We have just returned from the Red Sea Magic cruise and had an absolutely fab time, even though we were delayed by snow at Luton (9 hours) and by a suspected bomb at the airport when we arrive back! Still it was well worth it. We thought the trips were well worth their money, Petra was breathtaking, as was the Pyramids and Cairo museum, although we could have spent days there rather than hours.

Food on ship excellent, as good as P&O and better than others! All staff were lovely apart from reception staff who seemed indifferent and quite rude!

Sue Sweeney was the guest comedian and she was side-splitting funny!

Going on Celebration again in August and can't wait!

One word of warning, take two different dress sizes as you will definitely need to expand at the end of the week as the food is so good!

Have fun!

Our second cruise on the Celebration and it's still fantastic. The Red Sea Magic cruise
really was superb. Fantastic weather, Valley of the Kings and the pyramids were enchanting.
The lower marks for food (buffet breakfast not very hot) and entertainment (glanced in, but a bit hammy) are our opinion, people we spoke to enjoyed it very much.
Dont think about it!
Just book it, you wont be dissapointed!!

This was our first cruise and we realy enjoyed the food especially in the Meridian restaurant. The crew were very good and always happy to help you in any way. The trips we went on to Petra and Cairo were excellent. The entertainment was ok but our comedian was not entertaining and was in fact very rude to some passengers. The crew are always cleaning the ship and the sanitation crew go with you on the trips to ensure they are on duty at your lunch stops to administer hand cleansing gel. This gel is available through out the ship and must be used before entering the restaurants. We were thoroughly enjoying the expreience of cruising until the last 2 days. Now a word of warning I contracted (suspected) Norovirus (D&V stomach bug) and the last 2 days on board were spent in the cabin being very ill. My wife had to stay in the cabin on the day we left the ship in case she had caught it. I would like to thank nurse Mel who gave me an injection which enabled me to travel home ok. This has not put us off cruising however, we will be doing a lot of research in to the health & hygiene of any future ships we go on.
Please do not be put off this ship by this report you have to remember there were hundreds on board who had no ill effects, I was just unfortunate to come down with a bug. We will still have great memories of our trips and Thomson Celebration.

****** IF YOU ARE UNDER 40 YEARS OLD DO NOT GO ON THIS CRUISE******

My wife and I (both 32 years old) were looking for a week away in the sun. Ideally we wanted to stay in a 5 star hotel, in an all inclusive location with good restaurant standard food both at the hotel and in the area.

After weeks of research i selected the Jazz Mirabel in Sharm el Sheikh. I went in to Thomson's and they gave me a real sales pitch on a cruise around the red sea. I asked if this dealt with my requirements as set out….they said absolutely, 5 star quality, excellent food, atmosphere etc. They even said that we could upgrade to a suite on board for an extra charge. “Imagine being on a 5 star cruise and staying in one of the suites on board, it’s a once in a lifetime experience for about £100 more per person than what you were going to pay for the Jaz Mirabel”. She then went on to say that if she had the choice she would have chosen the cruise “without thinking twice about it”. It was an exclusive offer and it would be gone any second….i felt that I needed to make a decision quickly and went with their advice (i later found out, according the staff on the cruise, that they try to just fill the boat with anyone - regardless if it is right for them or not)
We had never cruised before and I was unaware of anyone who had cruised in my circle of friends. She did a very convincing sales job and based on her information, sales pitch etc I went with the cruise. I paid for the upgrade, the airport lounge and champagne in our cabin…again she was an excellent sales person!
We were very excited…and we asked about currency and were told that it was Egyptian pounds. We ordered some but later found out that the currency on board is English sterling, so we had to change our egyptian pounds to sterling and made a massive loss due to the extremely poor exchange rate.

