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Thomson vs P&O


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We are considering a 2018 cruise on Discovery 2 and I am keen to find our how Thomson (Tui) compare to P&O as they are who we cruise with most and since the drop in exchange rates don't feel we can consider the US lines at present. They is not a great difference in price between Thomson and P&O and wonder which is the better value if there is anyone who cruises on both lines could advise.

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I divide my cruises about equally between P&O and Thomson (soon to be TUI) and find there are more similarities than differences. One difference you will notice is that TUI is more informal than P&O. Their traditional ships had one formal night a week but on the new TUI branded ships this is now called a 'dress to impress' night. If you want to wear a green velvet jacket and yellow trousers that's OK, if somewhat loud IMO. Formal dress code only applied to the main dining room anyway. Elsewhere evening casual is the norm.

 

I must mention 'like Butlins' as that has been used as a criticism of Thomson. I don't actually know what butlins is like but I imagine butlins things to be game shows, quizzes and such like. They have these on Thomson but I was surprised to find they are less in evidence than on P&O. This is because one area of the ship tend to attract all the butlins stuff so if you don't go there you won't see it.

 

Entertainment. Pretty similar but I think the dance/singing team can be more talented than those on P&O. They are provided by Peel entertainment which I understand also provide teams for Fred Olsen. There is no live orchestra in the theatre which I think is a good thing because the music on P&O drowns out the singers. The round the ship bands etc can be indifferent, good or very good, just like P&O.

 

Food, is it good, I must say I tend to graze and treat it as a fuel rather than a pleasure. I would say about the same as P&O. The new Discoveries certainly have plenty of variety with the main dining room offering what I would class as international menus rather than the traditional meat and 2 veg. There is also an Italian restaurant in the evenings which I found a pleasant change. Other complimentary venues are of course the buffet and snack shack which is burgers, sandwiches etc. The Glasshouse, it has a glass roof, offers light snacks and cakes etc in the day and a complimentary pizza style menu in the evening plus charged for items such as steak etc on hot lava rock. There is a bar as well but it is not a wine bar. Pay for venues are the Surf and Turf steak restaurant and Kora La which is Asian fusion with a small sushi bar included.

 

What about chavs! Thomson is full of chavs and drunks taking advantage of the free drinks packages. No it is not, I have seen just as bad behaviour on P&O and the passengers are just as diverse. Without wanting to start a political discussion I would say Thomson passengers tend a bit more toward the Daily Mirror than the predominant Daily Mail readers on P&O

 

Explanation - I did a few surveys of what newspapers P&O passengers were buying by checking how many were for sale on arrival at Southampton. There were many many more Daily Mails available than any other newspaper.

 

The crew are just as efficient as P&O and in my experience friendly and happy.

 

Tips are included in the fare as a non itemised item so you don't have to worry about them. You can of course tip if you think a staff member gives you exceptional service.

 

ps - I have 4 cruises booked for this year, 2 on P&O and 2 on Thomson.

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I divide my cruises about equally between P&O and Thomson (soon to be TUI) and find there are more similarities than differences. One difference you will notice is that TUI is more informal than P&O. Their traditional ships had one formal night a week but on the new TUI branded ships this is now called a 'dress to impress' night. If you want to wear a green velvet jacket and yellow trousers that's OK, if somewhat loud IMO. Formal dress code only applied to the main dining room anyway. Elsewhere evening casual is the norm.

 

I must mention 'like Butlins' as that has been used as a criticism of Thomson. I don't actually know what butlins is like but I imagine butlins things to be game shows, quizzes and such like. They have these on Thomson but I was surprised to find they are less in evidence than on P&O. This is because one area of the ship tend to attract all the butlins stuff so if you don't go there you won't see it.

 

Entertainment. Pretty similar but I think the dance/singing team can be more talented than those on P&O. They are provided by Peel entertainment which I understand also provide teams for Fred Olsen. There is no live orchestra in the theatre which I think is a good thing because the music on P&O drowns out the singers. The round the ship bands etc can be indifferent, good or very good, just like P&O.

