jimb98

Been looking at some photos of the Boatyard and it seems there are no cushions on the chairs (we call them sunloungers in the UK). Any local beach have cushions on the chairs?

Just paid for my excursions with a credit card and no extra charge. It did refuse it initially ( that's happened before with Tui and suspect it's deliberate) but I persevered and it went through.

But of course they recognise the French part so I'll pop over there to use the phone. Ridiculous!

Never thought of that, thanks.

Yes, I checked with my Three account and I can use my Data allowance at: Martinique, Guadaloupe, Sint Martin, US Virgin Islands & Puerto Rico, I think that's all?

**Always remember to turn data roaming off once the ship leaves the port**

Keith (Southend)

Strangely enough our Vodafone & EE doesn't seem to include St Maartin or USVI or PR.

Agreed with all the comments. One thing to look out for is your mobile phone - you can use your EU data roaming allowance there. We were there in November on the TA crossing with Discovery.

Never thought of that, thanks.

A tip is to have a change of clothes in your hand luggage as it could be a couple of hours till your luggage appears and you don’t want to be still in your winter clothes!

 

 

Thanks, we'd already decided to take a small case as hand luggage to cover that scenario.

Also if you are going directly to the ship, not stay and cruise, you do not go through customs its straight onto the coach for your transfer. The last day on the ship you have to go through customs on the ship for paperwork you hand in at the airport its a great system.

 

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Even better, pity all holidays weren't as simple.

Your luggage is bonded, so will be taken to the ship directly. You do not have to collect it. It will appear outside your cabin door within a couple of hours. On return, you leave your luggage outside your cabin door by 02:00 and you will see it again at your destination airport.

Thanks, that sounds just fine; no hassle at all.

Sorry if this has been answered previously. We're going on Discovery from Barbados and wondered how the hold luggage is handled. When we arrive in Barbados from Newcastle will we have to collect our luggage or will it go straight to the ship?

Thanks.

Thanks, but is it obvious when you log in i.e a pop-up or prompt?

Please excuse my ignorance. I've paid to choose my seats for 2 week cruise departing 4th February. If I log in early on 20th November will there be a prompt (pop-up) for the seat selection?

Thank you so much; that was just what I was looking for. So more than half are walkable, which is really good news.

Now I can start my questions on the relative port boards.

Cheers,

Jim

We're going to the Caribbean for the first time in February and would welcome some help. As we're arriving in Barbados I thought I'd ask it here rather than splitting between several boards; I hope you guys don't mind.

How far is it to town from the ship in the following ports? We're fine walking but don't want to trudge through port terminal for half an hour just to get out of the port. As you can see we are doing back to back cruises.

1. Bridgetown, Barbados

2. Castries, St. Lucia

3. Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe

4. St. Thomas, US Virgin Isles

5. San Juan, Puerto Rico

6. Roseau, Dominica

7. St. Georges, Grenada

8. Philipsburg, St. Maarten

9. Road Town, British Virgin Isles

10. Basseterre, St. Kitts

11. St. John's, Antigua

12. Kingstown, St. Vincent

Many thanks in advance (and apologies for initial posting due to poor cut & pasting)

Cheers,

Jim

Overall I liked the ship but the air conditioning problems over-shadowed the cruise. The Live room was absolutely freezing the whole time and they obviously couldn't fix it. Such a shame as it is a nice space and they had some good entertainment on there. Because it was so cold people gravitated to the Atrium which meant you could rarely find a seat in there.

The aircon in our cabin never worked the whole week and they lied to us at least three times about getting it fixed; just like the old Thomson days where they treat you like imbeciles and expect you will just take it. They have a shock coming.

The entertainment was very good, shows excellent and the comedian very, very funny.

Staff, apart from a very officious woman at reception, were very good and friendly.

Food was good but not as good as I was expecting. Waiter service was very good in the restaurants if you drank wine but not so good if you wanted a beer.

Always able to find a sun lounger, even on sea day.

