When we entered our cabin I was pleasantly surprised to find it spacious and luxurious - much better than I'd expected from a budget cruise. I felt that with a cabin like that I could forgive a lot - but as it happened there was very little to forgive and we had a wonderful week.

The ship is beautiful, with an air of elegant opulence. It has the feel of an old time liner, and has many lovely indoor spaces - even in peak season it's possible to find a quiet corner.

Breakfasts are excellent with loads of choice, but otherwise the emphasis is on quantity rather than quality. Having said that, the food isn't actually bad, and the flexible dining plan gives a level of freedom that I would choose over a more rigid form of dining, no matter how haute the cuisine. The plastic plates and glasses make it easy to take food out on deck. Afternoon tea is good, especially the wonderful "Tea at the Ritz" which takes place weekly. And of course the midnight buffet lives up to expectations, both in form and substance! You do have to get up early to avoid queues at breakfast, especially on days at sea when everyone's around.

The theatre is very comfortable and striking. The mains shows are slick and feature talented performers, but by necessity tend to be a bit bland since they have to suit a wide range of tastes. The best of the peripheral entertainiment is the crew's talent show. It's well worth fitting it in. A lot of the rest of the entertainment has a holiday camp air, but it's easy to avoid it if it's not your thing.

Of the two swimming pools, one looked horrible and as if it would be better placed in a campsite, but the other, on deck 9, is lovely. The water is cool and refreshing, unlike in many pools of its size. I estimate it was around 25 degrees C. Fortunately there were enough people who liked the deck 11 pool, so not everyone was trying to get onto our deck. The sunbeds are not the most comfortable, but there are nicer ones on the side deck if you want a change from them.

The daytime activities look good on paper, but they are presented in an irritating manner. An interesting demo of fruit and veg carving given by the crew was accompanied by a mindless commentary by one of the entertainment staff who obviously thought we were either stupid or brain dead, because his commentary was like a cross between the worst of radio and a Butlins redcoat. "Hands up who buys their fruit and veg in Asda? How about Sainsbury's?" But again, it's easily avoided. We spent our time mainly on shore or by the poolside. If the weather had been inclement during the days at sea (and we had an extra one because one port was cancelled), we would have sought some indoor space rather than rely on the entertainment provided, but it wouldn't have been a hardship in such attractive surroundings.

We found two strange quirks. Firstly the toilets are hard to find, and at first we thought there were very few aboard - they are not signposted. As the week went by, we gradually found some, but they seem to be a secret. Secondly, the safes in the cabins have minds of their own. Very rarely did we manage to open or close ours at the first attempt. The record was 5 attempts. But persistence pays off. It helps to punch in each digit separately, not as you would on a keyboard, and to leave the same time between each digit.

Drinks onboard are reasonably priced - much cheaper than in eurozone hotels, and bar staff are attentive.

Unlike on a cruise we went on a decade ago,where they only wanted to sell excursions, there is a talk about seeing the ports independently. It was nice to see this being done, but we didn't gain much that we hadn't already known. The printed information they give out on the ports treats us as if we are stupid - for example they tell us we can sit at a cafe and enjoy a coffee !!! Dohhhhhh - can't we do that anywhere???

But these are small things. I would certainly recommend this ship.

Just got back from 2 weeks on the Thomson Dream Deck 7.
All the bad reviews are correct I am so disappointed and angry, what a wasted Holiday if you can call it that!
Faults with the ship too many to list, the itinerary was changing and ports of call regularly missed out. Never got to Barcelona because they discovered a crack in a water tank which had to be repaired the ship leaning over yes I said leaning over, what a nightmare and week 1 could not get into port because of the athletic championships Barcelona!!!!!
Did Thomson not know about the athletic championships in advance just another excuse !!!!!!!!!
I have had Thomson holidays for the last 20 year without a problem , but WOW what a BIG mistake this has been by Thomson.
The bottom line is the ship needs to be taken out and completely repaired.

I am too disappointed to go on.

booked late,5 day's before all went well flew from our local airport exeter very smooth transfer to ship checked in went to room deck 7 outside plus room, bit dated but ok.never saw steward for 2 day's but very clean.walked around quite smelly in parts food in buffet ok, you'd be better eating in orion for all meals like a bun fight in buffet !wish though they operated a sitting system for evening dinner.on formal night not many bothered to dress as they should.of the 5 destinations only 2 actually visited,la goulette tunisia missed due to taking on water, a ongoing problem, why not tell us before we book.sardinia instead, good change,but then missed the emerald coast sardinia later, bad weather! corsica instead.we actually did Naples,pompeii and sorrentto fab.lastly our good german captain announced that we would not now be visiting barcelona as they could not get a berth there because of the athletics thats only been known for 4 years, we were dump'd 1.45 mins away at terragona, but if you wanted to visit barcelona a trip was available for £35 we heard a lot of families upset because they couldn't afford the £40 for a visit to the nou camp, which they could do on the open top bus if they were in barcelona.people who went to barcelona went to docks and saw lots of cruise ships in including ocean village.thomson let a lot of people down on this holiday with no proper apology.altogether we enjoyed the holiday, weather fabulos ship needs alot of work done on her and just a little bit of honesty.

