Prices of Thomson Cruise vs other companies

[Frenchie_1]

Hi ;)

 

I currently have a cruise booked for me, husband and 9 yr old daughter with Royal Caribbean in June for a fortnight around the med from Southampton. However due to recent bad experience with that company I want to cancel my booking and go with a British company such as P & O or Thomson.

 

I've been on the Thomson website and the price for the same type of cruise (although there are flights involved) at the same time of year is higher than with RCI. I thought Thomsons were more at the budget end of the market but at £3,800 for three of us it doesnt seem the case.

 

So my question is where do you book your Thomson Cruises, directly from Thomsons or can I book elsewhere cheaper and what kind of price would i pay?

[jenny wren]

Thomson prices do seem high compared to other companies this year...we want to book one later in the year and the price has actually gone up 300 pounds on their own website since we started looking before Christmas. We usually get the website price and then start looking around to compare I'm not sure if I can put other websites on here but there are two I can think of who are usually 100 pounds cheaper one is cruise deals and the other is portland if you can find the web addresses.

 

But I think there are better deals on other lines at the moment...even P and O have some good offers in the Med. We're not long back off Ventura and despite what people have said we enjoyed it very much.

[jilljoy]

the info jenny has given is correct,ie cruise deals are cheaper than thomsons website.why? it is beyond me.

we also had problems with RCI and i vowd that i would never go with them again.

i will go with thomson every time,even if they are a tad more exspensive

[GeoffH]

One thing to remember when comparing Thomson's prices with other Cruise Lines is the fact that Thomson do not automatically add £xx or $xx per person per day for tips.

 

Tips are included in the price. If you want to tip individuals, feel free to do so, but there is no requirement to do it.

[capasamari]

A two week Mediterranean cruise departing from Southampton will only give you about 8 days in the Med as you have to allow for the sail across the Bay of Biscay to get there and back. My mum and dad found this a bit tedious, especially coming back, although they liked not having to worry about suitcase weights.

 

A two week fly-cruise will give you a full fortnight in the Med and don't forget you have to include the cost of the flights, so you could expect it to cost more.

 

We have previously found P&O cruises cheaper on Cruisekings than on P&O's own website, apart from a weekender which was cheaper from P&O. You need to shop around at the time really. I think some travel agents will price-match or better as well, just depends how long you want to spend looking for a deal!

 

Carol x

[slhw]

Hi

 

We have been a bit surprised too at Thomson's prices this year - they certainly seem to be catching other companies up - if not overtaking in some cases. Oddly enough, my husband and I had been chatting about this over the last couple of days. More or less coming to the conclusion that, much as we love Thomson ships for the atmosphere etc., they are going to have to do something about updating the ships in some areas if they want to keep many of their loyal customers. I certainly hope that Thomson are not taking advantage of our affection for their ships.

Our TA was telling us that there is rarely much availability on Thomson ships near to date of sailing. In contrast, we were berthed alongside one of RCI's floating blocks of flats two weeks ago and someone told us that it was half empty. I also notice that when you see large adverts for cruising, such as in the Mail every Saturday, there are always lots of adverts for every cruise company you can think of but rarely very much for Thomson.

 

We are going 10th Jan next year on Destiny - booked it at the end of last week. We did this now because we have a voucher from Thomson in respect of the Celebration Mini Cruise that never left the dock and it has to be used as part of a booking by the end of this month.

We did think long and hard about the Catch 22 situation of booking now, with voucher, but losing the value of it if prices are cut later in the year by a substantial amount. In the end, I think that being able to reserve the cabin that we want, plus AI, swung it.

We booked through our local travel agent - we usually seem to get the best deal there even if they only undercut by a few pounds. The price to the TA from Thomson had increased by £20 each from the Monday when we first enquired to last Friday when we actually went in to book it. By Sunday night - I can't resist looking - the price on Thomson site had gone up yet again by about another £30 each. There seems to have been an increase in the cost of the cabin, e.g. o/s deck 2/3 used to be £98 each - now £126.

