EXCELLENT!!! From start to finish ports of call great only complaint cabins too small but i believe that is being addressed in the refit form October. Definately travel on the Destiny again.11 year old son thought it was the best holiday ever even better than the
Spirit last year Entertainment was exceptional Richard Sykes very good got to mention Lauren Wood who was fantastic and my son fell in love with and last but not least Danny who i think will be the next cruise director!!!

We had a fabulous time on the Destiny!

The ship was spotless, constantly being cleaned and painted. Our steward kept our cabin very clean.

The food was great. Eating in the Seven Seas was like eating in a top restaurant every night - the waiters are great, and make a real fuss of the kids. Nothing is too much trouble. Breakfast service could be slow, so we had ours in the Lido cafe, which had a choice of everything you could want!

The staff on board are really friendly and helpful.

The entertainment was first class - it could be difficult to get a seat in the Can Can lounge, so our advice would be to get there straight after eating!

The cabins are slightly on the small side for four people, and as we were in an inside cabin we only had artificial lighting, so it could be a bit dark sometimes.

We would definitely go on this ship again - we loved our first cruise!

Just got back from our first cruise, aboard the Destiny.
The cleanliness of the ship is A1 they seem to be cleaning all the time and painting!! Special thanks to our cabin steward Wint, who had surprises that delighted our 5 year old everytime we got back to the cabin, consisting of rabbits, monkeys etc made out of towels!!
The food we could not fault, we took three 'nearly' teenagers that always found something they liked without having chips all the time!!
The staff on board are all brilliant, especially the kids club team who looked after our 5 year old brilliantly!! Also the casino staff who were very friendly and chatty and didn't take it so serious!!
The shows were brilliant and very cleverly done!!
Didn't go on many trips either too expensive with 4 kids or not places that the kids would appreciate!!
All in all we had a lovely time and will probably do it again in a few years.

we made the mistake of going during the school holidays i have never seen as many unruly children in all my life. We have just had a week of being pushed and shoved theese children obviously had no parental control as well as having no manners they saved all the seats every night in the shows and they were still running about after one oclock in the morning while their parents were legless at the bars. I would never book another thomson cruise at this time of the year again. The two swimming pools on deck were full of the children pushing and shuving everyone no one took a blind bit of notice that there was supposed to be one pool for adults. I found the service in the restaruant poor thomsons have cut the waiters down and we were having to wait a long time for courses. So if you want a lovely cruise choose another ship do not go for the destiny (butlins) ship.

Not regular "cruisers" this was only our third in 6 years, the first two on dear old Topaz.

No problems with airports, cases. transfers, etc., and our cabin 3176, although not large, was big enough for 2. On deck for the departure from Palma, so after watching Pool Deck entertainment and a few drinks, got back to our cabin around 1/2.00am and oh dear.

By now well at sea and the floor of the cabin was vibrating in time with the engines, which also filled the cabin with a pounding noise. After half an hour, both myself and wife had pounding headaches (and we hadn't had that much to drink). So it was down to Reception.

Here we received immediate attention. Keys to another cabin in quieter part of ship immediately provided to enable us to get some sleep, and a request we return first thing and we would be allocated another cabin. We did, and we were, in another, and quieter, part of the ship. Whilst impressed with immediate attention to the problem, must say I had a slight feeling that it was a problem, that the staff were somewhat waiting to have reported to them.

So although we got off to a shaky start, it got better and better as the days went bye. Nothing more we can add to the excellent comments regarding staff, cleanliness, entertainment, food, etc., etc., though I think Thomsons are laying it on a bit thick saying the ship has two Restauarants.

The Seven Seas Restaurant was fine, assumming of course you always want to dine at 6.45 or 8.45 and sit at a table with 8/12 other people. If however you felt like a bit of a change one evening, then sorry but the Lido Cafe was NOT an alternative. Ok, so it had table clothes in the evening, but it was still plastic plates, cups and glasses, and the lighting was cold and bleak. It was just what it was, a poolside eating area, NOT a restaurant. Nothing wrong with the food, just the surroundings.

But that should not detract from the overall cruise, which was very enjoyable, made even more so by the excellent staff. Don't doubt we will be cruising again

As first time cruisers we did not know what to expect but were extremely pleased. The ship is very large and always kept extremely clean. The waiter service food in the Seven Seas restaurant is top class standard and the friendliness of the staff brilliant. We always had the 5 course dinner in the evening and only visited the Lido cafe (24hrs) for breakfast (as we never made it to Seven Sea's by 9.30am!) or for lunch/afternoon food. You could not fault this as a second restaurant.

The entertainment team were brilliant and the shows of West End standard, albeit on a smaller scale.

The All Inclusive (AI) drinks option is definately worth it for adults but if you have children under 12 like us who stay with you all day (apart from going to kids club) then it's not worth paying the £65 AI per child as you can get more than 1 drink at at time on your own ship AI card.

The two on desk swimming pools are emptied every day and refilled with fresh sea water and the kids loved it even though the pools are smaller than in a hotel.

The Thomson excursions are hideously expensive but do not worry, we did all trips independently, using the free ship shuttle bus to each town centre and then using public transport. We saw Monte Carlo, Pisa, Rome (by train and then open top bus)all for under €100 for the four of us. If we had done the Thomson excursions it would have cost us over STG£600 and some of their trips would have been too long/boring for young kids. Just allow to get back to the ship a couple of hours before the ship sails (as we always did) and then you will never be panicking if the train or bus is delayed or cancelled.

I spoke to people who had been on 8 or 9 cruises and they said that whilst P&O ships etc were more opulent in design, Thomson was equal for food and better for entertainment. I cannot comment on this as a first timer but bearing in mind that this was a 2nd substitute holiday for us (Mexico cancelled, then Sharm El Sheikh subsequently cancelled!!) this was a superb week. After spending the first week in a Butlins style hotel in Majorca (not my cup of tea at all), I wished we had done a 2 week cruise. Maybe if all you have ever done is P&O or Royal Carribean cruises, then as a comparison this may be less "Grand" re surroundings/cabin size but it certainly will be slightly more affordable.

I am really fussy with holidays, some would say snobby and had originally booked a truly 5* hotel in Mexico, however, I fail to see how anyone could complain about the Destiny. Yes the cabins are small and the walls thin, (as a late booking we had 2 cabins next door to each other and as a family of 4 I would not have liked to have been in one cabin) I saw the cabins for 4 people and they were not much bigger than ours, with 2 beds on either side of the cabin that dropped down over the 2 beds below. You have to think how much time do you actually spend in the cabin and is it worth paying a large amount extra for a suite??

Kidszone is good although a few more sessions during the day would have been nice. They do a Breakfast club where they pick the kids up from your cabin but we never used this as it was far too early before we were awake (8.30am)

All in all a top class cruise with top class service and food. I would definately do this again

Just wondering about the size of the cabins onboard as we have a small inside cabin how big are they really.Also is it worth upgrading on the Destiny.Lastly does the ship look old as from previous comments it sounds like an ols ship.Does anybody have any more information about the overhaul taking place ont he ship at the end of year/season what work are they actually doing ont he ship as we will be travelling on her in aug 2006
many thanks

Further to your question regarding dinner being formal every night, this is not the case. You have one formal night whereby some people pull out all the stops wearing the dinnersuits, men also wear a suit or shirt and tie. The rest of the nights on board are pretty much if you were in a hotel eating. They have a casual night also, but you don't have to follow that code.

Destiny is a fantastic ship, in fact we are going again in August for 2 weeks, celebrating my daughter's 4th birthday and my mother's 60th on board, so it must be good.

All members of staff are really polite. Thanks to the Kidzone Leader Lorna, she got my daughter ready to start school, as I had never left her before.

HAVING CRUISED ON SEVERAL SHIPS I WAS NOT SUPRISED BY WHAT I GOT FOR MY MONEY WITH THOMSONS.
ALL IN ALL THE TRIP WAS GOOD ALTHOUGH THE ENTERTAINMENT COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH BETTER. THOSE OF YOU FROM LIVERPOOL WILL KNOW THAT ANY WEEKEND IN LIVERPOOL CITY CENTRE BETTER ENTERTAINMENT CAN BE HAD FOR FREE IN MOST PUBS. THE FOOD WAS ADAQUATE AND THE CLEANLINESS FINE. ANYONE GOING CRUISING FOR THE FIRST TIME WILL COME AWAY WITH A MID RANGE EXPERIENCE WITH A LOW PRICE RANGE CHARGE. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS CRUISE TO THOSE WHO WANT AN INFORMAL HOLIDAY THATS RELAXING, AND ALWAYS PURCHASE THE ALL INCLUSIVE PACKAGE IF YOU LIKE A DRINK OR TWO. WE HAVE REBOOKED FOR NEXT YEAR ALTHOUGH I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE TRIED ANOTHER LINE BUT I AM ONLY THE HUSBAND AND BANK BALANCE, WHAT CHANCE HAVE I GOT WITH A WIFE AND DAUGHTERS.

Usual fitness required at Palma airport but smooth transfer to the Destiny and we had received all our cases withion 30 minutes of arriving at the cabins.

No problems with cleanliness on the ship - cabins were cleaned twice, sometimes thrice, daily. All the other areas were also spotless.

The big downside for us was the cabins - with our sixteen year old with us it was not comfortable for three people. Storage space was adequate but the place was not big enough for three.

Food was plentiful and the Lido being open 24/7 meant no-one need ever go hungry. Being on the second sitting meant we missed a lot of the entertainment in the Oklahoma Lounge but the quality of food in the Severn Seas restaurant was faultless. Up on the Lido deck it could be a bit hit and miss as sometimes the hot food wasn't! We were on the AI package but the lager and wine were both on the weak side so we took the opportunity to sample as many different cocktails as possible.

As for the Crew - they were all brilliant. Couldn't fault any of them for anything - waiters, cabin staff no-one fell short on anything.

Didn't think the excursions were too bad - we did Rome on Your Own - managed to see the Colisseum and the Cistine Chapel, half day in Pisa and for me the highlight was the Nou Camp.