 

Food, is it good, I must say I tend to graze and treat it as a fuel rather than a pleasure. I would say about the same as P&O. The new Discoveries certainly have plenty of variety with the main dining room offering what I would class as international menus rather than the traditional meat and 2 veg. There is also an Italian restaurant in the evenings which I found a pleasant change. Other complimentary venues are of course the buffet and snack shack which is burgers, sandwiches etc. The Glasshouse, it has a glass roof, offers light snacks and cakes etc in the day and a complimentary pizza style menu in the evening plus charged for items such as steak etc on hot lava rock. There is a bar as well but it is not a wine bar. Pay for venues are the Surf and Turf steak restaurant and Kora La which is Asian fusion with a small sushi bar included.

 

What about chavs! Thomson is full of chavs and drunks taking advantage of the free drinks packages. No it is not, I have seen just as bad behaviour on P&O and the passengers are just as diverse. Without wanting to start a political discussion I would say Thomson passengers tend a bit more toward the Daily Mirror than the predominant Daily Mail readers on P&O

 

Explanation - I did a few surveys of what newspapers P&O passengers were buying by checking how many were for sale on arrival at Southampton. There were many many more Daily Mails available than any other newspaper.

 

The crew are just as efficient as P&O and in my experience friendly and happy.

 

Tips are included in the fare as a non itemised item so you don't have to worry about them. You can of course tip if you think a staff member gives you exceptional service.

 

ps - I have 4 cruises booked for this year, 2 on P&O and 2 on Thomson.

 

What a good/well balanced response Dave. However, I must place on record here that I never read either the Mirror or the Mail lol!! I

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I also must put on record that I read The Mail and the Telegraph Great response to the question Dave

However as the questioner said there was not much difference in the cost of a cruise with P & O and Thomson I would also like to mention

1) Thomson all inclusive drinks package

2) Thomson all charges are in sterling

3) Compare the sea days on 14 night cruise with P & O and Thomson (usually only 1 sea day a week)

4) the theatre shows on Thomson are fantastic and the musicians/singers in the bands and duos on Thomson are first class

5) Thomson do not usually provide free shuttle buses but sometimes the ports do

 

Thomson Spirit Oct 2005 Repo Palma to Sharm el Sheikh

Thomson Celebration Jan 2007 Red Sea Magic

Ocean Village Feb 2008 Western Caribbean & Central America

Ocean Village Aug 2008 Eastern Med

Ocean Village 2 Feb 2009 Eastern Caribbean

Ocean Village Mar 2010 Eastern Caribbean

Thomson Dream Feb 2011 Eastern Caribbean & Cuba

Thomson Celebration Aug 2011 Eastern Med

Thomson Celebration Apr 2012 Red Sea Magic

Thomson Celebration Apr/May 2012 Repo Sharm el Sheikh to Marmaris

Thomson Dream Feb 2013 Eastern Caribbean

Thomson Majesty Nov/Dec 2014 Colourful Coasts Canaries

Thomson Dream Jan/Feb 2015 Western Caribbean Panama & Cuba

Thomson Dream Apr 2015 Transatlantic Sunset

Thomson Majesty​​June 2015 Hellenic Classics

Thomson Celebration Sept 2015 Adriatic Affair

Thomson Dream​​Jan 2016 Mayan Treasures/Cuban Revolution

Thomson Dream​​April 2016 Atlantic Adventure

Thomson Dream​​June 2016 Iconic Islands/Adriatic Explorer

Thomson Celebration​​Jan 2017 Cities of Gold

Thomson Dream​​April2017 Atlantic Daydream

Thomson Spirit June 2017 Classical Greece

Thomson Majesty​​Sept2017 Med Medley/Treasures of Med

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I divide my cruises about equally between P&O and Thomson (soon to be TUI) and find there are more similarities than differences. One difference you will notice is that TUI is more informal than P&O. Their traditional ships had one formal night a week but on the new TUI branded ships this is now called a 'dress to impress' night. If you want to wear a green velvet jacket and yellow trousers that's OK, if somewhat loud IMO. Formal dress code only applied to the main dining room anyway. Elsewhere evening casual is the norm.

 

I must mention 'like Butlins' as that has been used as a criticism of Thomson. I don't actually know what butlins is like but I imagine butlins things to be game shows, quizzes and such like. They have these on Thomson but I was surprised to find they are less in evidence than on P&O. This is because one area of the ship tend to attract all the butlins stuff so if you don't go there you won't see it.

