this was our first cruise, and we enjoyed every minut. the ship was spotless, food exelent,staff brillient,entertainment exelent.We took our twin grandaughters age fourteen and we all agreed this was the best holiday yet on the Thompson Desteny in the Caribian. we will definatly be doing it again as soon as possible

this was our 6th time on the destiny we just love this ship the ship is old but thats only complaint we have ever had till our transatlantic one this year were the cruise director and most of his team were awful im glad he will be gone by the time we are back onboard at the end of the year

i will be sailing on the destiny for a few years yet i hope hehe

the bar staff are wonderful and soooo freindly and work so hard along with the housekeeping staff

This was our second Thomson Cruise having sailed on the Emerald a couple of years ago. The last time we visted the Caribbean was on the Sea Princess.

We were concerned about the cruise after reading some of the reviews but in all honesty I can say we had a very good time.

A comfortable flight from Cardiff to the Caribbean on a First Choice 767.

On arrival at La Romana went staight from the plane to the waiting coaches but had a 35 minute wait before we were taken to the Ship.

Once on the quay check in was quick and we were shown to our Outside Cabin on Deck 4.

We expected Cabin to be small but it was cleaned twice a day by Lora our steward and there was plenty of storage space. We were at the end of a corridor so only had neighbours one side but we didn't here anything the whole fortnight. Only drawback was the shower - it was so small the curtain stuck to you but all the people we spoke to joked about it. Even Buster the Comedian talk about it during his act!

The entertainment team lead by Cruise Director Keith Maynard must be congratulated. The entertainment was first class - all shows and one farce highly enjoyable as were the quiz shows - especially Mr and Mrs.

The staff in the Seven Seas Restaurant were friendly and helpful and nothing was too much trouble. They also entertained some evenings. The food was ok but I agree with a previous reviewer about the Chicken served with Tartare sauce. There was also sauces on most dishes and the steaks were not good but when catering for over 1000 people we really couldn't complain. Breakfast was good with many choices from cereals to full english.

We did some trips with Thomson the first week and found them to be expensive. The second week we did our own trips along with the people we dined with and these cost 20 dollars each (aprox £15 each compared to Thomson £30+ each).

We had a very good Cruise and would definately sail on the Destiny again.

My husband Tim and I have just returned from our very first cruise and loved every minute. Yes the cabin was small and the shower miniscule, but we didn't spend much time in there and soon got used to it. Staff were very friendly and helpful. Food was plentiful if a little boring, but breakfast was really good with plenty of choice. The entertainment was excellent with the Topmen providing a large range of music and a variety of shows and quizzes, Mr &
Mrs was hilarious. Met some very nice people and would definitely go again.

Just returned from our latest cruise on the Destiny this time in the Caribbean.
Yes the ship is old and in need of some attention but it was always clean with great food and all of the staff work very hard to give you a good holiday. I dont know how they do it but they even remember your name from your last cruise with them.
The onboard entertainment cannot be faulted with something for everyone. The cabins are small we have never been below deck four but try (if we can afford it) for deck seven which are great with a full size bath shower etc.
Only problem we had was on the flight we booked premium seats, in Oct 2007, but could not sit together.
But yes we will go again am now looking forward to the Calypso in October.

“Should I take a cruise on the Thomson Destiny?” Simple answer . . . NO! To be fair it does have to be said that Thomson do provide probably the best show lounge entertainment available and the staff/crew are in all honesty pretty hard to beat for service and friendliness. However, it’s a real pity that these hard working people are badly let down by the Ships Thomson lease and in particular the Destiny.

Let’s start with the cabins. In common with many other passengers on our cruise we found the cabins ridiculously small and tatty in appearance - quite horrible to be honest. They are kept clean by the cabin stewards but it is hard to accept: a pull down second (not third you’ll notice) single bed, brown army type blankets (I’m not exaggerating here), inadequate wardrobe space and noisy doors (have magnetic fasteners that cannot be closed quietly), poor lighting, grimy window, missing bed back rest (plus remaining jagged screw holes in the walls), uneven mattresses (one side higher than the other), an ancient television, mouldy showers that flood the bathroom if not very careful (although the water pressure and heat produced is superb), chipped and badly re-painted sinks and poor quality toiletries provided. Finally and most irritating in my book is the fact that the cabins have no sound proofing whatsoever. Wardrobe doors, drawers, coughs and sneezes, snoring, talking, giggling and in particular television noise can all be heard quite easily from adjacent cabins. The people next door to us seemed to have a television fetish – on from morning until night and even switched on when they returned to their cabin at 1.30am!!! They must have realised that this could be heard next door - Idiots. Then again, Thomson does ask people to keep noise to a minimum when returning to their cabins after 11.00pm. However, the fact that they run an in cabin movie at midnight does kind of contradict this I think! Oh, there’s no need to set an alarm when the ship pulls into port early morning – you definitely know you have arrived from the engine/winding gear noises. This is the first cruise I have had to buy earplugs on board so that I could get to sleep. Also, the corridors leading to the rooms also smelly – like a horrible muggy hospital type smell and a bit like BO/old fag ends/ vegetables at times. Yuk!

