Read all the reviews before I went on this cruise so was prepared for the small cabin. What we weren't prepared for was the noise and vibration from the engines. We were at the back of the ship on deck 2 and you could hear the noise as soon as you stepped out of the lift. One of the beds doesn't even have a proper matress and its like sleeping on a plank of wood. The towels were very very old - supposed to be white but were in fact grey, threadbare and holes in them. I was also very surprised that it cost £24 for the safe for 2 weeks. The Lido restraunt is the only place you can help yourself to a cup of tea so if you wish to have say something from the grill for your lunch you have to walk to the lido which is at the other end of the deck - get your cup of tea and then walk back to the other end to the grill, this propably sounds very trivial to those who prefer a drink - then the waiters are only too happy to supply these - but we don't drink and prefer a cup of tea with our meal. The entertainment, staff and itinerary were all good but I wouldn't go back on the Destiny - its all very well for people to quote you only "sleep" in your cabin - we couldn't do that because of the unbearable noise. 2 passengers even threatened to sleep in reception if they were not moved to a new cabin, they were fortunate and were moved. I wish I had thought of that one. Thomson are obviously aware of this problem as they moved quite a lot of people for their 2nd week to deck 3. If Thomson insist on using these cabins they should be heavily discounting them instead of classing all decks 2/3 as the same grade. I will stick to P&O.

This was our fourth cruise, but our first on the Thomson Destiny, and we will definately cruise with them again! We have cruised on a larger ship, which we found had no atmosphere, but found the Destiny to have plenty of it. The shows in the evening were well performed, the show team worked hard all day to keep everyone entertained. The food was excellent, watch out for the sweets - I put on 1/2 stone!! They were so nice. Presentation of the food was excellent, the taste and variety of choice was also excellent. Look out for "The Spice Boys" in the Seven Seas, made our evening each night. Our waiters Marvin and Anderson could not do enough for us and everyone made our daughter feel like a princess. Everyone worked very hard to make us all feel special, rooms were always clean and tidy. Considering there were three of us in our room, we found there to be plenty of room for our all things and never felt that the rooms were small. Well done Thomson Destiny staff!!!

Having just returned from a 2 week Carribean cruise on the Destiny I can only say excellent!!!! Ok, I have to agree that cabins were quite small but you were only in them for a short while each day. All of the time the ship was kept clean to an excellent standard. The food, whether it be the Seven Seas Restaurant, the Lido or the grill area was first class. All of the staff on board were quick and 100% efficient and always had a smile on their faces. They seemed to remember everyone that they served. Paul Fisher, the cruise director, has built up a fantastic team of entertainers that really are top class. Emma was a real unsung hero.
To be honest, the only problem was the odd couple of passengers who seemed determined to look down on some of the staff and try to get them into trouble. They really were right up themselves. ie reporting a waiter for leaning across because he could not get behind their chair. And to top it all the lady complained about having to put her own salad dressing on because he could not reach. I could have screamed. It really drove me mad listening to them whinging for 2 weeks. Well done to the waiter for keeping his cool!!!

We would certainly travel again on the Thomson Destiny.

We booked this cruise very very last minute,literaly booked on the Wed flew out on the Thurs.Having cruised many times before and on all the other Thomson ships,we found the Destiny to fall far short of expectations.
The cleanliness,Staff,Food and enterainment could not be faulted but the cabins were much smaller than on the other ships, and if you held a normal conversation in there every word spoken could be clearly heard both next door and the cabin backing us.
It was our misfortune to hit bad weather on the Monday night, when I am led to believe we touched gale force ten as you can imagine the ship rocked and rolled a bit.The weather was so bad we had to stay at sea and miss out Corsica.Having an extra day at sea is not normally a problem for me but with the high seas and strong winds it was very uncomfortable.A lot of the passengers ( and crew) suffered from sea sickness. This weather carried on for the rest of the cruise which ended on Friday.Karl was so ill he had nothing to eat from Monday night till we got home on the Friday and he is still not feeling well.
Apart from that, the alternative dining area (the lido) which is under cover but has only plastic type windows with gaps and a bare wooden deck floor was very cold and windy to sit in.So much so that by the time you got your food and went to a table it was cold.
Barcelona was our last port of call before returning to Palma on the last day and it was a lovely sunny day. Karl had felt so ill that we were going to try to get him a flight home from there, and I would carry on and fly home the next day.The captain informed us that there would only be a force six that night blowing from the stern so that the ship would have no motion.Unfortunately we believed him and stayed aboard.
This was our fifteeth cruise and up until now have never been ready to come home on the last day, this time we couldn't wait.It will be a long time if ever before we consider another cruise.
To be fair most of the problems were down to the weather and Thomson are not responsible for that, but having said that I can think of far better ways to spend our money than paying to feel so ill.

