Thomson Position in the Market

Recent posts seem to imply that Thomson are seeking to move upmarket to some extent. At the moment they are perceived as being 3 Star Plus with the 3 Star relating to the ships and the Plus bit to the high quality entertainment and general ambience of the package.

As such Thomson have carved themselves a well deserved niche in the market where customers perceive they have received good value for money and certainly that was the case on our Norwegian and Baltic Cruises a few years back.

This perception seems to be under some pressure at the moment but at the same time Thomson appear to be trying to up their ratings by refurbishments and a newer ship in the Majesty.

It does seem to me however that as long as they continue to run older second hand vessels, generally without balcony cabins, they can never aspire to 4 star status however much they try. Their ships simply lack the facilities.

Personally I prefer the smaller vessels and I did like the friendly size of the Celebration and her traditional tiered stern decks as opposed to the current mainstream monstrosities where the only open deck space is on the top of the ship and is enclosed by high screens. Each to his/her own I suppose but I do feel that Thomson may be making a mistake in moving away from their proven successful formula which achieves an excellent service/price balance for a lot of people who want a relatively informal cruise experience without going too far downmarket.

We are due to sail on the inaugural Majesty Adriatic Explorer on 4th May and it will be interesting to compare it with our previous Thomson Cruises to see to what extent the package may have changed.

Recent posts seem to imply that Thomson are seeking to move upmarket to some extent. At the moment they are perceived as being 3 Star Plus with the 3 Star relating to the ships and the Plus bit to the high quality entertainment and general ambience of the package.

 

As such Thomson have carved themselves a well deserved niche in the market where customers perceive they have received good value for money and certainly that was the case on our Norwegian and Baltic Cruises a few years back.

 

This perception seems to be under some pressure at the moment but at the same time Thomson appear to be trying to up their ratings by refurbishments and a newer ship in the Majesty.

 

It does seem to me however that as long as they continue to run older second hand vessels, generally without balcony cabins, they can never aspire to 4 star status however much they try. Their ships simply lack the facilities.

 

Personally I prefer the smaller vessels and I did like the friendly size of the Celebration and her traditional tiered stern decks as opposed to the current mainstream monstrosities where the only open deck space is on the top of the ship and is enclosed by high screens. Each to his/her own I suppose but I do feel that Thomson may be making a mistake in moving away from their proven successful formula which achieves an excellent service/price balance for a lot of people who want a relatively informal cruise experience without going too far downmarket.

 

We are due to sail on the inaugural Majesty Adriatic Explorer on 4th May and it will be interesting to compare it with our previous Thomson Cruises to see to what extent the package may have changed.

You could well have a point. I think Thomson would do well to stick with the size of ship they currently have - it seems to work well and I'm sure getting bigger can only have a negative effect on the warmth and friendliness which is one of Thomson's assets.

I do believe though that although Thomson may see the refurbs as a means of up-grading their standing in the cruise market that in fact it is long over-due and is just bringing them up to an acceptable standard - especially the ensuites on Celebration and the carpet in some areas of Dream. Basically they desperately need doing and in my mind this in no way is an up-grade rather much needed replacement for out-dated and worn fittings.

I think that although some would welcome balconies and I can see that it may be a nice 'extra' facility that it could change the atmosphere and sociable nature of Thomson ships and as you have pointed out lots of balconies push the only open deck space to the top deck. It's an interesting point - there could be something to be said for sticking with a well-tried and trusted formula - but the standard of the accommodation should be maintained and improved or even regular Thomson customers will feel their loyalty is being taken for granted!

I hope you have a great time on Majesty and of course we'll all be very keen to get your feed-back. ;)

I do believe though that although Thomson may see the refurbs as a means of up-grading their standing in the cruise market that in fact it is long over-due and is just bringing them up to an acceptable standard - especially the ensuites on Celebration and the carpet in some areas of Dream. Basically they desperately need doing and in my mind this in no way is an up-grade rather much needed replacement for out-dated and worn fittings.

 

Excellent point, refurbishment maintains existing standards, it does not necessarily raise them to the next level - especially in an old ship.

