I cannot believe some of the snobs who have put reviews in this section! This was our third cruise with Thomsons and propably our best yet. We did the Jewels of the Med and had a fantastic time, visiting soem really nice locations. Here's a quick summary of the my thoughts:

The food - loads of it and always hot and tasty.
The staff - they bend over backwards to help you and nothing is too much trouble.
The entertainment - so so. The Thomsons reps do their best and the shows are fine if you like that sort of thing.
The ship - always clean and comfy. I've read a couple of moans about the tremor but if you let that sort of thing bother you then you really are looking for something to complain about.
The ports of call - very good with lots to see. The trips are a bit pricey but with a bit of prior planning you can do your own tours and save a few quid.

I'm on the Celebration again this summer and can't wait!

We travelled on 13th July for one week on the Roman Epic cruise and had a fantastic time on the Thomson Celebration.The crew were always cleaning the ship, both inside and outside, from early in the morning to late in the evening.

Every time you board the ship, or enter a restaurant you have to use the antiseptic hand gel provided. This is a great idea, and Thomsons appear to be doing all they can, to prevent an outbreak of the dreaded Novo Virus aboard the ship.

We had a suite (Cabin 122) on deck seven, and it was very spacious and comfortable, and much better than we expected.

The food in the Meridian restaurant in the evening was first class, with plenty of choice from the excellent menu. At breakfast and lunch time we tended to use the Lido self service buffet restaurant, and we also found this to be first class, with plenty of hot and cold dishes to choose from.

The Cabin Steward kept our cabin pristine, with towels changed at least twice a day. The Bar Staff and Waiters were all very friendly, at all times of the day or night. I do not think that you would find this level of service with a smile in many establishments, these days.

The atmosphere aboard the ship was very friendly and informal, not stuffy. On the one formal night, it was great to see our fellow passengers all looking very smart for the Captains Gala Night.

The shows in the Broadway Show Lounge were fantastic, and sometimes it was difficult to get a seat, because the shows were so popular. The Horizons Bar is a great place to relax, after your evening meal, while listening to soothing sounds from the onboard trio.

The trips were very well organised, and a highlight for us, was the trip to Bormes les Mimosas from Toulon. A very pretty village with an abundance of colourful flowers and a hilltop location with beutiful views down to the sea.

It was a shame that so many of the buildings in Florence and Rome are covered in Graffiti, overlooking that Rome was awesome.

Having travelled on other Thomsons ships before, it was great to see that they have banned smoking in all but one lounge on this ship.

We have already started looking through the cruise brochures for next year, and we are looking forward to cruising with Thomsons again.

Paid £1400 to go on this ship, accident on motorway meant we arrived at airport 20 mins before flights due to leave, Thomson would not let us on, we lost our money and holiday and they didnt give a damn. In fact it took ages for them to reply to me and they were not even empthatic! - if their staff had known what they were doing, we could have been on another flight and got on the boat but we were told the airport at Palma was 2 1/2 hours away from the port, we lost £1400 of hard earned money and all they could say was "it it your responsibility to get here on time" for GODS SAKE someone died on the motorway. Thomson are the worst company I have ever dealt with and would not recommend anyone deal with them...... they said I should have called the Duty Manager, no one at Thomson desk even told me that!!!!!!!!! how would they feel losing £1400 and taking all year to save it!!!!!!!!!!!!! not even ABTA want to know, it took them 3 months to send me a computer generated letter, the consumer means nothing once they have your money.................

After reading the previous reviews (luckily after we got back)Thomson Celebration must have really cleaned up their act. We sailed on 8th June from Palma and loved every minute of our cruise. All of the staff were very friendly and helpful,the food was excellent and we really enjoyed the entertainment. This was our fourth cruise with Thomsons, first on the Celebration, and one of the best. There were only a couple of toilets that were out of order, but we saw no sign of bad plumbing or anything like this. I am planning another cruise with Thomsons later in the year.

I would say to anyone thinking of going on this cruise, in my experience, book it you will love it. Maybe we have been lucky, but I will chance my luck again!

We too sailed into a force eight gale on 2nd June 07. between Palma and Toulon. I have to say that I was more than a little frightened being on deck 8; the higher up the ship, the worse the movement. We took to our beds and stayed there for a day and night, missing the Captains party, although I am told the Captain actually stayed on the bridge. I am reliably informed that the stretch of water between Palma nad Toulon is well know for storms; indeed one of the crew said that the weather conditions had been exactly the same the week before. I cannot understand therefore why the ship put out to sea.

