my review of the Thomson Destiny & Crusing

[su671]

this review of our cruise on the Thomson Destiny will be an honest acount of our time on ship and the places we visited.

we flew on Boxing Day to the Dom Rep to pick up our ship, 1st inpresions was WOW thats a big ship, we had to que for about 30min, so you can have your photo taken and be given your room key, queing for 30min was not a problem, the sun was shinning and everyone was in a happy mode.

our 1st impresions of the ship were possative, we read before hand that the cabins are on the small side, and they are small, but they are clean and dont have any of that "Damp Smell", that you can get in some hotel rooms, it would not bother me to use the same cabin's again, and if i ever did another cruise, would i pay £196 for a window, the ans would be NO, we left the bathroom light on all night anyway, so the window was of no use, ok in the morning you can look outside for about 30 seconds, then you jump in the shower and get ready for your breakfeast. The rooms are kept clean and tidy by your cabin stewards, now before i went on the crusie i thought about tipping the cabin staff, i thought i would give them £5, BUT they do such a fantasic job and they remember your name and they are just rearly nice people, i ended up giving them both MUCH MORE & i could easily have given them more.

After walking round the ship we found it to be much larger than we thought, and the bars were great, the ship was FULL for the full 2 weeks, but we never had to wait more than a few min to get served at the bar, you sometimes had to wait a little longer if you wnted waiter service, but once they had taken your 1st order, you were then on there radar and every now and then they would walk past asking are you ready for more drinks,, ALL THE BAR STAFF doan EXCERLANT SERVICE.

People say that the ship is getting old and beginning to show its age, well when we were sailing out of St Martin, i was sat inside having a beer with my wife while eating, when on the next table we could here these 4 people talking about the state of the ship, she said "have you seen these windows, there black and look at the putty around the glass, its falling out", i nearly turned round and said to them, look you stupid cow,, if you try looking out of the window you will see a Carebean Irland going past and its called st martin, stop looking at the putty "infact it was Silacon and it had just not been smothed out very well". some people drive you mad, they always look at the negative and not the possative "being on a ship with great beer and food", i will talk about the food next.

THE FOOD IS FANTASTIC, i didnt think we would like the formal dinning, everynight at 8.45, i thought i wont be going to the 7seas everynight,, BUT its one of the main parts of the holiday, we had a great table and every night we ate and drank and chatted, we never left the table before 11.00 and then carried on drinking and chatting in the bar till well after 1.00, im not even going to try and say how nice the food is and the service you get, it gets 10/10 from me andmy wife and if you end up on a nice table like we did, then it makes it even better.

All the differant places we visited were great, St Martin stands out as our fav place, but Granada was great to, i couldnt call any of the places we visited, before we went away i thought that when you get of the ship it would be a mad scrum with taxi drivers trying to get you into there taxi's, but its nothing like that, its all well managed and everyone is very proffesional and polite, you end up sharing mini-buseswith people you dont know, you then arrange what time you all want picking up and its as easy as that.

Right i think that abaout it, we liked everything about the ship and if we ever did decide to cruise again, we would look at the Thomson Destiny again because it suits us BUT since coming home we have both agreed that cruising is not for us, we both said that its in our top 3 holidays of all time, but this was mainly because of the people we meet and the food. BUT we are Beach Bums and even thou we went to a differant beach everyday, we prefer to just walk out of our hotel, get a sunlounger and not move from 09.00 until 18.00, only moving to get a beer, or some lunch or to go and have a swim in the sea, where as on a Cruise you have to get to the beach, either by taxi or water taxi, then you have to leave the beach around 3.30--4.00 to get back on the ship, plus while your of ship, you have to pay for things like sunbeds, food and beer.

a summery of the Thomson Destiny is, would i go on it again YES WITHOUT A DOUPT, will we be going on a cruise again PROB NOT.

the Thomson Destiny gets 10/10, but cruising for me and my wife would only get 8/10.

