Going in our first cruise

[PandEM]

Hi all,

 

My wife and I have just booked our first cruise and will be sailing in the Thomson Spirit on the 16th October.

 

Very excited but newbies, would appreciate any advice.

 

Thanks

 

P and E

[klfrodo]

Hi all,

 

My wife and I have just booked our first cruise and will be sailing in the Thomson Spirit on the 16th October.

 

Very excited but newbies, would appreciate any advice.

 

Thanks

 

P and E

 

Pack all the clothes you want to take, Close the suit cases.

Then open the suit cases, take half of everything out.

Close the suit cases,,, you're ready to go.

 

Don't need 5 pair of shoes.

Don't need a different outfit for every day.

 

Double up on the cash.

[diane.in.ny]

I agree with all of the above :D

 

Two pieces of advice. Find your roll call and join it so you can 'meet' fellow cruisers.

 

Second, is go to the Ports of Call section and read up on some of the ports you'll be visiting ... ideas about what is worth seeing and how to do it (through a private tour or the ship).

 

Welcome aboard and have a great trip!

[AdoraBelle]

Hi all,

 

 

 

My wife and I have just booked our first cruise and will be sailing in the Thomson Spirit on the 16th October.

 

 

 

Very excited but newbies, would appreciate any advice.

 

 

 

Thanks

 

 

 

P and E

 

 

Lots of people are going to tell you to pack fewer clothes. I followed this advice too closely and ended up doing laundry in the sink. =D

 

If you think you might be seasick, take meds BEFORE the ship sails. Ginger ale and candied ginger (or powdered ginger capsules) also help.

 

Bring various kinds of stomach meds--not necessarily for Noro, but because the desire to overindulge can make Alka Seltzer a very nice thing to have around.

 

Speaking of Noro, whenever you have the opportunity to wash your hands or use sanitizer gel--do it. If you are about to eat something with your hands, be very sure you've washed them since the last time you touched something like a panel of elevator buttons. ;)

 

Not sure about that cruise line, but most ships I've been on have magnetic walls. I like bringing small magnetic clips for papers, hanging sunglasses and other lightweight objects, etc.

 

Bring a small air freshener for the bathroom. Cruise ships can just generally be smelly.

 

Study the deck plans for your ship ahead of time. Layout can be confusing. (Also: make sure you didn't inadvertently pick a room under the gym or over a nightclub.)

 

There are many little unpleasant aspects of embarkation day--lines, paperwork, crowds at the buffet, and the muster (safety) drill. Don't let these get to you. (Even if they do, you will likely forget them by about 6pm that same day.)

 

Cruise ship slot machines are tight as heck.

[NMLady]

Hi all,

 

My wife and I have just booked our first cruise and will be sailing in the Thomson Spirit on the 16th October.

 

Very excited but newbies, would appreciate any advice.

 

Thanks

 

P and E

 

Go to the P&O forum and read several of the posts there.

 

Go to the P&O roll call forum and read posts from your fellow passengers to see what they are planning.

[cb at sea]

Pack as you would for ANY vacation to the climate you'll go to! I don't know how the obsession with "packing lightly" got started! Take what you want and need! If you bring something home clean...good for you!

 

Bring binoculars, if you are interested in what you can see at sea! We take ours on every beachy vacation!

 

Get a guidebook on your ports...it's helpful to know something about where you're going! Most things are quite easy to do on your own, without pricey "ship excursions"! A little info goes a long way! Public libraries have guidebooks!

Edited July 31, 2016 by cb at sea

[idil]

All true for the clothing ... but, for the cash, we spent less than what we planned to spend ...

 

We did our first cruise in June and loved it (on Carnival).

 

Here somewhere, someone mentioned a bathroom organizer for the room due to small space (to hang it on the door, with little clear pouches to put your toiletries/jewelry in) which I purchased at a dollar store for CAD2 or Cad2,50 ... it turned out to be the most useful tip I read on Cruise Critic.

 

Good luck ... enjoy :)

[PandEM]

Thanks everyone for all the advice.

 

I've set up a roll call for our cruise as I couldn't see one, and at the moment it looks like we have the ship to ourselves :D

 

I'm sure we will be back with more daft questions soon

 

Thanks again

[jocap]

Thomson have a dedicated page on here, which you'll see under the Cruise Lines in the index (or some kind, efficient person will put on the link... :D)

I've only been on Spirit's twin, Celebration, which was a good cruise, although both ships are elderly now. You don't have to worry about tipping- it's included; the drinks are pub prices; as for washing, there are free launderettes on board with their own detergent added. Some of the best entertainment at sea, and friendly crew.

The best bit is that Thomson have you in their care from entering the airport- they use their own aeroplanes, and you don't have to leave the ship on the last morning until it's time to go and check in at the airport ready to fly home.

