Have we made a mistake ?

[Reina del Mar]

Have done about 25 cruises on P & O, Norwegian Caribbean, Princess and Royal Caribbean.

 

We have just booked a Thomson Cruise on Discovery 2 to the Canaries. I appreciate this ship used to be part of Royal Caribbean's fleet.

 

I'm now having second thoughts, have we made a mistake ?

 

Please would anyone who has sailed on Princess, P & O or Royal Caribbean and then moved onto Discovery 2 share experiences and/ or comments ?

 

Thanks.

[sail7seas]

I have no idea if you made a mistake but wonder what concerns are worrrying you? It might be easier for someone to help you if they know your worries.

[Reina del Mar]

Concerns about quality of food, cabin, staff, fellow passengers, dress codes, set up, organisation etc etc

[Essiesmom]

I think you will get more answers if you ask on the Thomson board here. Since the majority of members here are from North America and have no exposure to Thomson, asking on the Thomson board, the UK cruisers board, even the P&O-UK board might be helpful. EM

[Extra Kim]

Discovery 2 is the old Legend Of The Seas, we did a B2B with a total of 21nts on her back in 2015. Wouldn't mind cruising on her again.

[Keith1010]

Also I would read the review on the cruise review board.

Keith

[Tiggertastic]

Thomsons give you a really great service.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[BlueRiband]

You've been on CC since 2011. Is there some reason that you did not make inquiries before booking? Especially since you are in the UK where deposits are usually not refundable?

[Reina del Mar]

You've been on CC since 2011. Is there some reason that you did not make inquiries before booking? Especially since you are in the UK where deposits are usually not refundable?

 

 

Your comment seems rather aggressive !

 

I am not sure the fact I joined CC in 2011 has anything to do with my question !

 

The reason we booked is because of flight shortages from our local airport to Canaries and only being able to travel in school holidays. We needed 6 seats and only 7 were still available to travel over October half -term. So we grabbed them.

 

For information In UK some companies, such as Princess, allow you to make a change to your booking or request a re-rating for £100 charge.

[Reina del Mar]

I think you will get more answers if you ask on the Thomson board here. Since the majority of members here are from North America and have no exposure to Thomson, asking on the Thomson board, the UK cruisers board, even the P&O-UK board might be helpful. EM

 

 

Thank you for your suggestions.

[John Bull]

We've sailed most cruise lines, including most of Thomson's fleet tho' not Discovery 11.

 

No, you've not made a mistake.

But you will find a number of differences.

 

The up-sides.

Thomson's on-board charges are significantly lower than the others.

No daily charge, they describe their cruises as "tips-inclusive" 'though most folk put their hands in their pockets for a genuine tip to their cabin attendant and/or wait staff.

Drinks prices are about the same as P & O and provincial pubs, and like P & O there's no service charge.

Thomson's excursion prices are much more reasonable than most lines. Still over-priced, but DIY is easy in the Canaries esp if you rent a car.

Food in the MDRs is very good, as is the atmosphere. Breakfast & lunch in the MDR is also good and civilised - as on other ships, few folk use the MDR at those times.

Entertainment is excellent - compares well with other cruise lines. In particular a lot of live-music bars in the evenings, including restful and classical.

Cabins - I don't know this ship, but all Thomson ships have in-cabin tea & coffee-making.

The friendliness. Every Thomson ship we've sailed has been very sociable, a village rather than a city. That's both crew and passengers.

Regional flights, chartered aircraft, not being thrown off the ship by 9am on your last day but instead the run of the ship (other than your cabin) until your transfer to the airport is called. Same as P&O and Fred's Caribbean and some European fly-cruises. But perhaps not as slick an operation as P&O.

The crew on Thomson are every bit as good as on other cruise lines.

Value-for-money.

 

The down-sides

Thomson head office don't seem to be any more efficient than their high street staff. The only occasional grief that we've had has been in dealings with them. But ships' crews are fully clued-up, so don't worry if there are glitches ahead of your cruise - you should have no problems aboard.

A couple of penny-pinching things...........

- a charge (£14?) to use the in-cabin safe. Thomson do the same on their package holidays, very 1970's.

- and a fee to settle your on-board account by credit card, the only cruise line we know that charges so the only cruise line on which we use a debit card.

The food & service, & often the surroundings, in the lido buffet generally aren't anywhere near as good as Princess or RCI, but adequate for a rushed breakfast, sea-day lunch and snacks.

Fairly poor selection of drinks. And weak cocktails - too many of us swear that for us to be wrong.

 

neither up nor down

Thomson are quite traditional about dress codes. Gents wear long pants and collared shirts in the MDR, ladies dress smart-casual. On formal nights everyone makes the effort - or dines in the buffet, no code other than no bare chests or feet. About 65% to 80% (does seem to vary wildly) of gents wear tux's, the rest in dark suits and some in blazers and the occasional uniform or national dress. Some ladies in full finery mode, most in cocktail dresses or trouser suits.

The vast majority of passengers are Brits, even more so than P&O.

A higher proportion of "working class" passengers than other cruise lines, perhaps because of the Thomson package-holiday clientele. But never met anyone overly loud, aggressive, drunk, etc.

For an extra £40(?) you can choose a specific cabin in your category. The advantage is not so much to choose the best locations, more to avoid the worst locations such as near machinery, under the theatre, under open deck, etc. Most don't bother so even if you're amongst the last to book there'll be a decent selection. To be worth the bother you need to research.

 

The Canaries itinerary is very relaxed, other than a quite long bus ride from airport to ship.

If you want to rent a car, use CICAR. They're the biggest & best-known in the Canaries, and have an excellent reputation including here on Cruise Critic. None of the rental-car rip-offs (fuel, insurance, damage. extras etc etc etc) that you get even with the big names like Avis or Hertz. They service cruise passengers though the routine varies from island to island.

 

JB :)

[Reina del Mar]

FAO John Bull

 

Thank you so much for your very helpful reply. You covered everything we needed to know. We are on a charter flight that also serves the island of Tenerife so will be quite late arriving on sail away day. We have booked specific cabins as we need three together ...did wonder why there seemed to be so many available, but others not paying for cabin choice explains that. We have 'all inclusive' so hopefully will survive on the drinks that are offered. Great to hear we can stay aboard till airport transfer arrives.

Thank you once again.