Aegean and Adriatic review

[joeholiday2]

Hi Linda.

 

Have a look at the argos outlet on ebay, they have some grey ones for £99 and Purple ones £94. They are new ones as well, not refurbs.

 

the light in Santorini is fantastic for taking pictures.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Hi Linda.

 

Have a look at the argos outlet on ebay, they have some grey ones for £99 and Purple ones £94. They are new ones as well, not refurbs.

 

the light in Santorini is fantastic for taking pictures.

 

Thanks Joe, found it, (grey ones) Do you think they will still have them next week? Just checked bank account :eek::eek:

[joeholiday2]

It says more than 10 in stock, so they probably will have.

 

Don't forget to get 2 spare batteries off ebay as well, I paid £3.99 for 2, and £1.20 for 6 screen protectors that were shipped from Germany.

Hi-etech seller for the battery and protectionfilms24 for the protectors.

 

You will get around 1500 pictures and some video on an 8GB card. I took almost 1400 pics on this last cruise, and was going through a battery a day, sometimes two.

[Jakanne1]

i met up with joe on board the same cruise, it was our first cruise and really enjoyedit, we only did the first week, pearls of the aegean, it was that good we have just booked today , 25th july, for adriatic explorer for may.

 

We were the same, Aegean last September and Adriatic this September. Got the bug so bad that I had two more on Majesty last March and April. We have lots to catch up on so spending kid's inheritance!! :D

[Jakanne1]

Fantastic photos, Joe. Beautifully framed. What is the significance of your lovely, yellow ducks? I used to take Oliver or Barnaby Bear on holiday with me. They were my class mascots which the children used to take on holiday too.

[joeholiday2]

The duck thing started a few years ago when we went away with some friends and just took them for a laugh. They have their own website, but I have let it slip lately and just put the pictures up on my site.

 

They go everywhere with us now, I get some funny looks getting them out of the bag and taking pictures of them.

I don't care, I am too old to worry about what people think about things like that, and if they get a laugh that's OK.

 

At work we nicked one of our IT techs PG tips Monkey one summer, staff were emailing him ransom pictures from all over the World. It really wound him up, he got it back about November:D

[CRUISIN LINDA]

When I was at work, I used to run a lottery bonus ball draw among the staff.

 

I had a PG tips monkey on top of my computer. One day it disappeared. I got an email with a photo of the monkey on, it looked as if he had lost a leg and said "Please help me, if you don't let them win the lottery, they will cut the other leg off" I soon discovered who it was and the monkey was returned, legs fully intact" :D:D

[Little Nell]

Great pics, Joe, bringing back lots of happy memories :)

[kruzseeka]

Joe, I'm having a prob loading your pics. Tried changing my browser from Mozilla to Internet Explorer thinking that might help (not sure why but DH has suggested that in the past when I've had problems :confused: ) but still getting same message saying 'difficulty loading the page'. Any ideas? I hate to miss out and not be able to see these pics!

[geomagot]

i cant see them either in safari??:confused: will try again later

[Jakanne1]

i cant see them either in safari??:confused: will try again later

 

I can see them in Safari on iPad. Just wish I could let you see a photo of the extra fold up bed in our cabin. If you or DD are on FB I have a photo on there of it.

[geomagot]

ah yes....working now:cool:

 

love the ducks joe...we have eddie the (cross dressing) lizard (pink tutu!) (travels everywhere dd#2 goes....and always gets the best seats)....has lost half a tail and all his legs now

 

which f/b page jak....do you have a link?

[Jim The Scot]

Quacking pics Joe

 

Any onboard pics?

[joeholiday2]

I didn't really bother with the onboard pictures as there are quite a few knocking around on various pages. There are 2 cracking videos on youtube as well.

 

I mainly did the Dream and Celebration ones so people could see the difference after the "ahem, routine housekeeping" upgrade.

 

I have a couple of the bathroom if anyone is interested.

 

Kruzeeka.

Try clearing the cache. On Mozilla, tools/options/advanced/network/cached web content/clear now. It should speed up browsing too.

[joeholiday2]

Some port info.

 

Not listed every port as there is loads of info on here and around the net, but mainly listed what we did when DIYing.

