We joined the Celebration at Majorca for the "Flavours of the Past" cruise down through the Suez Canal to Sharm el Sheikh. We were in a cabin on B deck, which is the second lowest deck, but close to the regular exit door to the ports. We smelt damp on arrival and this was due to a constant leak into the corridor carpet from air conditioning(?)and dryers were kept going throughout the cruise. However this was not a problem for us. Food was excellent in both the Meridian Restaurant and the Lido buffet, however we hated the greedy behaviour of some in the buffet and much preferred waiter service. Drink prices were fair and service generally good. Entertainment was just brilliant and the whole team were very versatile, delivering Las vegas style shows, Gilbert and Sullivan and plays such as Abigail's Party. The Cruise Director (Richard Sykes) must take a lot of credit for this. He is a thoroughly charming man who went out of his way to be pleasant whenever we met him. Captain de la Grammatakis (apologies for spelling) needs to get his interpesonal skills topped up - we hardly heard anything from him during the cruise and he needed to be a whole lot more passenger friendly. All in all a well organised and very enjoyable experience - we'll be back!

Excellent holiday,ship very comfortable and stable, and embarkation and disembarkation were handled in a very stress free way. We didn't even see our cases from 1am outside our door until the carousel at Stansted, and it was all there! Places to avoid are the smoking areas, which are not many but very uncomfortable (roll on June and the ban), and the Lido buffet if the pigs are in the line. We did feel that a member of staff should be at the doors to the dining areas putting the sanitising solution on people's hands, as many just walked past the dispensers. This is done on P & O, and is for the good of all of us. Entertainment was second to none, all shows were performed twice for the early and late diners, and the energy was amazing. Not enough wine waiters in the dining room meant that sometimes your dinner was there before your wine arrived. Generally a cruise experience we would be happy to repeat.

Flavours of the Past

My wife and i had never been on a cruise before so we did not quite know what to expect.Events started off badly because we had a 10hr delay at manchester airport and only got on board ship 1hr before sailing.

I was very immpressed with the cleanliness of the ship , staff continually cleaned handrails ,carpets door handles and even painted the ship.

We found the quality of food much better in the main restaurant than on the buffet and we had two meals in the mistrals that were second to none.

Service was very good we took the all inclusive package and thought we had value for money we never went to bed before 2am and were always up for 6.30am.

We are both smokers and thought that we were well provided for with smoking areas.I noticed another passengers comment regarding the june no smoking deadline but surely this can only apply to ships when docked in british waters ( comments welcome from others)

The trips to ciaro and luxor are very tiring but are worthwhile and the Journey down the suez a memorable event, everyone was very friendly and we had some great fun.

This report is a week late because we have had to have a rest to get or breath back after a fantastic time on board the CELEBRATION on the iberian splendour cruise.

The whole eight days were superb starting with the journey down to Southampton. We even had atour of the city before we boarded the ship. On boarding the ship we were impressed with the cleanliness which has always been very good on Thoson ships but the staff on this ship have taken it to an higher level. We had to clean our hands every time we came back on board and als every time we went into areas were food was being served.

The cabins were of a good size and were always kept clean by the hard working cabin stewards. Thanks Danis.

During the cruise we chose to eat in the self service restaraunt for breakfast and during the day and used MERIDIANS for our evening meal. in both facilities we found the waiters to be friendl professional and also very entertaining. A special menton to Bart and Jason in THE MERIDIAN and Michael in THE LIDO. The food throughout the cruise was first class. We tried MISTRALS one night and this was well worth the cover charge.

As for the entertainment on board teh whole team were brilliant and did themselves proud. We will not try to name them because we may miss someone out. However one person we will name is the cruise director Richard Sykes his enthusiasm for his job and his versatility at what he does to ensure that people on board have a good time is amazing. He always had time to speak to anyone who stopped him and that must have been all 1250 passengers. A truly nice person. The guest comedian was Andy Rudge who wae very funny and i believe he did have some DVD'S on offer.

The cruise itinerary was also very good and we enjoyed our trip in Gibralter were the rock apes amses everyone.

The entire ship staff were always friendly and eger to help and willing to go that on step further to ensure we had a good time. Only one of them let the rest down. THE CAPTAIN. He needs to do a crash cours in customer relations or just watch his staff in action and follow suit

All in All a most enjoyable holiday despite the efforts of our local travel woh in our opinion were less than helpful to us and the same must be said for the Thoson directors office. Who are travel agents suppose to represent?

