Stevio

Hurrah... Just checked in online & printed our boarding passes. Seems a bit weird doing it two weeks in advance, but I like the new system. :)

Just to be awkward... What if you do two separate cruises with identical itineraries? Is that one cruise or two? :confused:

When we read in the reviews that someone who has only cruised once before has found a rather decent bottle of aftershave left in the cabin for them under what must be the Thomson loyalty scheme... We will know what has happened. :D

Good luck with getting it back though... Have you checked inside your packed footwear? I seem to remember finding a bottle of smellies that I thought a good idea to pack into a shoe around four months later when trying to put it on.

Big hugs from East London, we all need a good hug now and again. Hope all turns out well.

Ah! you're just going soft in your old age, lol.;)

 

Jan

I am not going soft in my old age. I will have you know that I have always been soft... I just like my caravans to have restaurants, bars & a casino within walking distance. :D Oh and room service is nice as well. :D:D

Ahh... Caravan holidays at Clacton on sea. The talk of caravan holidays brings it all back... Come to think of it, I also remember those communal site concrete WC & shower blocks... Nah, I'm with John on this one, Cruise beats caravan every time. Even if the room is bigger. :D

I have been on this ship twice before, but for the life of me I can't remember the shops. They just merge in the mind with every other ship I have been on. There is always a "duty free" for the fags & booze, watch & iffy looking jewellery shops, overpriced handbag & scent shops... What must be remembered is that there is usually at least one "sale" day for each of the shops, something like 15% off the duty free on Thomson ships, often on the sea day so that'll be day one on the Souks & Sangria cruise. Offers are normally shown in the newsletter.

Anyhow we will be able to check them out together, as I am on the same cruise as you.:)

P.S. We never buy an Island Escape Parker pen... We win them on the quizzes. :D

Mrs Stevio is very fussy about the power of her hairdryer, but she gets on ok with one of those little grey travel dryers that they sell in all the airports. Few years old now but works a treat... And the dryer. :D (Have to watch the voltage though, old fashioned manual set type.)

I did an Alaskan cruise on NCL & there were certainly a lot of Canadians aboard. Fine people that they are, they certainly knew how to complain, & this was on a bright classy cruise liner with multiple restaurants, monster casino with full theatre etc. If they end up on the Dream where you have to pay extra for a safe or room service I suspect they will feel they have landed in the third world... Reception had better lay on extra staff to handle the complaints.

We booked for 20 November at the end of last year as the price wasn' t too bad and the 'free' AI package was being offered.

 

Now £100 per person cheaper and the AI is still 'free'.

 

Late bookings for us in future.

On Island Escape (easier to compare as AI always included) the same 3rd June cruise with identical inside cabins I booked in March are now £260 cheaper for total cruise price.... But could have been worse, had you booked at the end of last December you would currently have paid an extra £482... And there are still 30 days of price drops to go :eek:

Not that I keep obsessively checking or anything like that :o

Hi does that mean then that if you want a premium brand you have to pay £11 per day or. Can you still pay per drink?

Yes you can still pay per drink as normal on your on board account. I think RR posted a copy of the bar list with the prices of supplements per drink from last season on here somewhere.

So RR how did you find the cruise and did you get a hairdryer in your cabin? That's what we all want to know.;)

 

Jan

Yes, the great hairdryer question... I had one in 2011, Ecko had one this year, Mallorcachap didn't. I am awake at night worrying about it. :eek: (I've got no hair from worrying about these things)

A bit of a tip. I accidentally threw my e-tickets and boarding cards in the bin on the last night while we were packing. We went for dinner and by the time we came back the steward had been in and taken the rubbish away. I wish they would keep away while we are packing but next time we will put the do not disturb sign on the door. The tip is to save your e-tickets onto your phone or tablet in a pdf format then reception can print them off for you. This was easy but before they did this they gave us the runaround as you can't access the internet onboard on the day of departure and we were told us to go off ship to find wifi and send them as an attachment on an email. Needless to say that when we got back they said they didn't get the email, then the man on reception took the tablet and printed them for us straight away. I was not best pleased as I knew what to do but getting them to do it is the difficult bit, no Thomson staff to be seen of course. Don't forget to take the usb lead.

