ship is clean but is showing its age.Bathrooms could do with a revamp.Service was very good but the food was a little plain.Outside food court was quite disappointing the plastic food covers were broken allowing flies to contaminate the food.We picked a delux room on level 8 this was a mistake as it was underneath the tennis courts volly ball net a afternoon nap was out of the question
The itinery on the red sea magic was very dissapointing.We spent 4 days at two industrial ports with nowhere to visit unless you wanted to go on organised trips which we had already done.The ship was very full with very limited sunbed space and as it was school holidays the small pools were full.
Dont be put off but for our first cruise a different itinery might have been a better choice

We have just returned from Red Sea Magic cruise, and believe us it really was magic.
The ship - ok its old, but retains charm and is kept very clean and comfortable. There are 'vibrations' but these did not bother us at all and certainly did not keep us awake. Air Con/extractor on all the time in bathroom, but cannot be heard when door is shut.
The staff are marvellous and friendly, food excellent.
Entertainment ok, the team only together for one week before and it showed, but got better as the week went on.
Excursions by Thomson first class, in fact you cannot do them independently because of distance and security.
All in all a really wonderful cruise, better than we anticipated.

What a worry some reviews can give you, this ship had some awful comments that we saw after we booked, had we'd have seen before, we would not have booked. THANK GOODNESS we did not see them because we had an excellent cruise on this little (by today standards) ship.

If you (like us) have been on the big, plush ships that make up most of the cruise ships today, you will see this ship initially as drab when you first see the various parts. If it is important for you to be in sparkling, posh, glitzy surroundings, you will be disappointed with the 'Spirit'. HOWEVER, if you are like us who like to look on the whole package and not be fooled by superficial dazzles you should come away from this cruise ship having had an excellent holiday.

The name 'Spirit' is very apt for this lovely ship because, the crew and staff are absolutely fantastic and give this ship the heart and soul that out does all the fancy ships we have sailed on so far. In fact, my wife and I cannot think of how these crew/staff members could improve! They are all very friendly and go more than the 'extra mile' to make the cruising experience a wonderful one. Whether it be the restaurant, bar, house keeping, reception, entertainment team or crew, each and every one has a big smile and nothing is too much trouble.

On the subject of Entertainment, we were very impressed by the Spirit's team. They performed every night in some capacity with 6 out of 7 nights of shows. We have seen a lot of shows in our time; In the last 10 years plus most shows use a lot of pre-recorded backing music and vocals giving the audience an impression that what they hear being sung is all being performed by the stage performers, when all the 'live parts' are just one person (sometimes two). The Spirit's singers and dancers ALL sung live, all 10 of them on occasions. The harmonies when in full chorus was excellent and to sing and dance at the same time is very hard to do. Yes, there were moments that a few individuals got the note wrong, but it is LIVE music not pre-recorded and mimed (NOTE the backing instruments were all recorded, which is understandable because of the budget of having an orchestra would be huge). The shows were generally different from the usual middle of the road 'Saturday Night Fever' and 'Cabaret' type presentations that you get on other cruise ships. Be prepared for something different and have an open mind. I did not recognize some of the songs but it was great to hear something unusual.

Other entertainment by the team was also good and a notch or two above the Thomson hotel entertainers. There were also professional live acts with a band called 'The Prime Men' who were excellent and 100% live playing hits from 50's to Lady Gaga of today.

The food in the restaurant was very good, but NOT excellent and some cruisers who are used to top quality may be disappointed, we were very happy with the food. The only complaints were heard were from a few people who ate at every meal in the buffet restaurant and complained about the same food all week. They should have used the main restaurant, it does not cost anymore!

We did the Red Sea Cruise taking in Egypt with excursions to Cairo (pyramids etc) and Luxor (temples) along with Jordan visiting Petra. With all the 'un-rest' problems we were concerned for safety. We had no problem at all, in fact because there are so many Countries not visiting, it made it quieter seeing the sites. I have a photo of my wife sitting at the bottom of one of the Great Pyramids, on a her own!

Our cabin was an outside deluxe on the 7th deck. It was bigger than I imagined it would be and was lovely for us. We had very little noise. There was some vibration whether in port or sailing. The only complaint we have is that the windows were dirty on the outside.

