We have sailed once on the Destiny and twice on the Spirit both owned by Thompsons.
In our opinion the Spirit has much better facilities.
The main drawback on the Destiny is that the self service restaurents location is rubbish in that it is open to the elements and when it`s cold you have to wrap up, what a pointless experience.
The self service restaurant on the Spirit is as well appointed as the waiter service experience.
There is also a cinema on the Spirit showing a differant film everyday and football if there is an important game on.
The canaries cruise which we did in January 2008 on the Destiny was much of the sameness in that as the name implies it does the canary islands, Maderia and Morocco.
The mediteranian cruises are much more varied as you are in a differant country each day with their differant cultures.
I thought the food was excellent on both ships as well as the cleanliness and staff.
My wife was taken ill on the last day of the cruise with either food poisioning or a bug.
We are still awaiting the outcome of correspondence with Thompsons.
I would not bother with the Destiny again but would use the Spirit and I wouldn`t do the Canaries cruise again for the reason stated earlier.
The entertainment is a sticky one, The staff put a show on every night but if you don`t like songs from the shows like myself forget it.
Surprisingly bar prices quite reasonable.
Trips expensive on both boats, you could easily double the price of your holiday.
Staff on both boats superb.
Rodz

This was my first cruise and it was GREAT i had not been looking forwood to this cruise i am in my 50 ish my partner had done a cruise befor said it was ok as we love the caribbean we had a week on land then on the thomson destiny staff all worked very hard.
ship was clean room was small but clean we had a cabin with a window that was nice.
when on holliday i think a good size bed is a must and the bed was small . As we only spent lest then sleap timein the cabin alll was great thank you thomson
regards trish & mick

We have just returned from a christmas cruise onboard the Destiny. We had a fabulous time, the staff bend over backwards for you and are so friendly!! Everything was great, the children loved the kids club, we loved the food, drink and entertainment. The cabin was constantly cleaned and tidied so we didnt have to lft a finger!! There would only be one critisim-the cabin for four people is very small with no option to upgrade. Our parents had a deluxe room which is very spacious, but can only take a maximum of 3 people. I think they should offer larger cabins for 4 people as i does get quite cramped when you are all in there at the same time! Other than that i would really recommend this holiday if you want to completely relax-the added bonus (probably the best part of the holiday!) is waking up somewhere new every day. This was our first cruise and we would definately do it again!!!

We only get the opportunity of going on holiday over the Christmas break due to work and decided to 'push the boat out' as this was to be our first holiday in 2 years. This was to be my first cruise and certainly my last with Thomson's. We paid to upgrade to a room with a port hole which cost £150 and were guarenteed a double bed, but that was not be, the beds were in an L shape and when we asked for the staff to change this we were told it couldn't be changed and that they were not going to try to accomadate this! As for the entertainment, well this is disguisting, it was all aimed at people over 65, 3 bars all playing either piona music or easy listening, there was nothing with a bit of life to it until midnight when the disco kicked in just for all the teenagers to emerge from wherever to listen to acid and garage music!! The other people we met on board all complained how bad it was and we even complained to the cruise direct Gavin Carol who just shruged and said he hoped we enjoy the rest of our holiday, no idea of how to cope with customer complaints. If you are unlucky enough to go on this boat I advise you take a flat pin plug adaptor as european ones don't fit in the cabins. When we mentioned this to reception they said we could buy adaptors in the duty free shop, so we went and the great news was that they do sell adaptors, european adaptors!! So we pointed this out to the reception staff and their great solution was to get ready in the corridors as they have round pin sockets!!! Great customer service for a £2000 holiday.
The ports we sailed into were atrotious with the majority of them being commercial.
I never complain but this was so bad that we have complained to Thomsons who have replied in a such as manner that we are now taking this up with ABTA, as are friends we got to know on the boat who were treated in a worse matter than us.
I have read the other reviews about this holiday and am gob smacked.
I will praise the restruant staff though, very pleasant and the entertainment they provided was 1000 times better than the trash they had in the Can Can (renamed Can't Can't)lounge!

this was our first cruise and did the colourful coasts 3 of us girls went and shared an inside cabin would book outside next time nicer to have daylight all the cabins are really quite pokey but you dont spend any time in there really clean we had a stewardess on floor 3 called natali she comes from bulgaria look out for her shes the nicer person you could hope to meet. All of the staff are really pleasant the entertainment team work so hard and after watching hotel entertainment these guys knock the spots of them. captains cocktail party is a must never usually dress up but is was so much fun.we ate at all the places the seven seas, pool bar and lido food is really good im now on a diet though.the chocolate buffet is the best amazing the only prob is its a midnight so we all went to bed feeling a bit sick. if you dont get off anywhere else maderia is the place to go we walked to the cable car rode up in it but then you can come down in the wicker taboggon thats hysterical . if you are thinking about crusing this is the one to do if you have already booked it have no fear you will not be dissapointed

Ship Cleanliness (To be reviewed.)
Ship Food:
Ship Staff:
OnBoard Entertainment:


HI, WERE REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR CRUISE ON 2ND NOVEMBER...... WE HAVE HAD GREAT REPORTS ABOUT THIS SHIP AND WILL CERTAINLY WRITE A REVIEW WHEN WE GET BACK. I'LL ALSO ADD PICTURES WHICH WILL BE ADDED TO A WEB GALLERY. I'LL LEAVE THE WEB ADDRESS ON THIS PAGE WHEN WE GET BACK. WIPEEEEEEEEE BON VOYAGE.