The food in my opinion was mostly very good. We ate in either the Meridian resturant ot the Lido where hot and cold food was available twenty four hours a day. We were never hungry enough to eat in Mistrals, neither are we great joiner inners of entertainment therefore I cannot really comment on the entertainment, although two nice spots in the ship are the Explorers lounge, and the Horizons bar at the top of the ship (don't go up there in a gale though).
The staff in general were great although we made the mistake of tipping the guy who carried our bags on embarkation; conseqently he pursued us with a vengeance for a whole week around the ship!

I don't think I would sail on this ship again; it is a little bit too dated for me, although I think that Thomson managed to strike a nice balance between the casual and the formal. If you decide to travel on the Roman Epic, take some Kwells with you!

Sailed from Palma 22/june/2007 Gibraltar,Casablanca,Tangier, Malaga, Cartagena
celebration On Moorish Delights.
Just to update the Smoking areas on board. Only 1 inside smoking area inside, Liberties bar only 80 smoking seats in large lounge, always crammed full in evenings, Noisy for anyone wanting a bit of piece and quiet for an inside smoke. Overspill on outside deck.
casino bar Hemingtons far away from access to outside deck smoking area.
Toilets where overflowing in gents if you flushed.
And very hard to find a w.c. open. Thomsons need to sort this out quickly.
Crew were always helpful, Entertainment sounded okay if you could get a seat with a view.
If visting Gibraltar There is a brillent 8 people taxi into town for £1 , but Malaga be prepared for a hot 1/2 hour walk , We took a taxi in to town, 10 Euro , but walked from port back to the ship.
Casablanca + Tangiers, well it was different and very intresting .Cartagena 30 sec walk into port area , nice town to walk around, Tourist bus on main road 4 Euro for nice tour of town.
this is our 4th cruise with Thomsons big let down from the others.

Just returned from the moorish delights itinerary- our first cruise. We had an excellent cabin right at front of ship two decks below the bridge - a lot of hardened cruisers on board thought these cabins were uncomfortable during rough seas - we had no problems despite sailing through a storm after leaving Casablanca. Food was very good in waiter service Meridian Restaurant - not so good in Lido buffet restaurant where staff served you with rather mean sized portions -no opportunity to help yourself to as much as you wanted. Staff were always friendly and helpful especially in our favourite watering hole - Horizons Bar. We didn't get to see any of the on board shows as we were too busy eating , drinking and enjoying ourselves. We would definitely sail on this ship again

We travelled on the Thomson celebration for 2 weeks from the 22nd June. Had a fantastic time, cannot fault this ship in any way.
Ship was kept very clean a couple of problems with the gents loos once or twice but very quickly sorted. these sort of problems happen on all ships due to the vacuum system.
The food was very good in the lido and the meridian restaurants (never tried the mistral)it was always hot and plenty of it.
All members staff and crew worked very hard and were always cheerful.
The entertainment team were very good and always brought a smile to your face, the show team were amazing, the shows they put on were brilliant considering the very small stage they had.
The only criticism we have is the price of the trips some such as a taste of Tuscany consisted of a hour and a half drive there an hour at to look at a few vats
tasted a few sips of a couple of wines had some dried out cheese and hard bread and then another hour and half back to the ship.
Most of the other trips were good but a little pricey.
Sorry to read some people had a bad time on this ship at the beginning of June but we loved it.
Yes we would definitely sail on this ship again.

We sailed on the Celebration at the end of June on the Mediterranean Renaissance cruise. We did this itinerary last year on board the Destiny and our earlier review is posted in July 2006 for anyone who might like to read it. We purposely did the same itinerary as we wanted to relax more and not worry about going on the excursions. However, there were two different ports (Alghero in Sardinia and Palamos in Spain) which varied it slightly.

We don't think you can ever capture your first cruise experience because it is so exciting and everything is unknown but we really liked the Celebration. Our cabin, even though on Deck 2, was superior to the cabin on the Destiny which was on Deck 4. It was very spacious and had plenty of wardrobe and draw space. The bathroom had plenty of cabinet space and we had no problems with the plumbing. As we booked only a week before we left we could not choose our cabin but we did manage to upgrade to one with a porthole. Our cabin was 710 and the only gripe we have is that it suffered with engine noise. We think one of the beds must have been directly over one of the main engines! However, we got used to this to some degree after the first night and you can't always have everything!! Our cabin steward, Arry was very good, and kept our cabin clean and tidy, with a chocolate on our pillow each night.

