Lanzalady

On 12/19/2023 at 12:05 PM, London-Calling said:

Anyone agree or disagree with my comments? 😉

I found your review quite interesting. We have a cruise booked on Ambition next July and have heard both positive and negative comments about both the Ambassador ships, so would like to gain as much information as possible. However, there is a section of your review that is a little confusing. Quote: "This makes Ambition eight years younger than Ambition. At 48,123 gross tonnes, she is 46% smaller (by volume) than Ambition, yet she still can accommodate around 1,200 passengers. This is only 15% less passengers than Ambience". Should that be "This makes Ambience eight years younger than Ambition" or "This makes Ambition eight years younger than Ambience"? You also don't mention anything about fridges/mini-bars in the cabin. I have to confess that on hearing that most cabins on Ambition don't have the most basic equipment such as a fridge/mini-bar, I was tempted to cancel my booking with them. Did you have a fridge/mini-bar in your cabin? Thank you for taking the time to write your review as I'm sure that it will help others like myself who are planning on cruising with Ambassador in the future.

Thanks. I just used this and it worked for me too!

Does anybody know exactly when the new Winter 2019 / Spring 2020 brochure is out ?!

we are considering upgrading from a deluxe cabin to a deluxe balcony cabin. Does anyone know how big these are please. The brochure doesn't tell you this

http://www.thomson.co.uk/cruise/ships/tui-discovery-2/cabins/

Check out the details on the above link to the website, where deluxe balcony cabins are quoted as measuring 15 to 16 m2.

We have just spent two wonderful weeks staying in a deluxe balcony cabin and thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of relaxing outside in the privacy of our own "home" instead of sharing our space with hundreds of other people.

The balconies are especially spacious on the aft row of the ship..... but it is a long walk to everywhere else and might be a little noisier as this is the end where the engines are. We did notice a little additional vibration when the ship was mooring each morning but nothing too drastic.

We were in aft cabin 7634. Here are some photos of the cabin and the balcony.

Hi

 

So if we wanted a cabin that could accommodate 4 people they wouldn't let us have it?

 

Cheers. Tom and Rose

We made the mistake of booking a cabin that had been designated for 4 people (7634). It was cheaper per person than the same cabin for 2 people and it was located right in the middle of the aft part of the ship and had the deepest balcony, so we took the chance. If you check out the "TUI Discovery 2 (Thomson Discovery 2)" Facebook page, you will see lots of complaints from Thomson clients, as Thomson does have the habit of taking any 4 occupancy cabin away from passengers who are just 2 people and just giving them their £45 reservation fee back and putting them in any other random 2 person cabin, if a party of 4 requests the cabin that they have booked. Why Thomson even designates identical cabins as either 2 or 4 is a mystery as there is no difference at all with the deluxe balcony cabins. A throwback to their old ships I suppose, where a small cabin for 2 would just not fit any more people!! Anyway, after reading these constant complaints from disappointed Thomson clients, we were very concerned that this might happen to us and we spent around 6 months worrying ourselves about it. It was OK in the end and we were given the cabin that we had booked but I wouldn't book a 4 cabin again, just to save a bit of money - it's far too stressful! They are the same size and have the same inventory, so I will just book a cabin for 2 in the future and not suffer for the best part of the year.

Hi

 

How big would you say the balconies you had were? Do you know if the junior suites at the stern have slightly larger ones?

 

Cheers Tom and Rose

Definitely much larger but see my other reply regarding aft deluxe balcony cabins before you book a junior suite. :)

Help .... My photos haven't come out right! I just uploaded them as instructed. Can anyone show me how to make them show as photos?

After doing some more research it certainly backs up what you've said. If we want a bigger balcony then it's going to have to be a junior quite

 

Cheers. Tom and Rose

Not at all!

We returned from a back to back cruise on Discovery 2 on Sunday and we had an aft deluxe balcony cabin on deck 7 - (7634). All the aft deluxe balcony cabins have huge balconies, and were equipped with 2 reclining mesh sunbeds, 2 chairs and a small wooden table. There was plenty of space to move these pieces of furniture around to suit the direction of the sun and still have room for a few friends round!