The cruise did not meet our expectations in anyway. The only good point was that the ships crew were cleaning constantly. Now for the downsides:
1) The ship was far from 5 star…more like 3 star…in fact after we returned I was looking for a gift for a friend of mine who is going on a cruise in Alaska next year and I found the Berlitz guide to cruising. How I wished I had found this BEFORE paying £1500 for the cruise. The guide rated it as a 3 star cruise liner ….and the most interesting thing that it mentions is that 90% of the passengers are 55 years old and older!!!!!!!
As such (apart from the entertainment crew) we were the youngest people on the ship. 2) The itineraries on board all catered to older people….foxtrot dancing and ex veterans getting together for coffee mornings, and paper knapkin folding to shows featuring the music of the war (vera lynne etc). My friends didn’t believe me until I showed them the copies of ‘cruise news’ that we brought home. We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
3) The ship is so old, and the generator on board vibrated 24/7…so much so that even if you were on the sundeck on deck 10 and were 'lucky enough' to have a sunbed you were physically vibrating all the time….all day…every day. A comedian came on board (she was the only highlight of the entire holiday) and she even did a sketch on this….everyone laughed, because they could all relate to it. It made my wife nauseous and she was in bed for 2 of the days feeling dizzy/sick (even though the vibrations did not stop when you went to bed to go to sleep!).
4) The food was extremely average….even the a la carte restaurant was just 3 star…everything was way below the standards sold to us. And we had to pay for all our drinks on top of this, at quite a markup!
5) The only escape were the expensive shore excursions…we went on one which was ok, and the tour guide was very knowledgable. The ship was upto capacity (of pension age passengers) and it was extremely difficult to get a sun lounger unless you went out at 07.00am in the morning. We felt trapped and did not enjoy our time aboard at all.
6) The cruise was more a ‘benidorm on a boat’ than the 5 star experience we were expecting. Other things to mention that ‘added’ to our experience were the shows catered for elderly and were nowhere near WEST END standard (sold to us as such), lack of space for people to sunbathe (one day we found a wooden bench and had to sit on it all day),there was no casino or ‘shop’ whilst in dock (which was on several occasions), the 2 Jacuzzis on board were never working/never had water in them and were always covered and the 2 pools were freezing cold. On board we were stared at more by the pensioners on board than we were by the locals in Cairo (my wife is blonde so the Egyptian guys were constantly staring at her) – because we looked so out of place on the cruise!.
We did discuss this with one of the reps on board (I don’t want to mention his name as I don’t want to get him into trouble) but he said that the reps at home are just focussed on filling the ship up to its full compliment and they have seen other couples who looked totally out of place like we did, on several occasions. We expected expertise and we became part of a sales target!
Overall, it was the worst holiday experience we have ever had. To summarise – I went into the travel agents with the intention of spending £1000 on an a 5 star all inclusive holiday in Sharm El Sheikh, in the Jaz Mirabel where we could relax, eat the high standard food and mix with people of a similar age group (we met a couple in the airport home who stayed at the Jaz Mirabel who said that the food, entertainment etc had been first class – which added insult to injury to say the least!). What we came away with was a 3 star floating benidorm, where we paid £1400 plus £300 on drinks during the week, had poor entertainment catered for pensioners, substandard food (the food on the flight was better than the food on board ship).

This expensive holiday was totally missold to us. I wrote to Thomsons and asked for the following:
1 An apology for being missold the cruise
2 Reimbursing for everything we paid for extra that we wouldn’t have paid for at the Jaz Mirabel (which is £200 plus £300 drinks)
3 To feel rest assured that other younger couples are not being missold this cruise and that perhaps the berlitz guide (or any similar) is sent to each branch of Thomsons. At the very least send a briefing to all sales agents to advise that this cruise is suitable for over 50’s only.

It took several weeks and several follow up calls/letters to get a response and they advised that they would take no action at all. They looked at people who had gone on the same cruises before and had generally good feedback. If i was 60 years old, liked benidorm/blackpool, fry ups every day, chips and burgers for lunch, amateur shows, bingo etc i am sure i would enjoy it. But 2 proffessional, 32 year old, outgoing people with decent standards on food/entertainment - it was the worst place in the world we could have gone.

Please be aware - we wasted our money - Thomsons didnt care - please dont waste yours.

