Thomson vs Celebrity

Hi, I have only done one cruise which was on the Thomson Dream around the Caribbean with my husband and we loved every minute. We would like to do a Greece/Italy cruise to see tourist landmarks Acropolis Athens and Tower of Pisa Italy. As Thomsons don't combine these in one cruise, I stumbled upon Celebrity cruises and wondered how they differ to Thomsons? We liked the laid back atmosphere on Thomsons and want something similar. Can anyone give me any advice? It would be greatly appreciated

Please see my reply on the celebrity board.

On second thoughts, here it is......

We have done 4 cruises on Thomson and two on celebrity, the Eclipse. There is no comparison really. Having said that, generally, Thomson cruises are more port intensive but where celebrity wins is in the quality of their product. The ships are modern and roomy. Even with 2000 plus passengers, there is never a shortage of space. The rooms are truly 'staterooms' as opposed to the Thomson cabins. In my subjective opinion , the food is better on celebrity and the drinks packages include far more premium drinks than is the case with Thomson. Based on our latest cruise I would say that Thomson staff are the friendlier, but it's a close run thing. Thomson have just acquired Splendour of the Seas and for that reason we have booked a two week cruise on her next year. We would not have booked any of the current Thomson fleet. Price for price, the two lines are very close so I would suggest you give celebrity a try, you won't be disappointed.

Sorry to come in late to this but could you also compare the likes of tips and evening formality between the 2 lines. we like the idea of tips included, but on reading the small print of some of the others, they want a lot of money paid up front. I also dont mind wearing a jacket and tie sometimes, but not a tux, so how does Eclipse compare with Thomsons idea of smart casuals. Thank you

If you go to the CC Home page you will see a box at the top marked SEARCH CRUISE CRITIC.

All you need to do is input the words "tipping policy" or "alcohol policy" or "smoking policy" as an example.

The results will pop up with the policy for every cruiseline.

For tipping, worth reading as lines can vary quite a bit. It also sometimes depends on which category of cabin you are in.

Same with alcohol policies. Cruiselines vary a lot on this one so you should definitely read these.

For the dress code you need to read the FAQs on the website of the cruiseline you are interested in, or the info at the back of the brochure. Dress codes can vary even within different ships of the same line. The duration of the itinerary can also affect the number of evenings where more formal clothing is required and some relax dress codes on Med cruises as they can be port intensive with long days ashore. They will also state if jacket and tie or suit or dinner suits/tuxes are required.

You can also get loads of info on (in this instance) the Celebrity forum. Again, you can use the search box (on the Celebrity forum not the one at the top of the Home Page) Just put the relevant wording in the search box and up will pop all threads on that topic.

It is worthwhile learning how to "search " on CC because there is so much info waiting to be found.

We have been on Celebrity and Thomson and to be honest we took the same sort of clothes on Both. My grey suit with shirt and tie for formal nights and casual polo shirts trousers etc for non formal nights. I think there was only 1 formal night on our 7 night Thomson Majesty Cruise which was the Captains Gala dinner when we queued for 20 minutes only to find we were only queuing to have our picture taken with the Captain (which if wanted you had to buy ) and to be given a weak cocktail. On our next Thomson Cruise we will head straight for the dinner and miss the reception.

As a general comment we enjoyed cruising on both . On Thomson it's very British with 99% of passengers on a Thomson Package . The ships aren't as glitzy as Celebrity and of course the tips are included . Celebrity has a more international passenger base, you need to budget for tips, drinks are pricey . We are going on Celebrity Eclipse in a few weeks, we will take on bottled water and some cans of soft drinks as they are so expensive on board ( you certain not don't need to do this on on Thomson )

We enjoy both lines and always make the most of whatever cruise line we book on

By far Celebrity wins on quality.

Thomson are great for the nice laid back, old type cruise, with old ships

and Drinks are cheaper, food is ok, service is hit and miss, although staff on Thomson are very nice.

Celebrtiy food is excellent. Service is top notch, although as someone else mentioned, the drinks are not cheap.

Overall Celebrity and their quality product wins for us !!