This being our first cruise we did not really know what to expect,Well all I can say is it was the best holiday I have ever had.From start to finish we felt that we were one of the family, the on board crewe coiuld not do enough for us.The food was fantastic and catered for all tastes, the entertainment was non stop.The cabins were a bit on the small side but hey its only somehere to get your head down.We are already looking forward to our next cruise

Just reading some of these reviews does make me slightly mad. Im sure some people go away just to complain. Sad indeed. But anyway. I went on the Thomson Destiny in November 2009. The last week before it set sail to the caribbean. The ship was spotless and always being cleaned. Yes the ship is dated and yes it does need some TLC but by far one of the best in the fleet. The cabins are small, but I slept in mine and thats about it. You could find me in one of the bars or on one of the excursions. I you do want a more spacious cabin then go for a Deluxe, like someone else has said. They are lovely. Worth the extra pennies. The excursions were quiote expensive, but I would rather do this as you had a guided tour and be told about the local area. Pompeii and Rome are amazing places. A must see.

Food on board is great. Lots of choice. Buffet was surprisingly good and the seven seas is top class.

Dont book a Thomson Cruise and expect Royal Caribbean or P&O. You will be dissapointed. But I have to say the entertainment on Thomson beats P&O hands down!

I booked my Cruise with Hays Travel. Got me a fantastic Price. I will be sailing on the Destiny again

1st time cruisers and last with Thomson.
We booked a suite for our 1st time cruise. We could not fault the cleanliness of the ship or the ships staff who were jovial and fiendly. The meals were also excelllent either in the Seven Seas or Lido buffet.
The problem we had is we arrived on the Thursday and from Thursday night until Sunday we had no toilet in our cabin as it was unusable. As were most ofthe cabins on the front end of the ship. We were informed by the Captain that we would not sail on Saturday until the toilets were fixed. Guess what he lied and sailed anyway. The engineers were working on somebodys toilet then going into another cabin with get cleaned up. The result of this was the cabin next to ours ended up in quarantine for 48 hours with a bug.Toilets were fixed for a short period of time on Sunday night but come Monday they would not flush again. Tuesday Flooded cabin bathroom and they worked on and off Wednesday and we left on Thursday. We were offered a compensation onboard which nobody accepted and we are now in the process of trying to get something out of Thomsons. When we left on Thursday morning our toilet was still not working and our cabing was due to be occupied two hours after we left. Good luck hope it worked. The ships staff knew there was a problem but were not interested as were the thomson reps. They even tried to make a joke of it at the shows which did not go down too well.
Well like I said everything was great apart from the fact we had no toilet for the whole week. So we will not be sailing in Thomson Destiny again

A great 1st cruise for us. As has been said on many reviews before, the ship is thoroughly clean. The staff are friendly and helpful and the on board entertainment is very professional.

However rather than repeat much of what has been said previously, I want to talk more in detail about the ports of call and about the cheap and easy ways of getting to different places rather than book the very expensive Thomson tours.

Villefranche, France. A 5 minute walk to from the port is the railway station which takes you to Nice (€3 return per adult)or Monte Carlo (€5 return per adult). We chose to spend a few hours in Monte Carlo and took the train which took only 16 minutes. On exiting the main station entrance we took a left turn and after a 10 minute walk reached the Casino Square in Monte Carlo. After this we walked down to the harbour and then up hill to the Prince's Palace.

Thomson wanted around £30 per person for this trip! It really is so simple to visit Monte Carlo yourself and we even had enough time when we got back to Villefranche for an hour on the beach and then another half hour walking around Villefranche before boarding the ship at around 4pm.

Marina Di Carrara (for Florence and Pisa). Since this was a Sunday and public transport was infrequent we were willing to pay £58 per person for a guided tour trip to Florence and then Pisa.

Civitvecchia (for Rome). Again like Villefranche, getting to Rome by yourself is quite simple. Thomson's tour prices ranged from around £75 to £100 per person, but with a bit of research beforehand you really don't need to spend this to see Rome.

From the ship, a free shuttle bus takes you to the end of the port. At the port exit turn right and the railway station is a 5-10 minute walk. Trains to Rome are frequent and take around an hour. (The coach transfer with all Thomson tours takes 2 hours!) The train fare was just €9 per adult! On exiting the station in Rome we hopped on an open top bus around the city which was €15 each and had guided commentary of the route. The bus stopped at all the major sights like the Colluseum, Vatican City and Trevi Fountain and we had ample time to hop off and walk around some of these sights too. We were givien a city map when getting on the bus and so we knew we wouldn't get lost when we ended up walking around for a bit. When leaving Rome on the train in the afternoon we knew that we would get back on the ship long before the hoards of people who decided to pay £75-£100 on a Thomson tour would and so there were sunbeds a plenty for a late afternoon lay in the sun. Not a bad trip all for €24 each, whereas many people paid considerably more to Thomson for the same thing!

Ajaccio, Corsica. Again we didn't pay for an expensive trip. We had an hour and a half on an open top bus tour right outside the boat for €10 each and since this place had a lovely beach we stayed there for much of the rest of the day.

Palamos (for Barcelona). Barcelona is about 75 miles from Palamos and so we paid €25 each for a Thomson arranged coach transfer there but then to do our own thing once we got there. We had 4 hours in Barcelona to do as we pleased. Again an open-top bus with full commentary is a far cheaper option than anything Thomson can offer.