Embarking onto the ship was simplicity itself, as Thomson have got this off to a fine art. A Thomson rep gets onto the coach and tells you exactly what to do. We were led to our cabin and our cases arrived within minutes, very impressive! We had our shorts on and were exploring the ship in next to no time. As with the Destiny the staff on board were all exceptionally cheerful and helpful and we must say a big thank you to our waiters in the Meridian Restaurant, Roy and JM. They were on first name terms within minutes of our first meal and made us feel like the only diners on board. Thank you also to Roy for all the extra ice-cream with our desserts. We had our breakfast in the Lido and also our lunch, there was plenty of choice and it was often difficult to make up your mind what to have, bearing in mind you would be eating a 5 course dinner later that evening if you chose to, which we did as it was lovely to be waited on and the food was superb. The nice touch in the Lido is that even though it is buffet service, the waiters do serve you with iced water and tea/coffee. Before entering any of the restauants you have to use the hand gel, this is to try and prevent the virus that is common on cruise ships but this is not a hardship and we would certainly rather do this than put ourselves at risk.

The Meridian restaurant offers open dining. We asked if we could possibly have the same table saved each night (as there are only the 2 of us) and were told that if we got there reasonably early that shouldn't be a problem. We therefore managed to keep the same table each night which was lovely.

It took us nearly all week to navigate from one end of the ship to the other as unlike the Destiny you can't get from one end to the other without either going up or down mid-way and we did get a bit disorientated at times.

This ship also offers various decks to sunbathe or sit on so you can always find a spot away from people, or at least we didn't have any problem. Also there are lots of places inside where you can sit and have a quiet moment without being surrounded by lots of people, such as the Explorer's Lounge where the pianist and violinist are absolutely excellent.

One thing we did find with this ship was that it suffered from contstant vibration. For example when you were sitting on a your sun bed at the front of the ship you felt like someone was gently shaking you, it was amusing to watch other people's stomach's wobbling backwards and forwards but not so amusing to watch your own!! Again, it was something you got used to. You could also feel it in the Broadway Show Lounge.

As we stayed on board more this time we enjoyed it when lots of people went ashore and it seemed as though we had the ship almost to ourselves. We went ashore at Livorno, nothing much to see as it was a Sunday and most of the shops were closed but we enjoyed the walk round, an ice-cream and people watching!

At Villefranche we went ashore and it really is a lovely port. The beach was most enjoyable and there are lots of lovely little shops to wander round.

We stayed on board at Civitavecchia so can't comment but don't think it offers much. This is the port for visiting Rome but as we did this last year we made the most of everyone else going ashore and enjoyed sunbathing with just ourselves on the deck at the front of the ship!

Alghero in Sardinia is a lovely port. We had a tender to shore and wandered around for a couple of hours. This was the only day when the sea started to get a bit rough and we had our hearts in our mouths as we watched the crew struggle to get the tender boat hitched back on board. In the end the Captain moved the ship around to try and give them some shelter from the breeze which was whipping up the sea. That night the Captain mentioned that it would be a moderate to rough crossing and we both had a disturbed night with the ship going through the rough waves. Neither of us felt sick but it was exciting and we were glad we were not on a higher deck as we would not have coped so well. Next morning it seemed other passengers did not sleep too well either! Luckily though that was the only rough night and the next day was lovely and calm again. We docked at Palamos in Spain, which looked like a lovely town. However we did not get to look around as we went on an excursion to the Salvador Dali museum. It is well worth a visit, facsinating and most enjoyable.

We enjoyed the shows although we thought the first night we thought the shows would not be as good as on the Destiny. This proved to be unfounded and the shows were of an equally very high standard.

If asked to compare the Destiny and the Celebration, we would say that both ships are excellent but in different ways. We would happily sail on either ship again and will be!

Happy cruising!

Just returned from a first time cruise on Thomson celebration. The intinerary was moorish delights and included 2 stops in Morroco, Tangiers and Casablanca none of whom were very popular by most fellow cruisers
A strange choice by Thomsons whose own crew joked how bad these places were to visit. Overall I must say my wife and I enjoyed this cruise - Yes there does seem to be ongoing problems with the plumbing and on occasions there was a smell here and there on the ship, which Thomsons must address quickly. Also we had to be moved from outside cabin 889 to another cabin due to a clanging knocking noise continually when the ship was moving. It seems a part behind the panels needs to be secured but Thomsons continually put people into this cabin week after week. However putting these problems aside The food was good and varied, the crew were excellent, entertainment good (iain sludge lees guest comedian very funny) although felt it needed another act in broadways after the dancers had been on as the ship sort of died a death after 11pm unless you could squeeze into liberties bar which was always busy. Lots of people just went back to there cabins. Dont know if the intineray maybe put people of this cruise initially but lots people managed to get this cruise at a price between £200- 300 at the last minute which worked out at absolutely fantastic value for money.

Would definetly cruise again with Thomsons at the right price.