Thomson Destiny 22nd October 2009 - Med Renaissance

[adeathome31]

hi claire,your off this thurs then is it? youll have a great time i,m sure.such a friendly crew and so helpfull.just find yourself a nice little spot like we did at stern of ship.theres a little deck all on its own and you have to go down steps to get there and theres a few tables and chairs there and allways seemed nice and quiet.waiters come and you can order you cold drinks and sit and watch the sea go bye.as near to your own balcony as you get we found.weve booked on the celebration for next year in oct. doing the red sea voyage up the suez canal etc.i dont know how i,m going to wait that long,wish we,d booked for may or june now.still i expect we,ll have a break in cornwall bfore then so wont be too bad.anyway,BON VOYAGE as they say and have a really nice time.enjoy,ade.

[s19]

Hi not on this but have just come back last week from the same cruise. Brilliant. dont let the small cabins put you off as they did me, things get better as you go on up the decks. the staff are lovely foods great and if you want any other info let me know

s19

[Ceabea]

We're back! had a wondeful week despite a MAJOR problem with the toilets which caused a delay in Villefranche. The front of the ship from bottom to top cabins were affected in varying degrees - some just had loo's that wouldnt flush, right up to sewage coming up through the shower and toilet and flodding the cabin floors - not nice! thankfully we were midships and totally unaffected (apart from the smell in the corridors) but I didnt half feel for those who were. Have to say though the crew were marvelous and did everything possible to help and get it sorted and they pulled the ship apart on Saturday in Villefranche to get it sorted and we couldnt sail until it was fixed.

 

Everything else was perfect: food, weather, crew, destinations, company, just wonderful and I really didnt want to leave. Yes the cabins are small but perfectly adequate and as caravaners, to us it was positively homely! Cant wait till the next one - nearly booked on board but decided to wait as new brochure is out next week for winter 2010/11 and we shall book for then I think!

[gazwag]

I can only agree with you Ceabea we had a fantastic week as well, highlights were the quality of food, the high class shows and the friendliness of all staff from the top to the bottom.

 

Yes there was the toilet problem, we just used the public ones for a couple of days until ours worked again. It was a shame the vocal minority tried to force the problem onto the rest the passengers. There were threats of getting the ship stopped permanently at Villefranche by staging a quayside sitting. Apparantly we were minutes away from Cholera, H1N1 and many other assorted tropical diseases. We just got fed up listening to the raised voice of one man and one woman whenever we walked through the reception area making sure everybody could hear their points of view.

[Ceabea]

Glad you had a good time too - sorry your toilet was affected. It was a minority that were badly affected and I can understand they were in a mess and upset as it was NOT nice - but the whole 'mutiny' bit was a bit OTT. Thankfully we missed most of the fuss as we avoided reception when it was full of unhappy passengers. Getting the ship 'stopped' wasn't a great plan, however health and safety laws might have required this had they not been able to fix it so staging a 'sit in' wasnt neccessary. Having said that Villefranche was my fave port and there could have been worse places to get stuck if it had come to that - marina di carrara wasn't wonderful for instance!! (we didnt do any excursions that day just took the bus up the hill to carrara and while it was nice, was nothing to write home about - and the port was def NOT pretty! thank goodness for kidzone and sunny decks and endless food LOL)

 

The crew were working flat out to get the issues fixed, anyone could see that, complaining loudly and long wasnt going to make it happen any faster. I thought the captain showed great patience in his announcements. I do really understand that they had every right to be upset about the situation, and I dont want to critisice as I dont know how I would have reacted to having raw sewage on my cabin floor (and hence probably in my suitcases, clothes etc), I do think one or 2 were pushing it a bit though.

 

Certainly hasnt put me off, being a first timer it could have, and Im sure it probably has a few. We could not have had better weather, apart from the first day when it was raining and then the first night at sea was on the rough side (doors flying open, things flying round the cabin and the creaking! omg it was so loud - and we were slap bang in the middle of the ship, supposedly the place that should have the least movement!) it was wonderful evey single day.

 

Id definitely go back, was very sad to leave the ship.

[gazwag]

We were greated in Majorca with the pouring hard rain just after we landed early that morning and then getting on the ship and hearing the previous days excursions in Barca had to be cancelled wasnt a good start and that first night made us think "Is it really going to be like this all the time".