In our opion the ship should never have left palma because of LISTING problems which we understand was an ongoing problen. If Captain was so concerned with passenger/crew safety this ship should never have left port and we hope he was not under pressure from Thomsons to put commercial gain before safety of passengers and crew. Obviously, after Captains announcement on Sunday 1st august when we were due to set sail from Corsica regarding repairs to leak in FRESHWATER TANK we became quite concerned when told we were staying put until engineers had repaired the problem and would set sail at 6am on Monday. (Did he have a crystal ball that could predict this?) but sail we did and Captain announced he was pleased that problem has been resolved but Hey Hoy we all noticed that soon we were LISTING again God Help all those who sail on this TUB!

This was supposed to be a dream holiday to celebrate retirement. We were sold the cruise as a new ship and was told it would surpass all our dreams of cruising. First of all the ship was smelling of drain/sewage dampness with patches all over the carpets. We were not able to have a hot shower every evening. The entertainment was supposed to be west end standard. The food was supposed to be of the highest quality and variety. The toilets in public places were frequently out of order. There were cracked/missing tiles in the swimming pool. There are several points I could raise but will take them up with Thomsons direct.

This was the worse week of our lives the ship stank of poo and urine the toilets on board were constantly out of order and the urine covered the floor on numerous occasions. The food was crap The rooms were very large and spacious which was good the bathrooms were large in the cabin shame there was not hot water and on occasions no electricy for a couple of hours The rooms stank of damp and other undelightful smells the toilets gurgled all night. No air con had to go on deck therefore misssing shows It was the Holiday from Hell if it was on land the Health environmental officer would have shut the ship down.
Come on Thomsons get your act together
Been on the Destiny that was a fantastic holiday.
Change ships if you ve book quick

we arrived home on tuesday, and have been in bed since, with severe chest infection and also very bad stomach problems. Had doctor out to se me on wednesday, and when I told them problems on board, she said this has caused illness. The ship has many problems including all the above which psassengers have mentioned. The air conditioning went off and thid caused problems and you had to go on deck to get some fresh air. I wrote two complaint forms whilst on board regarding foul smells, no toilets working, and no water on many occasions, when it did come on , it was a horrible brown colour. The food was not up to standard, and the drinks were never hot as the water was in insulated jugs, no good for a cup of tea.Water patches in all corridors were smelly. glad to get home.

We were sold this cruse as a brand new ship it was nothing of the sort. The ship is over 20 years old and looks it. We had a delux cabin on deck 9 our toilet wouldn´t flush for most of the time. We had the plumer a number of times to no avail. Out of 7 nights on board we had hot running water twice only. There was a bucket outside the Andromada restraunt to catch water from a leaking roof. The lifts were very slow and didn´t work properly. There was old maltersers and other rubbish under the bed where the cabins hadn´t been cleaned properly. The pool area:- lie lows were dirty and uncomfortable the pool itself was small soundered with blue mosaic tiles that were broken or chipped in alot of places. The air conditioning worked somtimes and when it did come on there was a terrible smell of desel for at least 20 mins. There wasa smell of sweage alot of the time in certain parts of the ship.

Food wasn´t bad a bit cold at times.I have to say thought that the staff were lovely and very resepectful althought it worries me that they seem to work very long hours with no proper day off which I´m sure is illegal. The entertainment was very good aswell although there was very little entertainment for adults in the day time. The trips were very good and enjoyed them very much. My traveling companion Mary is disabled and spent her whole time betwqeen decks 8 and 9 as it was so difficult for her to get around the ship. The step up to the toilet was too high and the bath very sunken with no hand rails at all. All the disabled cabins were gone but hand rails on a bath would be needed if anyone who was any way big wass trying to get out of the bath. All in all we were very disappointed with this crusewe have never crused before and we never will again. This ship was a disgrace and should have never been at sea at all. It needs a compleate refit and I wold advise anyone who has booked to go on this ship to cancel immediately

Thomson Dream certainly has problems, mainly with the plumbing. Bad smells, toilets blocked, cold water for shower, brown water, flies in bathrooms. The ship should have had a refit before going into service. The food and entertainment were excellent as was the service provided by ALL the staff. I will certainly sail on this ship again after it has a refit due to happen in October this year.

We have cruised with Thomsons since 2003 and have spent well over £ 20,000 with the company.
Without any reservations, this is the worst ship we have ever been on.I spoke to a senior member of the crew and told him about this and he said that when things were put right it would be a great ship and I explained to him that this would not help us as it had cost us over £ 3000.00 for the experience.The ship itself was really tatty, with buckets in all corridors, leaks in theartre, overflowing toilets in a
all public areas.
The staff that served us were really good i.e. Jose. Kyle, Venor in the Orion restaurant and most of the bar staff, apart from when the film crew were on board to do a propaganda filming for the Internet telling all the poor clients for next year how good this ship is, they had obviously been told to ignore us, as we may have said something out of place.
I am now off work with a virus following the problems with the air conditioning and you may now conclude that there will be no more thousands going into Thomsons coffers.
The Thomson Spirit is a great ship, go for it.
Mel Clifton