As you will see we don't mind doing a lot of walking.

Have shown some prices as you get an idea of how dear places are, Santorini was roughly double the other Greek places, they wanted around €7-8 for a beer on the front:eek:

 

7TH Sunday, Aghios Nikolaos - CRETE 08:00 - 18:00

Off for 9am, found bus station, they have moved it from when we were there years ago, don't go off the Thomson map, that shows the old one, the new one is just off main road and close to Hospital. Got 10am bus to Elounda €3.40 each return. Walked along front, nothing much has changed in 12 years or so. Walked up to Mavrikiano village for a Mythos in "The Hope", the view hasn't changed, lovely. Walked to Despina Taverna and had a chat with the lads who both run it, they didn't remember us. Had 1Ltr of Rose, Tzatziki, Fava, and fried Courgettes for €20. Got 3.50 bus back after missing the 2.30.

 

 

8TH Monday, Thira* - SANTORINI 08:00 - 17:00

Got first tender off at 9:15am, they didn’t have enough takers to do the €20 boat trip to Oia so we did cable car for €4 each. Bus station is hard to find, walk right along main road through pedestrian part and it’s on the left. Got 10:40 bus to Oia, took 25 minutes. (think it was €1.70 each, each way) Walked around Oia before the crowds hit at 1pm, Bus back at 1:30, walk around Thira then cable car and tender back.

 

 

10th Wednesday, Piraeus (for Athens) - GREECE 08:00 - 15:00

Costa Fascinosa Navigator Of The Seas Silver Spirit

Not a lot of time to do Athens on your own so walked over to Zea Marina and beach, walked back to ship.

 

 

11th Thursday, Katakolon - GREECE 09:00 - 18:00

Splendour Of The Seas

Off early again, walked the route of the noddy train to the beach on other side of peninsula, a lovely bar, €3 for large Fix beer and €2.50 for a Fanta, sunbeds are free, the closer very large beach near the Train station is not very nice, and the small beach close to the harbour is pebbly.

 

 

12th Friday, Corfu Town - CORFU

Off early again, got bus into town for €1.50 each, but it’s not very far. Nice walk around lovely place very Colonial.

 

 

14th Sunday, Koper - SLOVENIA 09:00 - 23:00

A lovely place, most shops shut, was off early and walked around old town and saw the small beach packed with locals, and the kids pirate party. Had a good beer for €2.50 each, back onboard afternoon for sunbathing, had an early Dinner then back out to same bar for half litre of red wine €5.

 

 

 

15th Monday, Venice - ITALY 07:00 - 17:00

Grand Celebration

Got up at 6am to see sail-in. Off ship just after 8am. 15mins walk to people mover (€1 each) then a 40 minutes stroll through the back streets to Salute church. Back to academia bridge and across to St Marks. Walked back Via Rialto bridge to Roma square. Back onboard just after 1pm and sunbathed. Sailaway at 6pm was 1 hour later because of Carnival Sunshine and Costa Magica going before us. Rob, Brandi and Max sang as we sailed away, fantastic. I used Google maps to get walking directions before we went but really didn't need them, just follow your nose and the yellow signs saying St marks, Rialto, and Roma square, and you can't go wrong.

 

 

 

16th Tuesday, Sibenik* - CROATIA 09:00 - 18:00

Off on first tender at 9.20am, lovely place, had a nice walk around. Entrance to Castle costs 20Kn, you get to walk 200 yards up a path just to see the view as the Castle is being renovated and you cannot go in. Walked up to the cemetery to get the same view for free. Had ice cream in Medieval garden, €1 each. They take euro in the Medieval garden cafe.

 

 

17th Wednesday, Dubrovnik - CROATIA 08:00 - 16:00

Azura

Off at 8.20am, walked into Dubrovnik, it took 40 minutes, walked around old town and got the 10:30 am boat to Cavtat for €11 each return. Had walk around headland and up to Hotel Croatia, back on 1pm boat. Walked around Dubrovnik again and had ice cream for €1.50 each. Back for 4pm. Had no problem buying boat tickets and ice cream in euro. if you want to take the public bus into town you will need Kuna, but there is a set taxi fee of €10 per trip into town, they will take euro.