 

Entertainment. Pretty similar but I think the dance/singing team can be more talented than those on P&O. They are provided by Peel entertainment which I understand also provide teams for Fred Olsen. There is no live orchestra in the theatre which I think is a good thing because the music on P&O drowns out the singers. The round the ship bands etc can be indifferent, good or very good, just like P&O.

 

Food, is it good, I must say I tend to graze and treat it as a fuel rather than a pleasure. I would say about the same as P&O. The new Discoveries certainly have plenty of variety with the main dining room offering what I would class as international menus rather than the traditional meat and 2 veg. There is also an Italian restaurant in the evenings which I found a pleasant change. Other complimentary venues are of course the buffet and snack shack which is burgers, sandwiches etc. The Glasshouse, it has a glass roof, offers light snacks and cakes etc in the day and a complimentary pizza style menu in the evening plus charged for items such as steak etc on hot lava rock. There is a bar as well but it is not a wine bar. Pay for venues are the Surf and Turf steak restaurant and Kora La which is Asian fusion with a small sushi bar included.

 

What about chavs! Thomson is full of chavs and drunks taking advantage of the free drinks packages. No it is not, I have seen just as bad behaviour on P&O and the passengers are just as diverse. Without wanting to start a political discussion I would say Thomson passengers tend a bit more toward the Daily Mirror than the predominant Daily Mail readers on P&O

 

Explanation - I did a few surveys of what newspapers P&O passengers were buying by checking how many were for sale on arrival at Southampton. There were many many more Daily Mails available than any other newspaper.

 

The crew are just as efficient as P&O and in my experience friendly and happy.

 

Tips are included in the fare as a non itemised item so you don't have to worry about them. You can of course tip if you think a staff member gives you exceptional service.

 

ps - I have 4 cruises booked for this year, 2 on P&O and 2 on Thomson.

 

Thanks Dave, great explanation, exactly what I wanted.

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1) Thomson all inclusive drinks package

Yes

2) Thomson all charges are in sterling

So are P&O

3) Compare the sea days on 14 night cruise with P & O and Thomson (usually only 1 sea day a week)

Yes, I understand this from Southampton, but not sure why there are more seas days on fly cruises.

4) the theatre shows on Thomson are fantastic and the musicians/singers in the bands and duos on Thomson are first class

We actually think P&O shows are just as good, not so many production shows, but more variety, such as Comedians, ventriloquists, musicians etc which we like.

5) Thomson do not usually provide free shuttle buses but sometimes the ports do

P&O charge for shuttle buses if you choose saver fare.

 

 

 

We did lots of Thomson cruises before we tried P&O and were pleasantly surprised. We also think they are very similar and like them both. We particularly like cruises from Southampton, so we are pleased that Thomson are doing some from there next year.

 

BTW Dave, we gave up the Daily mirror years ago and usually read the Express or Mail :D:D

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We have largely given up on P and O -- their older ships are very tired and their newer ones are too big for us. We moved to Holland America when they sailed from the UK and stayed with them even though we now need to take a ferry to join up.

 

But we also tried Thomson and were pleasantly surprised. Two ships I been have been on we're both ex HAL with good quality furnishings. They lack balconies but I don't make much use of ours when we on ships which have them.

 

The entertainment team on Thomson are much more evident around the ship than those on P and O.

 

Food wise I thoughtvp and O plumbed the depths when Toad in the Hoke appeared as a Main Course option one Formal Night. mybonly food criticism on Thomson has been that their Desserts lack inspiration.

 

Our cruises are mainly to Norway and Thomson have managed to find some ports which were new to us.

 

We are going to Norway with the em on Celebration

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I used to sell advertising space for the Mirror and often found that ad agencies preferred to place their business with the Mail as 'their readers have more disposable income'.

In a way, for us, this sums up the difference between Thomsons and P&O. Higher income Mirror readers versus lower income Mail readers.

It's such a fine dividing line that neither company can ever hope to keep everybody happy.

 

We lean slightly towards Thomson for the entertainment.

 

For the record I read VIZ;p

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Hate these comparisons.When you give no indication of your own age and interests. Especially when the ships vary so much from Small and aging to bigger and shiny.

 

Of course both Co's are great at the things that matter. Price, service, Traditionally and Brits style etc.

 

But clearly P&O win if it was purely on features. Movies under the stars, buffet quality, ship deck activities,

but life is not as clear.

 

As pointed out Thomson do not charge for certain things P&O now do.