 

We were on deck 2 right at the front of the ship and hearing the front of the ship hitting the sea was like somebody banging a drum outside our cabin door.

 

However when the captain said we sailed through a force 7 wind we realised that it wasnt actually that bad, its was like being drunk all day long really!

 

Then the weather just got better and better.

 

We will certainly be cruising again.

[Dags]

We were on deck 3 midships and fortunately didn't have any plumbing problems, and we didn't feel a thing during the 1st nights force 7 rough (ish) seas.

It was our first ever cruise and my daughter and i thoroughly enjoyed it, although my partner didn't enjoy it quite as much! Here are a few highlights and lowlights of our trip

 

Great weather

Great food in the 7 seas (Not so good in the lido)

Some great ports (Villefranche and Corsica were our faves, Marina di Carrara was fairly grim though)

Fantastic hardworking friendly staff

The Top men were a good fun band

Emma on the entertainment team was hilarious

We met some lovely fellow passengers.

The Destiny has "character" ( but those cabins are unfeasibly small :D)

 

Finally,many thanks to Thomson and everyone on the Destiny.

[s19]

How glad I am to hear that despite all these problems everyone seemed to like the Destiny as we did. Glad we were on ship week before but as you all say theres always some that see the glass half empty in spite of what staff do to help. Like you all we loved the Destiny and having spoken to our friends who did the Costa Cruise and found the Italians very rude and also came back with food poisoning I am so glad we went with Thomsons.

Like you said Corsica and Villefrance def best ports, we didnt see Marina de Carrera as we went to Florence but the rome port wasnt much good although our day was bit wet at times.

Anyway def. recomend this ship to anyone whose never cruised before.

 

s19

[emmylou35]

Weve just returned from this trip too. For anyone else who travelled I was the single mum with the little boy with walking problems, im sure you saw us around :). We had an absolutely fabulous time.

 

Our cabin was right at the very front of the ship and I have to say that although the cabin was small it wasnt any smaller than some hotel rooms ive stayed in and not as small as i was expecting. Unfortunately, we were affected by the toilet problems with the toilet not flushing but the staff were great and flushed them manually frequently so I cant say that we had a major issue with it. The staff worked tirelessly to resolve the problem as quickly as possible and hearing certain individuals shouting at staff and trying to coax people to stage a mutiny was a bit much. Although the toilet problem didnt spoil my holiday, it was a nice gesture to receive #200 off our final bill which paid for the many photos and wine id bought :)

 

The staff were so friendly and couldnt do enough for you. It was a pleasure to go back to your room to find what towel formation you had received that day!

 

The was a true spirit of enjoyment on the ship from both the hard working staff and the passengers. Despite travelling on our own, Ioan and I didnt spend anytime on our own, we always had some invitation to sit with other people which was lovely.

 

The entertainment was fabulous, the food was excellent (ive put on several pounds) and the weather was beautiful.

 

The only thing I didnt enjoy was our first night at sea, not having cruised before I didnt know what to expect. I have to be honest and say that I was sat up in bed at 4.45am not being able to sleep for the sound of the waves hitting the boat, the almighty cranking noises and the drawers and doors flying open. Whilst Ioan slept I was thinking Id have to disembark at the next port! But thankfully, each night after that was calm waters :o

 

All in all we had a wonderful time and Ioan is now looking to book another cruise for next year! So lots of saving again :p

[Ceabea]

I did see you around yes! glad you enjoyed it also - I feel quite protective of Destiny and how folks found their holidays, aparently this is quite normal after your first cruise when you have had a wondeful time! - as is the tendency to think of her as 'our' ship LOL.

 

I wish I was back on her now, this weather is a bit pants after the glorious sunshine we had last week.

[john_l]

LOL -I bet some idiots spent 2 or 3 days complaining and waiting outside reception looking for some "compo" for a "spoilt" holiday instead of just making the best of it and enjoying themselves. It was the same when we failed to sail from Liverpool.

 

Its great to hear that the regulars here all belong to the latter type and just got on with it instead of letting a unavoidable incident ruin their holiday.

 

As a result it sounds like you all had a great time where as the others will just have the reception desk to remind them of their cruise.