I have just returned today from a weeks cruise on the Thomson Dream this was about my 30th cruise on many ships. I had expected from the reviews to find a disaster however this was not the case. The ship was clean, yes I found a tatty carpet on part of deck 5 other than that the carpets and the ship were as clean as any other ship that I had been on.

The ships food was OK not 4 star but near enough. One night our meal in the Orion did take over 2 hours. When we nicely pointed out a training need required by our waiters to the head waiter we received a telephone from a senior officer and a bottle of fizzy in the cabin.

The ships staff worked hard and in most cases did a very good job. Some of them were new and need a bit of time to adjust to the demands of the job.

Our toilet broke down once (far less than many ships I have been on) it was repaired within the hour. There was a slight smell of drains in a staircase on the first day of the cruise.

Yes I did find a couple of blowers drying carpets and a couple of buckets catching a very small leak in a passage. Have yet to see a ship without these.

The ship handled very well in a force 11 (yes eleven) one night and the captain found other ports when due to bad weather the ship was unable to dock in some of the smaller ports. He should be commended for this initative not critised.

A couple of things Thomson need to sort are the signs on the ship and make improvments on signs showing toilets. The lifts are also very confusing and for the the first time in many years I got lost onboard a ship.

Finally I think the main problem that people had with the ship is that many thought they were joining a new ship.Quite a number of people made comments that they had been told by Thomson sales staff that the ship was new.

A marketing problem not helped by overselling in the marketing stuff put out by Thomson.

We have just returned from a fantastic cruise on the Dream; there was no smell of sewage as mentioned by other travelers (we were on deck 7) The 5 course waiter served dinner each night was wonderful (we did not eat very often at the self service) we did try the excellent afternoon tea on deck 11 at 3.30pm and the canapes were second to none! The two groups, Elegant Touch and Strum Jam were very versatile and played everything from waltzes to heavy rock - so catered for every taste! Stephen Guy the cruise director was his usual brilliant self ( we first saw him on the Destiny) what a voice! Anyone who missed his showcase missed the best show on the cruise! The other shows put on by the team were mixed - some ok and some really good - i.e. the Broadway Show. Gavin the assistant cruise director was a great personality and always had a smile on his face. Bernie Flint was a hoot and the show put on by the crew members was an eye opener!
If I can find any small point to complain about it would be that the waiter service for drinks was rather slow due to the convoluted system for the on board credit card. Sometimes you would wait for 10 minutes from ordering the drink to it being brought. Having said that, the bar staff were friendly and so were the cabin boys.
All in all I would definately recommend this cruise.

After reading bad reviews of this ship I was dreading my holiday, but I was pleasantly surprised or very lucky. I think most of the problems had been solved - we sailed for 14 nights from 8 June. We had no problems with our cabin (6035)at all. Only a vaguely bad smell in the lower corridors, but nothing too bad. The food in all of the restaurants was fine, the staff were very friendly and helpful, entertainment very good. Everyone seemed to be happy and enjoying their holiday. The only thing that wasn't up to scratch was the weather - but that's no-one's fault. I would have no hesitation in holidaying on this ship again. A bonus was having Roy Dearsley as our Captain (again) - he was very reassuring through the storms we encountered.

We were worried about travelling on this ship due to the negative reviews on all cruise review sites. However, we had no choice but to go and decided if it was bad we could get off after the first week. We had and outside plus cabin on deck 6 this was large with a picture window. The cabin was in need of a refurb but was clean and had no plumbing problems. The food in the Orion restaurant was lovely (waiter service) but the self serve restaurant was poor quality cold cuts and melamine plates, we only used this for brunch as we don't eat breakfast. There was occasional sewage smells and blocked toilets and some passengers had problems in their cabins with overflowing toilets. These were addressed with the on board engineers and fixed asap however, this would have been a horrendous experience should it have happened to us. I did feel for those affected. We had an overall great holiday and are glad we took the chance to go, loved all the ports we visited and the staff on board really make your holiday a great experience, so good luck - take the chance and enjoy.

