This was my first cruise experience and possibly my last. I agree with previous reports: the Thomson Destiny is like "Butlins on Sea"! Our cabin stunk of sewage throughout the whole week. Some days shower did not drain away. Food was plentiful, but not haute cuisine! We ate in Seven Seas and one evening courses were served so quickly, a 5 course dinner took 40 minutes! One of our friends found a piece of wood in her mushrooms. When she complained the head waiter apologised and carried on serving them anyway! In the evening you can eat at Seven Seas or Lido Cafe. I believe on (proper) cruise ships that there are usually lots of places to eat!
Staff were mixed. Some were lovely and some clearly couldn't be bothered. During day at sea there were hardly any sunbeds available. I was somewhat surprised to see three members of Thomson staff sunbathing. I realise it may be their time off, however I paid to be on board so surely I should get first choice? This happened all week. One waiter in Blakes Bar (Flaire) was absolutely excellent. On last day we had to put cases outside our cabin and there were children/teenagers running up and down the corridors. When I telephoned Reception, the girl told me security were going to tell them. My friend went up to Reception (as it continued for some time) and the girl there told her that they had no power to stop them! Entertaiment was good, but not West End standard. Here again, it was mixed. Some perfomers were excellent and some were AWFUL! The casino is a con. It is no more than a corridor!
To sum up I would not travel with Thomson Destiny again. I could actually list more and more complaints, but you would probably assume I am a moaning minnie and ignore me. Seriously though, we booked in May 06 and paid nearly £4200 between 4 adults and I would advise you to book with a proper cruise company/ship or save your money. If you do want to go on Destiny get a late booking deal. One lady I spoke to got same cruise as me for £400! Nearly a third of what I paid!

As you will see from my scoring of the cruise it can only be discribed as average at best, if you want something special dont book this cruise ship, if you want a floating Butlins or Pontins this ship will be perfect. Whilst the Food is OK it would be hard to say that anything was wonderful or worth rushing back for. The entertainment was very basic and limited in variety. The ship itself is tired and dated in most areas. My 2 kids (15 & 17) said they had never been soo bored in all thier lives. We have cruised several times with different cruise lines, this was by far the worst. I would suggest spending a bit more money and cruise with Royal Caribbean, top notch in all departments. If however you like traditional British holiday camps Thomson Destiny will be fine.

Just returned from our first cruise, fantastic time, the staff were brilliant especially our waiters for the evening - Joel and Raynaldo - food was excellent -only downside you end up putting on weight!! The sail away party is not to be missed, the shows were great and the entertainment manager was superb. I would love to cruise on the destiny again and would highly recommend it, the only thing they need to do is liven their band up a bit - High Life seemed to have had a personality by-pass, but apart from that it was great and a big thank you to Olena who looked after our cabin.

This was our second cruise this year on the Destiny, and the second was as good, if not better than the first. The food was to die for and we both came home several pounds heavier than we went. The entertainment was West End standard, but with such a personal touch. You felt that you got to know the entertainers as they were everywhere you went aboard. The girl that did the cabin could not be more obliging, she kept it spotless, and as one of the comedians said, you get up in the night to the toilet and when you get back the bed is made. My husband is completely sold on cruising now, although he had said it was only for old people. In actual fact, there were people from every age group on board. I cannot praise it highly enough. Thankyou.

Returned on Thursday after a weeks cruising Moorish Delights. First time on Destiny having been on Spirit last September. Very nice ship, plenty of sunloungers even on Day At Sea. Staff usually good but felt that the staff in The SPirit were more friendlier and approachable especially the drinks waiters/tresses although special mention must go to Chary who was in the Star Bar in the evening and night and Clipper in the mornings. She was great and very friendly, if you are going on Destiny try and seek her out she is funny too. Must say though that the bands on DESTINY were not very good at all. I know that they have to cater for the older generation but for Christs sake put a little more oomph in your playing !! One of the bands dont even sing and the other one called HIGH LIFE were seriously more like NO LIFE !! and what little singing they did was unaudible, very disappointed with them. There must be dozens and dozens of bands who would give their eye and tooth for a chance of a gig like the Destiny. Show staff were good and energetic and Bernie Flint was superb. He gave 2 shows during our week and were brilliant, he has a good easy going voice which is very underrated and is quite a comedian too so please take time to check him out you will be very pleasantly surprised. All in all a great week would go back on the DESTINY again but hopefully they'll have other bands playing on it. Enjoy and Happy Cruising !!!

Thomson should decide whether Destiny is a formal or informal ship with only one formal night and no informal nights just smart causal be prepared for people wearing jeans and tee shirts in the main restaurant for the evening meal and some male guests wearing knotted hankerchiefs on their heads when sunbathing. Thomson have tightend the purse strings considerabley. Only one guest act in the evenings instead of 2 although the ships own entertainers are good and gave it their all. The tender is one of the life boats tatty dirty orange and basic, planks to sit on not the best way to arrive at or leave a port. It would be good if the all reception staff fully understood English. The cabins are small perfectly adequate and our steward was really great. Only went on one trip Florence/Piza The guide on the coach lied I do not know why she told us we had to walk 20 minutes to and from the coach to the tower, she also said you had to prebook at least 24 hours before to go up the tower. When we got back we found talking to our steward and other guests there is a free shuttle from the coach park to the tower and just put your name on a list and wait to go up the tower as only about 38 people and be in it at a time. So if you do go on that trip you don't have to make the long walk to the tower just ask your guide where the free shuttle is and go up the tower if you want to.

