Itinerary Challenge 7 (Vintage Edition) | 24 Aug 2012

[Sailaway487]

Welcome to the first Vintage Edition of Itinerary Challenge! :)

 

The problem I was having with the original ones was that I was starting to run out of itineraries, and I like to make sure that each Itinerary Challenge was varied, i.e. not two itineraries in the Western Mediterranean or the Baltics etc.

 

I then had the idea of introducing some older itineraries into the mix. With the help of some old brochures that I've got and the website Internet Archive: Wayback Machine, where I've been able to find Thomson's old websites, all the way back to 1998 (when the web certainly looked a lot simpler!), I've been able to find all of the itineraries from the past. In the Vintage Edition Itinerary Challenge's, any itinerary from 1998 to last year can be included. If it proves popular, then I will probably do a few more of these as I think, not only the results could be quite interesting, but also seeing which itineraries that Thomson used to operate is good to see. ;)

 

A lot of the itineraries will mainly be Mediterranean focused, as Thomson concentrated mainly on these areas ten years ago. Itineraries that are still around today will be added, like Adriatic Explorer and Pearls of the Aegean, and it will be interesting to see how, or how not, they have changed over 10 years. And you never know, if Thomson head office do read this forum, maybe if a particular itinerary or ports that they don't operate to any more gets a lot of interest, maybe they can be encouraged to bring it back for the future. Previously, people usually voted either a. the one that they had been on, or b. their favourite out of the one's that they've been on. Obviously now, it is probably the case that no one, or very small numbers, have done any of them. Therefore, this time vote on which one you like the sound of the most, and would like to cruise on today.

 

The first Vintage Edition of Itinerary Challenge includes a two week itinerary that encompasses the best of Greece and the Western Mediterranean from 2001 (yes, Thomson did used to do two week itineraries from Palma at the height of the summer season!), a standard 7 night Western Mediterranean itinerary from 2003 (included this one mainly because it was my first ever cruise, so thought it was only right! :D), and a special millennium cruise (have a guess when that was! :rolleyes:) that even went to the USA!!

 

So, choose your favourite out of these three, and discuss below what you think of these itineraries from the past:

 

Ancient Empires 2001

operated July & August 2001 on board The Emerald

Palma - At Sea - Civitavecchia (for Rome) - Naples - Messina - At Sea - Piraeus (for Athens) - Chora (Mykonos) - Thira (Santorini) - Heraklion - At Sea - Valletta (Malta) - La Goulette (Tunisia) - At Sea - Palma

 

Mediterranean Explorer 2003

operated May to October 2003 onboard Thomson Spirit

Palma - Day at Sea - La Goulette (Tunisia) - Civitavecchia (for Rome) - Livorno (for Florence & Pisa) - Toulon - Barcelona - Palma

 

Millennium Magic 1999/2000

operated December 1999/January 2000 onboard The Emerald

Willemstad (Curacao) - Oranjestad (Aruba) - Santa Marta (Colombia) - Cartagena (Colombia) - Panama Canal transit - Puerto Limon (Costa Rica) - San Andres (Colombia Islands) - At Sea - Cozumel (Mexico) - At Sea - New Orleans - New Orleans - At Sea - At Sea - Nassau (Bahamas)

 

Votes will close on Tuesday, 28 August 2012.

[kruzseeka]

Ancient Empires for me!

 

But if there is some mileage in hopefully prompting Thomson to reconsider some ports of call which seem to have dropped off the radar - I wish they'd go back to La Spezia - the DiY excursion you can do from here to the Cinque Terre is stunning!

[skioncruises]

Agree with kruzseeka - Ancient Empires. Bring back the ancient ship to go with it.;)

[Sailaway487]

Ancient Empires for me!

 

But if there is some mileage in hopefully prompting Thomson to reconsider some ports of call which seem to have dropped off the radar - I wish they'd go back to La Spezia - the DiY excursion you can do from here to the Cinque Terre is stunning!

 

Think Ancient Empires is a good itinerary. Great option to go to the West and Eastern Mediterranean in one cruise. Agree about La Spezia, was a great port. Was good that you could get to the same places as you could from Livorno (Florence & Pisa), but also you could visit more of Tuscany. Think you could get to Portofino too! Would be great to bring back La Spezia.

 

Agree with kruzseeka - Ancient Empires. Bring back the ancient ship to go with it.;)

Loved The Emerald too. Only sailed on her once, the year they got rid of her. Wished we had sailed on the ship earlier. BTW, your vote doesn't seem to have counted on the poll at the top!

[happy v]

Ancient Empires, what an excellent itinerary.

 

I've been looking out for La Spezia since I heard about the cinque terre...on here I might add. It's somewhere I'd love to go.