PS i am 47 years old and my wife is 40, we are well traveled people who have been to Mexico, Cuba, Aruba etc etc, i hope this revew helps people out, since coming of the ship 3 couples have booked a cruise with the Thomson Fleet, one person has even booked a suite on the destiny "even thou i told her i wouldnt even pay for a window next time", but like she said, you have to do what you thin best.

PPS, we paid for the AI Drinks and we DEFFINUTLY got our moneys worth, you could take a few cans of coke of the ship with you, then if you board the ship again at say 4, you might have 2 or 3 drinks then, then we used to come down for the quiz at 8 and have a beer while doing this, then with our meal we would alwayds have a few beers or glasses of wine, then after your meal, we would have 3 or 4 before going to bed, so on avridge we must have had 10 or 11 drinks aday, sometimes less, but i would say MOST DAYS MORE lol.

right i hope this review helps someone, please excuse the spelling and grammer

Derek

[capasamari]

Glad you enjoyed the experience Derek and Sara!

 

We've booked on Destiny for New Year again, shame it's not to the Caribbean but I'm sure the Canaries will be good.

 

Carol and Paul x

[su671]

Hi Carol & Paul, another Cruise, hay way not!!! me and Sara are going to Aruba in July, we have been here before and love the place.

 

Sara had a fab birthday on board and she had the singing waiters and a cake, they even dressed the table up with ballons.

 

i have got some photos from new year, but i have lost your email adress, i have got an old email address which i nevert use, so please send me a email to derekcomer1@hotmail.co.uk and i will reply from my normal address, please put Carol in the subject so i know its from you,,

 

New Year on board was The Best!!!!

 

spk soon Derek

[lizald]

this review of our cruise on the Thomson Destiny will be an honest acount of our time on ship and the places we visited.

 

we flew on Boxing Day to the Dom Rep to pick up our ship, 1st inpresions was WOW thats a big ship, we had to que for about 30min, so you can have your photo taken and be given your room key, queing for 30min was not a problem, the sun was shinning and everyone was in a happy mode.

our 1st impresions of the ship were possative, we read before hand that the cabins are on the small side, and they are small, but they are clean and dont have any of that "Damp Smell", that you can get in some hotel rooms, it would not bother me to use the same cabin's again, and if i ever did another cruise, would i pay £196 for a window, the ans would be NO, we left the bathroom light on all night anyway, so the window was of no use, ok in the morning you can look outside for about 30 seconds, then you jump in the shower and get ready for your breakfeast. The rooms are kept clean and tidy by your cabin stewards, now before i went on the crusie i thought about tipping the cabin staff, i thought i would give them £5, BUT they do such a fantasic job and they remember your name and they are just rearly nice people, i ended up giving them both MUCH MORE & i could easily have given them more.

 

 

After walking round the ship we found it to be much larger than we thought, and the bars were great, the ship was FULL for the full 2 weeks, but we never had to wait more than a few min to get served at the bar, you sometimes had to wait a little longer if you wnted waiter service, but once they had taken your 1st order, you were then on there radar and every now and then they would walk past asking are you ready for more drinks,, ALL THE BAR STAFF doan EXCERLANT SERVICE.

 

 

People say that the ship is getting old and beginning to show its age, well when we were sailing out of St Martin, i was sat inside having a beer with my wife while eating, when on the next table we could here these 4 people talking about the state of the ship, she said "have you seen these windows, there black and look at the putty around the glass, its falling out", i nearly turned round and said to them, look you stupid cow,, if you try looking out of the window you will see a Carebean Irland going past and its called st martin, stop looking at the putty "infact it was Silacon and it had just not been smothed out very well". some people drive you mad, they always look at the negative and not the possative "being on a ship with great beer and food", i will talk about the food next.