Our first cruise on the Celebration and our last.
The flight to Sharm El Sheikh was fine and the transfer to the ship was very efficient.
We booked the Celebration as we'd previously been on the Spirit and had a wonderful time and as this was the sister ship we thought it would be the same.
Our cabin was very spacious and our steward kept it clean and tidy for the week we were on board.
The bar staff on this ship are nothing short of miserable and lazy.
Whilst we watched the Africa show, we kept trying to get the waiters attention but he was too busy watching the show himself. My husband decided the best option was to go to Hemingway's bar to get the drinks himself. As we'd paid an all-inclusive supplement of £170 We'd expected better service. The bar staff on the Spirit were exceptional and looked after us and chatted with us, how different on this ship.
The entertainment onboard ranged from wonderful to awful. The showteam on this ship look as if they've just left school. However whatever they lack in experience they certainly make up for in enthusiasm We did enjoy their shows, especially the aforementioned Africa. Thomson should take off Hero of the Nile show. It's a long show and very boring. We loved Odette's voice and enjoyed her show in the Horizons bar. The guest comedian Andy Rudge is the funniest we've ever seen anywhere. He had us crying with laughter with his observational humour and we found him to be a delightful man when we had a drink with him in Horizons.
The worst show of the week was the Egyptian local show. We left after 15 minutes as we could stand no more.
The game shows were quite funny and we enjoyed the Egyptian Liar show with Brad, Emma and Andy.
We love to dance and the Freedom Band catered for our every need. The exquisite Albert Duo were exceptional musicians.
We went to Cairo to see the Pyramids and museum and had a wonderful day, although it was very long. All the tours were over priced and not value for money.
The problem with the whole Red Sea experience is that unless you go on a tour you can't really get off the ship as there is nowhere worth going. All the ports look like building sites and we felt very ill at ease.
In conclusion we will not go back to the Red Sea or the Celebration. If we were to go on a Thomson cruise again we would go back to the Spirit.
Our next cruise is on the Island Star.

We booked this cruise as a last minute holiday. Never cruised before but know people who have and this did not dissapoint. As mentioned before, ship was very clean, the cabin stewards kept our cabin spotless (thanks Edy) and the rest of the staff was always cleaning and polishing.
The food was the best we have ever had on holiday and was absolutely fantastic. Plenty of variety and we never had the same meal twice. Mostly we ate in the Meridian Restaurant (hi Wendell and Ulessyes)but the standard of food was the same all over the ship.
The staff on the ship are all Phillipinos and the are extremely friendly, always smiling and always greeted you when they saw you. You can have drinks in your room and there is an ice bucket which you take to the ice machine which is on each deck, if you get the chance before a member of staff appears out of nowhere and they get it for you.
The Entertainment was very good. The show team worked extremley hard and produced some excellant shows. They also have guest acts on board,while we were there we had a singer/commedienne, Brenda Collins. We have seen better acts but she was quite funny. There are also coktail demonstrations, which are free and you get to taste them, (yum!). One day we had a food carving demonstration by one of the chefs which was very interesting and a wine tasting (£5 each)some of the wines were very expensive at £63.50 a bottle and you got to drink the wine instead of spitting it out!
All in all we really enjoyed it and would definately come on the Celebration again but not on the Red Sea Magic cruise. The ports, apart from Sharm el Shiek were mostly commercial docks and we saw some very interesting cement works!

We went on the Red Sea Magic itinerary and were very impressed with this ship. The cabins and public areas were kept immaculately clean, and hygiene is obviously a priority, with hand-gel dispensers all around the ship.

We ate in the Lido buffet most of the time, the food was excellent, and there was always enough choice to satisfy us. The waiters were very good and attentive, as were all of the other staff members. All of them were smiling and had a friendly word to say all the time.

The entertainment was very good onboard. The performers were of a high standard and there was a variety to suit most tastes. The excursions were good, athough a little expensive and very long - I wouldn't recommend them for anyone who doesn't like long coach journies - the guides were on the whole well informed and interesting.

