RCI compared to Thomson and Discovery

[mfinnis]

Hi,

 

After some thoughts, we have sailed RCI about 7 times and never cruised with anyone else....thinking about booking Thomson Discovery as we have sailed Splendour and liked her.....

 

Husband a bit wary, thinks that the ship will be different, I don't think they will change much apart from decor and the names of the bars etc....what are your thoughts?

 

How do people think it will compare now it is a Thomson ship?

 

Any advise would be appreciated

 

Marie

[geomagot]

v difficult to answer that.... its not a thoms ship yet (its still sailing as splendour) so its anyone's guess as to how it will perform under tui

 

tui is currently selling to the german market and is untried/untested on the uk market

 

at the moment no one has any idea what tui will do with the thomsons product on discovery/spendour

 

have never sailed on rci so have no way of comparing.... my only thought is this:

 

I hope that rci have not sold thoms/tui a lemon? as costa did with the dream:rolleyes:

[GLYNAGP]

Splendour of the Seas was our first RCI cruise many years ago, since then we have cruised 15+ times with them on a variety of their ships and they rate as our favourite. Last year we did our first Thomson Cruise on Thomson Majesty . Firstly let me say my comparisons are by no means critical that's backed up by the fact we have booked again on Thomson.

 

I think you will find that It won't be the ship that's changed just the style of cruise . RCI are very international with passengers joining from all over the world, which we enjoy and Thomson is a very British cruise (which we equally enjoy) as the majority of the passengers are on Thomson a Package holidays .

 

We don't book a package with Thomson, when their ships are based in our local port of Malaga we are in the very small minority that join direct at the port.

Glyn

[mfinnis]

Hi and thank you for your comments,

 

I had assumed the "package" holiday market to be the case, we do travel on land based holidays with Thomson, so I don't think that should cause an issue.

 

I have been reluctant to book a Thomson cruise in the past, more because of the size of the ship, as opposed to who might be onboard, hence why we are now considering it.

 

We only sailed on splendour last year and she seemed in good shape, but then I am no expert, so hopefully nothing will be too different.

 

I think we may just bite the bullet and book and then decide for ourselves....nothing ventured and all that!!!

 

It seems from reviews that the Thomson ships, whilst smaller, seem to have a really good atmosphere with staff and the entertainment good, which is always a plus.....

[GLYNAGP]

I think you are right just go for it and try it. We are not great one for shows and entertainment a nice comfortable lounge and a drink suits us, it about experiencing places we've not been to before that's we like. We've book Thomson Spirit in Oct 2016 from Malaga. Amongst other places it's going to Ibiza, Almeria and Cueta that we've never been to and Palma which we always love (and they still have a great C & A's there) it's a very reasonably priced cruise with a Drinks Package included, so why stay at home. Enjoy your cruising

Glyn

[Donsyb]

 

tui is currently selling to the german market and is untried/untested on the uk market

 

 

Surely it will be the same as other Thomson cruises which are well know in the UK?

[geomagot]

Surely it will be the same as other Thomson cruises which are well know in the UK?

 

we would all hope it will be the same wouldn't we?

 

imo i doubt that it will?

 

german tui tookover thomsons/tui uk last year

 

german tui have strongly hinted that thomson cruise is going to get a shake up

 

remains to be seen if discovery will be better or just different? i strongly doubt that it will be the same

[stevedeccaman]

"remains to be seen if discovery will be better or just different? i strongly doubt that it will be the same "

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

omg :eek:Geo this might be the end of the sprouts :rolleyes:

 

Stevie;)

[blossom52]

I always book my cruises on where the ship is going, on Thompson with only 1 sea day you're not on the ship much and most of the time you are your eyes are closed !!

We went on Fred Olsen to the Fjords and there were things we preferred and things we liked better on Thompson.

I prefer the smaller ships although saying that would not like to do a trans crossing on Thompson as not so much to do for days on end.

[kruzseeka]

I always book my cruises on where the ship is going, on Thompson with only 1 sea day you're not on the ship much and most of the time you are your eyes are closed !!

We went on Fred Olsen to the Fjords and there were things we preferred and things we liked better on Thompson.

I prefer the smaller ships although saying that would not like to do a trans crossing on Thompson as not so much to do for days on end.

 

 

I'd always thought the same blossom until we did a TA on the Dream. We'd chosen it because of the itinerary and we still got two weeks in the Caribbean after the TA but I wasn't that keen on the prospect of the sea days at the beginning. But I was absolutely amazed by how much I'd enjoyed the TA bit.

 

There was a lot going on - we did the chocolate making course - every day for 5 or 6 days. It was great. There was an excellent lecturer on board talking very entertainingly about his career in the BBC in Light Entertainment where he worked with some all time greats like Morecambe & Wise. He had some very amusing acedotes as you might imagine! His talks were moved from the Medusa to the theatre they were so well attended. Wayne Sleep was on board too and did an excellent talk about his life and with improving weather, there was the potential for some R&R on deck. Of course it does depend on your interests and what they have on offer which will vary from cruise to cruise but there seemed to me to be quite a variety - bridge, choir, dancing, art classes etc. and they did make an effort to provide a lot more in the way of day time activities than the usual pattern. (All the expected entertainment ran as usual.)

 

I'd be reluctant to do a TA for the sake of it (like Cunard) as I'd still want a good number of ports of call as well but from a hardened 'I'm not going on a cruise with more than X sea days' I must say my opinions have changed - much to my surprise! :rolleyes: