Cruised on the Celebration in Sept 2013 had a fabulous time the ship was spotlessly clean and our cabin was great on the 6th Deck. We also went on a trip to Jerusalem and Bethlehem which was awesome.The staff on the Ship were exceptional. Mentions to Arnel,Rimawan,Agie, Michael the Tiler, Malou and Miko who made our trip.The Captain, John and Nathan his 2nd in command have a great crew. The food was good as well and we went all inclusive which was great.The one downside is Dalaman Airport with a lack of Thomson Staff to tell you where to go to get your coach and when you find one Thomson Woman she was downright rude. When we found the coach it was very run down and the driver was something else, constantly on his mobile and driving with one hand.But apart from these couple of grumps it was a fabulous trip and would I do it again the answer is yes and I would recommend it to anybody who wants to go on a small and comfortable ship. The best resort we went to was Alanya in Turkey followed by Larnaca in Cyprus, and then Rhodes in Greece. All in All a brilliant cruise.

Sailed for Christmas and New Year expected a wow factor when we arrived considering cost of cruise, I know you pay more at this time but thousands more for what was a normal cruise with a few decorations. Horizons had no Dec's, and very lacking in other areas, no wow factor at all, no build up to the special days, all announcements were mainly about buying things on board, shows were carried out by a fantastic entertainment team but were not festive in fact they were the same shows that had been shown through to the year, they did do a small panto if that what you could have called it. Food was ok but bland and repeated so often. The 24 he dining as gone and although I appreciate it's cost to run, it closes at 1am, I do feel it should close when all entertainment on board as finished. New Year’s Eve they still closed at one although people were still about drinking and dancing. Always had fantastic cruise director but this Gavin Carroll is very poor at getting an atmosphere going or even announcing any changes on board like departure for ports what deck to use. They now have a lovely coffee area where explorer's used to be but this is extra cost , you are bombarded with staff to buy extra packages like wine packages, wine tasting, photos, even try and sell you VIP seats to Broadway show lounge, but these are free and if you get in early you can get seat you want. Service in all bar areas a disgrace up to 45 mins to get an order in then a further up to 30 mins to receive it, if you buy drinks package in advance you will not be able to get the value back you paid, staff are lovely but clearly under staffed, you used to get staff looking after so many tables and you got to know them now they are running about all over, 5 staff on average in Broadway lounge. Ship vibrates a lot while in dock. But biggest regret was sailing at Xmas this was cruising at Christmas not a Christmas cruise. Also cleaning poor, staff wonder round with same cloth and bucket slightly wiping things as they pass, no real enthusiasm. Some glasses in restaurants smelt funny like stale. We had a bug on board although we were never told. Always thought highly of Thomson, but last 2 cruises have been a let-down, cut backs all the time....never again....One last point, when you settle bill on departure you would like to think all is okay, when we tried to leave our card said we still owed, I am disabled and had to go back up to reception and queue again to sort, something had come on from the night before late, if this is the case can they not ask over tanoy for you to return to reception before you try leaving. ..

This was our sixth cruise with Thomson’s. We have thoroughly enjoyed, and sung the praises of the previous five cruises with Thomsons.

This year we did the Gems of the Aegean and the Aegean Adventure. As all cruises and holidays, it seems that the price has increased.
There are no inflight meals on Thomson short haul flights anymore. We were told, and accepted this prior to booking. Then we find that there are no films, or radio on Thomson flights anymore.
Four hours of sitting watching nothing, and having trolleys pushed to and fro, trying to sell duty free, and snacks is a step down from what we have been used to in the last five trips with Thomsons.


The food on the cruise as usual was very well cooked and hot and well presented. But unlike previous cruises. The second week’s food was a copy of the first week’s food.
For this reason. I only gave 4 points.

The same goes for the shows. The shows were very good. But second weeks shows were the same as the first, apart from one. Again I have only given 4 points for this.

Now my main gripes!

Excursions. Wow! How much can these cost? We wanted to go on an excursion to Knossos in Crete. 2 adults and 1 child would have cost us £140.
Then we checked the details. The entire excursion lasts 5 hours. The drive to and from Knossos was 3 hrs, so for £140 we would get to spend 2 hrs in Knossos. Good value for money? I didn't think so. So we did our own thing.
Same went for Istanbul. £ 140 for a trip to the mosques and Bazaar. Thomsons excursions are getting dearer and dearer, and the excursions are getting shorter and shorter. Do as we do. Negotiate with a Taxi Driver. We did the above for 50 euros.

The WC on board ships are suction. You press a button, and suction clears the WC, and then it partly fills with water, ready for the next use. Our WC would not suck, but still filled with water. The water level gets close to over flowing.

We called reception to tell them of the problem. A plumber was quick to appear, and opened a cupboard in the aisle and did something that made the suction work. Good!

But this happened on nearly every trip to the WC for the first week, until the plumbers fitted a new switch.

Maintenance. Sheesh! I know that ships have to be maintained, and there is work going on all day to keep them maintained. But, We had times when the main pool was closed for 3 days, and the children's pool was closed for 4 days.I mean. We are on holiday! No Pool?
The hand rails were being constantly sanded and varnished. Ropes were put out to stop anyone from leaning against the wet hand rails. It was something like a building site at times.

The ropes were removed in the evenings. I obviously forgot what had been happening during the days, and lent on the railings and ruined two white shirts. I appreciate that these jobs needed to be done. But all in one week? If I had wanted a holiday on a building site. I would have booked one.

The crew and staff on the ship were brilliant. They always are.

To sum our experience up, the ports. Well worth visiting. Not disappointed at all.

Excursions. Now grossly overpriced, and not value for money.

The staff were First class.