Older ships can be good in many respects but they are not in the same category as newbuilds. Personally the very large new ships don't appeal to me although we did enjoy our recent Transatlantic on QM2 but that was not really a 'cruise' as such.

I think that the Thomson formula of smaller ships with individual character is a good one and something which attracts a good customer base. If it ain't broke then don't fix it!

Look at it this way, do Thomson cabins equate in any way to the standard offered by Premier Inn? for me the answer is no. the only thing premier inn 'cabins' lack is a fridge and safe? not a problem as thomson insist on charging for said safe whilst other cruise lines do not.

IMO, if thomson wan't to move upmarket they are going to have to invest many millions on each ships refurbishment, and I mean well into double figures.

Take plating Celebration in platinum as a example. What can they do to improve a 30 year old ship? I suggest spending at least £20 million on the refurbishment. All public areas refurbished. All cabins refurbished. all bathrooms basically stripped out and replaced. Put the single cabins in good locations, oops, thats a personal issue.

Can't wait for everyone's feedback on the majesty :)

Can't wait for our turn to cruise on her!!!!

I'm looking forward to having a brilliant time.:). Hope everyone else does (have a brilliant holiday that is)

After having cruised for thee first time last year, on the Spirit, I am worried about this "upgrade" to Platinum. Tidy up the ships where needed by all means but leave the standards where they are. We certainly don't want a "Luxury" cruise just a comfortable and informal one

After having cruised for thee first time last year, on the Spirit, I am worried about this "upgrade" to Platinum. Tidy up the ships where needed by all means but leave the standards where they are. We certainly don't want a "Luxury" cruise just a comfortable and informal one

I think you can be pretty confident that it will be the same 'product'. To really get into a 'luxury' market - they would have to have new ships and a new customer base prepared to pay a lot more. I think even Thomson can't mis-judge their client base that much!!!

It's all smoke and mirrors! These 'Platinum' ships are just the same with a much needed face-lift - and the much-hyped costs is money they have been 'accumulating' over a number of years of under-investment in the Thomson fleet.

They may think that calling it 'Platinum' will generate more interest and I for one will be pleased to see and enjoy the improvements but if they think that by labelling these ships 'Platinum' the public are going to pay a lot more for this then I think they are misguided. We're more savvy than that!

I think you can be pretty confident that it will be the same 'product'. To really get into a 'luxury' market - they would have to have new ships and a new customer base prepared to pay a lot more. I think even Thomson can't mis-judge their client base that much!!!

 

It's all smoke and mirrors! These 'Platinum' ships are just the same with a much needed face-lift - and the much-hyped costs is money they have been 'accumulating' over a number of years of under-investment in the Thomson fleet.

 

They may think that calling it 'Platinum' will generate more interest and I for one will be pleased to see and enjoy the improvements but if they think that by labelling these ships 'Platinum' the public are going to pay a lot more for this then I think they are misguided. We're more savvy than that!

Thought I would pop over to the Thomson "platinum" Blog ....

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

Kalos says: 14/04/2012 at 11:55

Hi Amanda, We love the Destiny been twice this year and will miss her . When docked in Lanzarote the other week we were docked next to TUIs (part of the group) Mein Shiff 1 ,which was awesome.

My question is this .. Will the end result of the platinum upgrades on the two Thomson ships be anything like this ?

Thanks

Response was ... (13.24) Ignored and deleted :(

I know they wont turn our ships into the German one but could we expect the interiors to be anything like ?

Looks like Amanda is no wiser than us lot on here :rolleyes:

just hope its not all glitz and plastic with the refurb, we stayed on the queen mary, vintage through and through but modernisation is tasteful without loosing that luxury feeling.Alot of the furnishing in the bedroom is original, thankfully with a nice soft modern bed!:)

Also hope they keep the originality of the vessels, unlike the american lines which all seem to be clones of each other, thats certainly a feature for us the quirkyness of the vessels (and passengers;))

Thought I would pop over to the Thomson "platinum" Blog ....

 

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

Kalos says: 14/04/2012 at 11:55

Hi Amanda, We love the Destiny been twice this year and will miss her . When docked in Lanzarote the other week we were docked next to TUIs (part of the group) Mein Shiff 1 ,which was awesome.

