Island Escape cancelled for November

[Stevio]

Hi all, new to this posting lark (never had anything to say), but I got the call from Thomsons yesterday to say that the Island Escape will have its dry dock stay extended & my November 19th cruise is cancelled.

They have rebooked me on the Destiny for the same date & identical itinerary, same price, just waiting for the paperwork now. ........Looking at the Thomson site it appears that the Destiny is standing in for the I.E. for all of November.

Hope this does not come as too much of a shock to those booked for the I.E. for November (Rebel Rouser) and you are all happy with the alternative offered.

[ekco]

Hi Stevio

 

Don't think you've got nothing to say, it's never stopped the rest of us, lol.:D:D

 

Glad you told RR and not me.:eek::eek:

 

Jan

[Rebel Rouser]

Havnt been offered anything yet?

[Rebel Rouser]

Just phoned thomson re holiday, and as far as they are aware my Holiday has not been changed :D

[Stevio]

Postman has just delivered confirmation of room 5056 inside cabin. Though does not actually mention the name of the ship or more importantly my All Inclusive status, (so will contact them again), but the flight details are the same.

Strange set up on the Destiny cabins ...Seems that nearly all outside cabins are "L" config' single beds and only the inside cabins have beds that can be made into doubles.

[Stevio]

Sorry RR missed your post. Honest I am not making it up.

Thomsons phoned the Wife first on Tuesday 28th to say the Island Escape would be cancelled but could not confirm a room on the Destiny. They phoned yesterday the 29th with a room number and I got the confirmation letter today 30th (pretty good even for first class). I was checking the Thomson website & the Island Escape cruises have gone for November & been replaced by Destiny. The lady on the phone said it "would be exactly the same holiday on a different ship".

Hope you get it sorted

Stevio

[its,only,me]

Havnt been offered anything yet?

 

 

O dear :D

Hope it will be ready for me at the end of dec. :rolleyes:

mrs.c

[Stevio]

Should hope it will be ready by end of December. Thomsons site is showing first available cruise on the Escape to be Dec’ 3rd. But then again my cruise on the 19th November could still be booked with them a couple of days ago & is still showing as available on other sites like Thomas Cook & Virgin Holidays. Beginning to wonder if Thomsons knew that this refit would take longer than advertised and had the Destiny ready for cover.

Is there is anyone else out there with their November cruise cancelled? Not sure if I should feel guilty that I have an alternative cruise sorted before anyone else, or worried that I am the only one on the Destiny in November …. The wife and I would be the only ones at the captain’s dinner table & he would be sure to notice I don’t own a penguin suit. :eek:

[its,only,me]

Hi Stevio at least you got the destiny to forward to as you got in there first :D sure that you will have just as good a time . As you say should be ready for ours but who knows what they will find when they start working on her ,,oh well just have to live in hope :)

 

mrs.c

[Rhanna]

We are booked for 19th November too. Thought there was something strange when I got receipted invoice - no mention of ship, AI or anything. As yet I have not heard anything.

 

Nan

[Stevio]

Hi Rhanna

The Wife pointed out to me that the original booking details from Thomsons omitted name of ship & A.I, however we later received a full “holiday details” letter that included them so I am awaiting one of those for the new cruise.

I am sure they will get around to offering everyone a new slot on the Destiny. I can only assume they are doing the people that booked with them directly first, in the order that they booked. (We booked 18th July). If it helps, have a look at the Destiny deck plans in advance. We could work out no rhyme or reason to their cabin numbering system and had magnifying glass & cruise brochure at the ready for Thomsons 2nd call for the room number. As it turned out there was not much negotiation she just gave us inside cabin 5056 (which by luck we were happy with). We did ask about compensation, or onboard credit but they were having none of that saying that we are “getting a better cruise for our money” (which I suppose we are but worth a try). We were just pleased that the flights were the same as we had already booked a room for the night at the airport. I think the problem with this ship change would be for people that want outside cabins with double beds as there seem to be very few of them on the Destiny.

