Just back from our 2nd cruise on the 'Spirit' and sad to be home!
This time, we did the Red Sea cruise and chose it because of the sites we have always longed to visit. Agreed, the Red Sea is at the limit for distance to be travelled to visit sites but why go on this tour and then complain about long days and treks to see such once in a life time places such as the Pyramids / Valley of the Kings and unforgetable Petra. The jordanian tour company were excellent with superb guides. The Egyptian guides were less professional but very knowledgeable. Don't expect anything wonderful inside the pyramid. Just to see an empty tomb! Petra was wonderful but do wear sensible footwear. The going is very ineven and a long slog back if you don't fancy riding on a horse or camel! Take plenty water.
A wonderful week with great crew and entertainment of a high standard. The Africa show was superb.

After initial doubts about cruising, we are devotees and looking forward to seeing the fjords onboard Celebration in July.

The only downside for us is the cramped aircraft and constant flogging of lucky tickets. Sharm airport is chaos and a survival nightmare. That apart Thomson's do an excellent value holiday. Enjoy!

Well, where do I start apart from WOW!

Fair enough this was our first cruise but coupled with the sights that we saw made it totally worthwhile. I’ll try and do this on a day by day basis.

The flight out was uneventful, made easier by flying from East Midlands, easy, quick little airport, our own check in queue, much smaller than the regular ones made us feel like royalty.

Sharm airport on the other hand, well shambles comes to mind. This airport is designed to handle 3 planes an hour, it actually caters for about 5 times that! Still, they are currently building a new one so hopefully in a couple of years things will be easier.

Got to the ship at about 7pm, tired, hungry and thirsty. But we had to unpack first! That out of the way we grabbed a quick drink before the drill at 9.15. This was actually quite fun and they make it a gentle introduction to some of the staff ie the photographer, we ended up buying the photo of our 7 year old as it was very good.

After that, it was another couple of drinks then bed!

Friday:-Aqaba
As ever I was on sunbed duty and trotted out to the Lido at about 7.30. A few people about doing the same but as the week went on I think everyone had the same idea and by 9.30 there was no chance. This is probably due to the fact that the ports have nowhere in walking distance so if there was no major excursions that day then the ship was almost full.
The highlight was a display by the Royal Jordanian Airforce, fantastic stuff.

Saturday:- Aqaba
This was the one I’d been waiting for, Petra day! Ever since the Indy film I’ve wanted to visit Petra and boy was it worth the wait. A pleasant trip out made better by our guide Mohammed who seemed to know anything and everything remotely interesting about Jordan.
The walk down the Siq is a great buildup. My main thoughts were why did they do that, because they could! So many little needless cuttings into the rock. And the water channel beggars belief.
After a good informative stroll down we were there, the Treasury. More than anything I could have envisaged. And this was just the start. There is so much to see at Petra a day doesn’t do it justice.
Have a look at the stall a bit further down, there is a guy selling the bottles filled with coloured sand. He showed us how he made the camel figures, ingenious. Got a nice sized bottle for 3 JD.
Lunch at the Movenpick was very very nice. As we waited in the carpark to go back we had a group of Jordanians jump out the back of a van and start playing music for us. Very strange to see bagpipes in the Middle East but well worth it. The Jordanians seem very eager to please tourists and it was very much appreciated from my point of view.
Its been mentioned before but a nice little touch is the hot towels and soup waiting on the quayside upon your return.
Evening meal was in the Lido and a few drinks in the High Spirits.

Sunday:- at sea
Sunbed race again! Very relaxing day, eating drinking etc etc.
We were on early sitting for the Captains Night. Not as grimacing a affair as I first had envisaged. It was a very pleasant evening. People have moaned about having to queue up to have the photo’s. So what? Dinner in the Compass Rose was delicious. This was the only time we ate there as having a 16 year old with a bottomless stomach, there was no way he was going to be filled up. Ended the evening watching War of the Worlds in the cinema, still in my Tux!!

Monday:- Port Sokhna – Cairo
We opted for the Pyramids and Nile cruise as we were a little sceptical about the museum. We’d heard it was a little chaotic. Anyway this trip included the Citadel, a must for anyone. Lunch on the Nile was fabulous with a great little belly dancer! The Pyramids and Sphinx, well words can’t describe it. Just be wary of the local traders. A polite no will see most of them off but my man Ahmed, our security guard, stepped in one time. He was excellent, did his job but was also chatty. This got him a decent tip at the end of it.

Tuesday/Wednesday: Safaga
We opted not to go on the Luxor trip think it was a long day for our 7 year old and also flying home the next day so we had 2 long relaxing days by the pool.

