First ever cruise on Monday! (Undiscovered Aegean)

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd put a quick post up as I've lurked on the forum for a few months after booking our first ever cruise. The information on here has been really useful and we're both super excited for our Undiscovered Aegean Cruise in 2 days time!

The cruise is on the Thomson Spirit and apart from being apprehensive with the cabin we have (1/2 inside) we are both very excited.

Is there anyone else on the forum also on the cruise? Would be nice to meet you if so :)

Jay

I forgot to ask but if anyone has any recommendation on what may be good to do at the following port's then it would be much appreciated. We do have excursions booked for Kavala and Izmir.

Day: 1 Marmaris - TURKEY

Day: 2 At Sea

Day: 3 Thessaloniki - GREECE

Day: 4 Kavala - GREECE

Day: 5 Chios Town* - CHIOS

Day: 6 Izmir - TURKEY

Day: 7 Patmos Town* - PATMOS

Day: 8 Marmaris - TURKEY

I hope we enjoy it :)

Hi everyone,

 

Just thought I'd put a quick post up as I've lurked on the forum for a few months after booking our first ever cruise. The information on here has been really useful and we're both super excited for our Undiscovered Aegean Cruise in 2 days time!

 

The cruise is on the Thomson Spirit and apart from being apprehensive with the cabin we have (1/2 inside) we are both very excited.

 

Is there anyone else on the forum also on the cruise? Would be nice to meet you if so :)

 

Jay

How exciting - just off on your first cruise! And welcome to the Forum. :)

No reason to be apprehensive about Deck 1/2 - it's actually more stable on the lower decks and the standard cabins on Deck 1/2 are just the same as those on higher decks. As for an inside cabin, given you will use it mainly for sleeping, showering and changing you will find it will meet your needs perfectly well. Cabin size on Spirit is very good with loads of drawer and hanging space so I'm sure you'll be fine.

Sorry can't help much with your ports of call. It looks like Marmaris is your arrival/departure port so you won't have too much time there but do get off the ship and walk through the Marina to the waterfront if you can. I think we had the morning there before we were taken to the airport to come home and it's definitely worth going for a drink at the waterfront cafés. It's a very attractive area.

Have a wonderful time and let us know how you get on.

Sorry I can't help either, on this ship on the 8th June, but it is a different itinerary .

Will be interested to hear about the ship - we have never sailed with Thomson, got an offer and decided to take it as our summer holiday will be late this year.

Either way, it's the people and the destinations that help make a cruise, so chill and enjoy!!

I am interested in the replies too, as although we have been on Spirit before - and love her - we are doing Undiscovered Aegean on 14 Sept and apart from landing in Marmaris, all the ports are new for us too. Looking forward to them.

Thanks everyone for the replies, reassuring to hear that Deck 1 and 2 aren't as bad as some people say.

As it's our first time we've played it safe and booked the Historic Xanthi excursion in Kavala and the Ancient Ephesus excursion in Izmir. I'm guessing we've paid over the odds for these but it's peace of mind for at least those 2 days.

Out of curiosity do they ever offer the excursions at a discounted rate on the ship? I'm all for a good haggle to get a better deal if they do ;)

Thanks everyone for the replies, reassuring to hear that Deck 1 and 2 aren't as bad as some people say.

 

As it's our first time we've played it safe and booked the Historic Xanthi excursion in Kavala and the Ancient Ephesus excursion in Izmir. I'm guessing we've paid over the odds for these but it's peace of mind for at least those 2 days.

 

Out of curiosity do they ever offer the excursions at a discounted rate on the ship? I'm all for a good haggle to get a better deal if they do ;)

no discount on the ship you actually get cheaper booking in advance online

no discount on the ship you actually get cheaper booking in advance online

There is not a lot of difference, about £2 I think. We prefer to wait for the port showcase on board, and make our minds up on a daily basis from that. Only one we booked in advance was Panama Canal, and glad we did as a lot on board found it fully booked.