Hope everyone gets what they want & /or loads of onboard credit as we are looking forward to sailing with yourself, Rebel Rouser & all the Island Escapee crowd.

Stevio

[Rhanna]

Hi Stevo

 

Thanks for the reply. We booked cruise direct with Thomson online in June. Unfortunately at work at the moment so will have to wait until this evening when I get home to contact them.

 

Just a thought is the Destiny formal? If it is and has set dining time I am afraid I will not be tranferring holiday. The main reason we stick with IE is the informality I can't stand sitting at the same table, at same time every night.

 

Will let everyone know how I get on after giving Thomson a call tonight.

 

Nan

[Stevio]

Hi Rhanna

We are with you on the informality, which is why we liked Ocean Village so much. The Destiny has one main sit down restaurant which has to be booked early or late sitting for the week & officially has a weekly formal captain’s gala dinner night , which like you had us worried but we have been assured there is a decent self service buffet …the “Lido” that we can go to instead. Bear in mind that the Destiny should not have been booked by people expecting formality as the 19th Nov cruise has only just appeared on the Thomsons site & being a smaller ship should be filled by Island Escapers transferring over. Either way we are packing for a casual cruise (cos we only got small cases). I originally booked an informal cruise and have been assured of an identical holiday .Not that I’m going to wear a string vest at dinner or anything but if it wasn’t casual on the Destiny before, it will be a bit more so when I get there…. Now where are my shorts? … (Joking on that bit my Knees should never be inflicted on the public).

Stevio

[Rebel Rouser]

We still havn't heard, but I will be chaning to the IE when it comes back in service, and hopefully will get some compensation for the hassel of changing dates.

 

 

If indeed it has been cancelled, but I'm sure your right.

 

I booked 19th sept

[davecttr]

As Thomsons are substituting the Destiny for the Escape it will be interesting to see how they handle the differences in the ships.

 

Destiny has fixed dining times in the main dining room and one formal night a week. The Lido buffet on Destiny is the worst on any Thomsons ship as it is smaller than the rest and open to the elements apart from lace up clear screens = cold! During the day there is the pool grill which doubles the size of the buffet. On my last cruise the late night buffet was in the MDR anyway.

 

I would image anyone who booked the Escape because of the casual dress code and open, buffet style dining would expect that Thomsons would waive the cancellation fee as the cruise they are offering is not the same at all!

 

what Thomsons need to do is:

1. Drop formal night for that week

2. Convert the MDR to open sitting at least, it does have 2 long 'buffet' lines which are used at breakfast.

3. If they won't do the above give people their money back.

[sodafountain]

Yiu'd think they would change the dining style in the main restuarant, but then again, what about those that would have used the Oasis (is that the waiter service restuarant) for their meals, then again, doesn't the restuarant have 2 sections, so buffet on door side, with formal on the other side with doors shut?

[Rebel Rouser]

Just had a mail to confirm the changes?

 

Terry I have spoken to Island Escape this morning are you are right, they have had to extend the maintenance work and it is now in dry dock until end of Nov at least, however the Thomsons Destiny which is an upgrade to 4 star is not currently sailing that week so everybody is moving over to the Destiny, she will be doing exactly the same itinerary I believe and all details will be the same, obviously at no extra cost. We have not been notified as yet from Thomsons as they are currently in the process of sending letters out to the customers via the agents, as soon as our customer services get the letter they will notify you, I'll keep an eye out on your file as well.

 

Sorry to doubt you Steve :o

[Stevio]

Just had a mail to confirm the changes?

 

 

 

Sorry to doubt you Steve :o

Thank heavens for that I thought it was just the Wife & I they didn’t want on the Escape. Does look a bit off that they are selling Destiny cabins on the Thomsons site before they have offered first dibs or even informed the existing I.E. passengers for November 19th …..Good luck with the compensation.