BEWARE (1) . . . Thomson, unlike any other cruise line I’ve been on, charge for their safety deposit boxes. This is a non-refundable charge of £12.00pw/£24.00 per fortnight for the key (no they aren’t electronic) – quite outrageous. I am in the process of writing a letter of complaint on this aspect. They even have the cheek to charge you another £40.00 should you lose the key!

BEWARE (2) . . . The on Ship ironing service is rubbish. They simply press your clothes with no real regard as to whether they are removing creases or not – they actually “ironed” creases into several of our clothes. Save your money and put up with the creases as they will probably come back worse than when you sent them!

Beware (3) . . . Take sea sickness tablets with you. The destiny is quite easily the most unstable ship I have ever been on and the cabin movement is terrible.

Turning to the food – The Seven Seas restaurant itself is adequate but can be hot and stuffy. Again the waiting staff work very hard and do keep you entertained – no faults here. However, the menu is at times a little strange –e.g. chicken with tartar sauce, strange sauces on every meal, fish and chips (that turned out to be swordfish but they didn’t tell anyone – very sweet and not what anyone was expecting), the same bland vegetables served up night after night regardless of what they accompanied. All in all the quality was not very good but just about passable I suppose. You also seem to be rushed through service – no time to digest each course and coffee is on the table before your dessert!

Moving onto the Lido – appalling! Hot, smelly, poor and inadequate seating/ tables and busy but the food is generally okay. Basically a bad “transport caf” type of experience – we avoided if at all possible with exception of early morning breakfast when very few other people were around. Thomson must know that the Lido is unsuitable and not big enough as they now also operate a buffet in the Clipper bar – not really suited to this though.

Public rooms are okay but only Blakes (nice comfy leather sofas to relax on and Plasma TVs) comes anywhere near a modern standard or any element approaching sophistication.

Sunbathing – nowhere near enough space for sea days so get there early (pre 8.00am)!

To sum up – the Thomson Destiny (and in reality the entire fleet) is well past it’s sell by date and in no way comes near the standard that is expected from the modern cruise passenger. If Thomson leased a newer ship(s)with more balcony cabins, better stability and better facilities then I really do think they would have a superb product to offer. Until they do we will not be returning to them unfortunately and will stick with P&O/RCL in future. Some people argue that this is reflected in the price you pay but I think if you look carefully this is no longer actually the case – they are not much cheaper than the more upmarket cruise lines in the lower cabin category grades.

we sailed on destiny our first cruise and were not disappointed it was our best holiday ever, food, entertainment , staff, cleanliness etc excellent would go again definately.

The Ship is dated which is a shame because the destinations are great, my husband and i were celebrating our 30th Wedding Aniversary, we paid £300 each to upgrade to deck 5 outside cabin, i wished we hadn't bothered. The cabin Bed was terrible, it was like sleeping in a bath. The bed was so pogged i ended up with a bad back. When we complained they put blankets on the bed to fill the void. Its a shame really because the entertainment,food and staff we all very good. I wouldn't pay to go on this ship again. I will try the other cruise lines next time. The cabin was small but i wasn't bothered about that its the bed that is the most important part, and a good nights sleep.

Coral Islands cruise departing December 21/08. The 767ER Thomson Fly aircraft out of Manchester was 1.5 hrs late due to a technical problem with the in flight touch screen entertainment system. The outbound flight was most comfortable arriving La Romana at 16.20 local time. The transfer to the Destiny was excellent and only took approx 45 minutes from airport to ship.
The ports of call were excellent and each had its own feeling of Christmas. The on board entertainment was disappointing compared to my previous experience of the Destiny.
Luggage removed to a safe area (so I was informed) on the last night but on arriving at the airport I found the luggage to be stored outside but under cover, no check was made regarding who picked up the luggage prior to check in.
Both the food and ship cleanliness was of a good standard and all the crew members were polite and most helpful. The return flight was on time on what appeared to be an elderly First Choice 767.

We sailed in Nov 7 to 14,
the cruse was good food good cabins a little small and dated but clean,

The Agidir trip was something we could have done without, the "vist" to the market was uncomfortable and intimidating, my wife and two lady friends could do without the pawing of the local men.

Finally, collecting our cases was not good, we informed them one was missing only to be told by the rep just board the bus and we might find it later if any are left, however we located our case some way from where it should have been. We noticed and informed the same rep that the security tapes on the case were tamperd with, she replied that a fellow traveller had open it by mistake and left the case there, We were unhappy with that but were ushed onto the coach.
On openng our case in Gatwick we discoverd that my digital dvd/camra and flash were missing along with the charging cord for my I phone. They had deliberatly removed the uk plug adapter, this suggests that they only wanted the continentall fitting, No other items were missing.

On trying to contact customer services has been dreadfull boucing us from one person to the next spending some 35 mins on each call, that is when they bother to pick the phone up.
when i asked them to contact the ship but said they can't Strange as it seems we can conact the space shuttle but not a ship on this planet, It begs the question , how do they send a sos when they sink if they have no radio connection ?????

unfortunatly all the good work by the rest of the crew has been distroyed by the person who stole from us.