2012 Brochure

[Cymro1953]

Snap! they're my choices too.

 

I haven't been up there for over 40 years. It was on the old S.S. Nevasa on the schools educational cruise back in about 1968. And DW has never been.

We were going to go this year but Thomsons didn't do them this year.

Just a job deciding which itinerary now.

 

Berwyn

[happy v]

I think it will be the baltics next year for us and hopefully north cape the year after.

[Cymro1953]

Hi,

I'm like a kid in a sweetshop. Just can't decide. the one thing that puts me off the Baltic ones is the fact none of them go to Oslo. was looking at Land of the Vikings as Dw wants to go to Copenhagen and I want Oslo as well.

I also fancy Fire and Ice going to Iceland. And the North Cape looks good too.

 

Berwyn

[happy v]

It's St.Petersburg I really want to see that's why baltics is first choice. Did fire and ice and I think it's my favorite so far, that's why we also want to do the north cape as it was the first time either of us had seen the fjords and we were absolutely stunned so must go again. A money tree at the bottom of the garden would be a good idea, then we could all go everywhere!

[Cymro1953]

It's St.Petersburg I really want to see that's why baltics is first choice. Did fire and ice and I think it's my favorite so far, that's why we also want to do the north cape as it was the first time either of us had seen the fjords and we were absolutely stunned so must go again. A money tree at the bottom of the garden would be a good idea, then we could all go everywhere!

 

If you find one can you send me a seed so I can plant one? :D

I know what you mean though, so many places to see and not enough cash. Also as we get older time is getting shorter while we're still fit enough to do them.

 

Berwyn

[Ceabea]

Hi,

I'm like a kid in a sweetshop. Just can't decide. the one thing that puts me off the Baltic ones is the fact none of them go to Oslo. was looking at Land of the Vikings as Dw wants to go to Copenhagen and I want Oslo as well.

I also fancy Fire and Ice going to Iceland. And the North Cape looks good too.

 

Berwyn

 

Im trying very hard to persuade my other half to do the fire and ice one - its fabulous - but sadly its his 40th next year and so its his choice for our main hols so it looks like we will be doing the aegean for 2 weeks on celebration at the end of aug. I wonder if i can sneak a week doing fire and ice in the july before hand for me and the sprog without him noticing.... LOL (unlikely!!) living only 20 mins from the port is making it seem very convenient and tempting!

[Cymro1953]

Im trying very hard to persuade my other half to do the fire and ice one - its fabulous - but sadly its his 40th next year and so its his choice for our main hols so it looks like we will be doing the aegean for 2 weeks on celebration at the end of aug. I wonder if i can sneak a week doing fire and ice in the july before hand for me and the sprog without him noticing.... LOL (unlikely!!) living only 20 mins from the port is making it seem very convenient and tempting!

 

Hi Clare,

You'll be lucky doing Fire and Ice in a week. It's a 13 day cruise :D

Looks great, Norwegian Fiords and Iceland in 1 cruise, nearly as good as Red Sea Magic. There is no way you could see all the great sights you can on that one in a normal holiday.

You're lucky being so close to port, we have to drive 1 hour to the nearest coach pickup point to get to Newcastle. :(

 

Berwyn

[Ceabea]

hehe - thats what I get for posting after indulging in several mojitos Thomson style :D yes 13 day and just up the road - for once I feel like living in Northumberland isnt the end of the world LOL - as lovely as the county is its just so far away from everything! I hope they continue the Newcastle sailings into 2013 and we are still in a position to afford it then (or else find myself one of them there money tree seeds in the mean time :D ) hubs is concerned theres no sun and that the sea will be rough even in july, I havent a clue, is it?

 

I am planning on visiting Spirit while she's in port and having a look at her, not been on celebration or spirit as yet so will be nice to get a look. I wonder if they will be doing any visitor tours of her while shes in the port?

[Cymro1953]

hehe - thats what I get for posting after indulging in several mojitos Thomson style :D yes 13 day and just up the road - for once I feel like living in Northumberland isnt the end of the world LOL - as lovely as the county is its just so far away from everything! I hope they continue the Newcastle sailings into 2013 and we are still in a position to afford it then (or else find myself one of them there money tree seeds in the mean time :D ) hubs is concerned theres no sun and that the sea will be rough even in july, I havent a clue, is it?

 

I am planning on visiting Spirit while she's in port and having a look at her, not been on celebration or spirit as yet so will be nice to get a look. I wonder if they will be doing any visitor tours of her while shes in the port?