The food and shows. Very good, but repeated the second week.

Would I recommend Thomsons now ?

I highly recommended Thomsons for the last 5 yrs.

Now! Yes. I would recommend them. But I would also tell them of our latest experiences.
I accept that the cost of everything goes up, but we are paying for better than this!

Our first cruise, (Red Sea Magic), absolutely first class!

Everything about the ship, the itinerary, the crew, the excursions at least met our highest expectations if not exceeded them.

We chose to "upgrade" to an outside cabin (Deck 4) and were pleased that we did. Even with only a porthole (rather than a window) the opportunity to see the "outside world" was very pleasing. The cabin itself was perfectly spacious enough for the two of us.

The facilities on-board were excellent, especially the 24-hour dining! We boarded at 21:00 on our first day and the opportunity to relax a little before we ate (at 23:00, just as the ship left the dock) was very welcome.

The staff, whether in reception, the restaurants, the bars or the person of Desy, our cabin steward, could not have been more helpful and friendly.

The food was always varied and well-cooked, the entertainment team who produced the nightly main shows were outstanding in every way.

The shore excursions were rather expensive and usually involved rather a lot of bus travel, but those we did, to the Dead Sea and to Cairo, were well worth the cost and the VERY early starts!

All in all, a brilliant week, followed by an equally brilliant week in a hotel in Sharm el Sheikh. Our first cruise, but it certainly won't be our last!

Cleanliness was rated one, not for the ship in general, but for our washroom facilities in our cabin (Room 065) which was an extremely poor standard, with mould and mildew all over the wall tiles. The floor tiles were cracked and badly broken at parts so you could not walk on barefoot in case you cut your feet. Towels were dull/dirty grey but these were replaced by white ones on request.This was supposed to be a £200 per person upgrade!! We asked to be upgraded to a suite and was prepared to pay extra to get us out this nightmare, but we were told all the cabins were full and that was that. We were also told that the ship was due for a refit and that should resolve problems! What?
We complained to TUI UK limited on return from holiday and they responded giving the reason that the cabin was in such a dreadful state was due to the ships motion!! What?? A constantly blocked toilet and mould and mildew was caused by sea motion? Wow!! That's a new one.
The food was of a good canteen style and somewhat repetitive, but expected to be honest.
Staff were either over friendly or at worst could not give a toss. Pestered by some and ignored by others.
If you ever watched Crackerjack, you would understand. Oh Yes you would!!
Would definitely not sail on this ship again lest I got some lung or skin disease from the mould and mildew creeping up the bathroom walls!
Pity you cannot submit photos to show how truthfully awful it was.

Red Sea Magic cruise

This was our 4th cruise on the Celebration and I am pleased to say that the cleanliness of the ship still remains impeccable, the ship may be an old ship but this does not effect the hygiene and cleanliness.

The food was acceptable with plenty of choice, full cooked or continental breakfast 4/5 course lunch and dinner 4/5 courses depending on how hungry you felt, food could have been a lot hotter than it was but a quiet word with the waiter and this was put right, and of course the lido deck outside snack bar was open 24 hours should you feel the need to eat in the middle of the night, we went on as passengers but came off as cargo.

Prices of drinks were on a par with an english pub, so you did not feel that you were being ripped off.

The staff, well what can I say other than excellent always had a smile and willing to help in any way they could

Thomson entertainment team put on shows that were worthy of the Westend, very professional and entertaining.

The cruise excursions were expensive but when you consider what you got for your money they were well worth it and obviously because it was escorted by armed guards and a police car escort you felt completely safe, I personally would never consider doing these excursions on our own as some passengers did, at the end of the day they perhaps saved a few pounds but they did not have the security that Thomsons provided.

Well done Thomsons and to all those passengers who pick faults with this cruise ship, just remember if you want a 5 star service and 5 star ship be prepared to pay 5 star prices, we are doing Independence of the Sea in March and I get the impression it will not be nearly as nice as Thomsons

If you are thinking about booking the Celebtration go ahead, you won't be dissapointed.
We did the Red Sea Magic in Dec 10, it was our first cruise and we will definatly go again.
It is very hard to find any faults with the whole experience. The boat has around 1200 passengers but never feels too busy, they claim it is the friendliest boat around and we felt this was the case. The organisation of the whole holiday cannot be faulted in any way.
The food was of a very high standard in all restuarants, the Meridian waiter service resturant was first class with great food and service (the Philipino crew are totally excellent and always up for a bit of banter - they never look for a tip but are well worth a few quid on your last night. We went to the Mistral resturant one night, which was an extra 20 quid each but well worth it, high quality food. Entertainment was also first class, plenty to do or avoid if you want to. The excursions are long days and for each to decide if it is for them. In short - a great holiday that was well worth the money.
The crowd on the boat are generally an older lot but we found them to be up for a laugh and very friendly.
We went on to hotel in Sharm for a week after the boat and the drop in standard regarding food and service etc was a bit hard to get used to. Better if you do the hotel bit first.
Definately go back on a Thompson Cruise before too long.

I would just like to make a correction on my last review, for some reason or other I only gave the entertainment team a mark of 1 of course this was TOTALLY wrong it should have read 5, Top marks to the entertainment team for fantastic shows.

Just back from Highlights of the Aegean cruise, (5th time on Celebration in 5 years)
Everything as good as ever. A very friendly and efficient ship

as a carer taking 2 clients i really could not fault this company or ships staff!! we had a great time and the staff were so helpfull to us at all times.
the entertainment was absolutly fantastic the staff were so brilliant and friendly i would strongly advise anyone lookin for a brilliant cruise to use the celebration i can,t thank them enough.
well done to everyone who works on this ship and you all work so hard!! but always have a genuine smile