Just returned from our first ever cruise, 11th-18th May on the spirit Jewels of the Med.
We booked this cruise at the very last minute, 5 days before we sailed and we found many useful tips on this site before sailing.
We had quite a late flight from Manchester so arrived on board around 9.30pm. Quite quick through all the procedures but other passengers arriving earlier in the day said they had horrendous queues.
Staff showed us to our inside cabin on deck 3/4, it was big enough but it was strange waking up and not knowing what the weather was doing until we put tv on to look at the outside of ship. We had actually paid for an upgrade to this deck and not sure it was worth the extra, only advantage I could see was that we were at Reception and Compass dining room level.
The sailaway party was brilliant, unfortunately we missed the start of it as we were still eating due to our late arrival - in future we would choose an arrival for earlier in the day to give us plenty of time to unpack and settle in, but at price we paid for the last minute booking I cant really complain.
We loved the cruise, the food was excellent although tended to stick to cold salads etc in Lido self service as hot food wasnt hot enough for me, I am a bir funny about that but it certainly didnt bother a lot of other people. The barbeque was nice, breakfasts always plenty of choice.
Compass restaurant was very good, ate there a couple of nights.
Entertainment was very professional, as stated earlier cruise director Richard Sykes was exceptional but he did say this was his last season cruising after 7 years so I imagine he will be a hard act to follow.
Followed other members advice about the trips, the only problem we encountered was that the trips for Sun?/Mon had to be booked by Sat lunchtime and what with evening arrival then 10.30am lifeboat drill on Sat we hadnt time to study the trips on offer, so for Naples we just got on an open top tour bus from the harbour for a tour around town.
We booked the marseille trip onboard, a tour around the town then a trip to the lovely seaside village of Cassis about an hour away - excellent trip.
Barcelona 4 hour trip was a bit too long for us but still interesting but think I would have seen more of the town from an open top bus rather than the Thomsons coach.
Overall a really good week but tiring - dont know how people do 2 weeks!!!
We had a late evening departure back to Manchester so we had time to go around Palma on last day.
Will def be looking at another Thomson cruise for next year

Just returned from Spirit (13/10),usual high standard.
This was my 11th Thomson cruise,last one on Destiny in May.
The week was brilliant,there was 10 people in the party,family + friends
I had booked the Blessings package + if anyone is thinking of doing it,do it.we where really spoilt from dinner at captains table to cabin decorated by Elina our cabin stewardess.to the lads in Compass Rose serenading my wife thanks, Elvis + Angel + the other singers.Everyone clapped us into restuarant.
The ceremony itself on the bridge was lovely +Captain Konstantinos Skourlis made you feel relaxed + very special.
The ceremony was at 18:30 just after leaving Propriano just as sun setting.
Special thanks to Lisa-Jane (Social Hostess)for organisation.Bought Blessing package of Weeks Cruise video/Blessing video + all photos (40) for £70,Cruise + Blessing videos great but photos a bit hit + miss.
Dinner in Compass Rose every night @ table for 10,food brilliant + service by June + Gabby excellent.
Special mention to Farouk + Spike in Raffles + JJ + Benji in High Spirits also i think its Cherry (Oriental girl)in High Spirits (Does this girl laugh/smile in her sleep ?) brilliant.
Ports,,Why Propriano,one small street nothing there>.
Unfortunately Mahon was a Bank Holiday (Police Day or something) all shops shut.
Only one downer,who controls air conditioning,all public rooms + bars were FREEZING,ladies all wearing cardigans or shawls + still cold,it was main talking point on ship but nothing seemed change.
Still,,booked on Destiny for next May.
Johhny C

Wow, what a fantastic cruise. The worst part was having to go home :(.
Well done to the show team: Kate, Ernesto, Gemma, Paul, Cait, Paul, Sarah and Dan, I thought you were all great and the shows were the most magical part of my cruise.
Alice and her entertainments team (Sian, Gareth and Mick) were great and the Victoria Wood Set was really good.
There were many activities to join in on the ship (I did Salsa, Line dancing and Singing) and wonderful excursions off it (I went to Monaco and Monte Carlo, Pisa and Monuments of Rome).
The food was exceptional, we all dressed up and ate in the Compass Rose every evening and were waited on superbly by Jose and Ludivic as well as our wine waiter Vesco.
I can't put into words how much I enjoyed the cruise, and at 17 I can definitely see a few more cruises in my future.
The week was especially emotional as it was the last week for the present crew before the spirit goes for its refurbishments and I wish them all luck with their futures (hopefully back on the Thompson Spirit!)