Would we sail on the CELEBRATION again YES PLEASE

This was our first time on a cruise and in our party of 4 there were 3 disabled members and as were were unable to secure a disabled cabin they had to manage without their wheelchairs on board using walkers instead. Every member of the ships crew were attentive and could not do enough to help from securing a table for us when we went to the show lounge, from getting us a table in the lido buffet restaurant as soon as they saw us heading their way. We would choose what we wanted to eat and they would bring the food to the table and they kept us supplied with tea and coffee throughout our meal. WE did try the meridian waitered service once but found the staff at the table we were seated at less then helpful and for some obscure reason were directed to a table towards the back of the restaurant which meant we had to wend our three walkers around tables etc and then there was nowhere to park out walkers when we finally arrived at our table. This was the one bad experience we had the whole trip and needless to say we did not visit the meridian restaurant again the rest of the cruise. But hats off to the waiters at the Lido Buffet restaurant and a special mention for Erricson, Brick and Carlo they were wonderful and everything with a smile.

The cabins although not designed specifically with disabled access in mind were roomy enough and we had no problems and would probably not botherr with a disabled cabin when we book our nenxt cruise, which we will surely do as we had such a marvellous time, and this was the bsic 2 berth inside cabin on deck 2.

The shows were fabulous and the cruise director obviously was able tokeep his show time truly motivated as this was towards the ened of their contract season and wowuld therefore have not been surprised if they were getting a little jaded by this time. But not a bit of it, it was as fresh as if they had learnt the routines just last week. Richard the cruise director advised us on the last day that there was a member of the show team missing as she had been lifted off a fortnight before with a medical emergency and so they had had to rejig the shows filling in the gap she left. If he had not had said you woud not have noticed, they were that professional.

The ship was kept spick and span thoughout, I have stayed in five star hotels who could learn something from Thompsons, as we were advised by other passengers who had cruised with Thompson before that this was the norm and you could expect this standard on any Thompson ship in the fleet!

We shall certainly be cruising again next year and will not look any further than Thompson.

Back yesterday from a Baltic Cities cruise on the Celebration. We have been on a lot of med cruises (all with Thomson) but never been to the Baltic. This also was our first time on this ship although we have been on the Spirit and the two are very similar. Everything about the ship was excellent and what we have come to expect from Thomsons. They are always cleaning and painting and, in fact, while we were there, they even replaced the carpet outside out cabin! We were really looked after by our cabin steward, Yandy. The porthole became splashed with paint and he reported this and it was scraped off when we were next in port. Chipped bathroom tiles were also replaced during our stay. All of this shows how they look after the ship and it was all done at times so as not to inconvenience us. Our waiters, Bart and Nick were also wonderful. and although you can go in to dinner when you like, we usually ate at the same time each evening so were given the same table for the fortnight which meant we got to know them. Thanks also to Joyce, who kept us well supplied with drinks and always had a lovely smile and time for a chat.

As on the other ships the entertainment was excellent with the show team (yes - and Nick!) especially superb. The quizzes etc were a bit samey but this was more than made up for all the other things. This included lectures (on the Baltic cities and on other things), dance lessons, sesions on health and well-being and even Swedish lessons! Much of this is thanks to Richard Sykes who is the hardest working cruise director in the fleet!

The ports we visited were all spectacular especially St Petersburg, Tallin and Stockholm and the weather kept fair for us with only occasional rain . However it is definately important to take a warm jumper and a rain jacket. Apart from St Petersburg, we didn't do any organised trips (with 5 of us even a half day trip costs over £150) and the port talks by Gwen and Jason were very helpful. Many of the Scandanavian museums are free to under 18s so it was much better for us to see what we wanted and spend as long as we wanted. If you are brave enough this is the best way to discover a new place!

We love cruising and this one definately didn't dissapoint.

Just returned from a cruise around the Norwegian Fjiords on the Celebration and we had an absolutely fantastic time despite one or two rainy days and a Force 8 gale on one nights sailing. (Well what do you expect when you go North almost to the Arctic circle!). The ship is very well stabilised and even this gale could not stop us having a brilliant evening and by the time we slept through the rest of it we woke up to a fabulous calm sea and a beautiful day. The one thing which took a while to get used to is that it never gets dark in Norway in the summer months. I took a photo of the sun setting at 12.35 at night and it rose again at about 3.00am so it always seemed to be daylight. We paid extra for a deluxe cabin on deck 8 and it was well worth a bit more money. We had a spacious cabin, loads of wardrobe space, occasional chairs and table plus a mini bar and fridge, bathrobes, toiletries and pool towels. We also had two big windows which gave us perfect views when sailing into and out of ports and the fjiords. Our cabin steward was fabulous. If you so much as moved a towel he changed it! The cleanliness on the ship was first class. Much attention was paid to disinfecting hand rails, doors etc., and the cleaners wore masks and rubber gloves at all times. Each of the restaurants and eating places had sanitising units at the entrance doors and someone was always there to make sure that you did use them.