My question is this .. Will the end result of the platinum upgrades on the two Thomson ships be anything like this ?

Thanks

 

Response was ... (13.24) Ignored and deleted :(

 

I know they wont turn our ships into the German one but could we expect the interiors to be anything like ?

Looks like Amanda is no wiser than us lot on here :rolleyes:

Hi Kalos,

Not surprised they deleted your comment. I've had a few deleted on there recently. I've not put anything controversial, usually either corrected them when they have give incorrect information, or given better (imo) advice, such as alternative to 0870 numbers on which to reach Thomson. Not impressed.

Hi Kalos,

 

Not surprised they deleted your comment. I've had a few deleted on there recently. I've not put anything controversial, usually either corrected them when they have give incorrect information, or given better (imo) advice, such as alternative to 0870 numbers on which to reach Thomson. Not impressed.

Thanks for that Grez :)

I thought it was me for a moment :rolleyes: It is not until you read other answers

it must be 40% " wait for our new brochure" , 40% " ring our team on .." or 20% " we cannot answer induvidual ..."

Then us who never figure :(

Why have a waste of space blog :confused: Give me the ships staff anyday ,they knock spots off the blog jokers .

The Thomson Blogs have two problems:

1. They are intended as advertising and promoting Thomson and thus cannot carry anything other than mild criticism.

2. The people responding to posts are junior staff who are obliged to toe the company line and have no real authority to resolve issues so queries tend to be fobbed off of simply blanked.

However, I would imagine that comments posted on the blogs and here on Cruise Critic are monitored at a more senior level and taken into account to some degree where it is felt that they impact on the company's operations and influence future customers.

I have also noticed on the blog that the Twitter feed next to it most definitely isn't censored, often filled with comments that go along the line of 'Will never book @ThomsonHolidays again' and 'Customer service with @ThomsonHolidays is a joke'. Maybe if they spent more time answering peoples queries and informing people of what is actually going on, they wouldn't have so many people commenting on the blog wondering what's going on? :rolleyes:

In terms of this Platinum upgrade, I think the main reason they're differentiating it under this different brand is because, if they've refurbed only two ships, they need to seperate them from the main Thomson Cruises brand. The refurbs have been needed for a while now, and aren't really big news as such. However, they probably can't afford to refurb all of the fleet, therefore concentrating on only two. They then have to create it under a separate 'Platinum' brand, otherwise the fleet would seem mismatched. In the end, I can probably see all of the ships (depending on which are kept and sold etc.) having refurbs done. It will just be for now that they have to differentiate Dream and Celebration.

I'm hoping that the prices are not going to rise, as no matter how much money they spend on refurbs, they can't really advertise themselves as 'luxury' with the age of Dream and Celebration, and they're not going to get rid of Celebration's 'wobble', therefore can't really sell cruises at 'luxury' prices. We'll see next week when the brochures start to come out. I wonder if they'll have a completely seperate brochure for Thomson Platinum Cruises to the normal one to avoid confusion over which product you're getting?

The phrase 'too clever for your own good' comes to mind. Thomson have (or had) a well deserved reputation for a solid, good mid market cruise experience which appealed to a lot of people but they seem to be frittering it away with the dilution of entertainment on Majesty and the presentation of refurbishments to two ships as moving up market when in reality it is just overdue refurbishment. There is only so much you can do to upgrade an old smallish ship however appealing it is and you certainly cannot charge premium prices as a result. Plus flying out to join the ship is an experience to be suffered rather than enjoyed.

There are better holiday options on offer.

I have also noticed on the blog that the Twitter feed next to it most definitely isn't censored, often filled with comments that go along the line of 'Will never book @ThomsonHolidays again' and 'Customer service with @ThomsonHolidays is a joke'. Maybe if they spent more time answering peoples queries and informing people of what is actually going on, they wouldn't have so many people commenting on the blog wondering what's going on? :rolleyes:

 

In terms of this Platinum upgrade, I think the main reason they're differentiating it under this different brand is because, if they've refurbed only two ships, they need to seperate them from the main Thomson Cruises brand. The refurbs have been needed for a while now, and aren't really big news as such. However, they probably can't afford to refurb all of the fleet, therefore concentrating on only two. They then have to create it under a separate 'Platinum' brand, otherwise the fleet would seem mismatched. In the end, I can probably see all of the ships (depending on which are kept and sold etc.) having refurbs done. It will just be for now that they have to differentiate Dream and Celebration.