Thursday: Sharm el Sheikh
Me and our 16 year old went quad biking in the desert, great fun and thoroughly recommended. You stop at a bedouin camp, albeit tourist made and have some tea, very sweet. There is a toilet which is a brick hut with a hole in the floor and no loo paper so ladies you have been warned! Drip dry only!
Back to the ship for a few hours then off to face Sharm airport again. Nice flight home but then I did sleep for 4 hours!

Staff – only praise. Worthy of mention are Rodica, our stewardess. We had a towel arranging contest, the best I could manage was a hung up skinned chicken. She topped that with a rose that covered most of the bed!
Mick Dundee, one of the entertainment staff. Very funny guy, quick at the one liners. Bob Mcgowan, the cruise director, very camp but very funny. Laura and Lorna in the kids club, they kept my youngest occupied and he loved it.
All the staff in High Spirits, Costa, Galina, Anand.

Food:- As I mentioned we ate mainly in the Lido. There really is no need to go elsewhere. The food was always warm and very tasty. Some good theme nights but watch the beef madras on the Indian night!!!

Cabins:- we had cabin 502, inside 4 berth on deck 3. Loads of wardrobe and drawer space. Watch the toilets. I got the impression that it can only cope with so many flushing at any one time and any more get put into a queue until its time comes round. Caused a panic a couple of times, see above re Beef Madras!

We were also crowned Mr & Mrs Thomson Spirit. I think I earned a few brownie points with SWMBO for knowing her so well! Check out the game shows and don’t be afraid to volunteer.

this was our third cruise with thompson and the best yet.the food, ship, staff, and entertainment were all excellent but what really impressed us were the excursions, we have cruised with big liners like disney before but the way thompson did the excursions is second to none. Petra was great our two children aged 15 and 9 loved thhorse riding and banter with the locals,Cairo was even better but also sad seeing how the poor live. best of all was luxor what a great experience for our children even though the excursions were long they had a great time, but the words ONE ENGLISH POUND keep ringing in our heads once you go you will know what we mean.

This was our 3rd cruise on the Thomson Spirit. It's nice to see some of the staff agin. One waiter remembered us from our cruise last year.
The tours to the pyromids and the valley of the kings were far to expensive so we decided to stay onboard the ship.
The food was not as good as last year. The meat was very tough and dry although this maybe due to whats available in Egypt.
The entertainment during the day was very poor. Quizes and Veg carving were an annoyance whilst we were trying to relax.
The evening entertainment was good. Bob the cruise director made us laugh and the comedian Andy Rudge made us cry with laughter. The Jolson show was very good as was the French show.
We had an egyptian show one night which was appalling. Far too long and tiresome for us so we went in to watch the Violin duo who were very good indeed.
I doubt we will go back to the red sea again.

just returned from our first cruise aboard the thomson spirit around the red sea, and what a week its been. We all thoroughly enjoyed it and couldn't find fault with any of it.The ship was spotless and the service was first class, everyone went out of their way to help you.We decided to do the rose red city trip to petra which was really tiring and to be honest pretty impossible if you have any walking difficulties,and not just because of the distance, but because of the uneven ground, but well worth it when you get there. We also done the pyramids and nile trip,which we weren't going to do because of the expense,but decided that we couldn't go all that way and not see them and what an experience,we are so glad that we did.All in all it was a first class holiday, probably the best we've ever had and are hoping to do the same cruise again next year on the celebration. My only fault with the holiday was the lack of sunbeds on the full day at sea and the fact that you had to get up at the crack of dawn just to get one.My husband noticed that one particular person had reserved a large number of beds,which thomson say is not allowed,but obviously it still goes on,and we complain about the germans!!!

This cruise was excellent from start to finish. It is probably best suited to those who are really intersted in Egyptology and you must be fit. I would not suggest taking very young children or babies as the excursions would not be suitable and there are not any opportunities to go ashore on your own as the ports are a distance from anywhere.
The ship is clean, staff very friendly and helpful and the food is great and plentiful. We used both restaurants and were pleased with both. The onboard entertainment was good but I have seen better on other cruises. The cabins were clean and ample space for clothes. The cabin steward was very efficient and helpful.

We did the Wadi Rum desert trip which was excellent fun and not to be missed.
Petra was interesting but a very long walk over sand, cobbles and concrete paths. There are steps but you dont have to do that part.
Cairo and the pyramids was also good but remember to use the toilet on the coach as there are few toilets stops on this trip. We went to the museum which was interesting but very noisy and at times difficult to hear the guide.
We also did the submarine trip which was a change from history but a little disappointing as the sea is quite cloudy and at times difficult to see the fish and coral reef.
I did not go on the Luxor trip but the rest of my party did. They had a fantastic time but came back exhausted. They left the ship at 6.30am and did not arrive back until 10pm.
On all the day trips you are taken to a 5*hotel for lunch which was very good.
Suggest taking some Egyptian pounds for tipping guides and entry into some of the tombs but otherwise you can manage with sterling as there are not many opportunities to go shopping. If you do go, be prepared to haggle.
Security is obviously high in this region and excursions in Egypt were done in convoy with police escort and guard on each coach. The travco company that organise the trips must be congratulated on their organisation and well informed guides.