following our first cruise in january last year.red sea magic on the spirit.we had no hesitation in booking again with thomson.it was our first time on the destiny and we were not dissapointed.with plenty of deck space, finding sunbeds was never a problem.we had a deck 5 inside cabin located at the front of the ship which was fine.it was quiet and cosy, but next time i think we'll upgrade to an outside like had on the spirit.our cabin girl was great,very friendly and helpful.food was excellent.breakfast in the lido could be a bit chilly as it is located on an open deck but there were alternative areas to eat.buffet lunch was always our choice up on deck,good variety and space to sit.on an evening we would use the seven seas,the later sitting suited us fine allowing time for relaxing before eating.our dining companions were a couple from bristol who were excellent company,a real bonus when you have a set dining program.we didn't do any shows but were told they were very good, especially bernie flint.we did the casino every night instead with our £20 per night pot,evan after 7 nights was a good result for us.the ports of call are for us the most important part of any cruise.gib we know well so we walked into town,shopped a while and then took the cable car up the rock.beware the apes as they are fearless and will attempt to grab anything that tempts them ,but well worth it for the views.cassablanca was dissapointing,we didn't do any of the trips but went to look around the hassan 11 mosque .a very impressive sight.as the ship mored in the centre of the industrial port we used a local red taxi,available just off the ship.wouldn't do it again but at least it was better than walking.the area around the port could be quite intimidating which caused a lot of people who wanted to stroll into town to turn back and spend the day onboard ship.tangiers was better.walked into town with our dining companions and with the help of our unofficial,self appointed guide abdul had an informative if quite expensive tour of a tangiers not usually seen by visitors,but he was armless and like he said "better to be bit by one mosquito,than by one hundred".malaga provided us with the highlight of our cruise .with tickets limited to 100 per tour early booking to visit the alhambra is a must.at £69 each it isn't cheap.the trip was very slick with good guides and an excellent lunch.the tour of the alhambra is done to a strict timetable with only two and a half hours inside the attraction,but this did allow for a relaxed ,crowdless veiwing.leaving just cartagena and palma to visit, shoping , eating al fresco and a visit to palma cathedrel ended another super holiday.highly recomended.will do the destiny again but not the moorish delight.morocco was dissapointing,but that is a personal thing and i'm sure that there were many on board who would have found it amazing and charming.as for thomson criuse ,we are sure that other cruise companies offer ships with more of everything more of the time but for us a thomson cruise is just right.

WE HAVE JUST RETURNED RECENTLY FROM OUR FIRST CRUISE WHICH WAS A BIRTHDAY PRESENT AND WE DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT,FROM WE FLEW OUT OF BELFAST WE WERE TREATED TO OUR IN FLIGHT MEAL ,ON ARRIVAL IN PALMA WE WERE ESCORTED TO OUR SHIP BY THOMSON REPS ,OUR LUGGAGE WAS DELIVERED TO OUR CABIN IN A VERY SHORT TIME WHICH GAVE US SOME TIME TO EXPLORE THE SHIP,WE WERE ON THE SHIP FOR ONE WEEK AND DID NOT SEE ALL OF IT ,THE SHIP WAS SPOTLES WITH THE CREW ALWAYS CLEANING,OUR CABIN WAS ON DECK 2 AND WAS AN INSIDE CABIN ,WE HAD ALL OUR COMFORTS SHOWER SINK AND W,C. AND TELIVISION ,THE FOOD WAS THE BEST WE HAD EVER TASTED ,IN THE SEVEN SEAS RESTURANT YOU HAD THE FORMAL NIGHTS WHICH GAVE YOU A CHANCE TO DRESS UP FOR THE NIGHT,THE LIDO FOOD BAR WAS A GREAT PLACE TO GO FOR A BUFFET MEAL,EVERY THING YOU COULD WANT,THE STAFF WERE WELL MANNERED AND VERY EFFICIENT,ALL THE STAFF AND THE GIRL WHO LOOKED AFTER OUR CABIN NEEDS WAS FAULTLESS ,AND OUR CABIN WAS ALWAYS SPICK AND SPAN.THE ENTERTAINMENT WAS EXCELLENT AND THE CASINO WAS GREAT TO PASS THE TIME BETWEEN THE SHOWS,I HOPE TO SAIL ON THE DESTINY AGAIN AS IT WAS THE BEST EXPERIENCE WE EVER HAD ,I HIGHLY RECOMEND THIS CRUISE SHIP TO EVERYONE.

Just returned from 2 very good weeks cruising in all very good value for money
Food (seven seas restuarant) service entertainment ports of call excellent. SPECIAL mention to KIDS ZONE my daugther (4) had a FANTASTIC Time with Lorna, Cat & Skye
On Tuesday night 29 May whilst sailing had very stormy weather 40ft waves Captain said it was the worst conditions he had sailed on the Destiny as you can imagine this was very unusual but I must point out THE vast amount of NOISE & Banging we endured not only on this night but also from when the anchor & and mooring rope motors started usually 30 mins before docking (when in Palma 5am) NO SLEEP INS
Cabin was on 3rd deck at front of ship (pre booked silly me) Midships seems to be best both for location of enertainment/food and of course comfort
Will cruise again with tompson but maybe Eastern Med

First time we have cruised and i would certainly go again,could not fault the staff on board the waiter joel was very friendly and so was our cabin maid tina she kept the cabin spotless also she made swans ect out of towels to go on your bed on a night.I enjoyed all the ports but marseille and barcelona were the best for me.There was 4 of us in our party and we all said we would sail again,the food was brilliant my brother chris ate too much and had to put his trousers in the bin(lol).We are thinking about going again next year.happy cruising.