We have just returned from sailing the Med aboard the Thomson Spirit on 20/10. The ship was great although the layout was very muddled, with the pools on seperate decks and nothing central to focus on.

We felt that the High Spirits lounge could have been better vented to remove the smoke from people smoking as it made it very uncomfortable for the children and non smokers who wanted to enjoy the game shows.

The food was exeptional, we ate every night in the Compass Rose which offered a great service. A special thanks to our waiters, Stephen and Dan who worked extremely hard to serve us a wonderful meal each and every night. Thank you "Stephen" for all your flowers and excellent service.

Thank you also to "Spencer" who served us usually at breakfast in the Lido and also enquired that we were OK every night in the Compass Rose. "Angel" lived up to his name by being attentive and helpfull when ever we where around, he always had a smile for everyone at all times, he has never changed from the first time we met him on the Sunbird (our first cruise) 3 years ago! Also thank you to "Farouqe" one of our drinks waiters who took time to visit us every day at breakfast he was on our cruise last year aboard the Emerald.

The entertainment was exeptional. The shows in the Broadway Theatre were a favourite amoungst the kids, 15 and 12. This is all thanks to the show team who are very good at what they do, especially "Dan" and "Cait", who are amazing singers. Also "Carl Schofeild" the guest comedian, he was a great laugh and certainly cheered us all up, along with "Elvis Parsley" the waiter, who took part in the guest and staff talent show and sang almost every night in the Compass Rose resturant.

Thank You to the girls in the kids club for providing entrtainment for the youngest of our 12 year old. This helped her meet some friends and prevent her from getting bored. She was very pleased with the setup even although she was the oldest there.

Although we all loved the ship we are very fond of the bigger, more grand ships and would prefer not cruise on the Spirit due to this. Many thanks to everyone and we hope to cross paths with you all again in the near future.

First time on a cruise, and will definately be doing another one, this ship was spotless and always being cleaned 24hrs a day, had a double bed on the bottom deck and the room was very big, compared to some friends we met who had a porthole room on deck 4, turned out to be a blessing as we had a couple of rough nights at sea and they closed the outside decks and lifts down, the lower down you are the less movement of the ship you can feel. Our room was cleaned twice a day and you had your bed turned down in the evening with chocolate on your pillows,

the ships food was good and wonderful in the compass rose in the evening, waiter service excellent and they even sing during the meal,always friendly with a big smile and always remember your names and your drinks, a big thank you to SU THU out on the lido deck what a great guy!

ports of call, wouldn't go to palermo sicily again it was filthy with alsorts on the floor to tred in or fall over and you dice with death trying to cross the road and you get hassled alot, walked around for 3 hours then back to ship.
Naples we went to pompeii that was good but din't venture into town as were told more life threatening than sicily, ajaccio corsica was lovely, toulon was nice very good for shopping, and barcelona was beautiful spent hours there ,

We had a wonderful holiday and met 2 great people from surry, would definately go on the spirit again or try another thomson ship, overall excellent

Sailed in the last week of September on the Thomson Spirit. We'd never been on a cruise before and had very little idea of how it would go. The week in the med was billed as adults only and it was. Our flights, transfers, room etc were all smooth.

The cleanliness of the ship and service from the staff was excellent. I wouldn't fault the maids, waiters or bar staff. They were very friendly with the people looking for that kind of thing.

I wasn't impressed by the food but then i'm comparing it to good food and not usual holiday food. I cook better than most of the stuff I ate in the Lido. Hot breakfast was especially bad. I saw plenty of people eating it.. but it didn't qualify as good in my book. The theme nights in the Lido were a nice effort and the variety was good. Was a bit of an effort trying to find the thing that looked nice in the buffet though. Puddings though.. they were fine.

