We have done this, and they will keep you on board etc. with full access to facilities & food etc. We even had our evening restaurant meal, as soon as restaurant opened, with the new passengers!

Depends whether you consider a final day on board soaking up potentially good weather as something to be desired. Although you will be out of cabin as you rightly acknowledge there are showers & toilets etc. for a quick freshen up.

Certainly will be a long day...you are the only one who can decide!

I would rather travel a couple of hours to another airport in the UK if there was a better timed flight.
I think you have to be out of your cabin by 9 or 10am its a long day
I hate all the hanging round on the last day..up early, early flight..home...when the holiday is done thats it for me I want home ASAP

I am the same for short haul/Uk departures

Prefer earliest flight, so you miss any traffic, reduce the risk of delays at the airport, get on the ship for lunch and settle in, late flight and you are rushing for dinner.

Hanging around the last day, most/all of the mates you make have gone, the new people are finding there way around, all the crew tend to be really busy and you get home really late.

Long haul usualy stick an overnight before to get on early start cruise day and prefer an overnight flight home so try to tour post cruise or stay a day or two extra

Thanks for all your replies. We have considered another airport with better flight timings but need to see what the return taxi fare will be. As it is ,we have an hour's journey to the airport but changing airports would mean twice the distance. When I know it's time to go home I just want to get home as soon as possible.

I notice in the Thomson brochure that you can do the cruise only and arrange your own flights. How does that work out re getting to the ship ? I suppose you just take a taxi. Has anybody done this and did you save any money by booking your own flights?

you can save a lot of money doing it that way. You could go out the day before that way you make sure you are there in time
Work the cost out doing it both ways.
You could even add 2 or 3 days pre cruise making it a longer holiday.
When is the cruise and from what airport?

Hi hbrac
I booked cruise only last year (Sept) booked Easyjet ex Liverpool 3 days before + stopped in Palma Nova.
You can board ship anytime from 09:00 so you can have breakfast in hotel + another on ship !!!!.
Got 11:30 flight back from Palma,taxi ship to airport about 15 euros.
You have to be out of cabin by 08:00,once booked a cabin until 17:00 because of late flight but left ship about 19:00,cost i think £30.
Johnny C

With Thomson's you normally have to be out of the cabin by about 8.00 am, but as you say, you can book a day cabin which when we did it was about £30.00 and well worth it, or they have a few cabins available for freshening up, but only until around mid afternoon, and they usually have some provision for hand luggage so you don't have to carry it around with you all day.

On other lines such as Norwegian, they boot you off the ship about 8.00 or 8.30 and expect you to hang around the airport, or make your own arrangements (with all your luggage) until whatever time your flight is called, so you're much better off with Thomson's from that point of view, but it can still get very tiring and tedious hanging around the ship when everyone except you is moving on.

As has been said already, booking your own flights can work out very favourably, especially if you have a budget airline flying from your local airport, but it's down to you to make certain you catch that boat. You have to arrange your own transfers which could push the price up a bit. Good luck whatever you decide.

I think we'll go for it and be prepared for a long wait to get home. Thanks for all your replies.