The deluxe balcony cabins on the sides of the ship however, are quite small and only have room for a couple of chairs and a table.

Just out of interest, we ventured up onto deck 8 on the mid-cruise changeover day and had a good look inside a few of the junior suites. They were much larger inside than the deluxe cabins, being substantially wider and with a full-size bath in the bathroom instead of the small shower cubicle that all the other cabins have. We couldn’t go into any of the aft cabins as they were all occupied (very popular it seems!) but we noted that the side junior suite cabin balconies did have a sunbed as well as the tables and chairs, although they were nowhere near as deep as the aft cabins’ balconies.

We are very tempted to book one of these for our next cruise as we also, spend a lot of time relaxing in our private haven whilst on holiday.

Here are some photos of the cabin and the balcony.

We just used euros everywhere, except in St. Petersburg, where we took some American dollars to pay for our privately arranged 2 day tour. I think that most currencies were acceptable in all the port areas. We did find that the local toilets in the port area of Stockholm were a problem as they were only accessible with a coin of the local currency. We just went into a nearby hotel and used their loos instead!

When we're working out how much each staff member gets, we need to take into consideration that most of the workers on the ships come from third world countries. The amount that they would earn in their own country - should they be able to find one - is a fraction of what they do earn on a cruise ship. Yes, we know that they have to sign a 6 or 9 month contract, during which time they cannot see their families, but whilst they are on the ship, they have virtually no expenses to pay for themselves and will eventually take home a relative fortune. On checking the average earnings for a service industry worker in the Phillipines, I see that they can earn the equivalent of around USD 120 a month, obviously depending on the job that they are doing. This is why cruise companies employ staff from third world countries. It's cheaper for them and also gives employment to struggling economies. So whilst we might think that cruise staff are poorly paid, we cannot compare their salaries with our own, as they come a very different world with a very different economy. Think about the people that we know who work or have worked on the oil rigs. They are away from home for months but earn great money and then can have 3 months off. Same thing!

P&O add a non itemised service charge to their drink prices. This is because bar waiters are not part of the £5.50 per day discretionary service charge scheme. I have heard that this charge is 12% and you can not remove it.

 

To clarify perhaps I should have written P&O drink prices include a non itemised service charge

Exactly Dave. The drinks price is inclusive of service and taxes! I think that you were confusing the 18% service charge that most American lines add to their drinks but I cruised P & O last year and the price of the drinks is the price that is shown on the price list. See list attached: https://carnivaluk.metafaq.com/resources/carnivaluk/life-on-board/PO_barlist.pdf. The daily amount added for tips is now £6 for all guests 12 and over. From the P & O website:

"During your time on board, you'll be looked after by lots of people - waiters, buffet staff and cabin stewards, who'll go out of their way to make each moment of your holiday special. But, we know that

rewarding good service every time it happens just isn't convenient. So, our Service Reward Programme is a simple, one-off way for you to say ‘thank you’ for all the service you receive. A discretionary daily amount of £6.00 is added to your on-board account for each guest aged 12 and over. The Service Reward appears on your folio as a ‘service charge’ and is confirmed in your holiday information booklet, accessed through your Cruise Personaliser. Of course, if you want to personally reward a crew member in addition to this, feel free to do so."

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!

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!

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 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.

I am very happy that they are home porting the TUI Discover 2 (Legend) at Malaga where she currently has 6 varied 7 night itineraries available.

 

I had always thought that RCI could have based a ship 'seasonally' at Malaga.

I agree totally with you! We have cruised out of Barcelona several times as it is easy to get to from where we live in the Canary Islands. We can now also fly directly to Málaga, so we have booked a 14 night back-to-back cruise with Thomson next June out of Málaga on the Tui Discovery 2 and can't wait. We have also cruised with RCI before, on the Serenade and the Brilliance and do prefer these smaller ships, so the Legend/Discovery 2 should have a familiar layout. We have booked an aft cabin as we love these and the itinerary Iberian Treasures/Spanish Sunsets will take us to some ports that we have never visited. So really looking forward to it! Sorry to all you Legend lovers who have been deprived of your planned cruises. I hope that you find a good alternative cruise!