 

gimme more details and I can compare more appropriately for you? As you asked. For value its probably Thomson, but for that you'll likely eat slightly lower standard food.

Edited by waney
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Hate these comparisons.When you give no indication of your own age and interests. Especially when the ships vary so much from Small and aging to bigger and shiny.

 

Of course both Co's are great at the things that matter. Price, service, Traditionally and Brits style etc.

 

But clearly P&O win if it was purely on features. Movies under the stars, buffet quality, ship deck activities,

but life is not as clear.

 

As pointed out Thomson do not charge for certain things P&O now do.

 

gimme more details and I can compare more appropriately for you?

 

TUI/Thomson have movies under the stars. In my opinion Thomson buffets can have more selection and better quality than P&O. True, Thomson do not have shuffleboard and deck quoits. The Discoveries and I presume Explorer are at least as plush as P&O mid range ships, not so much beige ;)

 

For those interested single supplements on Thomson can be a lot less than P&O but on P&O you have a wider selection of cabin choice for solos. Recent experience has Thomson solo social programs much better than the almost non existent P&O version. This does vary by ship though.

 

For those who like to imbibe spirit measures on Thomson are 40ml v 25ml on P&O with similar prices and a choice of free mixer on Thomson

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Hi CruisinLinda

If you look on P & O website you will find on their fly cruises the no of ports for a 14 night/15 day cruise is 9 or 10 and includes the arrival port and again the departure port (which is the same) in most cases. 7 nights cover 5 ports.

Thomson by comparison 14 night/15 day cruises cover 11 ports and this does not include the arrival/departure port but does include the return to the port mid holiday

One sea day a week which I feel is very port intensive and value for money

Obviously as P & O do not offer all inclusive drinks packages they have captive passengers on their sea days and expect to make more money from sales 🍻🍹🍷🍸

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Hi

If you look on P & O website you will find on their fly cruises the no of ports for a 14 night/15 day cruise is 9 or 10 and includes the arrival port and again the departure port (which is the same) in most cases. 7 nights cover 5 ports.

Thomson by comparison 14 night/15 day cruises cover 11 ports and this does not include the arrival/departure port but does include the return to the port mid holiday

I think that is what I said Vitalsign ;)

 

On our Discovery 2 cruise in May we are stopping in 5 ports plus Malaga each end. If we went on Oceana we would only stop at 4 ports plus Malta each end, so presumably 2 days at sea with P&O.

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3) Compare the sea days on 14 night cruise with P & O and Thomson (usually only 1 sea day a week)

Yes, I understand this from Southampton, but not sure why there are more seas days on fly cruises.

Sorry Linda misunderstood you 'not sure why there are more sea days on fly cruises' thought it was a question

Anyway I'm sure the answer is so they sell more on board

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I also must put on record that I read The Mail and the Telegraph Great response to the question Dave

However as the questioner said there was not much difference in the cost of a cruise with P & O and Thomson I would also like to mention

1) Thomson all inclusive drinks package

2) Thomson all charges are in sterling

3) Compare the sea days on 14 night cruise with P & O and Thomson (usually only 1 sea day a week)

4) the theatre shows on Thomson are fantastic and the musicians/singers in the bands and duos on Thomson are first class

5) Thomson do not usually provide free shuttle buses but sometimes the ports do

 

 

 

Thomson Spirit Oct 2005 Repo Palma to Sharm el Sheikh

Thomson Celebration Jan 2007 Red Sea Magic

Ocean VillageFeb 2008 Western Caribbean & Central America

Ocean VillageAug 2008 Eastern Med

Ocean Village 2 Feb 2009 Eastern Caribbean

Ocean VillageMar 2010 Eastern Caribbean

Thomson Dream Feb 2011 Eastern Caribbean & Cuba

Thomson Celebration Aug 2011 Eastern Med

Thomson Celebration Apr 2012 Red Sea Magic

Thomson CelebrationApr/May 2012 Repo Sharm el Sheikh to Marmaris

Thomson Dream Feb 2013 EasternCaribbean

Thomson Majesty​​Nov/Dec 2014 Colourful Coasts Canaries

Thomson Dream Jan/Feb 2015 Western Caribbean Panama & Cuba

Thomson Dream Apr 2015 Transatlantic Sunset

Thomson Majesty​​June 2015 Hellenic Classics

Thomson Celebration Sept 2015 Adriatic Affair

Thomson Dream​​Jan 2016 Mayan Treasures/Cuban Revolution

Thomson Dream​​April 2016 Atlantic Adventure

Thomson Dream​​June 2016 Iconic Islands/Adriatic Explorer

Thomson Celebration​​Jan 2017 Cities of Gold

Thomson Dream​​April2017 Atlantic Daydream

Thomson Spirit June 2017 Classical Greece

Thomson Majesty​​Sept2017 Med Medley/Treasures of Med

 