 

 

18th Thursday, Kotor - MONTENEGRO 08:00 - 16:00

Costa Classica MSC Armonia

Up at 6am to watch sail-in. Did highlights of Montenegro trip. £46 each, out at 8:15am, back at 3pm. A good trip, up 25 hairpin bends to top of mountain for wonderful view, had Prsut ham and cheese and red wine at 9:30am in village of Njegusi, then to Cetinje for tour of king Nicola’s Palace, very good inside, doesn’t look much from outside. Then to Budva, walk around old town and along front, quite trendy. Back to ship at 3pm for lovely sailaway.

[Jim The Scot]

Thanks Joe

 

I may have seen them but can you point me in the direction of the Dream and Celebration pics?

[kruzseeka]

Great - brought back some very happy memories Joe. Thanks :) Isn't it amazing when you are looking down into the fjord from the top in Montenegro just haow close the Adriatic sea is from Kotor? It takes so long to travel down the meandering fjord but can only be a few miles as the crow flies! Fantastic views!

[Jakanne1]

ah yes....working now:cool:

 

love the ducks joe...we have eddie the (cross dressing) lizard (pink tutu!) (travels everywhere dd#2 goes....and always gets the best seats)....has lost half a tail and all his legs now

 

which f/b page jak....do you have a link?

 

Sorry, Geo., have tried to find a way of doing a link but cannot. All I can suggest is you ask someone you know who is on FB to join the closed group Thomson Cruises. There are lots of photos on there many by people on here like Berwyn (Clwd) and Dreamgirl. I'll keep trying though!

[joeholiday2]

Loads of pics here Jim.

 

https://joeholiday2.shutterfly.com/pictures

[Cappers]

Loving the ducks:D:D:D

[Jim The Scot]

Loads of pics here Jim.

 

https://joeholiday2.shutterfly.com/pictures

 

Thanks Joe.Lovely pics on all albums

[Langtoncouple]

It brings back lovely memories. I wanna go back!

[geomagot]

Sorry, Geo., have tried to find a way of doing a link but cannot. All I can suggest is you ask someone you know who is on FB to join the closed group Thomson Cruises. There are lots of photos on there many by people on here like Berwyn (Clwd) and Dreamgirl. I'll keep trying though!

 

no probs jaks I thinks dd's are members of that group....will have a look over their shoulders....they hate that;):)

[mouseworld]

Will post on the review pages too:

 

Thomson Majesty.

5th July – 19th July 13

Pearls of the Aegean- Adriatic Explorer

 

 

This will be our eighth Thomson Cruise, and having been on the Dream (Feb 13) and the Celebration (May 13) both post and pre Platinum upgrade we have something to compare to.

 

 

We picked this cruise for the itinerary, many cruisers had told us in the past that Adriatic Explorer is the best one Thomson do, and we would not disagree with this. It’s one of the most expensive (probably because of the port changes in Venice) but is one of the most spectacular and well worth the extra over a usual Med cruise if you have never seen these ports before. We had some trepidation when booking the Majesty as there have been some reports where people said they didn’t like the ship.

We found the ship fine, yes there are the usual sundeck issues, particularly the very narrow areas between above the pools, but we find these minor issues.

We had an inside plus Deck 3 (3055) and found it was plenty big enough, the standard cabins look small (quite a bit narrower than the plus) but we would be happy with one of those for a week if a plus was not available. It is worth paying the extra £35 each per week if they are available, especially if you are doing a fortnight. The cabin was well appointed with a good fridge and our lovely cabin stewards Irene and Andreea kept the ice bucket full for us. The grouting at the bottom of the shower was a little grubby, but nothing that caused us any problems. Most days the shower had to be run for 10 minutes to get some hot water, but there was plenty of force.

The TV remote was faulty so we reported it straight away to Irene, when we returned that evening it had been replaced, the following day the old CRT TV had been replaced with a new flat screen which had a much better picture.

 

 

The most noticeable problems with the ship are the queuing for both MDR’s if you arrive any later than 7:45pm, before that you will be fine. There is a lack of seating in the main buffet and occasionally at breakfast we had to go downstairs to the Royal Observatory. We found the food at breakfast better at the buffet than the MDR’s, the pre-made fried eggs were undercooked wherever you ate, so having the egg station at the buffet meant you could get a fresh one cooked to your liking.

