Just arrived back from the Med. Discovery. Had a fabulous time & we don't live in a Council House! Food is excellent, staff are the best! We were chuffed to be recognised when we boarded by Roy & TJ! Only complaint were the unruly kids. We haven't cruised during children's holiday before. Parents were completely oblivious (or drunk) when their children were being a nuisance to fellow passengers. No chance of a nap on the sunbeds with them all shouting & screaming & throwing one another in the pool continually. There was no chance of going in the pool on the lido deck, or the small tub at the side. Kids were eating huge beefburgers while they were in the tub! One child was running around the pool, lying down & actually spitting into it. Next time we go, it will be adult only!

Just back from a week aboard the Thomson Celebration and what can I say.................AWFUL ! !

We paid £147.00 to choose our deck and cabin (408) and upon returning at 23.45 on our first night we were met with a loud motor noise from the ceiling and a banging on the the outside. I phoned the reception who said the motor noise would stop as soon as we left port, which it did, but they had no idea what the banging was but they would send someone down. Guy came down, had no idea what it was, and he went back to reception. Phone rang, it was reception, said "You want to upgrade" "No we want a room where we can sleep" "We can upgrade you but it will cost in between £70 & £100 each or we can move you to a lower deck inside cabin...but you will not get a refund....or could you sleep if we gave you some earplugs ! ! !"

Well, three solutions but all in Thomsons favour, what happened to the customer is always right.

We opted for a temporary room, thank heavens it was temporary, and said we would sort it out in the morning, it was now one twenty in the morning.

Following morning we waited our turn at reception, loads of people complaining, and still could not get a straight forward answer to how much an upgrade would cost. Asked for a key to check out the upgrade room and after saying yes we would have it as long as it was no more that £140....surprise surprise we were charged £140. No mention of refund for the 408 cabin but we were told that the noise is due to the stabilisers which they use when the sea is a bit rough, they had numerous complaints the week before about the noise. However, they had never had complaints before..........what NEVER ! !

Anyway we moved to the DELUXE cabin, queen size bed, bath, his and hers dressing gowns, bigger TV (even though some of the channels sounded as though Sylvester the cat was reporting, ssuffering ssuthatassssshhh, did not know there was so many ssss's in the English langauge. But before you get too excited, being on the promeande deck does mean you have to put up with smokers talking, laughing and coughing their lungs up most of the night. The ding ding of the lift makes you feel like an extra in the Pinball Wizard and the walls are so thin you don't really need your volume on if you want to watch the same programme as next door, least it did away with the hissing.
There again the conversations, not shouting, from both sides was so enthralling, not really, you did not need the TV. Just lie there on you queen size bed laughing at the accusation that a 70 year old man was being accused of pulling the women down by the self service cleaning are, listen to the 24 hour..7 days a week drone of the engines and vibration through the shell of the ship.

Go down to the show and listen to the group of girls heckling the comedian and nothing being done, "I can't do anyhting about it" was one reply. Great......

Try to sleep as the ship makes its way from one city to another, the bed moving so violently you think there is someone else in the room who is trying to flip you out of the bed.

There were fun times though, watching the old people making there way from room to room as though they had been drinking all day, walking like Thunderbird puppets. Swaying from side to side, people leaving more drinks in the bar than they were drinking, great fun.

Good points: the Fillipino crew are outstanding, the entertainment people were great.

Bad points: all the above plus the girl at reception who was more interested in taking my money than solving my problem.
The fact that a couple in cabin 680 who had the same problems as we did, but put up with it, were given a refund of £98.00


I don't know why either............perhaps I looked rich and they could see my wife had not slept the night before and looked as though she was going to vomit all over the reception carpet?

Went on the Rome trip, £75.00 each, and barely heard a thing through the radio thing you had to wear. Seen the Pope, well I think it was him as he sped past at 50 mph or somewhere around that that speed. Went to the Colleseum, Trevi Fountain and al the other sights.......great.............seen pictures, Trevi Fountain..go to this pace to buy your stuff. Why it's 100% cheaper 20 yards away? Total waste of money.