IN SUMMARY: If you are considering a cruise on the Thomson Spirit and are not put off by superficial looks, you should be very pleased with the whole package. To us, it was the whole Thomson team and crew that made a very enjoyable holiday

First cruise on the Thomson Spirit around Canaries, Madiera and Morocco, as the ship was standing in for Island Escape which was in the dry docks.
Everyone had an excellent holiday, one of the best ever which is saying something as we go away 3-4 times every year.
The food in the buffet and formal restaurants is of great quality, enjoyed every meal, plenty of choice. We were lucky to get the all inclusive drinks free when we paid for our holiday but think it is worth the £200 pp you will be charged if not getting it free even if you are not a big drinker, because it is worth it for the soft drinks, lattes etc. If you do drink alcohol, most premium spirits are in the all inclusive, as well as cocktails, good quality wines, beers etc etc. The price of the drinks on board is reasonable. The only thing is that bottled water is not included on the all inclusive, but soda water is so I just drunk that if I wanted water.
Yes the decor is a bit dated but that adds to its character as a ship of days gone by - it is not like the disney ships with a water flume on the roof! Lots to do - walk around the ship, cinema, tour the deck with the captain, swim, gym, spa, casino - and thats before you get off and explore the ports. We did some tours e.g. Morocco where we felt safer in a group, but in most of the canaries you can walk straight in to the towns or there is a taxi waiting for you at the port you can pick up. This would be similar in other areas the ship sails - in europe you probably feel fine alone but may want extra security where there have been recent troubles.
Cabins really clean and well looked after.
Entertainment was good especially the guest comedians they fly in from the uk just for you.
Staff are very friendly and I would definately go back!

Just back from Aegean Pearls cruise. First time cruising. Had deck 3 outside cabin. Disappointed with quality of cabin, very worn out, dated, with extremely noisey forced air ventilation into shower room which couldn't be turned off at night. Asked reception if it was faulty but apparently it is like that! No mini bar, lumpy mattress beds on small single size. Constant annoying vibrations throughout the ship whether at sea or in port made you feel as your whole body was shaking internally! Positives, excellent food, brilliant staff, excellent entertainers in the Broadway Show Bar. Ship now 27 years old and needs refit or replacing with modern vessel.

Have just returned from a back to back cruise around the Aagen and Adriatic.
Having travelled on the Thomson Spirit before then the ship was what I expected.
The stewardesses and bar staff were extremely pleasant and able but I would take issue with Thomson with regards to the bar prices £3.10 for a pint of lager is top end price and £2.70 for a 300ml bottle of Strongbow is outrageous.
Food was good but to much tomatoe sauces in the dishes spoilt it a little, probable due the head chief being Jamacian.
Entertainment was good with good shows and quest comedians.
In my opinion Thomson are no longer value for money as the cost per day of the cruise worked out at £100 per day per passenger compared to £85 per day on other cruise lines.

Going to give my perspective as a solo traveller how I found the ship etc as well as my overall experience. The cruise that I did was the Adriatic Cruise which was fly to Corfu, then Koper, Venice, Korcula, Dubrovnik, Kotor and back to Corfu. Details are:

Check in Portside Terminal Corfu

I thought this was quite well organised, the coach took us from the airport and to the port where we went through a sort of check in procedure again, where they took your credit/debit card details and took your photo on a webcam thingy which was then uploaded on your onboard swipe card. If you wanted to settle by cash at the end that was fine too - you just had to tell them at this point.

First on board - you were greeted by the meet and greet start that were very friendly and one of their staff took you to your cabin so that you knew the way. For me after 5 days I still kept using the wrong staircase to get to my cabin as everything looked the same - maybe that's just me.

Cabin - I was travelling alone so the only single cabins available were on b/c deck unless you wanted to pay lots more to have a better standard, and to be honest I did not think the standard of the cabin for comfort warranted the money. For me it was the bed that was so uncomfortable that let it down for me, after two rotten nights sleep I asked if Reception could do anything, they got housekeeping to put a blanket over the mattress to soften it up! - not good enough in my opinion. The cabin itself was definitely 'tired' looking and the sink basin for example was as clean as it was going to get, but stained from several years I can imagine, the same in the shower unit.

Restaurant - Compass
The food here was very good, the one thing that put me off here is that you had to queue outside the restuarant to get in, was herded in in whatever group you were in solo travellers were almost forgotten and larger groups got served quicker. Once inside as I say I cannot complain about the food or the staff, the tables were so close to each other you could almost shake hands with the next table and the table cloths werer clean but stained.

