Hi Goddard,

There's a few good places to get information about a cruise - the likes of Cruise Critic has some decent info on things like Ports that can be visited and information on different ships if you want an idea of what they have available.

The following may be useful: http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/ftc/

I am not one of those cruisy types that have done lots of different cruises and take a great delight in telling you all about them, however we are just back a couple of weeks from a Caribbean cruise on board the Tui Discovery (Thomson).

We flew out from Glasgow although Scottish departures are extremely poor with only a couple of flights a year, Thomsons need to look at this as there is a demand for them.

We flew to Barbados and did a 2 week back to back cruise and one of the good things about Thomson is they have very few sea days and you are in a different port every morning.

From this year the price includes all drinks and is AI including tips, this is worth factoring in to your price as most cruise lines will charge extra for drinks and add on a per person per night gratuity on to your bill.

The Discovery isn't the largest ship and accommodates around 1800 guests and 750 crew on a typical cruise so this gives it a very personal feel and there were a lot of guests on board who had been on her when she was under Royal Caribbean Splendour of the Seas and they liked what Thomson's have done and even the guests who had been on P&O commented about the personal and friendly staff and service.

There are so many different options available when it comes to cruising that we took the easy route and booked what you could describe as a package cruise and we are delighted we did, so much so in fact we have already booked to go on Discovery 2 from Jamaica next year.