Worst holiday I have ever had and never again..........thanks for nothing Thomson Celebration........wish I had stayed at home, total waste of £1500.00

First cruise for me and my friends, and will not be the last, everything was just perfect, food,cabin, staff, excursions. when you see the reviews of some stuck up people, they must have stayed in there cabin all the time(muppets), the ship was very clean throughout, the food was excellent, entertainment good, not once did we see a member of staff without a smile, will be booking again next year to go around the cannary islands, BUT I DO HAVE ONE COMPLAINT (sorry thompson) THE WRONG TEA BAGS. NEED TO BE YORKSHIE TEA BAGS, thx Clive

This was our first cruise and it wont be our last! The staff were lovely and friendly and looked after us very well wherever we were. Loved Horizons bar for our pre dinner drinks, with the fabulous attentive staff there. we tended to eat in the Lido (self service) during the day, and in the Meridian (formal) for our evening meal. Food was great and service amazing in both venues. Afternoon tea is a sight to behold! Beautiful little sandwiches and dainty little cakes, wonderful scones with fresh cream.....unfortunately I rarely had room as the lunches were more than adequate! I have to make a comment re a previous review about 'counsil' people.....filling their plates. Hmmm Dont know about the counsil bit as I'm not too sure what you mean by that? But yes we did notice people filling their plates in the Lido......have to say it didn't offend me.....they were on their holidays and had paid for their food, same as you or I. If it bothered you, why not use the Meridian restaurant? Strange how two parties, presumably on the same cruise, can come away with such different impressions. We are fairly discerning, taking holidays in good hotels regularly, and the clientele was similar to those holidays, and after all variety is the spice of life!
We will be booking again, just trying to decide when, as we would have had a better time if the weather had been better.

what can one say ? A load of cheap counsil house type people filling there faces with horid food !
Never again ! Cheap common people go on this cruise line,or should I say car ferry !

Well what can I say about this budget cruise??
A load of poor counsil people filling there plates till they overflow ! Ship very clean,the suite we were in was very basic and needed a re-fit !
All the staff were 100% apart from the front office,bloody rude and thick,the bif fat ugly one on reception was by far the worse.The food was CRAP,skin flints filling there plates and just being the cheap skates they are,they should all stay on bloody easy cruise.Kids club open 2 hours a day,and they were VERY good (thanks!) Bar staff 100% Casino staff,bent as anything...Would we go again,NO ! ! Just booked QM for the end of the year.....DONT use Thomson's,try another line,even if you have to spend that little extra !

What a fantastic holiday.........having cruised with Airtours & Thomson before this cruise was the TOPS.From the Meridian to the Lido, food was first class, waiting staff were first class,nothing was to much trouble for anyone. Steve Guy has one of the finest groups of multi-talented stars one can only wish to see normally in Londons West End.
The cabins are ample for what you want,clean and tidy,with a first class steward to look after your needs. All in all this cruise has to be one of our best holidays.

Just returned from Red Sea Magic cruise our third on the celebration. Previously been to canaries and norway. The celebration was main reason for choosing this holiday. The standards are extremely good from hygiene to food to entertainment to trips. We are not bingo and games type people, but still found plenty for us. The classical duo in the explorers lounge are exceptional. Stephen Guy the cruise director has amassed a talented group to cater for all tastes. The nightly shows were a very high standard (from someone who regularly goes to professional shows including the West End) and the guest speaker's lecturers were worth the trip alone. We are already planning our next trip on the celebration.

We have previously had 2 wonderful holidays - on the Emerald and the Celebration so had no hesitation in booking another cruise - on the celebration, the Red Sea Magic leaving 14th Feb 2008. Every single piece of paperwork had the 4 of us named and travelling, however we arrived at Gatwick to find Thomson had only booked the 2 adults on the flight, and not the 2 children. We were left hanging around at the airport for 5 hours as they tried to find out what had happened - they then admitted it was their fault but could not get the 4 of us on a flight that day to meet the ship. In a haze we just had to go home. Thomson didn't think it was worthy of an explanation and only once I put in a complaint did they feel our loss of hoiliday, the horror at the airport and the non-holiday, the upset and the stress was worth a lousy £300. We are so disappointed in such a name as Thomson who just did not care that, due to their error we were left without our holiday at Gatwick all packed but with no where to go but home. Such a sad and stressful event in our lives that will stay with us each time we book a future holiday- and clearly Thomson is not someone we could ever recommend due to their total disregard for our feelings.

Me and my family went on the Thomson Celebration for New Years. It was one of my most favourite holidays ever. Every single crew member onboard was great. Especially the entertainments hosts. The entertainments host were all lovely and sooo helpful and the entertainment was fun to watch all day and night. On New Years Eve, they boat was decorated brilliantly and the crew put on a lovley show. Everyone had the best night ever!
Overall it was the most enjoyable, fun holiday where I have met some of the best people ever!
I would defenatly recommend it to everyone and defenatly return to the ship!