The on-board entertainment wasn't really aimed at a young couple. The comedian dragged on board had a few funny one liners and way too many jokes based around stuff that makes me cringe like minority groups and stuff. I'm sure it was all the rage in the 50's and they're catering to a certain audience.. but I thought that all finished with Les Dawson. I generally avoided the shows as it's not my thing. We found refuge in the Explorers Lounge with the Aquarius Duo. Once we'd found Laura (Piano) and Iby (Violin) we spent the majority of our evening time in there listening to classical music (ironic for a young couple). They were not only very talented but a lot of fun... i just wish I could go see them play afterwards without going to Hungary!

I would return to the Spirit with lower expectations.. that may be more reasonable. I'd be taking along my own evening entertainment though as quite likely the Aquarius Duo will have moved on before I go back.

cruise number 3 in 18 months on this ship,she is that good,we did 2 weeks this time,romance romans riviera & jewels of the med.the great thing about 2 weeks is that when everyone on a 1 week cruise is about to disembark looking sad,you can say to yourself yippee i still have another week to go!!most of the crew were still the same as my last cruise sept 2005,most still remember my name ,did quite a few ship tours but a lot can be done diy ,rome is simple and very cheap to do,just make sure you have the correct ticket for the train you are travelling on some people who were from the destiny which was in civittavechia at the same time as the spirit,had the wrong ones,they copped a very large fine from a very butch female ticket collector!apart from that its just a one hour trip to the rome termini, then you just hope onto the metro train and go to where you want to go,total cost 20 euro's for 2 people!if you can ,try to learn a little italian ,the locals really appreciate it,the only downer was it poured with rain!lots of enterprising people flogging brollies for 5 euros each,when it isn't raining the same people sell you genuine fake designer watches!!this was the only day it rained.la spezia is a lovely place,go for a walk when the ship docks,then do the afternoon trip to pisa,there was a bit of a riot going on due the home football team (pisa)playing their bitter rivals, cars burning out side miracle square!!.next stop genova,we went to portofino the playground of the rich and famous,loads of 30 metre plus luxury yachts for charter starting at $30000 a week !! next stop marseille the trip to cassis was breathtaking a beautiful place,then on to palomos did our own thing there,back to palma for the day what a great place the marina is the size of a small city,took a long walk down to the cathederal/town centre the funniest thing we saw there was a family of very obese girth looking at the mmenu in the pavement cafe called moby dicks,one of them said very loudly i aint avin any of that its all foreign muck lets find a macdonalds !!priceless ! maybe they should have went to blackpool..next day spent at sea,then palermo sicily,took a trip to cefalu,a beautiful fishing town, water 24 degrees.next stop naples,a dump of a city so we went on the ships tour to sorrento and pompeii,well worth the money the backdrop of vesuvius is truly awesome.ajaccio corsica next did the same tour as last year a taste of corsica even the tour guide was the same, a chap called david who gave a great commentary,he was amazed when i told him i did the same tour last year,the fact there was free wine and nougat had nothing to do with it i said,the guy who runs the nougat factory is still as bonkers as ever!.then on to toulon a naval port but with a great town centre,then on to barcalona,with hindsight i should have gone ashore with some members of the crew who i knew, they went to see the park guelle i went to las ramblas i didn't like it at all pickpockets,beggers and traffic either side of the pedestrianised las ramblas made for a hazardous trip and once you have seen one human statue you have seen them all, haris the barkeeper on the lido deck showed me his photo's of the park guelle very impressive.all in all another fantastic cruise on the spirit,the entertainment was first class,the food ditto,the crew well what can i say they are superb,always happy always smiling nothing is too much trouble,our cabin maid inna always working even on the night of the crew deck party!.the phillipino crewmen one who every time the mooring lines were shipped he got out a pot of paint and painted the parts where the rope wore away the paint he had painted at the previous port of call dedication to duty springs to mind.a big hello to the three amigo's as i call them helen,laura and gina promoted this year from the lido to the broadway lounge hiya girls,haris the greatest friendliest barman you could ever wish to meet make mine a pimms mate !galina the lido waitress,the incompararable elvis parsley!!spikey in high spirits,the gurkha security chaps never seem to get a mention in any cruise reports so here goes well done lads, adrianna from the broadway shops,who remembered our run ashore from last year comparing perfume prices in the shops!and last but by no means least the lovely natalya from the lido bar her smile is priceless,.the dilemma we have now is what thomsons cruise to do next?the spirit is in the frozen north next year,having been one of the frozen chosen in the royal marines i think i will give that trip a miss! we will do either the black sea,the adriatic or the aegean,decisions,decisions!! whatever we choose it can't come soon enougth whatever we do it will be 2 weeks preferably at least one week without kids!there was one very loud very boisterous monster onboard the second week,drowning people beside the pool,and pinching peoples drinks as they went for a swim!! if ever there was a case for bringing back keelhauling! and finaly thank you thomsons this ship and her crew is a credit to you look after them