Overall this was a great cruise and we can't wait to arrange our next one.

I had only one experience of cruising( with an American cruise line) before our cruise on the "Destiny" . For my sister who joined me from Canada for the "Jewels of the Mediteranean" cruise it was her first experience of cruising.
We chose Deck 4 for our cabin . It had no engine noise and gave us the bonus of beautiful views from our window while sailing
I enjoyed being on a traditional ship with a walk round promenade deck and a sea water pool.
The extensive menu in the "Seven Seas" restaurant was of a very high standard competently served by Indian waiters. Our cabin was always well serviced while we breakfasted by Mary from the Ukraine- so no inconvenience there.
Paul Fisher and his entertainment team provided wonderful evening entertainment in the Can-CAn lounge.
We went on organised Thomson trips for convenience.The highlights were Capri and Barcelona.
Need the Capri one at c.£45 per person been so expensive?
(The total cost of the nearby hydrofoil Naples to Capri and funicular on arrival was only 12 euro per person)

The cabin en suite shower area was was in need of refurbishment with chipped WHB and very small shower ( worked well) . This did not take away from our enjoyment and indeed was no surprise having read reviews beforehand.

All together an enjoyable well organised cruise and very favourable impression of TUI

We went last September and hope you find our notes useful for the independent traveller.
It was our second cruise as we had been on Ocean Village the year before so we can compare both companies.

Destiny Cruise Ship is a well organised ship. It does need a bit more TLC spent on it but overall the holiday is well worth it. If you want more pay more!
Cabins are adequate and service is very good. (We had an inside cabin as we did not intend to stay indoors a lot).
We had the all inclusive drinks package for £49 per week per person and that was tremendous value.
The dinners are very good and waiter service cannot be faulted. The captains evening is especially nice and well worth the effort but some only wore shirt and tie, the majority dressed in suits and dresses.
Evening entertainment in the Can-Can lounge is very good and later in the Oklahoma lounge there is more entertainment and dancing until the small hours. All of a pretty high standard.
There are several nice bars and the Sky bar has the best atmosphere and is a pleasant place to have a pre dinner drink. We had late sitting for dinner and that worked well.
The entertainment staff really do work hard to get everybody involved, should you want to, and there efforts cannot be faulted.
As with all cruisers they try and sell you trips which we tried to do for ourselves these are our results. Unfortunately the weather was bad on several occasions so our notes are slightly coloured by the difficulty getting around.

Palma Majorca

Home port is at Porto Pi about 3 miles from city centre lots of bus routes and taxis are available from outside port and very easy to get around. A lovely city.

Palermo Sicily.

Some people on these sites describe Palermo as the a**hole of Europe and it is hard to disagree!
We tried to get use the train station (30 minutes walk away from harbour) but found it very difficult to get help in English. Unless you know of plans in advance I would not try and use the public transport here.
A nice alternative is the botanical gardens which is about 2 miles away from the ship along the coast road. Only a small cost to enter. Next door is Sant Erasmo a pretty public garden with statues and a lovely atmosphere. Check position on Google Earth.
If not do this, dont bother with Palermo it’s a tip and I would recommend a day on board rather than visit this place!


Naples Italy.(Capri)

We went to Capri on the ferry and it is very easy to travel independently. The ferry is close to the dock where you get off and you need to book tickets in a cabin on the harbour front. Buy single tickets so you don’t have to worry about returning on another ferry companies boat later in the day. (Euro16 each way per person)
The ferry is about 40 minutes long and when you arrive you need to buy tickets to get to the top of the Island on a cable car. Tickets are at a station to the right as you leave the harbour and it’s pretty crowded. When we got to the top we caught a bus to Ana Capri which is very sweet and pleasant. On return to Capri it’s a lovely walk around the shopping and hotel district and you could spend a fortune here if you so desire.
Return is reverse of above but we didn’t see any of Naples.
Well worth going to Capri and easy to do independently.

Olbia Sardinia

We took the Thomson tour for the morning here and it was well worth it.
It would be difficult to do anything on your own from here as so little is available in public transport.
The trip stops at several points along the Emerald Coast and the guide is well informed and helpful. We ended up at Baja Sardinia and Porto Cervo where the shops charge the highest prices I have see anywhere in the world! Interesting and I would recommend this trip.
Some went to Olbia alone and it was disappointing.

Toulon France.

We attempted to go to Cassis on the train which is quite well served from Toulon. Train station was 30 minutes walk from harbour so I would recommend a taxi to the station.
Unfortunately rain prevented us getting to Cassis so returned to Toulon which has a nice modern shopping centre and the ship docks very close to the shops. Over all looked a pleasant place to stay or to travel from.

Barcelona Spain.

The ship docks right in the centre and there is an excellent public tourist bus right outside the port. Barcelona is huge so be careful not to try and see everything and be caught out by being on the wrong side of the city when you need to be on the boat.
I would recommend the tourist bus and see all you can on that or walk from the ship to the gothic quarter close to he harbour and visit the market and area around Las Ramblas. A lovely city.

Overall a lovely cruise and although some things are not as good as Ocean Village others are better and I could not choose between the two similar cruises.