UK Reviews of the Week by Broadhurstbob, DaveinWhales & Lytham Scotty!

Every Thursday, we'll randomly select three cruise reviews to feature here! Plus, we'll send each member a Cruise Critic logo item. We hope they enjoy it!

Thompson Celebration The Colourful Coasts Roller Coaster by Broadhurstbob

We have stayed in the Canaries many times, and have also cruised there before, so the idea of doing them again was to get some winter sun without having to bother with too many excursions. Weather in and around islands can be unpredictable, the rain started just as we left the terminal in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and it’s about 200m to the ship. We have used the Thomson Celebration twice before and were looking forward to seeing what improvements had been made. On checking in we were advised that paying for our onboard spend by credit card would incur a 2% service charge, this was an unpleasant surprise and not well publicised in the precruise information. Celebration is an older ship but has a great crew with a fantastic atmosphere. The cabin was well laid out with the beds in an L shaped configuration, this is very space efficient. The ocean view was through a single porthole, and when it got rough did look like a washing machine. There is under bed storage for luggage and plenty of wardrobe and drawer space. The bathroom again has plenty of storage, and although small works well. Soundproofing between cabins is not great; we could hear the neighbours snoring. There are icemakers around the ship so you can always fill you ice bucket. Our cabin steward Arif was very attentive and efficient. Continue reading... The Colourful Coasts Roller Coaster

Marco Polo An eventful journey to say the least ! by DaveinWhales

This was our first cruise and many commented that we had certainly jumped in at the deep end, however, we were not alone it seemed. Quite a few people had been attracted by the amazing cruise itinerary......The Amazon and the West Indies and a few more places thrown in for good measure !!! To be honest, we had no intention of going on a cruise but at the price this trip was offered at it was just too good to refuse. We booked a basic inside cabin and I think we were upgraded to a "standard plus". I won't say what we paid but it was an unbelievably good bargain as far as we were concerned but I do know many people paid a lot more than we did and for the extra all they got was, in our opinion anyway, a slightly better cabin in as much as a little bit more room and possibly windows too. Both we felt we didn't need. Having booked the holiday, I then started gleaning as much information about the trip as possible and soon realised the Marco Polo certainly seems to polarise opinions so here's mine ! The first thing is to consider where the trip is going to before choosing a cabin. On cold weather trips being over the kitchens might be advantageous, on warm ones probably not. Certainly being under the rear deck is one to avoid during warm weather as the noise from above must be awful when they move tables and chairs around at the crack of dawn and very late at night. Anywhere near the show lounge would probably be intolerable of those who go to bed before 11.00pm We hadn't thought about any of these things so it was by good luck our cabin was well placed and, in our opinion , perfectly adequate for our needs. We were amazed how all our luggage vanished in to drawers,wardrobes and under the bed. Continue reading... An eventful journey to say the least !

Oriana Superb ship; superb crew by Lytham Scotty

Ship: Beautiful to look and beautiful inside - very traditional with lovely bars including Crows Nest at the top and front and my favourite "Andersons" (upmarketish) with superb, friendly bar and waiting staff. Large theatre; separate cinema with movies 5/6 times daily; large cabaret lounge; excellent large disco/dance club (much nicer than Oceana's grotty little grey box! Food: Much better than Oceana; excellent service for food and wine; even the buffet had good food (I just don't like some of the pushy customers there!). ALL Staff/crew: VERY friendly: the captain walks round ship 2/3 times daily and is approachable (and speaks English unlike the one on my Oceana cruise!); other senior officers walk round and also are very approachable. ALL bar staff friendly and get on well their bosses which shows a good ship. Entertainment: Apparently the best Headliners troupe ever; no weak links. Excellent entertainment during the day unlike the Oceana's non-stop quizzes and bingo. Spanish lessons, ballroom and line dancing lessons, port presentations, etc. Classical guitarist daily; pianist daily; three bands; various excellent guest performers in both theatre and cabaret lounge. Singles: EVERY morning coffee meeting (not just once as on Oceana!) AND special section of restaurant for singles afternoon tea every day. Continue reading... Superb ship; superb crew

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