my cruise review of thomson destiny

[seabourndt]

i tried doing a member cruise review but thomson is nort listed!

i booked thuis cruise mainly because i cruise on thi ship in 1998 as the RCCL SHIP SONG OF AMERICA. so when thery bought this ship i wanted to see what changed there were. i booked via thomson agency in hounslow, after paying my deposit. i decided to aslk them when i would get my cabin number and was told unless i paid £30 to choose my cabin not until check in. i do not like this extra charges, i know they are a very moderatly prices cruise line but do they have to make these extra charges? my agent are definatly not on my christmas card list as they told me nothing. in fact apart from not tellinmg me bout the cabin charges, not telling me when the tickets arrived,not telling me about patying extra to get a window on the aicraft and by the time i found out it was too late.

 

FLIGHTS.

i checked in at gatwick north terminal wihout much hassle apart from every being told about the new regulations vregarduing liquids on planes. so no window seat as i did not pre book. headphones extra £3,drinks extra. at least i got a free meal which was quite good. obviously the airline operates as a flight only as well so the others only get snacks as in easyjet and ryanair.after just over3 hours flying we landed in funchal we was an experience as the landing strip is very small. after getting my bags which seemed the last to come down. i looked the cruise desk to gewt my boarding card and labels for my bags. foiund the coach and put the bags in the baggage hold in the coach. i heard anotgher passenger left his wallet on this coach and lost everything and they denied responsibility for the loss, strange as it was a thomson coach! we waited andwaited! waiting for somew other passengers who never turned up and finallyleft for the port.

 

EMBARKATION.

and 25 mins on the coach we arrived at port nof funchal. the THOMSON DESTINY was the ship at the end. the other 2 ships there were OCEANIC'S "INSUIGNIA", AND "AIDA BLU". AIDA ALWAYS SEEMS TO BE IN MADEEIRA I SAW IT THERE THE WEEK BEFORE WHEN I CRUISE ON REGENT'S 7 SEAS VOYAGER TO MIAMI. as there is no building to check in this waas done onboard. this was very quick as i had my cruise card already. then i made my way to deck 3 where my cabin 3074 was.

 

CABIN.

3074 is quite a small cabin, bathroom with a very small shower stall. a single bed with a light wityh was a small ledge which made it very hard to lie in, this was where the cabin was above. a sort of sofa which cul;ds be made up as \a 2nd bed. but as i was alone i could use it as a sofa which was good. the window was a bit difficult to gewt to as vit waas von ledge and creaked everytime you tried to reach over to it. an ice bucket which was never filled, i was charged for a bottle of water that was not there! i soon got my bill altered. i hardly saw my stewardess, a couple of time just to say hello but never bto introduce herself to me and ask if i wanted anything. a couple of times she opened the door as could not get to it before he entered with out a shirt non but she soon said sorry. no flannel in the bathroom, so was glad i brought one,no shaver point!,and a safe that had to be opened by reception so i not bother with it.

 

DINING.

when i got to my cabin i found i was on 2nd sitting at dinner! i do mnot like2nd sitting s it is too late at 2045! unfortunatly by bthis time th chance of changing it was gone and had to wait until 1900hrs. so i went ashore to look at the shops, sadly by this time the othr 2 ships had left and most of them were closed(it was not even 1800hrs,sems a bit early to close!) so as it was getting dark i decided to wak into town when all the lovely christmas light were on. its the most beautiful island as regards the lights at this time. i made my way back to try to change my sitting. 1st no sign of the maitre d so had to tell rewception to get him as i did not want to go into the restaurant. i asked if i could change but he said not until tomorrow despite me seeing several empty seats. so off i went to th pool deck to get a salad as i was hungry. at 2045 hrs i went into restaurant for dinner. i found the rest of my dining companions were all women, not that i minded. the waiter was really friendly on our vtable much better than the table i changed to on 1st sitting. who did not even ask if i wanted any wine! i had the 7 night drinks package but was not told what this included until i asked. other were given a bottle to themselves but i was only offered a glass. don't think he was a wine steward as he never never even told me what the wine was.

the food ws really good choice and large portions. the fish was a bit samey not that much different choice. the baked alaska on thelast night was a bit strange as i eat i before they paraded it. i fact i was the onlty one on our table that had it.

 

ENTERTAINMENT.

the shows were really good, singers and dancers energetic,always smiling faces. even when it was a bit rocky. the cruise director sue denning was really entertaining and a bit different for a cruise director.

 

PORTS OF CALL.

agadir in morocco,lanzarote and tenerife in canaries.

 

EXCURSIONS.

a good choice and plenty of info about the different excursion in the leaflets left in the cabin. i choe 4X4 jeep in agadir which was not too rough compared to EGYPT last year. the lunch a bit differewnt to a bedoin tent was more of a sort of a restaurant were we sat down an food brought to us.

 

in lanzarote i did a submarine trip which was very good and interesting,just a bit of confusion when we waited fr the bus back as there lots of people german and english plus people going back to their hotels and only 1 coach there. not this one we were told but it was more people seem to be on it coming back so had to sit in a different seat as some were going back to their hotel.

the last one was tenerife to puerto de la cruz a resort i went to on my very 1st holiday abroad. some places looked different but th old lido looked much the same.

 

SHIP.

the day before i boarded i heard they had a really rough trip, lots of sick people,hardly anyopne at dinner. that was from LA PALMA TO FUNCHAL. it was the swell i understand. the last time i was on this year through he PANAMA CANAL she was such a smooth rider. so don't know what has happened to her. even on the 4 days i was on her she was moving around a lot. the wind was not that much and the waves notmuch either. it seem toi be the swells! i did not sleep very much on the way to agadir, i kept waking up with the movement. just as we were coming ito to port we moved eraticly!!! someone said there was a ship coming out was never heard of this before as we seems to go from one side to the other. people said the things fell off the tables at this time.

the best part of the ship was the VIKING CROWN LOUNGE, which used to be half smoking but no longer. when the ship was moving around you could really see it!

 

FLIGHT HOME.

as th ship was going to be out of servce for 3 weeks when we got to tenerife we were allowed to keep our cabins until 1 hours before dparting the hip was good. so after the trip to puerto de la cruz came back to the ship and await our coach to the airport. we left at 1600hrs to the north airport which i very small. indeedd tyherew is not even a duty free shop there. the chec in wasquite quick desite quite a few people there. its a really hassle though was the plicy on liquids even alcohol has to be put in the checked baggage and if it breaks it breaks! every airport is different coming out shoes off, comibng back no shoes but wathes abnd and bels off instead. i think they are a bit over he top about this now!

 

cruise experience.

as a very basic cruise certainly compared to REGENT, VERY POOR LIGHTING IN THE CABIN indeedi could'nt see at night! no proper wine stewards, and roght unstable ship!! i'm sorry but i don't think i will be going on thomson again!! sorry.

dave