THE FOOD IS FANTASTIC, i didnt think we would like the formal dinning, everynight at 8.45, i thought i wont be going to the 7seas everynight,, BUT its one of the main parts of the holiday, we had a great table and every night we ate and drank and chatted, we never left the table before 11.00 and then carried on drinking and chatting in the bar till well after 1.00, im not even going to try and say how nice the food is and the service you get, it gets 10/10 from me andmy wife and if you end up on a nice table like we did, then it makes it even better.

 

 

All the differant places we visited were great, St Martin stands out as our fav place, but Granada was great to, i couldnt call any of the places we visited, before we went away i thought that when you get of the ship it would be a mad scrum with taxi drivers trying to get you into there taxi's, but its nothing like that, its all well managed and everyone is very proffesional and polite, you end up sharing mini-buseswith people you dont know, you then arrange what time you all want picking up and its as easy as that.

Right i think that abaout it, we liked everything about the ship and if we ever did decide to cruise again, we would look at the Thomson Destiny again because it suits us BUT since coming home we have both agreed that cruising is not for us, we both said that its in our top 3 holidays of all time, but this was mainly because of the people we meet and the food. BUT we are Beach Bums and even thou we went to a differant beach everyday, we prefer to just walk out of our hotel, get a sunlounger and not move from 09.00 until 18.00, only moving to get a beer, or some lunch or to go and have a swim in the sea, where as on a Cruise you have to get to the beach, either by taxi or water taxi, then you have to leave the beach around 3.30--4.00 to get back on the ship, plus while your of ship, you have to pay for things like sunbeds, food and beer.

 

 

a summery of the Thomson Destiny is, would i go on it again YES WITHOUT A DOUPT, will we be going on a cruise again PROB NOT.

 

 

the Thomson Destiny gets 10/10, but cruising for me and my wife would only get 8/10.

 

 

PS i am 47 years old and my wife is 40, we are well traveled people who have been to Mexico, Cuba, Aruba etc etc, i hope this revew helps people out, since coming of the ship 3 couples have booked a cruise with the Thomson Fleet, one person has even booked a suite on the destiny "even thou i told her i wouldnt even pay for a window next time", but like she said, you have to do what you thin best.

 

 

PPS, we paid for the AI Drinks and we DEFFINUTLY got our moneys worth, you could take a few cans of coke of the ship with you, then if you board the ship again at say 4, you might have 2 or 3 drinks then, then we used to come down for the quiz at 8 and have a beer while doing this, then with our meal we would alwayds have a few beers or glasses of wine, then after your meal, we would have 3 or 4 before going to bed, so on avridge we must have had 10 or 11 drinks aday, sometimes less, but i would say MOST DAYS MORE lol.

 

 

right i hope this review helps someone, please excuse the spelling and grammer

 

Derek

I am going on Sunday 23rd and enjoyed reading your good review,it made me even more exited. One question is the exchange rate good out there or should we change it all up befere we go? Lizald.

[bubblesdarling]

Hi Derek, glad you enjoyed your cruise. We are booked to go in March and was wondering if you had any information about any of the ships trips. We are probally looking to do something in each port, so any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks Mandy

[su671]

the trips that Thomson do are EXPENSIVE, before we went i thought it would be best to do the trips with Thomson, because if your late the ship will wit for you, were as if you do it on your own and you are late the ship WONT wait for you,, anyway let me tell you, the way the trips are organised on the quey side is excerlent, the minibus drivers on the quey side are very proffesional and are all insured, these people WONT get you back late, what we did was look at the trips that were on offer with the Thomson People, then decided what we wanted to do and then just left the ship and joined the people on the quey side,, there is NO HUSSEL and BUSSEL, everyone is there to help you, dont feel worried about doing the trips on your own,, and example, on Dominica with the ship you could go to this beach and stay there for 2 hours have something to eat and then go back to the ship, the price was £36 EACH, we did it on our own, sharring a minibus with 6 other people "everyone shares minibuses", our driver took us round the ireland stopping at differant places, then we called at a small beach for 45min and had a beer in the bar "which was his local", then we went around the ireland more eventualy stopping at the beach were the Thomson people were, we stayed there for about 45min, then we went back to the ship, the whole trip was about 4 or 5 hours and the price was $20 each"about £13 each".