 

She's a lovely ship and great crew and entertainment team. It was the 1st time we'd been on her last month and everyone was so friendly. It was our 4th Thomson's cruise and definitely the best as far as ship and overall crew were concerned. It was nothing you could your finger on but it felt good.

Stephen Guy on dream and Ross Roberts on Island Escape were better cruise directors, but it was just the atmosphere aboard. And despite her age she was spick and span. Everywhere was spotlessly clean and didn't feel old.

 

Berwyn

 

PS, last time I crossed the North Sea it was October on the old S.S. Nevasa that was smaller than Spirit and when she went into a trough you couldn't see the sky and when she crested a wave you couldn't see any sea . EEK!!

[happy v]

When we did Iceland the weather was really good, just like nice summer days at home. The sea was also very calm didn't need seasickness pills at all until the journey home from Norway, and that was very rough - still an excellent cruise though.

[Cymro1953]

When we did Iceland the weather was really good, just like nice summer days at home. The sea was also very calm didn't need seasickness pills at all until the journey home from Norway, and that was very rough - still an excellent cruise though.

 

That sounds OK Happy. We were on Island Escape in Dec. 2009 and they had an undersea earthquake between Portugal and Madeira, that was really rough. We didn't know at the time, just thought it was a rough night and were OK.

We didn't find out about the earthquake till we got home.

 

Berwyn

[happy v]

Sometimes it's best not to know!

[Ceabea]

:eek::eek::eek: I think its def best not to know some things!!

[capasamari]

We have booked the "Weekend Affair" on Spirit in August 2012 and Thomson are currently offering free coach travel to Harwich. We haven't used this service before as we have always done fly-cruises or driven to Southampton to sail with P&O.

 

Can anyone offer any opinions or advice about using the coach? Leger say our nearest pick-up point will be the NEC, about 20 minutes drive from home, but can't tell me the likely timings yet.

 

Are there any luggage restrictions? Are coach passengers the last to board?

 

It sounds tempting as we are at a wedding the day before so could have a doze on the coach rather than driving ourselves!

 

Carol x

[kruzseeka]

We have booked the "Weekend Affair" on Spirit in August 2012 and Thomson are currently offering free coach travel to Harwich. We haven't used this service before as we have always done fly-cruises or driven to Southampton to sail with P&O.

 

Can anyone offer any opinions or advice about using the coach? Leger say our nearest pick-up point will be the NEC, about 20 minutes drive from home, but can't tell me the likely timings yet.

 

Are there any luggage restrictions? Are coach passengers the last to board?

 

It sounds tempting as we are at a wedding the day before so could have a doze on the coach rather than driving ourselves!

 

Carol x

 

Hi Carol,

 

The coach is a fairly painless way of getting there although depending on where you join it can take a while to get there if they have a number of pick-ups after you. I would have thought there would be quite a number joining at the NEC so you may not be part of a 'round the houses' type journey. (One coach can make a number of stops depending on its route and have a bit of a detour to do that). Having said all that, once you are on the coach, you can relax. Perhaps you could phone Leger and see what an indicative journey time would be.

 

In our exprerience coaches arrive mid-afternoon 2/3pm so you probably wouldn't be amongst the first to board.

 

I believe there is a luggage restriction - I think it has been one case per passenger in the boot with a 23Kg weight restriction. This doesn't restrict you in terms of other hand luggage though - as there isn't a limit for weight/number of items of hand luggage like for a flight you can take as much as you can reasonably cram into your seating space on the coach (bags under seat, luggage rack, on your knee!!) :eek: :D Seriously though you would get away with perhaps two pieces of hand luggage provided you can carry it all!!!!! The porters will take care of your big cases of course just as they would if you were arriving on the coach from a transfer from the airport.

 

It sounds as though it could be worth it for you especially if you're at a wedding the day before - at least there's not the long drive for one of you and it's up to Thomson to get you there on time, or wait - so no worry about traffic issues.

[capasamari]

Thanks for this, I quite fancy the coach as I think you'd get in the party spirit for the weekender on the way! Leger don't know the times yet, they have to wait for Thomson to tell them when they want them to arrive as they stagger the arrivals if there are a lot of coaches being used. It would save on the petrol costs too.

 

On the other hand our friends have offered to pick us up and drive, so we might go with them if it means we can get on board earlier, say in time for lunch, is that usual? I've only done fly-cruises with Thomson before! With P&O you can board from midday, are Thomson the same? It's our friends' first cruise, and it's only three nights, so three hours extra is quite a lot and would give us all time to explore the ship before we sail.