[Sailaway487]

La Spezia is currently operating this year on an Island Escape itinerary, so obviously Thomson is definitely still interested in this port. Perhaps La Spezia for Summer 2014 campaign is in order! :D

 

Ancient Empires proving popular then. It's a shame that Thomson no longer do the 14 night itineraries to and from Palma in the summer season, but I suppose they can make a lot more money from the 7 night itineraries.

[happy v]

2014 I'm hopefully going to the North Cape. ;)

[Sailaway487]

2014 I'm hopefully going to the North Cape. ;)

 

I see a lot more ports have been added on that today. Will try and do a little table of them all at the moment in date order. Might be able to make an educated guess then when certain itineraries might be.

[kate52]

Ancient empires for me as it's a really nice mix of ports.

Was tempted by the millennium magic one though!

kate

[kalos]

I always said I would visit Malta but never did ,what a better way to visit it than the Empires cruise .:)

Looking at the other options ,it's a pity it does not go via the Panama as well .;):D

[mtt]

millennium magic to visit new orleans

[happy v]

I always said I would visit Malta but never did ,what a better way to visit it than the Empires cruise .:)

Looking at the other options ,it's a pity it does not go via the Panama as well .;):D

 

Must admit I was tempted by Panama Canal aswell, don't know why, it's just one of the things I'd like to do.

[Little Nell]

Ancient Empires for me too. La Spezia is one of my favourite places ever and the Cinque Terre and Portovenere are fabulous.

[Jakanne1]

Millennium Magic for the wonderful itinerary. Lots of islands inc. Cozumel, the Panama Canal and New Orleans all rolled into one! Plus on three holidays in Mexico I have laid on the beach and watched the cruise ships over the sea docked in Cozumel and last year they inspired my husband and me to try our first cruise. And we go in 6 days!!:):):)

[Sailaway487]

Ancient Empires proving extremely popular! Think it's one to think about Thomson! ;) :)

[Sailaway487]

Mediterranean Explorer looking lonely...

 

Anybody's favourite? Or perhaps you prefer to visit New Orleans or maybe Malta? Remember, voting will close on Tuesday.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Must be Millenium Magic. Caribbean plus Panama Canal, New Orleans and Bahamas - definitely magic:):)

[Sailaway487]

Must be Millenium Magic. Caribbean plus Panama Canal, New Orleans and Bahamas - definitely magic:):)

 

It's a shame Thomson don't do any special one-off itineraries like this anymore. I'm sure if they did that they'd be very popular.

[Sailaway487]

Looks like this could be a close one. Votes will close tomorrow. Only a couple of votes in it currently, Millennium Magic still has a chance of winning...

[deepsix]

I am confused by the Millenium thingy as you start of in Caribbean and end back there but only 1 transit of Panama canal?? sounds great but I will plump for the med ancient thingy as love that itinery. I did not however like La Spezia found it a dive and there was some kind of riot going on there when we docked.:confused:

[Little Nell]

I am confused by the Millenium thingy as you start of in Caribbean and end back there but only 1 transit of Panama canal?? sounds great but I will plump for the med ancient thingy as love that itinery. I did not however like La Spezia found it a dive and there was some kind of riot going on there when we docked.:confused:

 

When we were there in 2006 and 2007 they had revamped the front and it was very pleasant, but it is not La Spezia itself that is the attraction for me but its environs.

[Sailaway487]

Voting is now closed!

 

Thanks to all who voted for the first Vintage Edition of Itinerary Challenge. :)

 

And the results are:

 

Ancient Empires 2001 = 61.54%

Mediterranean Explorer 2003 = 0%

Millennium Magic 1999/2000 = 38.46%

 

And the winner is Ancient Empires 2001. Great itinerary! In a first, no votes at all for Mediterranean Explorer! Think this has kind of proved though that a lot of cruisers that have cruised now with Thomson for a while are now looking for something different from the standard 7 night Mediterranean itinerary. Some special two week itineraries like Ancient Empires in the summer would be great. When looking at the past websites, there are quite a lot of two week itineraries that Thomson used to operate from Palma, some that I'll make sure to feature in the future, one in particular that I know will be an instant favourite!

 

Itinerary Challenge 8 will be uploaded shortly. Currently searching through the old websites. I can definitely say though that the current website certainly isn't the best edition of its websites as a whole. They were much easier to use back in the day! :eek:

[CRUISIN LINDA]

I am confused by the Millenium thingy as you start of in Caribbean and end back there but only 1 transit of Panama canal??

I think some cruises only do a partial transit of the Panama canal and others go right through :) Wonder how they turn round :rolleyes::confused: Is there a lake or something part way along?