 

Jan

Mrs Stevio has Two copies of the E tickets, I normally print off a third which is kept separately, in my hand luggage... copies of pdf files & E-mail links are on netbook & backup USB along with insurance details, passport detail copies, etc etc... Dosen't sound too much like obsessive behaviour does it? :o

What we do like to do however, is to print the E ticket as a booklet & get it as small as possible. Last time we were approaching passport size, this year we are going for postage stamp. :D

There is an asterix which says "Champagnes, bottled wine from the Wine List, Bottled Water as per the bar list. Mini Bar and Room Service items are not included in the 'Premium' upgrade package.

Jan

Does that mean even if you pay the extra "premium" upgrade, you still can't get free bottled water?

Not that its only the IE that does this but how can it be beneficial to the cruise company to push the free alcohol & not the water ??? :confused:

103 views & only two comments about the views :eek:

Did I mention that I printed my E tickets for the next cruise? :)

Yes welcome home all of you. Was it only Jenny Wren with two weeks?... Have now printed off my E Tickets with 33 days to go, but alas can only fit in one week with my work leave.

I think they already did that last week, lol.;) Wow! it's gone quick since the gang went on the IE. We were just leaving Barcelona this time last week. While I'm at it can I thank the digusting pig who I had to sit next to on the plane on the way home and who blew his nose continuously into his, er yes, handkerchief the whole way back. I was trapped in the middle seat and, gues what?, I now have a stinking cold.:mad: Keep your germs to yourself in future.

 

Jan

Sorry to hear about your cold but it could have been worse, years ago Mrs Stevio caught a bad one on the plane on the way out. These days she gets a bottle of "first defence" for use on the planes out & back that seems to work OK.

Double Wow ! You're right, I was just trying to think of a witty reply to RR's post from Motril for him to read at the next port, & if they only went for a week they will be coming home today. :eek:

Hi

We have booked to go on the Souks & Sangria on the Island Escape and was wondering if the rooms have any tea and coffee facilities in them.

Any help would be great.

THANKS

No Tea facilities from the premier cabins down as far as I know. Although there may be in the suites? Unlike NCL they also charge for cabin service which is probably why I have seen fellow cruisers making good use of their own screw top insulated mugs ferrying coffee to cabins. (Although there is a rumour of hairdryers in all the cabins this season.)

I too am on the I.E. 3rd June Souks & Sangria cruise for a week, & today got the E-Mail & printed off my E Tickets... Still a month or so to go but getting all excited about it.

Back off over to the Island Escape forum now before they catch me over here. :eek:

Just had one of my ideas.... Most of the cruise lines have at least one formal night each week, But do any of them have a total dress down informal night? I think Thomson's are missing a trick here, they could roll out across the fleet in addition to the formal, a "string vest evening". Where gents, in the main restaurant can wear their vests, shorts & flip-flop's and the ladies similar or perhaps shell suits etc'... Of course those not wishing to attend could dine in the buffet... It would mean that one evening a week the buffet would be full of ball gowns, tiaras & cummerbunds, but the cruise would attract a wider cross section of British society... Come on Thomson's, we know you are listening. :eek:

To be fair it was only a small minority in their scruffs, lol. Don't quote me on hairdryers in all cabins as we didn't check and I don't want anyone to shoot the messenger, me!

 

Oh dear! Did you see this?

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2613100/Six-figure-payout-200-Tui-Island-Escape-cruise-passengers-dream-holidays-turned-nightmare.html

 

Jan

If I don't get a hairdryer in my inside cabin I shall insist on seeing the captain & point to a printout of ecko's assurances :D... Only joshing, be better if there isn't one really, it would be one less thing for Mrs Stevio to clean (she cannot stand hairs where they shouldn't be)

Fortunately, the vest & short brigade are very much in the minority, and funnily enough the average punter on the I.E. does seem to make more of an effort in dressing for meals than I have seen on the odd NCL cruise.