 

I'm hoping that the prices are not going to rise, as no matter how much money they spend on refurbs, they can't really advertise themselves as 'luxury' with the age of Dream and Celebration, and they're not going to get rid of Celebration's 'wobble', therefore can't really sell cruises at 'luxury' prices. We'll see next week when the brochures start to come out. I wonder if they'll have a completely seperate brochure for Thomson Platinum Cruises to the normal one to avoid confusion over which product you're getting?

I did hear that the Celebration and Dream will have their own brochure.

Ooops! I made the mistake of checking out what platinum meant on the Thomson site. AI is restricted to 'local' drinks only. I wonder if the beancounters have come up with a new cunning excuse to decimate the AI booze selection. Just like they tried a few years ago :eek:

Its a funny old game, as I've cruised once on the Dream (returning in June) and wouldn't change a thing.

Our main enjoyment comes from having a clean and safe room (tick), good entertainment (tick), lots of good ports (tick), a laid back setting (tick), and a decent evening meal in pleasant surroundings (tick).

Sorry if my tick list has annoyed anyone, but its genuinely the shortlist to our holiday, even if its basic for what we've paid compared to what we would have got for that amount of money with any other cruise co.

In December when we were looking at this years cruise we had ALL the brochures, and although a lot of attractions seem great, we know we're not going to go ice skating, climb mountain walls, lose too much sleep over Ben and Jerrys ice cream parlours, go for a spa treatment, or go wild over seeing marquee international touring acts, etc.

As such the money would be well spent repairing and maintaining (with some modernising of cabin facilities) than trying to play someone else at their game.

Its a funny old game, as I've cruised once on the Dream (returning in June) and wouldn't change a thing.

 

Our main enjoyment comes from having a clean and safe room (tick), good entertainment (tick), lots of good ports (tick), a laid back setting (tick), and a decent evening meal in pleasant surroundings (tick).

 

Sorry if my tick list has annoyed anyone, but its genuinely the shortlist to our holiday, even if its basic for what we've paid compared to what we would have got for that amount of money with any other cruise co.

 

In December when we were looking at this years cruise we had ALL the brochures, and although a lot of attractions seem great, we know we're not going to go ice skating, climb mountain walls, lose too much sleep over Ben and Jerrys ice cream parlours, go for a spa treatment, or go wild over seeing marquee international touring acts, etc.

 

As such the money would be well spent repairing and maintaining (with some modernising of cabin facilities) than trying to play someone else at their game.

I would endorse your tick list completely - it mirrors our needs and preferences too. And I think there is quite a body of passengers for whom the 'attractions' of climbing walls etc represent not an attraction but facilities they definitely don't want as it changes the type of ship/ambience/customer profile such that it's a completely different type of ship you are sailing on.

And I think your last comment about concentrating on improving what they've got to give their passengers a better environment is important but not changing a tried and trusted formula (as far as customer expectations go) is a message Thomson would do well to take to heart.

I also endorse DD tick list

I totally agree with the "tick" list also, and have no plans to change from Thomsons in the forseeable future while they still have itineraries which interest me.

I would also love to see the changes on the ships however my "to do" list at the moment is all on the Spirit, so I will just have to rely on you lovely people to tell me all about it:)

Its a funny old game, as I've cruised once on the Dream (returning in June) and wouldn't change a thing.

 

Our main enjoyment comes from having a clean and safe room (tick), good entertainment (tick), lots of good ports (tick), a laid back setting (tick), and a decent evening meal in pleasant surroundings (tick).

 

Sorry if my tick list has annoyed anyone, but its genuinely the shortlist to our holiday, even if its basic for what we've paid compared to what we would have got for that amount of money with any other cruise co.