When we were on board last month, we spoke to one couple who had paid around £900 each (they didn't say exactly how much). This was booked on Christmas Eve and was for an inside cabin. They hadn't been able to get a flight near to them (Yorkshire I think) and had travelled to Birmingham and stayed overnight in an hotel. Booking in October, we had paid possibly just under £250 more for an outside cabin (Deck 2/3) and a local flight from Manchester. So I didn't think that we had got it too wrong, particularly in view of the fact that, because of our business, we cannot leave it all to the last minute. If I have got it wrong this time, I am going to scream, and scream and scream.........

I certainly agree with the point about tips. When on QM2 last year, we paid $11 a day each -this, of course, would put cost up by over £200 on 14 day cruise now. And we still tipped individuals just as we do with Thomson. How much do other companies charge?

 

Still thinking and looking>

 

Sandie

[Frenchie_1]

Thanks for the replies, I'll have a look around :)

[jenny wren]

Just to update this ...the cruise we are watching at the moment has gone up another £20 each making a total of nearly £200 each increase since last November...thats on the Thomson website....

We can do alot better with other companies now for similar itineraries whereas Thomson were always the best value for money.

[Bella36]

Hi there,

I know jilljoy and frenchie said they had problems with past Royal Caribbean cruises, but I must say I do like RCI and much prefer the bigger ships. I usually cruise with P&O though, absolutely loved Ventura, and am booked on Aurora and Oriana this year. Although we very much enjoyed our first Thomson cruise to the Caribbean on Destiny in December, we did feel that she was just too small for us - I think you are either big ship or small ship people!:)

 

However I must share this fab deal for a Royal Caribbean cruise with you all! We booked it today - a total bargain!

 

Flights from Bristol to Venice (other airports available)

2 nights pre-cruise B&B accomodation in 4* central Venice hotel

7 nights cruise in outside cabin on Splendour of the Seas from Venice, calling at Split, Corfu, Athens, Mykonos and Katakolon, returning to Venice and flight home

 

All for an amazing £629 pp in May! I call that a real bargain for an Eastern Med cruise!:D:D I wasn't planning to do another cruise at that time of year - but just couldn't say No to that deal. It is selling for about £300 more on the RCI website. We were planning to try Celebration in the Eastern Med later in the summer - but I think on price alone Royal Caribbean has won this time!

 

I do have a big smile on my face tonight, with all those cruises to plan for!:D

[jenny wren]

Hi there Bella36..funnily enough we are trying RCI for the first time next week flying to Barcelona to join Brilliance of the Seas to sail to Alexandria and back and all stops in between!!

 

The Thomson one we're keeping an eye on is Eastern Med in September on Calypso but there's also a 17 night on Arcadia which is also a good price (similar itinerary to the one you quote but sailing from Southampton on 4 october). We also liked Ventura very much (did the transatlantic) although we prefer smaller ships.

 

That is a good deal you've found and you will enjoy it all the more knowing you got it for a good price!!

[jilljoy]

i must agree bella36 that is a cracking deal you have booked,

i have to admit that the RCI ships are out of this world, but for me that is all RCI have going for them.

i wish thomson would 'go large'with their ships,that would be the only improvement thomson need to make (in my opinion)

[slhw]

Hi

 

That sounds great, Bella, would look at it myself only we're working all May. We do, of course, expect your usual brilliant review!

 

Jenny Wren - I too am puzzled at the way Thomson prices have gone up. Caribbean next January went up £20 between Monday (enquiry) to Thursday (booking) and then a further £60 by the following Sunday. Has anyone any clues as to why this all happens?

 

We are fortunate this year in that, as already mentioned numerous times, we have the famous voucher so the prices haven't made us consider anything else. It's actually going to cost us less than it did this year. We have noticed that this year's prices are certainly on a par with , if not higher than, some other companies.