A Special thank you to Gavin Carrol, ships cruise director. The cruise was fantastic, see you early next year. You can view some pictures and video footage by visiting www.davymagee.com

well, we have had a fantastic time aboard Thompson destiny having cruised with other company's before.
when we booked we thought "Thompson" and what a surprise we had we can certainly say this company has it right from the food to the staff to the entertainment we could not find fault with anything the staff really do go out of there way for you their is no stuffiness at all the formal evening is very enjoyable and not one bit over the top the nice thing about this sort of cruise is the choice if you don't like one thing then there's plenty of another to choose from thanks to Ricky our cabin stuard for looking after us and to Edward and his team in the seven seas restaurant and the matradie and his assistant demetrios for a splendid week thanks to all aboard the destiny and see you all again on the 1st of February 2008.

WOW!! just come back from the ship, after doing the colourful coast cruise. & we all miss it loads. It is our second time on this ship, and we have NEVER! been dissapointed. We plan to go again very soon. We all loved the entertainment, A special thanks to the entertainment hosts: KANE, JANE, PAUL, MIKE & RICH. Great fun & very friendly. All the staff work so hard, They could not be more helpfull. We were hard pressed to even want to get off the ship when it docked each day. We truley had a FANTASTIC!! time & and can't wait to go back.
:)

We have just returned from our first cruise and absolutely loved it. We chose a stay and cruise holiday simply as we wanted to unwind from a long hard slog at work to be in the right frame of mind to take in all a cruise has to offer.

The reason we chose the Thomson Destiny was because it fitted our dates, travel options and the Canaries was the closest to the UK we could travel for some late autumn sun.

I had read the reviews about the Thomson Destiny and did have some concerns. All I can say is, there must be some fussy people out there or they are half pint millionaires who would not/could not afford the top of the range cruises that you can opt for. I am involved in event management at work and can, therefore, be hyper critical!

We had an outside cabin on deck 3 – it was bigger than both of us expected. I've stayed in pokier hotel rooms and certainly ones with less storage. Our cabin stewardess kept it spotless and immaculately tidy at all times. My only moan is that the extractor fan over the shower in the bathroom is so strong that the shower curtain is sucked into the shower and can cling to you.

We did not have an evening meal in the Seven Seas restaurant as the first night we were 1st sitting and we like to eat late. We did change to 2nd sitting but I tried the waiter service for breakfast ad found it rushed – we prefer to linger over a meal so we opted for the Lido buffet instead. We chatted to some people who did say that they had to send a couple of plates back as the food was hot enough.

There was more choice at the Lido buffet and you can mix and match your selections rather than having the exact meal presented to you. The food there was always hot and fresh. There were some nights when the food was better than others; but overall it was good.

I had breakfast either in the Seven Seas restaurant with waiter service or in the Lido buffet depending on where we were or what was happening. Both offered the same full range but you could get freshly made omelettes at the Lido buffet and mugs of tea or coffee. Yes the mugs are plastic - but you can grab a mug whenever you want and take it on deck with you.

For lunch I tended to use the Pool bar for a snack and salad then walk down to the Lido buffet for the pudding of the day with custard! My husband used the Lido buffet for lunch found there was a massive choice. I did indulge in afternoon tea once – just for research you understand!

There was plenty of day time activity to keep you occupied. We did not do any excursions as we had been to all the ports of call before. I am ashamed to say I did not once get off the ship but my husband did have a wander at every port except for Agadir, as the town was miles from the port.

In the evenings, we passed on the shows in the Can Can Lounge as that was not “us”, we enjoyed the fun in the Oklahoma Lounge, we visited the Sky Bar, Blake's and the Clipper Bar and in none did we have difficulties finding a seat nor were we kept waiting for drinks service.

I was impressed by all the staff; polite and as friendly as you wanted them to be. I thought the standard of cleanliness throughout was very good. OK the Thomson Destiny does look a bit tired in some places but it's an old boat and is not looking tired where it counts.

I must comment on the disembarkation process & transfer back to the airport – faultless and smooth.

All in all a great first time cruise. We will do more, we'd like to do one that leaves from the UK just so we can take more glad rags without fear of ruining them in suitcases and trusting others to iron them. I would recommend the Thomson Destiny – ignore the petty whingers.