Red sea? why not? For the money this was excellent. Been on the Spirit twice before. Still a great ship with an atmosphere of friendly people and efficient attentative crew. The trips on offer are varied and seem at first expensive, but most are great value for money and you are treated as individuals. Go on some of the shorter trips such as the 4X4 adventure in Jordan, Brilliant. Take the locals as you find them, friendly, poor, and trying to make a living. Everything in Egypt is very not efficient. New, smart, innovation and finished are not in their vocabulary, but hey, If you want Vegas go to Vegas.
This was an experience we would not have missed. If you have been cruising in the Med. Then the overnight stops in port will be new to you, and the inability to wander around quaint harbours is frustrating. But you are in a third world area, soak up the atmosphere. This is the first time a large cruise ship has done this area and they are all doing their best.

what can I say that the 4 catergories do not.we took the Red Sea cruise
The on board entertainment was as good as any west end show the participents all very talented and so good.
The food was excellent and available 24/7. If you fancied a cup of tea at 2 in the morning it was there for you to help yourselves as was all other foods so you could eat and drink whenever it took your fancy. If going on a long day, trip picnic boxes were provided and nice cool towels met us at the gangplank when we had been on these long trips.
the choice of activities on this trip are endless. Apart from the obvious , the pyramids,Petra,Cairo museum, we did the quad biking in the desert. Four by four driving in the desert, I rode a camel swam in the Red Sea, drunk camels milk, took delicious tea in a Bedion tent, shopped in SharmelShek and saw the wonders of Luxor. All in one week. And I might add I am 60.
This was probably one of the best fun and interesting holiday I have ever had.
Would we go back? You bet we would.

Holiday was 7 days from 1.12.05, Manchester to Sharm-el-Sheik. At arrival the rep guides you to dedicated immigration desk with form you have completed, no $15 visa to pay. Coach transfer approx 30 minutes to ship check in to complete another immigration form and obtain boarding card. Suitcases delivered to cabin door very quickly.
Accomodation on deck 3 inside cabin was well furnished and comfortable with air con.
Used the Broadway restaurant a few times with waiter service at fixed times and was served promptly every time. Varied menu throughout the week and food quality good.
Lido restuarant is buffet with 24 hour good food availability. Tea, coffee and drinking water also there on self service at no extra cost!
Alcohol and soft drinks were not expensive (considering this a floating hotel) and opting to pay £260 per couple up front may not have been our best decision?
Stella lager £2.30, Gordons gin or Bacardi £2.40, Tonic 330ml can £1 and house wine £2.10 per glass means that you have to go some !!!
Suffice it to say we are from Yorkshire and did our best.
You have to produce your cabin card and sign a paper slip for every drink, for the on board account and their stock control.
There was no problem with drinks service and friendly waiters were constantly there with no anticipation of tips. We did however make some appropriate money transfer to the staff.
Entertainment at all locations was first class day and night.
The trip to Cairo with guide to see the sights was good. Coach travel is not really for us, no compaints about service from Travco. We did not sign up for Petra and have been to Luxor in the past.
There were lots of photo calls and information about passports. Administration on board was efficient and 99% of crew were focused on customer service.
Each guest can complete a critique form to nominate 3 crew members who provided good service and focus on individuals who may need advice!
Near to end of stay you leave suitcases outside your cabin and do not see them again until baggage reclaim in UK - this is excellent service.
Our comments regarding Sharm-el-Sheik airport are not too favourable and will be placed in that forum.

We had never cruised before, apart from numerous Turkish Gulet cruises which we love, and neither of us really fancied a cruise on a bigger ship so we booked this holiday (Red Sea Cruise)to find out what it was that we didn't like about it. That's where it went wrong. We loved it.

The ship was great and we managed four excursions. They are a little pricey but I am so glad we didn't wimp out.

We had the Wadi Rum jeep safari, Petra (wonderful), The pyramids and nile cruise and then Luxor.

I hate coach travel but at least these were efficient.

We dined both in the Lido buffet and in the waiter service Compass Rose.

We had no problem with being seated with different people each time and once we had made some new friends we just turned up together and got a table for 6 with no problems.

All of it was repeatable and we would definately go on the Spirit again.

A pity, perhaps, that the dress code was often ignored in the Compass Rose. It's not asking too much to leave the jeans and T shirt off for an evening and smarten up a bit.

Most enjoyable.

This is our second cruise on the Spirit. We paid extra for delux cabin and although you see the deck out of the window the cabins are extremely large. I dont like the thought of being at the bottom of the ship. There definitely is a vibration all the time but you get used to it. We orginally travelled in June 05 on a Med cruise which was excellent although I thought a few more active tours would be good. The Red Sea Magic cruise is the one we went on over Christmas. I think the ship was probably nearly full, surprised at the number of children on the cruise as I would not have thought it was the best holiday for them. Entertainment although good was not as varied as the summer cruise we went on when we had a guest singer and a comedian. I thought there would have been more variety for the Christmas cruise.
Food was good and plentiful although menu seemed repetitive in the Lido restaurant.
Drinks package not good value on this cruise as the drinks are reasonably priced and as the tours take you off the ship for most of the day you need to drink an awful lot to get value for money. Note that water, mini bar and some drinks are not included in the package.
Only one day at sea and it was difficult to get a sun bed. Although they request you dont reserve the beds everyone does and all the best spots are taken by 9am.
The tours are expensive and very tiring but we did Petra and Cairo but decided against Luxor as we wanted some time to just chill out and relax.
There was little information on what to do and where to go in the Ports which is a shame as the ship overnights in two of them. It seemed as though we were not expected to step of the ship unless we went on an excursion.
One thing to remember - if you need to use the toilet in Egypt there is always someone there expecting a tip of £1 for the privilege of giving you some toilet paper or handtowel. I suggest you search out some Egyptian pound notes and use these to tip! There was even a charge in the 5* hotel we had lunch at in Cairo.