Please do your research before going on this cruise as it is not a relaxing holiday. If thats want you want I would go elsewhere. This cruise was a great 'experience in the sun' and we would highly recommend it.

This was our first cruise thought it was fantastic and would defenatley cruise with thompson again

A bit upset when we got onboard and could not get the drinks package so book it before you go if you want this but unless you are heavy drinkers dont bother as drinks very reasnable £3.70 for two double cruise ship brand G&Ts £9.10 for bottle house wine note bottles of wine not included in package £2.30 pint of beer and lots of lovely cocktails £2.25 for cocktail of the day

Food was great could not fault it and we are very hard to please as own a restaurant didnt get to try the al acarte restaurant as fully booked on the last two nights when we was going to go Areil one of the head waiters was brilliant he got us a table for two every night but he is going back to the destiny so look out for him on that cruise ship

We was on deck 2 outside cabin and could see out of the porthole cabin very clean with plenty of storage cabin cleaned twice a day cabin steward very good kept us going with plenty of ice

No need to take lots of egptian pounds as take english but will need dinas for jordon, trips very exspensive and you travel with armed gaurds but you can not go to egypit without going to see some of the sights, we only did the one trip as we went for rest our bus driver was a complete nutter when driving through cario he didnt care who or whot was in the way he just kept going

All the crew was fantastic very freindley and could not do enough for you would recomend this ship a big thanks to all the crew

This was our first cruise and certainly won't be our last. Came back to the UK having had a marvellous trip but utterly exhausted. If you go on the excursions then this trip is not for the faint hearted and certainly not for small children. Wadi Rum safari was great fun but you need strong wrists to hang on to the truck, all the drivers were Jordanian and mad as hatters. The walk down to the rose city of Petra is 8 klics but came back via camel and donkey....what a hoot. Submarine trip was a bit of a let-down but at least we can say we've been down in one. The Pyramids and Cairo Museum were OK, pyramids are not as big as they appear on tele and the museum is a bit run down. Great to see King Tut's treasures though. If you think London's traffic is bad, wait till you hit Cairo. Luxor and Valley of the Kings was very interesting but had a guide with a dose of the verbal runs and it's a VERY long day! Last morning was spent quad biking in the desert and I haven't had so much fun in ages. My wife hitched a lift with one of the guides half way through as she couldn't take the pounding and she enjoyed that more. Our party of 6 are all in our sixties but there were many passengers from 25 upwards, so don't think you'll be too young or too old!
The Ship, crew, food and entertainment were all MAGNIFICENT, five stars all the way. Cabins were very clean and comfortable. Our request for political asylum on the last day was turned down so we had to come home.
We went with two friends and two family so had a table for 6 at every meal but also chatted to loads of people on the trips. All in all, an experience well worth the effort. Even a bad knee was fixed up by the ship's doctor in time for the next trip.
So if you are dithering, GO, GO GO!!. What are you waiting for?

We were two couples and this was our first cruise - thought we would try one week in case we didn't like it. Wow we were all thrilled.Food and entertainment fantastic, what talented entertainers they are. Thought the Africa night and Al Jolson ones the best. We are now planning our next cruise, and would definately recommend 'the Spirit'.

Red Sea cruise in Jan 06.We are middle aged as were most of the pasengers. First time cruising and it was great. Ship clean and was alwas being cleaned. Food excelent, dirty plates removed immediatly, always free tables. Staff friendly and helpfull.We had a delux cabin and checked the others out when onboard. Would have been happy with any outside cabin as you dont spend much time in them.

4x4 in the Jordanian desert a must. Vehicles built by Scrap Heap Challange, Amazing scenery and great fun, laughed all the way.
Trip to Petra stunning but take note of the trip info sheets.Round walk 7k and up hill back. Dont wear flimsy flip flops like some of the daft buggers.10hr trip. Bus broke down but they take a spare bus.
Cairo, pyramids, an lunch cruising on the Nile not to be missed.11hrs Tour guides in both Jordan & Egypt excelent.
Did not do the Luxor(14 hrs) trip as been before. The trips can be tiring and are expensive but you know that so don't complain. They are worth the money. There are other options to the long trips.We had a half day at a beach hotel and a swim in the sea instead of Luxor.
The confusion and mayhem at Sharm airport on the return is no joke and all the tour operators need to put pressure on Sharm to sort it out.Excellent value for money.