Thomson Destiny

[cruzadict]

I am thinking of booking a Canaries cruise onboard the Destiny next February. We have taken 20 plus cruises but never on Thomson, mostly Celebrity, P & O, Orient etc. Please can someone give me an idea of the cabins, dress code etc or, in fact, any info at all. Find it very difficult to get any reviews on this ship. Many thanks Marilyn

[superedswife]

HI,

 

Myself and my husband are going on Destiny for the first time on 23rd November, we have only been on Cunard before and also have a P & O cruise booked for next year. If you haven't found out what you want to know by the time we come back, it will be a pleasure to answer your questions.

 

Jean.

[Shelledpea]

There are quite a few reviews at

http://www.cruise.co.uk/cruise-reviews/search/?reviewcruiselineid=22&reviewcruiseshipid=109&searchsubmit.x=56&searchsubmit.y=16

 

Also on there is the Berlitz cruise review

 

Hope this helps

 

Shelley

[Andym]

Marilyn,

 

We have been on Celebrity lots of times. We have been on the Destiny twice and three times when it was the Sunbird.

 

The cruise on Destiny is very good value for money. We go on Friday 16th and considering that we have only paid £440 each including flights, well its an absolute bargain.

 

The price is what you have to take into account when doing comparisons. Obviously Celebrity are better ships etc, but thats what you are paying for.

 

Andy

[Andym]

Marilyn,

 

We have been on Celebrity lots of times. We have been on the Destiny twice and three times when it was the Sunbird.

 

The cruise on Destiny is very good value for money. We go on Friday 16th and considering that we have only paid £440 each including flights, well its an absolute bargain.

 

The price is what you have to take into account when doing comparisons. Obviously Celebrity are better ships etc, but thats what you are paying for.

 

Andy

[Canuk Lindylou]

Cruised in the Caribbean and the Med when it was the Sun Bird and it was great. Cruised again when it became a Thomson ship and were disappointed with the changes. Crew were still friendly but the staff (mainly middle European) weren't. Dining room staff had been reduced, service was either very slow or rushed. Missed the shows some nights due to the service. Wouldn't cruise with Thomson again but very glad we started our "cruising obsession" with the Air Tours ships!!!

[supered]

I am thinking of booking a Canaries cruise onboard the Destiny next February. We have taken 20 plus cruises but never on Thomson, mostly Celebrity, P & O, Orient etc. Please can someone give me an idea of the cabins, dress code etc or, in fact, any info at all. Find it very difficult to get any reviews on this ship. Many thanks Marilyn

Hi Marilyn,

 

My wife Jean (superedswife) and I have just come back from our cruise on Thomson Destiny. We loved it and thought it was very good value for money. To be honest the ship is quite old being built in 1982 and some of the areas of the ship are showing their age a bit. However, it is kept immaculate by the crew and is constantly maintained by the crew.

 

The cabins are quite small by modern standards with most of them having twin beds in a "L" or parallel configuration. We had an outside cabin on Deck 3 that had a picture window which was a nice surprise. The ones on Deck 2 have a porthole. The bathroom is also quite small by modern standards, as is the shower, but it was adequate for our needs. The cabin was kept very clean and tidy by the steward.

 

The food was very good and the service from the restaurant waiters was excellent. We had a free all inclusive upgrade and our wine steward, Yasser, made sure we had all we wanted. On all inclusive wine by the glass is included but you get a £2 discount on wine by the bottle.

 

The level of service is excellent whether from the bar waiters, restaurant waiters or reception staff.

 

The dress code is largely Smart Casual on port days. This is equivalent to the same thing on P&O, with no jacket being required for men. It is suggested that men wear a button shirt and full trousers and women wear a sun dress. The vast majority of people followed the dress code. On the one sea day the dress code is described as Formal and Tuxedos are suggested for men (although the pre-cruise documentation says a suit and tie is acceptable) with ball gowns for women. On the Formal night I would say that for the men it was 60/40 for Tux versus suit. I only saw one or two people who didn't conform in some way to the dress code. The women were all very well dressed.

 

On the Formal night they have the "Captain's Cocktail Party" but it was a bit of disappointment as once everyone had got a drink and sat down it only lasted another five minutes. The Captain introduced the Officers and Heads of Department and that was it! I suspect that this might be down to the individual Captain. He was never seen publiccally unlike on other ships. Even the Cruise Director made all the safety announcements during the Muster Drill! From what I understand this not the norm on Thomson ships.

 

The ship is definately less formal than P&O or Cunard, but from what I've heard is more formal than the likes of Ocean Village.

 

If you were to make a direct comparison with P&O or Cunard you can say it is not as good. However, you aren't paying those prices. It was an excellent cruise for the money and would have no hesitation in recommending it. The entertainment staff were very hard working and made the cruise for us.

 

The ship isn't perfect, but what ship is? One thing that a lot of people didn't like was that the Lido Cafe at the aft is adjacent to an open deck and at night it could be quite breezy as it is designed to partially open to the air. In order to access it you had to go outside. For my money this was a minor point.

 

If you have any questions we'll be happy to answer them as best we can. We intend to post a review of the ship so that should be coming soon.

 

Thanks.

 

Eddie

[Daisy16178]

If you have previously cruised on P&O and Celebrity then you will not like Thomson cruises. They are 2-3 star and not up to the standard of the aforementioned. Stear clear. Pay the extra and get a decent cruise liner.

[supered]

If you have previously cruised on P&O and Celebrity then you will not like Thomson cruises. They are 2-3 star and not up to the standard of the aforementioned. Stear clear. Pay the extra and get a decent cruise liner.

While I agree that Thomson is not up to the standard of P&O and Celebrity it doesn't mean you'll hate it. What you will have to do is lower your expectations of what you would experience on those (more expensive lines). I can honestly say that it is great value for money. We went on a Transatlantic Crossing on the QM2 in May 2006. If you compare that with Thomson Destiny, of course Thomson comes off badly. But you need to remember they are different products with different price points. We took our cruise on on the Destiny at face value and had a fabulous time. The sevice was top notch.

 

You just need to decide whether you are willing to take a chance. It won't be the same and if you expecting P&O you'll be disappointed. It's like comparing a five star hotel with a Travel Inn.

 

Eddie

[jenny wren]

With regard to the comparisons of Thomson and the likes of P and O cruises. If, like us, you are able to take as many holidays as you can afford because you have no work restraints, we would rather have three cruises per year on Thomson rather than two on P and O.

 

Not that we do have three all on Thomson... ours this year are on Costa, Thomson and P and O, last year we did Costa, Princess and Thomson, so we do have other 'brands' to compare with ...and with regard to value for money and good itineraries Thomson are up there with the best.