Jewels of the Med

[wavehopper]

It's a bit long sorry

 

Got back from the Jewels of the Mediterranean cruise (9/10/09 to 16/10/09) aboard the Spirit last Friday so I’ve had time now to gather my thoughts, firstly let me say that we had a fantastic week on board.

After a smooth flight down to Palma from East Mids airport, and a smooth transfer through the airport and boarding at the docks, we were immediately shown to our cabin on deck 4 and were having lunch in the Lido restaurant by 1pm.

We went back down to the cabin at about 3pm and both cases where waiting for us, so we unpacked, showered, changed and went to explore the ship as we had never sailed on Spirit before so had lots to look at.

The cabin was a decent size with plenty of wardrobe and draw space, also there where plenty of hangers as well, my only complaint with the cabin was that the mattress’s could do with replacing as they are becoming a bit worn and thin. Take your own toiletries as the ones provided are not that good (so the wife says).

I won’t bore you with the itinerary details as we only did 2 organised tours and different people have different views on these topics (although I will say that Toulon is very nice to walk around especially the waterfront)

Anyway back to the ship.

Spirit is very well maintained throughout despite her age (I believe she is 25yrs old now) but she could do with a small refit regarding the carpeting and some of the furnishings.

All the bars are very comfortable and well run with plenty of space to sit and chat and\or listen to the entertainment, the bar and waiting staff couldn’t be more friendly, pleasant or helpful, they are a credit to their profession.

The on board entertainment was as always with Thomson Cruises first class and I must thank Stephen Guy the Cruise Director and his team for all the hard work that they put in to put on the excellent shows in the Broadway Show lounge, the Moulin Rouge show with the 6 minute Can Can was outstanding (having seen the real thing in Paris believe me we thought we where back there). There was only one U.K. act for this week Bernie Flint I think he was, I don’t remember him but he won Opportunity Knocks back in the day and he was o.k.

Meals on board again where very good both in the Compass Rose and Lido restaurants, we used both throughout the week, and although the Lido can get a bit "canteenish" at times we found that if you stagger your meal times it evens out and the crowds diminish enough so that you miss the sometimes very long waiting lines. We didn’t use the A’la Cart Restaurant so can’t comment on that.

Drink prices in the bars etc. are about the same as you would expect to pay in the pubs and clubs back home, (sadly gone are the days of the cheap drink) and there is plenty of variety from what I could see.

The Casino is quite small compared to some of the other ships we’ve been on but still big enough for you to lose your hard earned, with roulette being the most popular I still don’t understand that game (even though I’ve had lessons)

I’ll stick to Blackjack nice and simple.

The shops on board where limited as you would expect on a small ship and quite expensive and as far as I could tell didn’t sell things like shampoo, headache pills etc. so take your own if possible.

As far as I can tell you are allowed to smoke on any of the outside areas especially the Lido deck and Promenade decks and there are plenty of ashtrays dotted around in these areas.

We didn’t use the gym or the sports area so will leave that for someone else to write about.

Laundry facilities on board are o.k. but if you do use the self service try to go at times of the day when not many people are about as they can get a bit crowded, there is a price list for the ships laundry service in your cabin and they are not to bad (I had a couple of formal shirts laundered and they came back better than when I bought them).

As always we met a great bunch of people on board and had a good laugh with everyone we met, we have sailed on "big ships" we have sailed on "little ships" and with many different cruise lines but we always come back to Thomsons, there is something about this cruise line that draws us back time and again, they seem to have just about got it right with their mix of formal\smart casual, the entertainment, the courtesy of the crew and staff, everyone on board seems to genuinely enjoy what they do and that comes across in so many ways.

Long may it continue?

I hope after reading this it will in some way help to encourage those of you who are only thinking of joining the cruise fraternity to come along and discover"the only civilised way to travel"

you won’t regret it.

Any questions feel free to ask and I will try to answer them

Cheers

Wavehopper;)

[Flopsy]

Great review.I hope to sail on her one day....

 

Flopsy

[Beckyfaye-2008]

Thanks very much for posting your report on Thomson Spirit, we have only cruised so far with P&O on Ventura and Oceana, but are very much looking forward to our cruise on Spirit next March. All the reports and You Tube Videos we have watched, show people really enjoying themselves, cannot wait.:D

[juliejane]

It's a bit long sorry

 

Got back from the Jewels of the Mediterranean cruise (9/10/09 to 16/10/09) aboard the Spirit last Friday so I’ve had time now to gather my thoughts, firstly let me say that we had a fantastic week on board.

After a smooth flight down to Palma from East Mids airport, and a smooth transfer through the airport and boarding at the docks, we were immediately shown to our cabin on deck 4 and were having lunch in the Lido restaurant by 1pm.

We went back down to the cabin at about 3pm and both cases where waiting for us, so we unpacked, showered, changed and went to explore the ship as we had never sailed on Spirit before so had lots to look at.