Had an inside plus cabin on Deck 7 which was spacious, unfortunately the clinging shower curtain, poor toiletries and no fridge let it down.

Had a problem with my bill over a measly, fictitious charge which I had a real problem resolving, again smacks of the old Thomson approach. Seems like the customer is still always wrong.

Apart from the aircon all the other things are pretty minor and we had a great time. If they'd fixed the temperature in the Live Room it would have been much better as people would have had much more choice.

One last thing; the casino has virtual roulette; what a shame!

We were on the Discovery two weeks ago and there were lots of guys in tux's and some in kilts. Almost all the women had posh frocks on.

Just back after a week on Discovery and then a week in Majorca.

Whilst we were on the air conditioning in our cabin never worked. We reported it twice by phone then face to face at reception. Each time we were told it would be fixed. It became apparent that this wasn't an isolated incident as the Live Room was absolutely freezing for the last 5 days, there was literally no-one in there at times. When I eventually went back to reception to make a formal complaint I was handled a by a very officious 'lady' who informed me there'd been a major maintenance problem which had just ben fixed that morning. This was on day 6! When I told her that her colleague had made no mention of this she asked me her name???

In addition to that there was a fictitious entry on my interim bill for Heineken lager. As I was on A/I and I always drink Fosters at home I could safely say this was an error. The first lady I questioned on this said she'd send it back to the bar dept. to investigate and it would be corrected on my next bill. Lo and behold it was still there on my final bill. I took this up with the officious lady and she said it would be sent back to the bar dept. As you can imagine I was less than impressed and demanded she removed it from my bill.

Although the amount was very small it would be rather large if you multiplied it by the total number of cabins.

To say the aircon situation ruined my cruise would be an exaggeration but it sure as heck made it uncomfortable and I intend to pursue Thomson for recompense. The blatant deception by telling me it would be looked at is unforgiveable and smacks of the Thomson of old.

Other than that the cruise was fine, entertainment brilliant; comedian very, very funny and all other members of staff excellent.

One thing to watch at check-in at Newcastle. We took a small carry on case and weighed it before we went, just under 7kg. At check in the lovely happy lady in her best 'computer says no' voice told me 'it's too heavy'. When I pointed out it weighed under 7 kg she said I was only allowed 5. No, I retorted; on a cruise we're allowed 7; no you're not; yes I am. Where is your documentation? Fortunately I had it on me and showed her it as 'she had to enter it on her system because Thomson are very strict with health and safety'

What a load of nonsense; jobsworth indeed and I'm ashamed a fellow Geordie could be employed in a customer-facing job. Perhaps she could get a position as a receptionist on the Discovery?

Electronic Roulette Wheel???

Well they've just lost my custom and I always go to the casino.

San Miguel will do me.

I'm on Discovery this Saturday, hence my inquisitiveness.

Yes, it is important. Someone must know which lager is on draught on the Discovery by now. Yes the Cruise News is important and I'm aghast at the idea there is only one table at the casino but the idea of drinking Heineken for a week is appalling. Please tell me it's something else.

How come no-one has posted anything from the present cruise? I would have expected an update/complaint/praise from someone before now. There must have been plenty of free Wi-Fi onshore for someone to comment

Come on guys, tell us what you think and let me know what the draught lager is.

Yes, I know that's selfish.....but vital!

Nice one; thanks a lot.

Sorry for appearing a bit thick here.

If I'm going to take the tram and I leave the port, is the tram stop to my left or right and is its direction of travel to the left or right?

If I take the metro how do I get to the station and which metro do I get on?

Cheers,

Jim

To be honest I think it's just their new crap IT system; it's been a joke since they installed it; which just happened to coincide with my booking for Discovery. When I was getting conflicting emails about my cabin I got one of their guys to send me a screenshot to prove they'd booked me the correct cabin.

Having been on a couple of Thomson cruises previously I'm pretty confident all will be ok. The fact that we've heard no horror stories from the inaugural Discovery cruise makes me feel better.