There were lots of children onboard when we embarked at Palma which was worrying as the brochure had promised that the ship was Child Free on the dates we'd booked. Much to our relief the children disembarked that day and Thomson lived up to their promise of "child free"

We were very surprised to find a large number of Russians, Swedes and other nationalities onboard. In fact British passengers were almost certainly outnumbered!


Cleanliness:
Hand cleaning gel is sited in all restaurant areas. Cabins and public areas very clean. There always seemed to be somebody cleaning wherever you went! The decks did tend to get a very sooty and some of the ashtrays didnt get emptied for a couple of days but overall fine.

Food:
Lido Snack Bar - Very good. The Chilli was great! BBQ wasn't fantastic the 1st week as the food was rather cold so we gave it a miss on the 2nd week because of that.
Lido Restaurant - excellent!
Compass Rose - very good. Had only 1 poor meal during our 2 weeks onboard (the last night we were there) Our waiter did offer to replace the meals we weren't happy with but we declined.
Sirocco's - fantastic and well worth paying a little extra for (£16 per head) We had 2 meals here and could find no fault with the food or the service. Our waiter Ali was excellent as was the wine waiter Emile who kept trying to flog us bottles of Bollinger instead of the cheaper Moet!

Staff:
Excellent! Watch out for Farouk (Lido deck) Spike (High Spirits) and Lucky (High Spirits) Although all the staff were great these 3 stood out from the crowd. They didnt even wait to be asked before bringing us our next round of drinks! :) Good lads! As mentioned in previous reviews Elvis Parsley is very very funny!

Entertainment:
Excellent on the whole. Always something going on, somewhere and something to suit all tastes. Our main criticism would be aimed at the Gemini Band and the Aquarius Duo. By the end of the 1st week we'd heard all there was to hear and after 2 weeks of the same old same old they were just plain irritating! Also, a couple of the quizzes was repeated question for question from the previous week which gave some people an unfair advantage.

Would we sail with the ship again? Yes, but not for 2 weeks because of the lack of fresh entertainment during the 2nd week.

We have just returned from a two week cruise on the Spirit our second.As always in general it can not be faulted.However I must agree with the last two reviews about unruly teenagers and underage drinking.It is a shame other peoples enjoyment and relaxation is spoilt by some selfish individuals, although the parents seem as bad, large groups,shouting and demanding more drinks and generally trying to take over the ship.It will be a tragedy if cruising ends up like holidaycamps.By the way I am not an OAP just a 20 something who works hard and likes to relax on holiday not have it ruined by a certain NORTHERN "CREW"

hello, just arrived home from two weeks onboard the Thomson Spirit.
It was a fantastic holiday and I have to mention Gareth and Mick, two of the entertainment team who are fantastic and their evening and daytime quizzes are not to be missed!
I would also like to point out that, having sat through most of the showteam's rehersals they dont mime and they are all very talented. A special mention to Kate (who is a fantastic dance captain), Dan, Zoe and Paul Thornhill who have a lot going for them and all the best to them and the whole team in the future.

There is plenty to do, theres the cinema, the internet room, card and reading room, the daily quizzes, the shows and the evening gameshows.
The only bad point I have to make is the lack of security around the ship. Whilst on board there were some incidents involving a few teenagers which did spoil a section of the holiday for most passengers. Fights and damage to ship property could have been prevented.

Apart from that I would certainly go on the Thomson Spirit again.