We also found the Orange juice and breakfast coffee in the MDR watered down, the buffet was much nicer. A noticeable improvement over the Celebration and Dream was that the mushrooms were fresh and not tinned. The lunchtime food in the MDR was good, we had a lovely Ciabatta sandwich with fried fish, cheese and tomato one day, (nicer than it sounds, honestly) but the service was rather slow for lunchtime, and we would be in there an hour some days.

We mostly ate in the Four Seasons in the evening, we found the atmosphere better and the waiters seemed friendlier, aiming for Leo’s section whenever we could, he gave excellent service. We did notice that the portions are huge compared to the Celebration and Dream, the mains were around double the size, and we always skipped the salad course because of this. We would say the food quality was comparable with the other ships, and did not have a bad meal at all.

There was no midnight buffet, just a chocolate fountain, and we noticed the baked Alaska parade was a little tame, we think it was rushed as people tend to eat later on this ship and they wanted to get back to giving service.

 

 

NOROVIRUS, no problems on this ship, we didn’t hear of anyone going down with it, or see any signs such as doormats:)

 

 

As the ship is around 10 years younger than the other two it doesn’t shake and rattle the same, our cabin was midships towards the aft and there was very little noise, much less than you would get on the Celebration or Dream in a similar position, we always have booked the cabin on these ships to get a midships, but would not hesitate in taking pot luck again on the Majesty.

 

The staff seem more of a mix of nationalities than Celebration or Dream, with many wait staff being from Eastern Europe, rather than the mix of Philipino, Balinese, and Indonesian that are on the other ships. Most of the Eastern Europeans are great fun (Anne-Marie for instance is lovely) but occasionally you come across a surly one. They all get along together and that comes across, Grace and Diana are absolute stars, always laughing and jolly. We sat at the bar in Rendezvous, and always had a good laugh with Eko, Ida, and Angel behind the bar; they are constantly busy yet always have time for you.

The quality of the drinks was also fine, we didn’t notice any difference to the way cocktails were made whether you were on the drinks package or not, and our G&T’s got stronger as we got to know the boys better:D

 

 

The entertainment….. well what can we say… it’s the best showteam we have seen on any ship!

 

 

All of them have so much talent, and as Paul Evans the CD says, they make his job easy. Half of them are new to cruising and others like Gareth the ACD and Kerry we have met before. The singers Brandi (USA), Max (Holland), Rob, Brian, Beth, and Alice have excellent voices. They sometime give Alice a song that stretches her range, but nevertheless she has a good voice.

The dancers (sorry can’t remember all of their names, I know one of the girls is from New Caledonia) are good singers too, occasionally doing a song individually as well as the excellent harmonies they provide to the main singers.

The sailaway from Venice is something special, Brandi, Max and Rob sing as you sail out finishing with O Sole Mio, it is really is amazing. The team are on until next April, so catch them whilst you can.

 

 

 

One thing that would be great if is transferred over to the other ships is putting the house band on for half an hour before the shows start, this is a brilliant idea, as the lounge starts to fill up you have some proper entertainment rather than the musak they play waiting for the show to start.

We never saw the classical Duo, but Summerland and Musik Unlimited are great bands, with Musik Unlimited performing every bit as good as Top Men, they are truly professional musicians.

Mark Smith who played Piano every night in Rendezvous was also excellent; we spent hours in there listening to him, he has gone home now, but may return later in the season.

 

 

In all we had a great cruise and would sail both itineraries and the Majesty again without hesitation.

 

Hi

I am glad you enjoyed your cruise,

I am sailing on the Majesty 9th August for two weeks after reading your review it has put my mind at rest. I am looking forward to the Adriatic as I haven't seen these places before. which is the best restaurant to eat in for breakfast and evening meal. Can you visit the places as DIY :)

[Cappers]

Hi

I am glad you enjoyed your cruise,

I am sailing on the Majesty 9th August for two weeks after reading your review it has put my mind at rest. I am looking forward to the Adriatic as I haven't seen these places before.

 

So am I Mousey !!:D:D