I would recommend this trip to anyone, and we're planning our next cruise already.

the cabins were much bigger than we expected we were in B672, middle and with a porthole. Fantastic facilities. excellent cleanliness throughout and the attitude of all the staff we encountered was the best we have ever experienced. The entertainment every evening was a very high standard and the comedienne has us rolling in the aisles. This cruise was such a huge bargain we were prepared for compromise but there wasn't any. It would have been marvellous value at twice the price!We booked 4 months before and got it at the bargain price of £370!
There were lectures on egypt , beuty seminars, exercise classes..in fact something for everyone. Thomson can be really proud of this holiday experience.
The trips we thought were very good value for money. We saw all that was promised and the time constraints mean you can only have ataste, but the organisation was spot on and the guides were very good. I chose not to go into tutankamun's tomb which is extra, now I really regret that chance missed.In the free time at the pyramids the solar boat is well worth seeing.
The only tips we would pass on, is that gentlemen, you do need a tie and jacket to go to the gala nite if you want to.Also, don't buy anything from the sellers who set up on the quayside when the ship is berthed. You on't realise til you grt gifts back to the cabin that they reek of diesel and on outr return home no amount of washing gets rid of it.
The food on the ship was excellent, as good as any 5 star hotel we have been to, but with the ability to be relaxed if you wantd to. We ate in the meridian restaurant once but preferred the informality of the lido.
All in all, an amzing experience,exceptional value for money evn at full price and the chance to return after a week away in superb comfort, having seen the pyramids, the sphinx, Petra, the tombs, the temples and got a sun tan. What more could anyone want/

This was our first cruise in January 2008 (could not enter right year at beginning of the review) and will not be our last. We found that the staff were very attentive, polite and helpful. Our cabin steward was lovely keeping our cabin clean and tidy and attending to any queries we had.
The ship was always clean and often staff were busy polishing and cleaning around the ship at all times.The reception staff could not be more helpful.
I would agree that the tours were very tiring but well organised and guided by very knowledgeable people. Dont miss the pyramids, cairo museum and the valley of the kings/queens.
The food was excellent and the lido restaurant always open 24 hours in case you fancied a snack. The restaurant was well run and food good, it was a nice change occasionally to be waited on. Captains night was a lovely opportunity to dress up and spoil ourselves.
I would definately go again and would not hesitate to join the celebration. Best wishes to all those staff on board particularly simon (cruise director) and angel our attentive barman.

we sailed on 14th December followed by a week in Sharm from 21st.
Organisation from checking in at Manchester to arriving at the ship was excellent.
We booked the Petra trip as soon as we got on board as that was the main purpose of the cruise for us.On the morning of the trip we were given a snack box which included a drink,fruit, crisps and cookies. It was a very well organised trip and the buffet lunch served in the Crowne Plaza hotel was good. TIP- Comfortable walking shoes are essential, preferably wear old trainers and socks as it is very dusty/sandy. Also wear layered clothing as there was a bitterly cold wind they day we went and some people were very ill prepared.
The food on the ship was excellent and there was plenty of choice, too much sometimes! We ate all our meals in the Lido and the staff here were friendly.
Drinks- Glass of wine £2.75 , pint £2.50, cocktails £3.15 .You are allowed to take alcohol onboard or purchase it from the onboard duty free shop for consumption in your cabin.
Entertainment- there was a different show everynight plus a guest comedian,Dave Buck, who was very funny.THere was something for everyone to do at night.
Cleanliness- the ship was maintained to a high standard, constant polishing and cleaning though there were issues with the plumbing on several occasions. Our cabin loo failed twice and had to be reported and also loos in public areas failed at least twice. One day we had a letter to say the water was being turned off for maintenance but it was the day of the trip to Petra so didn't affect us directly.

Downsides- there is a lot of vibration to the aft and was especially noisy near to the aft lifts and stairwells. We had a cabin on deck 2 midships and were glad we were not any further back.On this itinerary the ship is docked overnight at 2 ports, we thought that would be an ideal opportunity for pool deck parties, BBQ's etc. but there was nothing, only the sailaway from Sharm.
We would definitely sail on this ship again.