 

Carol x

[Ceabea]

well - we have booked our summer 2012 - 2 weeks in the aegean..... 16 months to pay for it LOL has anyone else booked today?

[Julessmiles]

well - we have booked our summer 2012 - 2 weeks in the aegean..... 16 months to pay for it LOL has anyone else booked today?

 

Yes, we've done the same - on the Celebration :):) Got the dates & flights we wanted, the AI we wanted and to top it all the very cabin number we wanted! Now to do all the research on places to see/things to do......

 

Very happy now ! ;);)

[Cymro1953]

You were both quick Clare and Jules. We're still at looking stage. DW won't let me do anything till after our Princess cruise to Adriatic and Aegean next month to see which she prefers.

Since our Royal Caribbean cruise 2 years ago she's got a taste for the bigger ships. :(

 

Berwyn

[Julessmiles]

You were both quick Clare and Jules. We're still at looking stage. DW won't let me do anything till after our Princess cruise to Adriatic and Aegean next month to see which she prefers.

Since our Royal Caribbean cruise 2 years ago she's got a taste for the bigger ships. :(

 

Berwyn

 

 

Well, we're missing out on a cruise for this year and doing 3 weeks in France & another week in the UK instead so I was desperate to have a cruise to look forward to lol :D:D

[kruzseeka]

Thanks for this, I quite fancy the coach as I think you'd get in the party spirit for the weekender on the way! Leger don't know the times yet, they have to wait for Thomson to tell them when they want them to arrive as they stagger the arrivals if there are a lot of coaches being used. It would save on the petrol costs too.

 

On the other hand our friends have offered to pick us up and drive, so we might go with them if it means we can get on board earlier, say in time for lunch, is that usual? I've only done fly-cruises with Thomson before! With P&O you can board from midday, are Thomson the same? It's our friends' first cruise, and it's only three nights, so three hours extra is quite a lot and would give us all time to explore the ship before we sail.

 

Carol x

 

Hi Carol,

 

When we've driven to the port, we've generally aimed to get there quite early (building in some slack for traffic/punctures etc.!!!!! :eek: ) and have then just had a coffee/wander - Harwich is a small but quite attractive resort where you can have a walk along the prom and there are places for a drink and a good antique shop too so you can while away the time.

 

We usually make for the port about 12 o/clock to park up and hand over cases and then you go into the arrivals area where they do the registration. Last time we were given numbered tickets as we arrived and when they are ready for you to embark, they call batches 1 - 50 etc. to regulate the flow. There is plenty of seating so you're not standing around. It was quite quick and efficient. I think we were on board by about 1 pm. and the Lido was functioning with hot food so we could get something to eat (suspect the main restaurant wasn't open on change over day but not certain.)

 

Hope your friends enjoy their first experience of cruising! :)

[cbmagic]

hi we booked today eight of us going on the adriatic on the destiny 24th aug 2012 booked cabins on deck 6 outside furthest back near middle as you can as its only front of ship / they call it disappearing deck 6 i believe i have read on another post .. any info gratefully recieved ... thanks

[imajica]

Booked today for 27th July 2012 on the Destiny! Two weeks b2b :D

[Scarey Mary]

Thanks for this, I quite fancy the coach as I think you'd get in the party spirit for the weekender on the way! Leger don't know the times yet, they have to wait for Thomson to tell them when they want them to arrive as they stagger the arrivals if there are a lot of coaches being used. It would save on the petrol costs too.

 

On the other hand our friends have offered to pick us up and drive, so we might go with them if it means we can get on board earlier, say in time for lunch, is that usual? I've only done fly-cruises with Thomson before! With P&O you can board from midday, are Thomson the same? It's our friends' first cruise, and it's only three nights, so three hours extra is quite a lot and would give us all time to explore the ship before we sail.

 

Carol x

 

Hi Carol

 

We've booked for the North Cape. I know it's from Newcastle but presume Harwich will be the same. Paper work says check in at the port is between 1-3 pm. Eek if thats for everyone it's a lot of passengers to be boarded in a short time.

 

Mary

[davecttr]

Aim to get to Newcastle around noon in case they start boarding early!. On my last trip from Newcastle on Spirit she was delayed by fog and we did not start boarding until 3pm :(:( Everyone got £15 onboard credit by way of compensation :D

 

Funny story about that day. On the promenade deck someone was moaning that the tomatoes and pineapples were tinned. I meanwhile was leaning on the rail watching pallet after pallet of fresh tomatoes and spiky pineapples being loaded, they must have a tinning factory down below :D