Enjoy! :cool:

[maldenmusic]

Check all the boards here on CC. There is a ton of info. Have fun. Some of my fun is just preparing for each cruise.

[louanne93]

Check all the boards here on CC. There is a ton of info. Have fun. Some of my fun is just preparing for each cruise.

 

I LOVE preparing for my cruise!

[John Bull]

Hi, & welcome to Cruise Critic,

 

Thomson is marketed to Brits, & your fellow-passengers will be over-whelmingly Brits. But most CC members as you'll have noticed are North Americans, and we Brits don't go in for RollCalls. So don't expect pages of responses to your Rollcall (but congrats on getting one up-and-running :))

 

You're more likely to get help from the Thomson page. Since I'm a kind, efficient person ;), here it is:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=497

 

Just a few observations:

 

Thomson use hand-me-down ships, so they're quite elderly & arthritic. And Spirit & twin-sister Celebration are the smallest in the fleet, quite diminutive when parked next to the leviathons.

But what they lack in toys, facilities & glitz they make up for in spadefuls with their laid-back friendly atmosphere amongst both passengers & crew - that's helped by her size, more like a village than a city.

 

Food in the lido buffet is no better than "OK", and the lido itself is rather canteen-like. Fine for a rushed breakfast on port days or for snacks, but for dinner (and a civilised breakfast on sea days) use the main dining room, "The Compass Rose". Here the surroundings and service are good, as is the food - the menu always includes a choice of international "restaurant" food, or "pub grub" like fish & chips, pies, curries etc.

 

There'll be one or two formal nights, and Thomson passengers do respect the dress code. Somewhere around 70% to 90% of gents will be in tuxedos, the others in dark suit & tie, and the occasional blazer, uniform or kilt. Other nights long pants or rollneck or open-neck shirt, a few will wear jacket & tie.

If that's not your scene, best to join the young families etc in the lido for dinner.

 

Evening entertainment is waaaay better than you'd expect on such a small ship. Shows in the Broadway lounge, and in most bars musicians to suit a wide range of tastes. Better than many of the aforesaid leviathons.

 

Altho' she lacks modern amenities, cabins are well-fitted, with in-room tea & coffee. BTW included coffee from the urn is like mud (same as every ship I've sailed) so switch to tea or consider bringing a jar of Nescaff or whatever.

 

As per Jo's post, drinks prices are much cheaper than US or Italian ships & no service charge. Yes, about the same as provincial pubs.

Thomson sometimes include a drinks package in the cruise price or offer it at around half-price, to encourage cruise bookings - if you've not already been offered that, you won't get the offer after booking. If you have a freebie package or a cut-price one that's fine. But don't buy the package at full-price (well over £200 per person per week) because it's awful value & there are restrictions, and supplements for over half the drinks available.

 

Have you paid the extra (£40?) to select a specific cabin?

Spirit (and Celebration) have an incurable birth defect, an intermittent vibration - more like a shimmy - that strikes from time to time, in port as well as at sea, and can affect various parts of the ship. Not a big deal, tends to bring a few grins when it happens, but no fun if it affects your cabin. The susceptible ones are those aft on decks 2 & 3 (there are only a few) - if your cabin is in that category I suggest you put your hand in your pocket & shell out that £40 to avoid that aft section.

 

Thomson is the only cruise line which charges for the use of the in-cabin safe. About £15 pw.

 

"Tips are included" is promoted to differentiate Thomson from other cruise lines, which add $12 to $14 per day to each passenger's on-board account - creating much angst amongst first-timers.:(

No obligation to give extra, but the hard-working staff are great and at the end of the cruise most folk reward their cabin attendant & waiter, though at nothing like that US level.

 

Get your euros before you go, from the usual suspects - M&S, Tesco, Post Office, etc, or use ATMs in port. Don't use ship's exchange, like all cruise ships the rates are awful. No need for Moroccan dinars, you'll get by with euros.

 

Don't go booking a stack of ship's excursions - although Thomson's excursion prices are a little lower than other cruise lines' they're still not great value.

For instance consider the hop-on bus in Lisbon, a taxi/minibus upper Rock tour on-spec from the quayside at Gib, no tour needed for Portimao or Cadiz, the towns are easily walkable. Or train from Cadiz to Jerez de la Frontera for sherry bodegas & https://www.realescuela.org/en/ Or rent a car at the rail station, very convenient for the port. But if you want to visit Seville from Cadiz, best book ship's excursion.

 

Stacks of info on your ports at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=603

Your Portuguese ports will be in "other Mediterranean ports" (don't say it :D), Casablanca in either that same forum or Africa.

 

Thomson are a good simple choice for a first-timer - geared to Brits, no major on-board price shocks, & ship's currency is sterling

 

All first cruises are great, have a good one

JB :)

Edited August 5, 2016 by John Bull