Very interesting information - I made 2 separate Cruise Only bookings via phone earlier this year (first in April and the second a few weeks later) with different Thomson reps and each time was told that I could not use my Spanish Debit card only a UK one. Maybe Thomson have changed the rules or, more likely, it is another case of different staff members having different information.

 

Thank you for posting.

The day after I paid the deposit on my debit card, I did get an email from the lady who booked my cruise and she asked if I could send her a photo copy of my debit card to prove that it is a debit card and not a credit card. I did this and she told me that everything was now confirmed.

I would also ask the stateroom attendant to bring you a hot water kettle. I have heard that most of the ships with European itineraries in the summer supply them to all cabins, not just the suites, and put them in storage for the winter. I don't see why US passengers can't have access to them if they aren't in a suite.

 

Even when we're in a suite we don't use the coffeemaker. It's too much muss & fuss. We bring instant and find cream (not the creamer but real dairy) on the ship or onshore. We don't usually set an alarm when we're on vacation and prefer to make our own first cup rather than having room service wake us up with it.

This is true with cruises departing from the UK but if they sail from anywhere else in Europe, such as Barcelona, then they don't have them as standard.

We were in a balcony stateroom on the Brilliance of the Seas in June and asked our stateroom attendant if it might be possible to have a kettle, as we drink a lot of tea (we're British!). We know that kettles and coffee-makers are usually only for the suites but she said that if there was one available, she would let us have it. And she did! Not only did we have the kettle for our hot water but she also brought us teabags, sugar and milk sachets. So it's always worth asking as the worst that can happen is that they will say no!

This and similar questions have arisen here more than once in the last couple of years.

 

It is possible for an American (or any other nationality presumably) to book a Thomsons cruise - however they don't make it easy for non Brits with their user unfriendly practices in this respect.

 

Ref. a hotel package holiday - IMO you would be as well just booking the hotel direct and making your own flight and local travel arrangements.

 

A cruise on one of their ships is different obviously.

 

One of the issues flagged up in the past was problems trying to pay using credit cards not issued by a UK bank - why that should be so is beyond me. That difficulty may now have been resolved, I'm not up to speed on it ?

 

There is no requirement AFAIK to have to travel to the UK to join a Thomson flight to the departure port - you could fly direct on a cruise only deal.

 

Anyway, I'd be happy to enquire on specifics if you wish and report back.

I recently booked a back to back cruise with Thomson and I don't have a British credit card - no problem at all! I checked what I wanted online and then just phoned the phone number given on the front page of the cruise section on the website: - 00 44 203 636 1980. I spoke to a very helpful lady called Anne who booked my cruise and then recommended that I charge the deposit to my Spanish debit card so as not to incur any costs, as a credit card payment would involve a charge. I booked my cruise and added on the cabin number that I wanted and it was all confirmed by email and then by a proper confirmation sent by post. Very quick and efficient! I'm sure that anyone from any other country could do the same. I obviously booked my flights independently to arrive at the departure port (Málaga) the day before the cruise.

I was looking to see if anyone has set up a roll call for the cruise that I shall be on next June but there is nothing set up for Discovery 2 yet. I checked by going through the cruise companies' roll call list until I got to Thomson and then looked from there but when I went to look via the Roll-call tool, Thomson does not appear on that list at all - and neither does Tui, so this tool needs updating to include Thomson/Tui.

Dear all,

 

I've been looking to combine a couple of cruises out of Malaga on Celebration next April in order to make a 14 night cruise.

 

The Thomson website seems to cope with back to back cruises, except for some reason it does not seem to list an option of combining the 23/04 'Spirit of Iberia' with the 30/04 'Continental Coasts' (other dates are however available online).