They did once come up with an offer of three for the price of two (on selected excursions) once on board. I think it was geo who told us about it but it understandably caused uproar as Thomson had specifically advertised that booking excursions in advance would be the cheapest way to purchase them. The destinations team clearly needed to push sales on excursions at the last minute and came up with a plan (or someone on board did)................pity it was at odds with Thomson's published policy on this! I believe it hasn't been tried again!

So yes, book ahead if you want to save a couple of £s or so on each trip but don't expect a discount on board.

I think it was geo who told us about it but it understandably caused uproar as Thomson had specifically advertised that booking excursions in advance would be the cheapest way to purchase them.

Yes 3 for 2 offers on shorex on dream in caribbean one year? their website had advertised that the online price would never be beaten onboard?... clearly giving away a free shorex onboard was beating the online price?!:mad: …..another example of thomsons not having a clue what its left hand was doing??:(

Anyway they soon stopped that particular offer (at least they did on dream afaik)

Its not set in stone if you prebook online, its easy to cancel once onboard if you change your mind (just as long as you give them 24 hrs notice) there is a small saving if you prebook online (a couple of quid per ticket)

i have noticed that sometimes they have shorex available to book onboard but which weren’t available to prebook online:confused:

Thomsons shorex are priced reasonably (imo) compared to (same offering) from other lines (pando)

Beware though about waiting to book on board, which we usually do. I decided to pre-book the Rome Express trip for next week and it seems to be sold out. I called in at the TA to check and they said it said N/A which she told me meant it was sold out, but could N/A mean not available. I wonder if anyone else had booked this for 8th June?

Beware though about waiting to book on board, which we usually do. I decided to pre-book the Rome Express trip for next week and it seems to be sold out. I called in at the TA to check and they said it said N/A which she told me meant it was sold out, but could N/A mean not available. I wonder if anyone else had booked this for 8th June?

That's an important heads up from Linda. If you see an excursion advertised which you especially want to do then it's worth booking it as early as you can. Some trips are 'Limited Availability' and the train is probably one of those - it will have an upper limit on seats and once they've all gone, Thomson won't be able to offer any more. Some trips if they get enough demand, Thomson can put on an extra bus - subject to the tour operators in port having enough but not a train!

As geo said if you then change your mind after seeing the Port Showcase or even talking to other passengers, you can cancel with no penalty as long as you give them 24 hours notice.

Sorry to hear about the train trip Linda - hope you find something else which interests you and you won't be too disappointed. Good luck with that. (Try asking if you can go on a waiting list as soon as you get on board - you never know someone might cancel.)

Not long now - are you leaving home on 4th? Have a great time. :)

Yes, I'm afraid I dithered as it is quite expensive, then after some good reports I thought I would book it, but to late :(

We are not flying until 2.40pm on Friday, so don't have to get up at an ungodly hour. Of course it means we shall be back late on our return, but perhaps I will actually have time to have a good look round Corfu Town this time ;)

Goodness knows what time we will arrive at the ship, looks like another safety drill on the coach :eek::rolleyes:

I know this isn't related to the question but is anyone else having problems with this website "quivering" and defaulting to the first post when you scroll down? :confused:

Yes, Kiki cat, I am, very frustrating. Have actually moved over to the app just before reading your post as the "quivering" was driving me mad!

I have found that when you click on "View first unread" it just stays on the first post or goes to one you have read before!

Is the app, the one that keeps coming up on the phone, wanting me to download it?

It might be Linda. I used to get prompts to get "Tapatalk" but never bothered. The one I have just recently downloaded is Cruise Critic's own app. It's very easy to use and adding photos seems to be just like doing it on FB though haven't done it yet!

Ah it is tapatalk that keeps popping up.

I always work these posts by clicking view first unread, and it has not been moving for the last few days at all so I scroll to the bottom and work up to find where I want.

3 days Linda - you must be so excited now. Have a fantastic time. x

Thanks Gill :)