All in all we enjoyed our cruise but we both were not keen on overnighting in the ports it just felt like a hotel rather than a cruise liner. We were fed up with tipping its worse than USA. Be prepared for Sharm airport - its chaos.

Went on the Red Sea Magic cruise over Xmas and apart from an itinerary which doesnt suit us it was great. If you dont join the excursions (about 70 pounds each) there is not much else to do as the ship docks in the middle of nowhere!. Apart from the Pyramids we were on all the trips which was very tiring, leave ship around 0700hrs - returning around 2100. Food and service very good apart from getting wine in the Lido and the Compass Rose restaurant. We found the wine turning up when we were 2/3rds through the main course. We were not on the fully inclusive package and generally people that were thought it was not good value. Entertainment was good with lots going on. Have booked the Thomson Celebration for a Canary Islands cruise over Easter 2006 which feel the itinerary would more to our taste. (Celebration is the sister ship to the Spirit so comments about the ship should be the same)

Along with two of our friends My wife and I have now completed three cruises on the Thomson "Spirit" in the last 12 month. I think you can take it as read we regard the ship and all that goes with it very highly indeed.

The entertainment is of Broadway excellence in our opinion, the performers though very young are incredibly talented, the music, choreography, and content are superb.

The ship itself though showing some signs of requiring a refit (something due in 2006 I understand) is pristine and very well equipped, though there is the usual problem getting deckchairs on days you might want to lie in the sun. We are not sun worshippers, but the "regulars" seem to resent somewhat you taking their "spots".

The food is varied and readily available anytime, anywhere, Quality is very agreeable. From informal food bars, smart dress code restuarant to full Al-a-carte where reservations costing £15 have to be made.

The staff are pleasant and polite, seeming to be mainly Philippino/Malaysian and Indian bar staff and waiters,and eastern European cabin attendants.

some of them are very talented performers in their own right and actually perform at a "Passenger and Crew talent show" one evening during the cruise.

In truth we have deduced a slight lessening of the "whole hearted" warmth they exhibited from our first and second cruise or perhaps its just that the warmth is not such a surprise as the first time.

The cuises we have undertaken are The Canary Islands, the Meditteranean and the Red sea cruises.

Of these our favourite was the Meditteranean, followed by the Canary Islands. The Red Sea is however an emminently missable cruise.

Though the "Spirit" was a great as ever, the ports of call are hopeless, miles from anywhere, with no local facilities really and the trips are quite expensive, we made use of haggling and taxis to visit Cairo and Petra which did make things cheaper and more flexible in terms of times and itinerary.

Yes, The sights like the Pyramids, the Sphinx, Petra are truly awesome and we would like to visit them again.

However if we do it will be by perhaps a Nile cruise or simply staying in in a hotel etc. for a few days, we Will NEVER visit the Red Sea by Ocean going Liner again, purely because of the ports of call.

In Summary, Thompson are clearly well attuned to Cruising and peoples expectations whilst on-board, the ship and its personnel are first rate. Though personally I would advise Thompson to give the Red Sea a miss.

We will undoubtedly share more cruises in the future. highly recommended.

having just arrived back home from our red sea cruise on board what we can only describe as a superb holiday on board the very friendly thomson spirit, the ship was kept spotless(but looked a little worn in parts, the food excellent,informal in the lido restaurant,more formal in the compass rose if you so wish,the waiters are all very attentive and extremely friendly,the on board entertainment first class,the shows in the broadway show lounge especially the"moulin rouge" and the "africa"shows were superb,as were the entertainment programme in the high spirits bar.The excursions although a little expensive and very long days,were extremely enjoyable and are trips that would be a shame not to go on(must see's)the armed guards on each bus and escort should not put anyone off.if we had any criticism's it would be the endless queueing to get on and off the ship for the trips.having said thati feel this cruise was a brave decision by Thomsons to sail in in the red sea given the present climate. All in all a fantastic holiday and we will be sailing on the Spirit again

Enjoyed cruise from start to finish first time with thompson's cruise ship's ,been with p&o & air tours before and this cruise was every bit as good and even better than the p&o cruise's.
Must warn fellow passengers that the trips ashore are very hard work but well worth the effort, food at the hotels on trips was first class and staff were polite and friendly.
Shows onboard were very good and no trouble getting a seat not like the larger p&o cruise's.
My only beef was in the dining room not with food which was first class,just with no set dining times you were given a new table each meal time thus been seated with new dinner company each meal time, so the ritual speech of is this the first cruise was repeated every meal time,also on the formal night we were seated with Russians who could not speak any english
so a night to remember was a night to forget.
I realise this is my preference but it is easyer to make lasting friendships by having a nice chinwag with friendly company each evening.
To anybody considering a cruise give it a try you might have a pleasant surprise.

Just came back from the red sea cruise. thre was 8 in our party, and we had a great time.We have been on bigger cruise ships before and allthough this one is getting worn we still liked it!Food,shows, staff,was excellant,the only problem was, the days at sea theres not enough sun beds!WE HAD TO GET UP AT 8 to get 8 sunbeds, We didnt do this on the next day at sea and had to sit on the deck! The excursions was expensive £140 for a couple to sea pyramids, 30 coaches in a convoy with armed guards WOW! well worthit though. You can pay £4 extra to go inside pyramids, which we did, dont bother, it was terrifing, you have to bend in half, going down small steps, with loads of people pushing some dark bits,hot and humid with little air! when you get there only a small room with no air. Overall it was a tireing holiday but great experiance.