Yes the Wife pointed out that Daily Mail story but I didn't want to mention it in case it frightened newbies who have just booked. :eek: I remember seeing those old Christmas 2009 pictures & horror stories after I had booked for the first time & they were certainly a bit worrying... Then again if lots of people hear its a leaky old Noro infected rust bucket, maybe with less demand the prices will be lower next year? :rolleyes:

Hairdryers in all the cabins!! Hurrah, they've only got to stick in a mini kettle and the IE will be a "Platinum" ship... I hadn't seen the review about dress code. We ourselves are confirmed buffet eaters & do not wish to dress up on our hols (bit of a job fitting all those ball gowns into a Thomson sized fly cruise case) but agree that there should be some standards (vests, & shorts?.. I wear more than that going to bed). However I have noticed the vest & short brigade in evidence on other cruises. I saw such attire for the evening meal on the Dream last year, then again there were so many down with the Noro that there were very few left to see what you were wearing. As for the food, in the past I rated the I.E. to serve the best buffet fare out there. Could not work out how the Dream could have half a ship's length of buffet serving area with virtually no choice, when the IE had a fraction of that serving area with triple the choice & everything repeated for two lines?

I know what you mean about the smokers on deck 8, but we found them to be a friendly bunch. When we had a cabin on 8 if we put the light on of an evening without drawing the curtains they would always wave.

Anyway, this June it will be back to a teeny inside cabin, with tours already booked for every port, & long sleeved shirts & chinos at the ready to hit the buffet.

Welcome back Ekco, I think the April 22nd cruisers all got away OK as it has gone very quiet on here... Glad you had a good time & good to hear your positive review of the upkeep of the ship... Read the first official CC member review of this year & he gave the old girl a bit of a slating. He reckoned the only new thing was the bedding changed on his last night. :eek:

Hair dryer in the cabin?? Were you in a "premier" grade cabin by any chance? No one else believes me but when we were on her in a premier cabin on deck 8 in 2011 there was a monstrous great hairdryer with its lead bolted to the dressing table. Mrs Stevio however was not that impressed as the wire filter at the back of it resembled a hedgehog with other peoples hair & fluff hanging from it. which resulted in a flurry of cleaning, even though she has her own travel one :eek::eek:

Anyhow thanks again for the I.E. update, I now look forward to our June cruise even more. :)

I see there are a couple of new itineraries for 2015, it will be interesting to see where these will be and there only seems to be one souks and sangria on the 7 April and no more during the year.

 

Will no doubt find all this out with new brochure, does anyone know if it comes out tomorrow, 24th April, please.

 

Mollythedolly

I think they are calling their itinerary that goes to Gibraltar something different next year so the Souks & Sangria of their 2014 brochure that runs out in April may be still there but called something else in the new one... Did read the details somewhere but can't find it now, probably on Sailaway's blog ..... Annoyingly their downloadable brochure has yet to be updated so no help there either.....Anyway, personally looking forward to the Sangria bit much more than the Souks. :D

I've just tried to book a couple of shore excursions but website's telling me I can't do that within 3 days of travel:confused: Do you think we stand much chance of getting what we wanted on the ship on Tuesday?

We usually book all our excursions well in advance (all our June ones done already)... You can always change your mind or cancel them aboard... When booking on-board they can normally squeeze you on to a coach, I think most people book that way anyway... I have found the opposite problem of booking in advance & my particular trip cancelled due to lack of interest.

Have a good time all of you 22nd April cruisers & remember to bring back reports of how the Escape is looking this year. :):) ... And what the excursions are like. :) :)

We do not normally keep clothes receipts, other than if it were for something really expensive.... Which begs the question, how would they know that the receipt you supplied for a designer jacket was not in fact the Peacock's one you were wearing? :confused: