Aegean cruise - Thomson Spirit

[mamakudu]

Hi All. We are homing in with our planning for our cruise, and I have a few questions please.

 

Is October too late to have reasonable weather? I realise that one can have bad weather any time, but maybe it's generally too cold? Rainy? Chances of good weather fairly good?

 

Secondly - I have heard a rumour that Thomsons have cancelled some of their cruises for next year and the 1 October Agean cruise is one of them. My mails to them keep bouncing back, and I'm going to have to go to my travel agents to ask them to find out. In the meantime, to save me time, has anyone any other info?

 

Does anyone have any advice on which cabins NOT to take? For example I read one post about being under the pool and it keeping the passengers awake all night, another was next to the kids play area that was going until late at night (different ships), so any advice on where NOT to go would be appreciated. We'll be in the deluxe suites.

 

Thanks for your help in advance.

[kruzseeka]

Hi All. We are homing in with our planning for our cruise, and I have a few questions please.

 

Is October too late to have reasonable weather? I realise that one can have bad weather any time, but maybe it's generally too cold? Rainy? Chances of good weather fairly good?

 

Secondly - I have heard a rumour that Thomsons have cancelled some of their cruises for next year and the 1 October Agean cruise is one of them. My mails to them keep bouncing back, and I'm going to have to go to my travel agents to ask them to find out. In the meantime, to save me time, has anyone any other info?

 

Does anyone have any advice on which cabins NOT to take? For example I read one post about being under the pool and it keeping the passengers awake all night, another was next to the kids play area that was going until late at night (different ships), so any advice on where NOT to go would be appreciated. We'll be in the deluxe suites.

 

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

Obviously, it's impossible to predict the weather but we were on the Celebration during which we spent about 4 days in the Aegean in the second half of October this year. The weather was lovely - 30 degrees plus most days (Athens, Katakolon, Crete) but on the last day there was torrential rain in Corfu such that out-going flights were severely disrupted and incoming flights diverted to Athens. So it's really hard to advise. Personally, I'd not want to be going any later than the dates you're suggesting. Have you looked at any weather/climate sites which will give you average temps/rainfall for different places around the world? That may help with your decision making.

 

Thomson appear still to be selling 1st October departures on-line, at least from the UK - I notice you aren't based in the UK so does that make a difference? I've not heard of any reports of sailings being cancelled on the forums. I wouldn't read anything into the failure of emails to elicit a response - I'm afraid even the most loyal of Thomson customers will admit to difficulties in admin/communications from time to time! :( On the plus side, once 'in the system' (i.e. from check-in) things are generally very well organised and slick :) - again speaking from our experience in the UK.

 

I don't think you will experience any problems with the pools on Spirit - there aren't any cabins below them (but they are pretty tiny - it's a small ship with no big pool deck!). The areas where the Deluxe suites are located are fairly quiet - but I'm not the best person to advise you here as we tend to go for basic cabins so we can go more often. ;) However, I seem to remember reports that under the sports deck passengers being aware of activity above - that would be some suites on Deck 8. There are restrictions about when the sports deck can be used though - not early in the morning or late - but perhaps it could affect you if you wanted an afternoon nap!!! Hopefully, some others who've been in the Deluxe suites will be able to help with this one and give you more specifics.

 

We did this trip earlier this year and it was great! Enjoy!

[mamakudu]

Thanks so much for the info. Our not being based in the UK isn't a problem, I think I can get our agent to book Thomsons, and there doesn't seem to be any limit for overseas online bookings either - although access to parts of the site has been challenging!

As part of our celebrations we are attending the Goodwood Motor Show Mid September in the UK - we are classic car petrol heads. One of the reasons we've never done a cruise like this is that flying from South Africa to say, Athens and then onto a cruise, makes it non viable for us financially.. As we're going to be there anyway, we thought - now is the time.

We've pretty much chosen the Spirit because of the very flexible dining hours, and she generally has good reviews. We know she's an older ship but hey, we South Africans have been restricted totally to the MSC line, so we're not overfussy. Clean, comfortable, and decent food, nice itinerary is all we hope for.:)

My thoughts are Goodwood 17 - 19 September, a week visiting relatives in the UK, then onto Corfu for a few days before joining the cruise there.:D

Thanks again, we can work out our cabin placing pretty well now! And can only but hope for the weather!

[Scarey Mary]

Hi All. We are homing in with our planning for our cruise, and I have a few questions please.

 

Is October too late to have reasonable weather? I realise that one can have bad weather any time, but maybe it's generally too cold? Rainy? Chances of good weather fairly good?

 

Secondly - I have heard a rumour that Thomsons have cancelled some of their cruises for next year and the 1 October Agean cruise is one of them. My mails to them keep bouncing back, and I'm going to have to go to my travel agents to ask them to find out. In the meantime, to save me time, has anyone any other info?

 

Does anyone have any advice on which cabins NOT to take? For example I read one post about being under the pool and it keeping the passengers awake all night, another was next to the kids play area that was going until late at night (different ships), so any advice on where NOT to go would be appreciated. We'll be in the deluxe suites.

 

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

Hi Marmakudu

 

We have done the Spirit and the Celebration and stayed on the higher decks. There is Deluxe Cabins or Suites so not sure which you are interested in. Don't think there's any difference size wise but the suites have added extras and a bigger seating area. We have stayed in the deluxe on deck 9 on the Spirit which we found to be resonably quite the only noise we had was a few inconsiderate people occasionally leaving the Horizons Bar. Usually this was not a problem as there is a lift directly outside the bar so people do not have to go past the cabins. We have also stayed on deck 8 on the Celebration which is the same layout again Deluxe this time we were tucked in a corner right next to the bridge this was extremely quite except for the occasional crew radio but only on a morning. The suites are also located on this deck and are also near the bridge so are not under the sports deck which is at the back of the ship. Deck 6 there is the late night disco on here so don't know how quiet that will be plus this is also the promenade deck which goes all round the ship so you will have people walking past your window. Don't know about suites on Deck 7 but think they will be pretty quiet as only cabins above. Sorry to waffle on hope this helps if you want any more info please get back.

 

Mary