The cabin was a decent size with plenty of wardrobe and draw space, also there where plenty of hangers as well, my only complaint with the cabin was that the mattress’s could do with replacing as they are becoming a bit worn and thin. Take your own toiletries as the ones provided are not that good (so the wife says).

I won’t bore you with the itinerary details as we only did 2 organised tours and different people have different views on these topics (although I will say that Toulon is very nice to walk around especially the waterfront)

Anyway back to the ship.

Spirit is very well maintained throughout despite her age (I believe she is 25yrs old now) but she could do with a small refit regarding the carpeting and some of the furnishings.

All the bars are very comfortable and well run with plenty of space to sit and chat and\or listen to the entertainment, the bar and waiting staff couldn’t be more friendly, pleasant or helpful, they are a credit to their profession.

The on board entertainment was as always with Thomson Cruises first class and I must thank Stephen Guy the Cruise Director and his team for all the hard work that they put in to put on the excellent shows in the Broadway Show lounge, the Moulin Rouge show with the 6 minute Can Can was outstanding (having seen the real thing in Paris believe me we thought we where back there). There was only one U.K. act for this week Bernie Flint I think he was, I don’t remember him but he won Opportunity Knocks back in the day and he was o.k.

Meals on board again where very good both in the Compass Rose and Lido restaurants, we used both throughout the week, and although the Lido can get a bit "canteenish" at times we found that if you stagger your meal times it evens out and the crowds diminish enough so that you miss the sometimes very long waiting lines. We didn’t use the A’la Cart Restaurant so can’t comment on that.

Drink prices in the bars etc. are about the same as you would expect to pay in the pubs and clubs back home, (sadly gone are the days of the cheap drink) and there is plenty of variety from what I could see.

The Casino is quite small compared to some of the other ships we’ve been on but still big enough for you to lose your hard earned, with roulette being the most popular I still don’t understand that game (even though I’ve had lessons)

I’ll stick to Blackjack nice and simple.

The shops on board where limited as you would expect on a small ship and quite expensive and as far as I could tell didn’t sell things like shampoo, headache pills etc. so take your own if possible.

As far as I can tell you are allowed to smoke on any of the outside areas especially the Lido deck and Promenade decks and there are plenty of ashtrays dotted around in these areas.

We didn’t use the gym or the sports area so will leave that for someone else to write about.

Laundry facilities on board are o.k. but if you do use the self service try to go at times of the day when not many people are about as they can get a bit crowded, there is a price list for the ships laundry service in your cabin and they are not to bad (I had a couple of formal shirts laundered and they came back better than when I bought them).

As always we met a great bunch of people on board and had a good laugh with everyone we met, we have sailed on "big ships" we have sailed on "little ships" and with many different cruise lines but we always come back to Thomsons, there is something about this cruise line that draws us back time and again, they seem to have just about got it right with their mix of formal\smart casual, the entertainment, the courtesy of the crew and staff, everyone on board seems to genuinely enjoy what they do and that comes across in so many ways.

Long may it continue?

I hope after reading this it will in some way help to encourage those of you who are only thinking of joining the cruise fraternity to come along and discover"the only civilised way to travel"

you won’t regret it.

Any questions feel free to ask and I will try to answer them

Cheers

Wavehopper;)

 

 

Hi wavehopper well as you must have guesssed we was also on this cruise for the same 2 weeks,just to add in , my cabin was super , it was large, and with a VERY COMFTY bed and I ( being the lady LOL) found the shampoo's etc my steward left very nice each day also yes in the shops on board they did sell tablets shampoo etc, all tucked away in the corner lol but yes folks ditto all of Wave's super comments x

[pauline wales]

Hi Wavehopper. We sailed on the Spirit on 1st October and had a great cruise. As you say all praise to Stephen Guy and his team. We have sailed with him before, but the team he had this cruise were exceptional. We sailed with Princess in March and NCL twice before that but something draws us back to Thomson.

[wavehopper]

Thanks very much for posting your report on Thomson Spirit, we have only cruised so far with P&O on Ventura and Oceana, but are very much looking forward to our cruise on Spirit next March. All the reports and You Tube Videos we have watched, show people really enjoying themselves, cannot wait.:D

Hi Beckyfaye

We too have been on Oceana, fabulous ship isn't she.

You will find that the atmosphere on Thomson cruises especially Spirit is definately someting else, I cant put my finger on what it is but we enjoy it so much, that's why we keep coming back.

Have a great cruise next march.

Sadly we can't cruise next year as we have other family commitments they're dotted around the globe so we've got to go visiting (yawn, yawn) and none of them are reachable by ship, but hey ho that's life, the next cruise should be for our Ruby wedding hopefully through the Panama canal.

Wavehopper

[Beckyfaye-2008]

Wavehopper

When we were in Bergen on Oceana in June this year, we met a couple on board at sail away. They said although they had sailed on both Oceana and Spirit a number of times, and although they loved Oceana, they regarded Spirit as their Spiritual home. They had in fact spent, that afternoon on board Spirit with some members of staff, who they had become friendly with. We also saw Spirit moored in Olden whilst we were there.