 

Money exchange on board was £1--$1.48, i got £1---$1.56 in England, so i would say get your $$$$ in the UK "Post OFFICE ON-LINE" is always the best, everyone takes US $, just make sure when you get your change they dont give you EU $$$, another thing about money, i bought a Camera in St Martin it was $499 which if i had paid in cash would have cost me £319,,but i paid with my Visa and when i got home they had given me a **** exchange rate of 1.48 which ment the camera cost me £337,, so CASH IS KING

[bubblesdarling]

Hi Derek, Thanks for your reply. We are getting well excited now. We have been thinking about arrange some trips with the quayside locals, so will look more into that. We do like to get out and about and the trips organised by the ship seem to be limited and not very long.

 

Mandy

[su671]

we found you get a better trip with the locals, dont forget if the locals get bad revies on sites like this, they will soon go out of bussinuss, at 1st we were a bit scared, but hinestly, they are very proffesional and very helpfull, im sure there are crap guides, but everyone we got was very informative about the isrland and they all seem very proud of wear they live

[ApricotSilk]

Cant wait....its nearly Sunday!!

 

Some very mixed reviews for the Destiny....

 

More to follow....

See you all soon....

[Julessmiles]

Cant wait....its nearly Sunday!!

 

Some very mixed reviews for the Destiny....

 

More to follow....

See you all soon....

 

 

Apricot! It's me, Jules (also from GF messageboard!) My parents are also going on the Destiny on Sunday - I will look forward to hearing how you get on with the GF diet as we might consider the Destiny next year having already been very well catered for on the Celebration & the Spirit. Are you doing 1 or 2 weeks on board? My folks are doing 1week cruise, 1 week stay, flying from Birmingham. Have fun & enjoy the sun!!

[ApricotSilk]

Sister and I do look very much alike....so its not a case of one/two/three/floor drinks too many. If they see two of us that look alike...its us!

 

Going for 2 weeks cruising...its last years summer holiday...you know full well I am a workaholic....The Coral Islands and the Caribbean Gems.....

Flying out of Manchester...

 

If the catering for this Coeliac is as good as on the Celebration...then it will be fine. Still going to pack some snap in case the airline make a booboo of the flight meal......(experience tells me its a smart move...).

 

So want to pick a fresh mango....(am a Mango-aholic!!)

 

Apricot & kitty

[Julessmiles]

Sister and I do look very much alike....so its not a case of one/two/three/floor drinks too many. If they see two of us that look alike...its us!

 

Going for 2 weeks cruising...its last years summer holiday...you know full well I am a workaholic....The Coral Islands and the Caribbean Gems.....

Flying out of Manchester...

 

If the catering for this Coeliac is as good as on the Celebration...then it will be fine. Still going to pack some snap in case the airline make a booboo of the flight meal......(experience tells me its a smart move...).

 

So want to pick a fresh mango....(am a Mango-aholic!!)

 

Apricot & kitty

 

Have seen my Mum today and told her of the lovely lady from Barnsley and described her as I remember you- I thought it might be your sister who would be going with you - lucky you; 2 weeks onboard (not envious at all of course, me ;))

 

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!

[moles]

Just booked for 20th Feb for this cruise and stay. We are staying at Riu Bambu after the cruise.

I really enjoyed your review and was glad to find it as we too have never been on a sea cruise before. We also usually like beach based holidays, but thought if we are going to the Carribean, we might as well have a look at a few islands for future reference.

We usually go to Thailand or Goa at this time of the year, but fancied a complete change. Just hope we haven't made a mistake.

Any more tips for us 'newbies' would be welcome.