 

A thought occurred to me the other day. I had been reading a comment from an irate RCI cruiser who said that he/she was aware that RCI monitor these sites. I would imagine that this is probably the case with Thomson also. If that is so, then I hope that all the positive comments that appear about Thomson atmosphere, entertainment etc. outweighing the rather down-at-heel aspect of the ships, do not make Thomson management come to the conclusion that they will retain their loyal passenger base even if they do not upgrade the ships. I certainly hope that there will have been some cosmetic attention to Destiny when we sail aboard her next January but, if not, we may be forced, reluctantly I admit, to look elsewhere! So, take heed, any Thomson watchers out there ............!

 

By the way, if anyone else is following the posts regarding the cancellation of the Celebration cruise, I can't be bothered writing any more in depth posts on the subject but just to tell you that my two friends have today, thanks to their vouchers, booked a Canary Islands cruise for £150 each - they are well pleased!!

 

Sandie

[storeman]

I would like to add that this is our first Cruise with Thomson Cruises :)

 

Leaving Glasgow on 5th April 2009 until 20th April 2009 to the Caribbean

 

we choose this Cruise because it had a differant Cruise Iternerary from our last cruise with Sea Princess that we took last year

 

are we happy with price yes the cost of this Cruise for 2 Adults was

 

£2733.00 Less Thomson Discount £ - 163.00 Travel £ 2570.00

 

and of course £35.00 to book Cabin in Deck 3 to be added on any other extras to include yes if you want to sit together as a Couple :mad: so hopefully get there early and smile at the Reception at the airport and save on that expence :D

 

next time i will try to book on line and see how much i can save and ask for a price match lol :D so moral of my story was prepare next time and dont book in impulse when passing a Travel agents :cool:

[BIGMANTAM]

Storeman, you didnt say if the price you paid was for an inside or outside cabin and what about drinks package.. I and OH are going for two weeks on the 15th of March, we paid 2600 pounds for an outside cabin deck 3, inclusive of drinks package. I think this was a good deal. We are also flying from Glasgow :rolleyes:

[storeman]

Hi BigmanTam its an inside job :D and No drink included :mad:

[scareyness]

I have spent most of today looking to book a Thomson cruise for next month to the Canaries.

 

Previous experience has proved that shopping around pays! Although we can only do a week this time the prices difference I have so far is around £140 each, and I have found that everyone is willing to price match!

 

We are now going to book a deluxe cabin for less than my first quoted price was for a standard outside:D

[slhw]

Hi

 

We paid £2294, not AI, in January for outside cabin deck 2/3 and then spent approx. £250 on drinks so that is probably comparable to you Bigmantam. Incidentally, when did you all book? We booked about mid-October.

 

Storeman - don't worry about what you've paid - there will always be someone on board who says that they got it for half what you paid when they booked the night before you sailed! You will have a fantastic time and will come back saying that it was worth every penny you paid!!! Trust me!!!! Also, don't worry about the pre-booking of seats on the plane - we gave up on that years ago and have always been seated together - just get to the airport in good time!

 

Having said this, think that this year's price increase is a bit steep!

 

Sandie

[Bella36]

Sandie, I do agree with you on both points you made.

Who ever goes on a cruise with Thomson will certainly enjoy themselves, because the crew, the other passengers, the entertainment and the happy atmosphere will all contribute to a fab holiday. Also, the other point is that Thomson cannot rest on their laurels with regard to this, because there is no doubt that when you compare Destiny's actual decor, fixtures, fittings, cabins etc to the other cruise ships, then Destiny does need a refit!

Personally speaking, when I choose a cruise I regard the actual ship as my "destination" with the ports of call as my "day trips", and therefore I want a ship that looks and feels luxurious, as well has having a great atmosphere.