We dined most of the time in The Meridian waiter service restaurant which was always 5 star food but when we occasionally ventured into the Lido self service for a cup of tea or coffee (free 24hrs a day) the food on offer there seemed to be of excellent quality and variety. The Broadway Show Lounge was excellent with a very good quality of entertainment each night. The visiting act from the UK during our cruise was Ian "Sludge" Lees - a very funny comic - catch him if you can. We spent a lot of time in Liberties as our companions on the trip love ballroom dancing and this is where they do it for a couple of hours a night, along with game shows and the late night disco. We also loved the very stylish Horizons bar up above the bridge for its all around views of the sun at midnight and its wonderful cocktails!

The captain Geir Larsen and his crew are wonderful. We have cruised before on two other cruise lines but I would say he is the most interesting captain we have sailed with. On one of our "at sea" days we had a "meet the captain" hour when he answered people's questions and he really is a very funny man with a great sense of humour. Each evening he came over the loudspeaker and announced himself as either "your driver" "your chauffeur" or "this is the BBC" (Big Bald Captain). He went out of his way to ensure that his passengers had a good time, even sailing up one or two unadvertised fjiords as he had some spare time and being Norwegian he knew they were beautiful and worth a visit.

There was an excellent range of trips off the boat at every stop and if you ever do this trip you must go on the Flam railway trip. The scenery on the way up the mountain is breathtaking, there is a fabulous lunch at a hotel on the lake in Voss and then a bus trip back to Flam with even more spectacular views. The hotel for the afternoon coffee stop was perched at the top of one of the most lovely steep valleys with waterfalls tumbling down multicoloured like rainbows in the afternoon sun. We'll remember that trip for a long time.

Overall we could not fault this cruise at all despite the weather trying its best to spoil it, so well done Thomsons - we are planning another cruise with you next year. I already have the brochure! It must have been a good cruise I took 173 photographs! Thank goodness for digital cameras!

Just returned from a Baltic cruise which was only our second cruise, the first being 10 years ago with Princess Cruises out of Fort Lauderdale. As this cruise was arguably at the cheaper end of the market we might have expected it to be reflected in the quality. Could not be further from the truth. This cruise was excellent in every way and we found it difficult to find constructive suggestions for improvement when completing the feedback form on our last day at sea.
Cleanliness: 10 out of 10. constantly cleaning the interior and painting outside whenever in port or the opportunity arose. There had been problems we understand with the vacuum system for the toilets on earlier cruises and we did have a couple of minor problems in our cabin but these were attended to in less than five minutes!
Ship Food: !! It's all been said before. 10 out of 10 again. The variety and quality were excellent and the Chef's were justifiably proud of their work. The challenge you face on cruises I suppose is to enjoy the food without putting on too much weight. Lots of lovely salads helped.
Ship staff: Could not be more helpful. I tended to be up at and before dawn getting exercise (to keep weight down)and almost to a man the Phillipino crew were always eager to greet you as you passed. The waiters were not only very polite and attentive but also very talented - singing and entertaining in the main restaurant and on one "talent show" evening, in the Broadway Show lounge as well. As has been said on on other reviews, the captain was very keen to keep us informed and did so with an excellent sense of humour.
On board entertainment: Lots to chose from and the quality was also very good. The only challenge was to get your evening meal and sort your times out to move from one venue to the next. Richard Sykes- Cruise Director,and his team did an excellent job and when, on the behind stage tour, we discovered they did everything with no dressers or other assistance behind the scenes, we were even more impressed.
Sail again - you bet! As a couple of tour guides we met off another (80,000 tonne) ship in harbour alongside us in St Petersburg told us -- "you are much better off on a ship of your size (34,000 tonnes)-the " -----" is a mess; there are queues everywhere". That was a ship very much more modern with excellent facilities but according to them, far too impersonal and no doubt 30% more expensive!
Thompson's, you are doing an excellent job. We will certainly be sailing with you again.