 

Has anyone got any ideas why that might be? I did e-mail Thomson who seemed to miss the point completely and said they could see it as available on the system at their end. Obviously I could call up or book via a TA but then I'd miss out on the web discount and possible Topcashback too!

 

Many thanks in advance!

I had the same problem a couple of weeks ago with Iberian Treasures/Spanish Sunsets. One day it was there and shown on the list and the next it wasn't. A few days later I looked again and it was back again. I booked it and then a few days later it was gone again.... and it is still not showing as a 14 day itinerary on the website. But I called Thomson and they said that it was still available and that it must be just a glitch on the website. They seem to update the site every few days as there is always something different.

Never mind ships,,,cos we are all living longer we'll be clogging up the nursing homes! Millions of seasoned intrepid old cruisers trapped in land- locked old folks's homes staring wistfully out of the windows recalling their glory days sailing the seas,,,,while cruise ships languish quiet and empty in backwater ports groaning with sadness,,,can anybody see a future gap in the market here?? :D

I've read about some elderly American women who actually live on a cruise ship all the year round as it works out a lot cheaper than going into a residential care home. They get all their meals, their rooms cleaned and as much entertainment as they want. They also meet new people each week and get to visit lots of new places. OK as long as you are well!

Ok, thanks. I now see why crew would be just as happy to work on a luxury cruise that's discourages tipping, as they would a princess that highly encourages it.

Which more or less proves the point that if the cruise company paid their staff a proper living wage and did not expect them to live off their tips, then the whole tipping thing would be irrelevant. We pay a fair price for the cruise and they pay their staff properly. Job done!

It is so offensive when people act like a tipped position is like being a slave or uneducated. I worked as a server at a restaurant where we all had degrees. Americans understand that people can enjoy the hospitality business. When you talk to Brits and they find out you're educated, they act like you must be stupid. I would never do anything horrible to a guest but I can assure you that if you come to my bar and don't tip the first time, you won't get the same prompt friendly service the second time. No amount of "cheers and respect" pay my bills. It's in my best interest to shower extra attention on the tippers. I would assume your cabin steward feels the same.

I think that's the point though! Obviously as a British person, I am used to the "British way" but having lived and worked in the hospitality industry for the past 33 years in Spain, I also get the "European way". Both have similar ideas regarding tipping and of how we offer service to our clients. The seemingly false - "have a nice day" and similar insincere phrases that Americans expect to receive when they walk into a bar, is presumably so that the customer will leave a large tip when they leave. I am not trying to insult anyone else's customs but we just don't do that over here! We can offer just as good service by being ourselves and if the customer tips, then very well and good and if they don't, then they don't and we don't plan our revenge on them for the next time that they come in. We find that just being ourselves and chatting easily with our customers is what they like. I always did very well with my tips and never over-ingratiated myself with my customers and consequently, made many true friends amongst them over the years. It's a cultural thing.... and always will be! The thing is that the staff on the cruise ships may not been brought up with the same customs and whilst they will obviously be very happy to receive lots of tips from their passengers, their culture is not one of planning revenge on people who don't tip them! And by the way... there are a lot of educated Brits who also work in the hospitality industry, so your comment regarding educated Americans seems more racist than reality.

Not to worry.

If the service staff heard your British accent at the start of the cruise, they already reduced their services to you, anticipating a loss of income.

There are also some very clever and creative service staff who have discovered some very interesting ways to have some fun with you even after you have departed the ship.

Funny isn't it that when my cabin steward hears my British accent, they are generally really polite and give me great service. Possibly because this is because I treat them as equals and not as some sort of "native servant" or lesser beings, which I have seen many of those who boast constantly about how many tips they give, treat the service staff on board the ship. I have worked as a cleaner and a waitress back in the day and whilst I liked to get tips, I also got personal satisfaction from giving a good service to everyone I served, whether they tipped me or not. I feel that this is the same for the service staff on the ship. If you treat them as they are - educated people earning their living working on a cruise ship so that they can send money back to their families, and not some lower form of life that you treat in a condescending way, they will respond accordingly. Your comment says more about you than it does the staff on the ship!