can lounge. It was very pleasant.

 

TRIPS. Due to the fact myself & my friend have no sense of direction we decided to book all the trips. They are expensive but we did get to see alot and also there is the good thing that if the organised coach is delayed the ship will wait for everyone.

We booked

Sicily -Old City & Monreale

Naples - Sorrento & Pompeii

Olbia Sardinia - The Emerald Coast

Toulon - St Tropez & Port Grimaud

Barcelona - we did this ourselves

Villefranche - Nice, Monaco & Monte Carlo

Marina Di Carrara - Florence & Pisa

Civitavecchia - Rome in a day

Ajaccio Corsica - A taste of Corsica

Palamos - Best of Costa Brave

 

If you need anymore info on the trips, i can tell you more.

 

It was an amazing cruise, and now we are addicted to cruising.

 

Any questions, please ask.

[Flopsy]

Thanks so much for your review.We are going on the second leg of your cruise on 8 May - fingers crossed!

 

Could you tell me more about the Best of the Costa Brava trip.It,s many years since I holidayed on this coast and thought it would be good to see Lloret again- if I recognise anything lol.What did the trip entail?

 

Flopsy

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Hi georgegirl, Yes it is ages since I went to Lloret, and I fancy that trip as I have been to Barcelona twice. :)

 

Also do you know if anyone went on the "Relaxing Rome" which is 5 hours and is it worth doing? We hate long trips:(

 

Linda

[shaznier]

Thanks georgegirl doing that Cruise on 22nd May our first cruise and, sooooooooooooo excited TA phoned today and tickets are in !!

[aligarter]

Flopsy we doing the same cruise again this year as well.. just different dates...lol Have a fantastic time

[Flopsy]

Hi Aligarter

 

Hoping flights will be back to normal for our takeoff on 8 may!

 

I will write a review to spur you on!

 

Lloret in the 70s lol.Bet I won't recognise it if we do that trip!

 

Flopsy

[georgegirl]

Thanks so much for your review.We are going on the second leg of your cruise on 8 May - fingers crossed!

 

Could you tell me more about the Best of the Costa Brava trip.It,s many years since I holidayed on this coast and thought it would be good to see Lloret again- if I recognise anything lol.What did the trip entail?

 

Flopsy

 

From what i can remember we had about 1 hour free time in Lloret. Our guide did take us to a pretty church first and then we had our free time. We were then taken to Tossa de Mar. Again our pointed out a few things and walked us up to the old town. We then had several hours to do what ever we wanted. its worth it i thought.

[georgegirl]

Hi georgegirl, Yes it is ages since I went to Lloret, and I fancy that trip as I have been to Barcelona twice. :)

 

Also do you know if anyone went on the "Relaxing Rome" which is 5 hours and is it worth doing? We hate long trips:(

 

Linda[/

 

Cruisin Linda, i cant remember talking to anyone who went on the relaxing Rome. Yes the one we did, 'Rome in a day' was very tiring but worth it. That evening we relaxed on the ship drinking cocktails and soon got our energy back for the next day,

[Flopsy]

Thanks georgegirl.I've never been to Tossa but I have often considered it as a holiday destination.Would be nice to have a look.

 

Flopsy

[georgegirl]

Thanks georgegirl.I've never been to Tossa but I have often considered it as a holiday destination.Would be nice to have a look.

 

Flopsy

 

The old town is lovely, there is a nice beach and some good little shops. Have a great time

[Huddersfieldtourist]

Hi georgegirl, Yes it is ages since I went to Lloret, and I fancy that trip as I have been to Barcelona twice. :)

 

Also do you know if anyone went on the "Relaxing Rome" which is 5 hours and is it worth doing? We hate long trips:(

 

Linda[/

 

Cruisin Linda, i cant remember talking to anyone who went on the relaxing Rome. Yes the one we did, 'Rome in a day' was very tiring but worth it. That evening we relaxed on the ship drinking cocktails and soon got our energy back for the next day,

 

Never done it but the relaxing Rome is the one where you stay on the coach and it just drives you past the main sites which to be honest with you is a waste of money at £39 ish - you can not see the Pantheon or the Trevi Fountain or the Spanish Steps without walking a short distance and from memory the coach does not stop so you do not see those at all and others are from a distance !

 

Why not go to Rome on the train from Civitavecchia then you can spend as long as you want there - it takes about an hour on the train. Timetables are on trenitalia.com and it is cheap to do. Shuttle bus to pot entrance ( free) 5 min walk to station ( if that - just follow the crowds ) - train is from memory 9 Euros return on the Regional Train. Cheap day out in Rome.

[Huddersfieldtourist]

Thanks so much for your review.We are going on the second leg of your cruise on 8 May - fingers crossed!

 

Could you tell me more about the Best of the Costa Brava trip.It,s many years since I holidayed on this coast and thought it would be good to see Lloret again- if I recognise anything lol.What did the trip entail?

 

Flopsy

Coach trip is best deal for a couple - if 4 adults you could go to Tossa by taxi ( about 28 miles ) and then get the little regular coast boat to Lloret from the beach and then reverse the journey - may work out at about same total but be quicker and give you more variety.

[davecttr]

I am on 2 cruises that touch on Civitaveccia this summer. On these days there will be transport chaos with trains breaking down and endless road holdups. Trust me, this always happens when I have to keep to a tight schedule. I of course will either stay on the ship or take an excursion :D

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Thanks for your replies. Hubby has already been to Rome, so he's not keen so last time we just wandered in to Civitavecchia and sat watching the world go by while having a drink or two :Dwhich was very nice:) So might do that again as we are planning trips on the other 4 days.

 

I have two girlfriends who would like to go to Rome, so may do a weekender there sometime. Getting a bit old for long day trips:p

 

I'm with you Dave the road - bound to be a train strike that day - will stick to organised trips or just wander around where they dock, but definitely want to go to Tossa, I hear it is very pretty. I have been to LLoret ages ago, but would like to see if it has changed

 

Any suggestions on Corsica?

 

Linda

[delores]

My friend and I are going on the 8th May, so hope to meet some of you then.

 

Delores