Fjiordland Splendours ... 3-10 June 2006
This was our fifth Thomson cruise and the second on the Celebration. We'd enjoyed the previous year's Baltic Capital cruise so much that we had to have another. We booked the same cabin (811) as before and yes, it's at the bottom but there's no-one on one side, you're far from the engines and vibration and in rough seas there's less lurching and rolling!
Arriving in Newcastle Central early (just after 11am) we were delighted to see Thomson reps there to usher us to the shuttle bus. Being early had its drawbacks as we had to sit in the terminal for hours until embarkation. Our luggage was waiting for us as, unlike last year, the safety drill was not held until Sunday.
The norovirus scares meant that whenever we went aboard or into the restaurants we had a handwash which was no bad thing.
The ship looked just as usual ... clean ... pleasant crew and to our delight, our waiter from last year (who looked after us well, ensuring we had a table for two)and the previous wine waiter too.
As we'd been to the Captain's Cocktail Nights on other cruises we gave this one a miss. The entertainment this year was under the management of Richard Sykes who took part in various shows and had his own spots in the lounges. The show cast were first rate and gave us Venice, Gilbert & Sullivan, Half a Sixpence etc. as well as afternoon plays (Pygmalion etc). Another highlight was Evergreen, the trio who played light classical music and favourites from the shows (despite the yittering of a few folk who couldn't sit back and enjoy the music for 45 minutes).
We had breakfast and lunch in the Lido where we enjoyed a variety of food. For diabetics and slimmers there's a special cabinet of non sugar fruits and sweets.
Having been to Norway before (Bergen and Flam) we were not into excursions this year and instead, being blessed with good weather (a miracle for Norway) we did our own thing ashore. In essence this was just a relaxing holiday for us and we've no hesitation in recommending the Celebration to anyone. Sadly there's little left fro future cruises from Newcastle which is a pity as the flight to Palma ia bit of a bind.


(PS A wee moan ... disembarkation was not well-handled. The terminal is where the Thomson Shuttle buses to Newcastle Central, taxis and local service buses normally arrive but we were berthed some distance from the terminal and were informed that the quayside shuttle buses weren't running to the terminal (but rather to the various carparks). We sat aboard for over an hour watching others getting the call to disembark and then rebelled as we had return tickets for a train at 10.35. Marching off we were asked to get back on board until we protested and said we had a train to catch whereupon we saw the station shuttle sitting there. We had to sit with other disgruntled folk until the bus was full before we went off ... and learned there was a previous bus that had left half empty. We mad the train with 8 minutes to spare!)

We sailed from Newcastle on the Baltic Capitals cruise. Check-in was excellent and we were all on board within half an hour of arrival.Cleanliness was paramount, absolutley spotless and with sanitising available at every restaurant entrance and each time you return to the ship the crew try to keep illness to the lowest possible risk levels. Indeed it is a shame not all passengers cleansed their hands before dining!!! All the crew were fantastic, always smiling and after the long hours they work I am sure there must be some days when the last thing they want to do is smile all day. Some of the waiters are natural comedians and entertainers, it was a shame there wasn't a crew only show.We saw one on board Thomsons Topaz a few years ago and had such a great night.There was a passenger/crew show advertised on our last night on board but only 1 crew member took part so not sure why more didn't contribute with such un-tapped talent?? Captain Larsen was also an entertainment on his own and we looked forward to his daily bulletins. Entertainment was the only area we felt needed some attention. Not on the part of the performers, who were so professional but the passengers who would be sitting in the Broadway Show Lounge from 17.30.They must have eaten their main meal at lunchtime or early in the Lido as the Meridian restaurant did not open until 18.00.They sat through both shows, which meant anyone eating in the Meridian restaurant at 19.00 did not get the chance to sit down to watch a show! Richard Sykes, the cruise director, asked people to vacate their seats to allow others to watch the show but to no avail. Shame,as there were several shows we would have liked to see .This is our second cruise, the first was on the Topaz, and we would have no hesitation cruising on Celebration again. We were told by the captain that we had been very lucky with a calm North Sea sailing out and back. But all the time we remain "fair weather" passengers we will continue to look forward to our next cruise. We all had a memorable time made special by our friends, Daz & Mo celebrating their Ruby Wedding anniversary while on board. Try Mistrals at least once, we ate there on their anniversary evening and it was well worth it. You will always get those people who moan about things but they are the sort who moan about everything anyway so if you don't agree with our comments take a leaf out of the Captains book as he said to us in one of his bulletin " TOUGH" Nice one Cap'n.