Agreed with the above but you forgot to mention that P & O add tips to their onboard charges and even though this is a lot less than other cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean charge, there is still an obligatory charge added. Thomson's prices include all tips and gratuities, although I think that most people still tend to leave additional tips for their cabin steward and anyone else who they consider have given really good service.

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I've cruised with Royal Caribbean twice, P & O once and Thomson twice with the third coming up in June on Discovery 2. They all had their positives - Royal Caribbean and P & O both had fantastic cabins but we preferred the food on P & O as it was more "British". With Thomson, we have cruised the Canary Islands on the Destiny back in 2011 and around the Mediterranean on the Island Escape in 2013.

 

 

Now the Island Escape WAS an old ferry and it felt like it but.... in high seas (which we had for 3 of the 7 days) it handled itself very well. The cabins on both Thomson ships were basic and somewhat depressing but as many people are happy to state, you're only in there to sleep, shower and change. You wouldn't have really wanted to do much more in there and there really wasn't room to either! But... with the recent purchase of the 2 ex-Royal Caribbean ships, this is hopefully no longer the case. We shall be cruising on Discovery 2 on June 18th and doing a back to back. The itineraries are great and we have booked an aft deluxe balcony cabin, which we are hoping will not be snatched from us at the last moment, as we understand Thomson are well known for doing this!

 

 

If Thomson want to compete with the big boys then they need to become more professional and definitely need to update their website to make it more user-friendly, so that people can actually book what they want online without having to speak to their customer services department just to see if they can book a certain cabin. And once the cabin has been confirmed, then Thomson should stop changing people's cabin reservations without their consent and think that it's OK to just give them back the £45 fee that the client paid when they booked. (usually months ago, which is why they booked early to get the cabin that they wanted!!) This is my only worry about having booked with Thomson as I am sure that everything else will be fine. We have always enjoyed the food on Thomson cruises and are very happy that they now offer freedom dining as we never bothered eating in the MDR as we didn't want to sit and eat with a group of total strangers.

 

 

So we're totally looking forward to our upcoming cruise and once we are settled into our deluxe aft cabin, we will be able to enjoy our cruise. 70 days and counting!

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3) Compare the sea days on 14 night cruise with P & O and Thomson (usually only 1 sea day a week)

Yes, I understand this from Southampton, but not sure why there are more seas days on fly cruises.

Sorry Linda misunderstood you 'not sure why there are more sea days on fly cruises' thought it was a question

Anyway I'm sure the answer is so they sell more on board

 

I think it's so the ship can travel further away from it's local home port - and that would probably mean more sea days! A cruise going down to Santorini is not going to manage to get there if it stops off at a port every day on the way down. And of course Thomson cruises are all a week long and have to regress to their home port halfway through a 2 week cruise, so Santorini would only be a possibility if the home port was Athens or somewhere in the area. We had 4 sea days on our last 12 day cruise, 2 of them together whilst cruising from Athens to Santorini. Great for relaxing!

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Does Thomson move you when you have paid & booked a certain cabin?

If you have pre-booked a cabin for 4 and there are only 2 of you, they can change your cabin to a 2 bed to give your 4 bed to a family of 4. This usually only happens during school holidays.

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We cruised only with Thomsons for years. A couple of years ago there was an itinerary with P&O which we had to do. Since then I have discovered I don't mind travelling from Southampton. Actually prefer it to flying. Don't mind sea days, and LOVE balconies :). For us the main differences are, the shows are much better on Thomson, but there is more variety with P&O and we prefer this. The ships are newer and more stable (important for me as I suffer from sea sickness).

 

We would still like to cruise with Thomson especially with the new ships. However as these are now A.I. we will have to see how the prices compare.

 

If you have found an itinerary you would like I don't think you would find too big a difference between the two lines.

,

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