Restaurant - Lido
This was the buffet 24/7 restaurant, they served a very good brekkie, English bacon and hash browns with fried eggs, toast was there albeit as bit soft by the time you good to it as cooked on mass. Again same problem with the table cloths - sounds like I'm being picky but for me if you are going to use tablecloths make sure that they are clean or use mats.

Lido Sun deck
The pool was adequate in size and the sun bed round the pool was fine, there was unbeds on higher decks so there was not an issue for space. This area was regularly serviced by the bar staff who were all lovely.

The Lido during the day had various activities including the band/cooking demos quizzes all sorts.

Entertainment
This was spread over various places, and the nightly shows were very good, although I did not go to all of the them, as hated finding a seat an hour and a half in advance of the show commencing sitting staring at an empty stage, which is what you needed to do - nevertheless they were excellent. There was also other items going in other bars Quizzes during the evening Mr & Mrs which was highly entertaining and music from pop to Jazz to Classical.

Bars
I loved Raffles the bar staff there Kostas and Sam looked after me, and were absolutely wonderful and make sure that I had a constant stream of Pink Cocktails in front of me.

Overall Comments
For me the staff on board the Spirit made my holiday so enjoyable not the ship itself, they were lovely and I don't honesly think it was just because they were hoping for a tip at the end, they were just being brilliant. I think as a solo traveller, I did not get my money's worth, I paid almost the same price as what a couple paid even though they were higher up than me and had a better standard of cabin - so If Thomson were do alter their pricing for solo travellers or accommodation then maybe

We booked this cruise partly for the ship, partly for the itinerary and loved both.

Ports of call week 1: Koper (pretty but quiet as shops closed on a Sunday), Venice (did it DIY this time around, which proved very easy and more flexible - this has one of the best sail outs ever!), Korcula (very pretty to wander round), Dubrovnik (don't miss walking the city walls but DON'T use the local bus to get there - we had 2 horrendous hot, crowded, stressful journeys - take a taxi!) Kotor (very picturesque and a lovely sail in/out).
Week 1 - they changed days round for Athens and Santorini as Santorini was due to be very busy - as a consequence we had a lovely day in Santorini with no queues for the cable car. Athens (had a lazy day on board), Marmaris (ok, but we aren't too keen on this port), Crete (interesting trip to Spinalonga with a nice lunch included) and Argostoli, Cephalonia (our least favourite port, although we did see a huge turtle swimming in the sea and coming up for air, which made up for it)

We tend to have the same routine - especially as we have already done this itinerary before so didn't feel the need to go on any big excursions. We prefer to get up and have breakfast then have a leisurely wander round the port and be back on board for lunch. We enjoy afternoons on the Lido deck, doing the quiz and generally relaxing. We love the lunches on the lido deck - especially the stations on deck where the food is prepared freshly for you (loved the noodles!)

The shows are of a high standard (though we have seen stronger performers in the past), the comedians were ok - typical club comedians we felt.

We always dined in the Compass Rose and found the food and service to be of a high standard. We returned to a fantastic waiter called Henry who had looked after us on a previous cruise.

The cabin was a basic 4 berth inside - however there was loads of storage space.

As usual the staff were all fantastic and couldn't do enough for you.

We have already booked for next year and are going to try the Dream.

Completed back to back cruises, week two weather disapointing. But the ship made up for this, Top Men band (high Spirits) & New Impression in Horizons both excellent. Only down side team doing shows in High spirits not a patch on Dave Beattie and as was commented upon the "Ginger Warrior" has a much life as a flat tin of coke.
Eat mostly in Lido excellent and many thanks to willy who went for our little girls child meal each evening. Raffles & all the bars great look out for-: Papa Morgan, Adrian, Kostas, Sonia, Ayan, Bryan, Si, Spikey and King Faruk.
Managed to get one night in Siroccos, great value for money and the food was excellent. All stops good although Koper is a disapointment and we hope that Thomsons move back to Rovinj at some point. Ship was continuously cleaned and nothing was to much trouble. look forward to next year.

Travelled as a family. Great holiday and all the staff really excellent. Special mention to (Bar) Bryan, Sonia, Adrian, Morgan, Kostas, Ayan & King Furok. We mostly eat in the Lido many thanks to billy the waiter who arranged kids meals for our daughter. The Top men band and The New Dimension (Horizons)both absolutely superb. Found the High Spirits entertainment team very poor compared with Dave Beattie. The Top Men in the high spirits made up for it. Managed to have dinner in Sirrocos one night great meal and excellent value. Overall good cruise.