The amazing prices presently being offered by the other cruise companies, such as P&O, Royal Caribbean and Cunard are going to be very tempting to Thomson's traditional client base, and I have to say that I am astonished at some of the price rises in Thomson cruises this year, when most other cruise companies are dramatically reducing their costs!:(

I also think that Thomson should look at incentives for their returning passengers, such as onboard credit, loyalty points towards discounts etc, much like the Portunus Club on P&O. During this economic climate, it pays to retain your loyal clients.

[BIGMANTAM]

We booked over a year ago. We like to get free AI upgrade so usually choose to book early.:cool:

[davecttr]

Thomson cannot rest on their laurels with regard to this, because there is no doubt that when you compare Destiny's actual decor, fixtures, fittings, cabins etc to the other cruise ships, then Destiny does need a refit! .

There is no doubt that Thomsons ships are showing their age but I doubt it would be cost effective to refit. Destiny, Celebration and Spirit are all chartered and apparently the charters are due to end in a year or two. So no point in spending money on a ship that you might not 'own' in 2 years time. Of course any new charter might involve refits as part of the deal. Thomsons management did say they were seeking more contemporary tonnage and if alternatives were available, perhaps because of the recession, we might see new ships in Thomson colors.

[slhw]

Hi

What concerns me is that if Thomson lose Destiny etc. in next year or two then, with whatever ships they replace them, they will opt for an informal style of cruising as they are doing with Island Escape. Hope not. We booked so early because we had a deadline with the infamous voucher but, as much as we love Thomson, we might have considered other ships because of the price aspect. As it stands, we couldn't have got a better deal for next year. But there is always the year after!

 

Sandie

[djmutters]

Hi ;)

 

I currently have a cruise booked for me, husband and 9 yr old daughter with Royal Caribbean in June for a fortnight around the med from Southampton. However due to recent bad experience with that company I want to cancel my booking and go with a British company such as P & O or Thomson.

 

I've been on the Thomson website and the price for the same type of cruise (although there are flights involved) at the same time of year is higher than with RCI. I thought Thomsons were more at the budget end of the market but at £3,800 for three of us it doesnt seem the case.

 

So my question is where do you book your Thomson Cruises, directly from Thomsons or can I book elsewhere cheaper and what kind of price would i pay?

 

Frenchie,

 

Hello hunny we have spoke before concerning a certain "Drink problem" please please please do yourself a big favour,if you do decide to cancel RCCL whatever you do don't book with Thomson we found there ships dreadfull unless like I said in another post you enjoy Butlins on the sea.

 

There ships are old and very outdated and the entertainment is dreadfull.

 

You'll be kicking yourself once on board and wishing you had of stayed with RCCL unless your idea of fun is cruising with common drunken folk from council estates (sorry to appear rude) but I'm telling you like it was for us.

 

Good luck whatever you decide.

[davecttr]

Well I was on Celebration last autumn and I did not ask whether anyone was from a council estate but everyone was friendly and well behaved with only one drunk rumoured to be found in Liberties on the first night. Everyone seemed to be having a good time including the crew and Celebration is known as a happy ship.

 

Would I cruise with Thomsons again? Yes, the Canaries, Iceland and Greece this year!.

[davecttr]

Hi

What concerns me is that if Thomson lose Destiny etc. in next year or two then, with whatever ships they replace them, they will opt for an informal style of cruising as they are doing with Island Escape..........

Sandie

I think the Island Escape was forced on Thomsons by the demise of Island Cruises and any new ships in the fleet would hopefully follow the existing Thomsons style. This is a successful formula with just the right balance of formal/casual for many people. It has been said that Thomsons style and crews in P&O ships would be a winning combination. They already have the style and crews so roll on the new ships.

[slhw]

Am terribly worried after reading djmutters post. As I have it on good authority that we are not common and I know that we are not drunken or from council estates AND I am from Liverpool, are we going to feel terribly out of place on our next Caribbean cruise with Thomson? Still, never mind, as we are not going with he/she/it on the Independence of the Seas on 25/04/09, at least we are spared cruising with the ignorant!!!!

 

Sandie