Stevio

[Rhanna]

Letter from Thomson Cruises when I got in for work. Explains that maintenance work has been extended. "As a result, your cruise will now be operated by our sister brand Thomson Cruises instead. You'll be sailing onboard Thomson Destiny. We've booked you into a Deck 6 inside cabin which is the equivalent grade to the one you'd booked on Island Escape." Had booked inside cabin on deck 7/8 or 9 - is deck 6 equivalent?

 

No mention of being able to cancel or refund and as cruise is the same I think they have fulfilled their obligations.

 

Need to wait until new invoice with confirmation of amended booking details and booking reference comes in before phoning!!!!!! (accordingly to letter).

 

Don't know what to do. Booked this cruise for ship not itinery. But changing dates not an option because of work commitments.

 

Any info on the Destiny would be welcome.

 

Thanks

 

Nan

[rosiemaisy]

we have booked on the IE for next April but have just returned 3 weeks ago off the Destiny we had a great time staff and food were lovley the lido if now enclosed and the food in there is just as good as the restaurant so for the people that have been moved to the destiny and like it informal i dont think you have anything to worry about you will have a lovely holiday:):):)

[Rhanna]

Thanks for the reassurance Rosiemaisy. Perhaps its time to try another ship after all we have been on the IE 17 weeks in total over the years!

 

Thanks again

 

Nan xx

[Stevio]

Letter from Thomson Cruises when I got in for work. Explains that maintenance work has been extended. "As a result, your cruise will now be operated by our sister brand Thomson Cruises instead. You'll be sailing onboard Thomson Destiny. We've booked you into a Deck 6 inside cabin which is the equivalent grade to the one you'd booked on Island Escape." Had booked inside cabin on deck 7/8 or 9 - is deck 6 equivalent?

 

No mention of being able to cancel or refund and as cruise is the same I think they have fulfilled their obligations.

 

Need to wait until new invoice with confirmation of amended booking details and booking reference comes in before phoning!!!!!! (accordingly to letter).

 

Don't know what to do. Booked this cruise for ship not itinery. But changing dates not an option because of work commitments.

 

Any info on the Destiny would be welcome.

 

Thanks

 

Nan

Strange that you got a letter and we a phone call. Originally tried to book on the Thomson site but it hung on us whilst entering the credit card security check, so I phoned the number on site and ended up booking by phone with a Thomsons office somewhere in Kent. …..We have both the Island & Thomson brochures and my cabin looks about right for what I paid & as your I.E. 7/9 inside cabin costs £42 supp above base price which equals the £42 supp for deck 6 inside on Destiny I would say that yours is about right as well. We decided to take the Destiny as we got a good price for the original cruise & it was a lot cheaper than the new one, & as we are still looking for a replacement for the Ocean Village we may as well give this a try. I think we just assumed we could cancel with full refund if we wanted under their “major changes to holiday rules” as it is a different ship, but perhaps as it’s the same date on a “superior ship” we would not have been able to? (Perhaps Rebel Rouser will let us know if he tries.) Oh & thanks to Rosiemaisy for her post putting my mind at rest.

They do those T shirts with a picture of a tuxedo on the front perhaps we could all go wearing those. …..Power to the informal rebellion.

Stevio

[girlcruisers]

Hi Guys,

 

We just got the news yesterday that our fun filled weekend has been

cancelled. Eight lovely ladies were all ready to go on a the mini cruise

on the 19th November. Thomsons are not being very helpful and

have cancelled our holiday with no alternative other than refund. You guys that have been transferred to Destiny have got a good deal, but

they won't entertain us because it's the the first three day of exactly

the same cruise. :mad:

[Rhanna]

Thanks for the recommendation Rosiemaisy. Its probably about time for a change of ship as we have been on IE 17 weeks in total over the years.

 

Thanks again

 

Nan

[Rebel Rouser]

The Destiny is not the Island Escape and never will be :D I think Rhanna will back me up on that ;)

 

Eagerly awaiting for the postie this morning to see what he brings :mad:

 

 

 

RR