Fantastic Cruise With Thomsons
Fantastic Cruise With Thomsons |
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Reviewed By: Sluman, Whitfield Dover on 12th Mar 2010
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| Cruise Line: Thomson Cruises |
Times cruised before: 3-5 |
| Cruise Ship: Thomson Destiny |
Sailed:
February,
2010 |
| Destination:
Caribbean
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Age: 56-65 |
| Cabin: Inside |
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We invited two friends to accompany us on this cruise. They had cruised before with P & O and MSC so we were a little concerned that they would find the "infamous" Thomson cabins somewhat annoying. However we felt that the entertainment friendly staff and all round holiday would make up for this which I am sure it did. We started in Dominican Rep and the transfer to the ship couldn't have been smoother. No Customs immigration luggage, just a bus ride to the port, a welcoming band with a drink a short queue for cabin and table allocation and we were on board. Within 30 minutes all our cases were outside our cabins. Our first port of call was Barbados, which frankly we found a little disappointing but to be fair we didn’t do a tour of the island only the Thomson trip “Swimming with turtles” which was quite good (this was also the only day that we had any rain) Bridgetown itself was disappointing but we did go to the Kensington Oval which, as cricket fans, was worthy of a visit. At Fort de France (Martinique) we caught a ferry across to the headland (6 euros 50 return) where the swimming was great in the 40c temperature! Next stop Diminica where we had previously booked a trip with Bumping Tours on the internet. Unfortunately Thomson had changed the port of arrival from Roseau to Portsmouth so we had to contact Levi of Bumping to see whether they could still meet us. The tour by our driver Martin was great and good value at $50 per person. We had heard that Emerald Falls would be really busy but when we got there we were the only ones swimming. Don’t expect great beaches on Diminica but all the fruits and vegetation are fantastic and a visit to Mr Nice a must. You could argue that it is just a local fruit stall but he is a real character. Next stop was St Kitts where I would heartily recommend anyone books with Greys Island Tours where Thenford Grey will give you a brilliant tour with real value for money. In line with St Lucia this was a favour island with brilliant beaches, wildlife and vegetation. Thenford even arranged for a local dentist to stick my crown back in which was a very kind gesture. Next was Road Town Tortola where , first time around, we caught one of the taxi buses outside of the terminal which was fine. Second week taxi driver Martin Rowan (a really nice chap) took us up to Sage Mountain where we walked in the rain forest but it wasn’t really worth the trip. Dominican Rep we caught a taxi to Bayahibe beach – the driver staying around all day to take us back to the ship – amazing. St Georges Grenada we again pre booked a trip with Pete’s tours. Michelle, our guide, was very interesting but the island is very poor and the sights aren’t as good as some of the other islands. St Lucia was perhaps our favourite and our driver Yellow Bird of Cosol Tours great. At $65 per person it was value for money and included breakfast at a local house, a speed boat trip to the best Caribbean beach we’d been to and newly baked bread with cheese – of course all washed down with lashings of rum punch.
Antigua was very disappointing, but maybe we were unlucky. Virtually everyone we met were not very friendly starting with trying to get a taxi at the cruise terminal where you have to beat off hundreds of taxi drivers. When we finally got to the beach we were harassed all the time by peddlers and then when we called in back in St John’s to buy a bottle of rum punch the guy in the shop never said one word! Next stop was St Maartens Philipsburg where we had booked Bernards Tours. Again this was good value for money. Shopping in St Maartens was amazing and where I had bought a Caribbean shirt for $15 (bartering the vendor down from $20) you could buy three in St Maartens for $20. The trip to the beach where you can almost touch the landing 747’s was amazing and Orient beach ….well different.
Not only did we save a huge amount of money booking all our excursions beforehand on the internet but the excursions were longer. A wonderful holiday.
I agree with other critics who say that the Destiny is old and in need of a bit of “tlc” but to us the most important thing is the all round package. This is the third time we have cruised with Thomson and you have to say that the entertainment is first rate, the food is brilliant, the waiters amazing and the all round friendly feeling on the ship absolutely unique.
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| Quality of Food |  |
| Waiters were fantastic as was the food | | Entertainment | |
| As always, brilliant entertainment | | Shore Excursions | n/a |
| Booked virtually all of ours beforehand on the web | | Staff | |
| Waiters really put themselves out for you but all the crew were exceptional | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities |  |
| Plenty of activities , although sometimes they were cancelled at short notice due to non participation | | Cabins |  |
| Thomsons cabins are infamous. | | Overall Rating | |
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