A 'Thomson Nightmare' from the start, not a 4/5 star ship. When we arrived at Palma airport it was lashing down with rain and the baggage handlers left everybody's suitcases piled up outside, we waited inside for nearly 2 hours before they came off the carousel. We eventually went looking outside for the Thomson rep and bus, had to check ourselves onto the bus, it was organised chaos. Arrived at the ship, no way this ship is 4/5 star, more like a 3 star being a 3 star. We were sold the holiday as if the ship was brand new, it's not it is a 'new' addition to the Thomson company, the ship itself was built in 1985/86 and needs a re-fit. As it stands with today's standards it is very 'dated'. The room was, as expected small but comfortable, we were on the level 6 with a window, I guess the sewage smell comes free, but was I paying for this too? We had one day when there was no hot water, another day when the tap gushed out a 'pond like' water, decided not to brush my teeth in that. On father's day (Sunday 20th June) we set sail and after about 3 hours at sea we were in the middle of a force 11 storm!! I was okay, but my wife and friends on board were not only terrified, but violently sick....why didn't the Captain dock at the nearest port? We had 8 hours of roller coasting and people throwing up, not nice. The next day my wife wanted to leave the ship, especially when we found out the entertainment repeated itself for the second week and we had experienced a week of broken dreams. However the staff on board were very nice and polite and try their best. The Customer Service people did find us a hotel in Majorca for our 2nd week....again it was no way a "4 star" hotel, that's another story. We stayed 2 nights before I booked us an EasyJet flight home as my wife was really poorly from the ship experience (chest infection). Never again will I travel with Thomson Holidays....they are just lying bar stewards. I don't go in for writing anything on these web-sites, but in this case after spending a lot of money for a pack of lies, I just had to.

After reading some very negative reviews i am pleased to report that i was very pleasently surprised.
Our cabin OP on deck 5 was very spacious and comfortable. The shower was hot and powerful every night although we had a bath rather than a shower tray and although clean was well worn.
Food was excellent in all resteraunts and staff worked very hard to ensure all passengers were looked after.
Entertainment was first class and we thouroughly enjoyed the resident show team. Resident bands were very good and the comedian was excellent.
All in all we had a great holiday and i would certainly cruise again with Thomson Dream

strong smell of sewage on boarding which never completley disappeared we moved cabins on first night .toilets throughout ship leaking or out of order. no hot water for three nights .air con failed throughout ship one night .blowers driering carpets on most decks leak from dining room ceiling.dead fly found in salad in orion restaurant.we where told by thomsons on day before sailing ship had no problems

We have cruised with Thomsons since 2003 and have spent well over £ 20,000 with the company.
Without any reservations, this is the worst ship we have ever been on.I spoke to a senior member of the crew and told him about this and he said that when things were put right it would be a great ship and I explained to him that this would not help us as it had cost us over £ 3000.00 for the experience.The ship itself was really tatty, with buckets in all corridors, leaks in theartre, overflowing toilets in a
all public areas.
The staff that served us were really good i.e. Jose. Kyle, Venor in the Orion restaurant and most of the bar staff, apart from when the film crew were on board to do a propaganda filming for the Internet telling all the poor clients for next year how good this ship is, they had obviously been told to ignore us, as we may have said something out of place.
I am now off work with a virus following the problems with the air conditioning and you may now conclude that there will be no more thousands going into Thomsons coffers.
The Thomson Spirit is a great ship, go for it.
Mel Clifton

Well we joined the ship on the 8th June for two weeks and as we had previously been on the Spirit twice before we were expecting at least the same experience if not better. All i can say about the ship its self is, the Germans that built it in the eighties must of known that in the future the Brits would be using it. The layout of the ship is to me a complete shambles.Some lifts go to only some decks others go all the way, the self service buffet can only be accessed from one side (long queues) and plastic plates (i don't spend £3000.00 to eat of plastic plates). All the ala-cart resterant is, is the daytime buffet resteraunt with chair and table covers thrown over, and whilst your supposivly having a quiete meal people are walking past to make their way to the lido area (extra £20.00 a head for the privalige).The food in the main resteraunt on 4 deck was excellent and the service was first class but whos idea was it to put it down on 4 deck with no view?
To us the people who made the cruise for us were the Chefs and waiters, what wonderful people these are. They are being totally exploited by Thomsons (or whoever employs them)there work load is absolutly incredible, I'm sure no Brit would work those hours for what pay they get.If you speak to a lot of them they are unhappy and cannot wait for their contracts to end.The entertainment isn't bad try to get Hazel the one waitress to sing for you (what a voice).
We think on the whole we had a good holiday but i don't think we will cruise with Thomsons again, to us it was a bit like a floating Benidorm.

Just come back from Dream cruise 6th July 2010 and did not live up to our expectations and what had been reported by travel agent. Ship interior dated with breakdowns in aircon and other facilities like lifts ect.Smell of sewage eminating throughout the ship. Self sevice food on level 9 poor and certainly not up to the standard on the Spirit. Hot food always cold. However, level four resturant food faultless and extreamly hard working staff as always. Entertainment no way near to that of the Spirit or celebration.Feel that there is a lot of work to do with the Dream before I think of going back on and then I would like to try it out for free 1st.Hope if anyone going July ect that the aircon is fixed as far too hot on ship with people sleeping outside on decks because of internal heat. Totally unacceptable. Despite all negatives we had a good week only made good by excellent staff who deserved medals for working so hard in unbearable conditions.

Thanks and Regards
Tina.