 

In December when we were looking at this years cruise we had ALL the brochures, and although a lot of attractions seem great, we know we're not going to go ice skating, climb mountain walls, lose too much sleep over Ben and Jerrys ice cream parlours, go for a spa treatment, or go wild over seeing marquee international touring acts, etc.

 

As such the money would be well spent repairing and maintaining (with some modernising of cabin facilities) than trying to play someone else at their game.

Your list is missing one, may I add that the day your going home ,credit where its due ,Thomson Do Not kick you off the ship as some of the more Luxury/Perspex clad super liners Do !

Thomson Let you use the ship including food right up until you disembark for your coach . (tick) ;)

Totally agree with the tick list. All I need is clean and comfortable and friendly. The older ships have huge advantages, no balconies means you can have a decent stretch your legs on the decks, and on the days at sea there is plenty of deck space. The modern tiers of balconies cram you onto the top deck to get fresh air, and there is standing room only on days at sea.

With the high profile 'join in' entertainment many passengers skulk off to their cabins after dinner and have a private nightcap or fag on their balcony. Maybe they want to go on holiday on their own, if so why choose a cruise ship, by definition a lot of people on a tiny steel island.

The new ships look good have nice cabins but are not as friendly in my mind.

Your list is missing one, may I add that the day your going home ,credit where its due ,Thomson Do Not kick you off the ship as some of the more Luxury/Perspex clad super liners Do !

Thomson Let you use the ship including food right up until you disembark for your coach . (tick) ;)

Our first 5 cruises were Ocean Village and Thomson and we loved the fact that you disembarked when your coach was ready for your flight. What a rude awakening we had when we were kicked off the ship at 7.30am when the flight didn't leave until 6pm and the airport wouldn't let us check in for 4 hours - thanks RCL.

I know the American ships like to clear down the entire ship but I hope Thomsons keep this wonderful way of keeping up the customer service and the passengers fed etc until the planned departure time.

Thanks for that Grez :)

 

I thought it was me for a moment :rolleyes: It is not until you read other answers

 

it must be 40% " wait for our new brochure" , 40% " ring our team on .." or 20% " we cannot answer induvidual ..."

Then us who never figure :(

Why have a waste of space blog :confused: Give me the ships staff anyday ,they knock spots off the blog jokers .

Looks like you finally got an answer to your question on the blog Kalos, but guess what - you were fobbed off! It doesn't help that the girls on the 'social media team' don't really seem to know much about the Thomson cruise product, but the amount of 'fobbing off' on there now is ridiculous - especially the lady who is asking for info on the Destiny itinerary change, and getting told they can't comment on individual bookings. Its not an individual booking she is asking about, its the entire cruise and everyone on it thats affected! :mad:

Looks like you finally got an answer to your question on the blog Kalos, but guess what - you were fobbed off! It doesn't help that the girls on the 'social media team' don't really seem to know much about the Thomson cruise product, but the amount of 'fobbing off' on there now is ridiculous - especially the lady who is asking for info on the Destiny itinerary change, and getting told they can't comment on individual bookings. Its not an individual booking she is asking about, its the entire cruise and everyone on it thats affected! :mad:

Cheers Grez:) Amazing how it went off the Thomson Blog and came back two days later , that proves they read this site to me . You are right "Fobbed Off " :( They are saying ,we will tell you what we have planned once it is complete:rolleyes:

For anyone wondering Grez, I best post it below ....

Kalos says: 14/04/2012 at 11:55

Hi Amanda, We love the Destiny been twice this year and will miss her . When docked in Lanzarote the other week we were docked next to TUIs (part of the group) Mein Shiff 1 ,which was awesome.

My question is this .. Will the end result of the platinum upgrades on the two Thomson ships be anything like this ?

Thanks

• Hollie @Thomson says: 16/04/2012 at 10:40
  Hi Kalos, As the refurbishments haven’t started yet, we aren’t able to comment on what the ships will look like. As soon as the ships are finished, information will be available on our website.
   
  

Tell you what Hollie ,when its done we will let you know what its like as chances are someone off this site will be sailing on one of the ships .