well yet another week flew by on this superb ship,we flew to palma and thanks to thomsons superb organisation we were on the ship within an hour of landing.
the sail away party from palma gave no clue as to what the next few hours would bring !after about six hours at sea the ship was like a thrill ride we loved every minute of the day at sea i would have paid extra for this,but thats just us many people were very seasick and during the lifeboat drill most of the passengers were whishing they weren't there,and my only complaint with the staff were the photographers who were snapping away at people with sick bags dotted around them!!!.
we are fortunate at not suffering from sea sickness but for those that do i wouldn't want my picture taken at that moment.
the captain was excellent, during the day he made a course change to bring the ship in closer to shore and into calmer water (i think he realised how busy the ships doctor was! ).
we neared the coast of southern spain and there was the most amazing electrical storm that went on for at least 2 hours really quite spectacular.
when we docked at villefranche all was calm and sunny a really lovely place with monte carlo/monaco/nice only a short,cheap train ride away the station is only about 20 minutes walk from the harbourside after being dropped off by ships tender.
next up livorno the gateway to pisa/florence/tuscany,
we opted for the ships tour a taste of tuscany well worth the money with a great stop off at a family vinyard with a great cheese/parma ham/wine lunch superb value for money.
next up civitavecchia the port of rome ,as always a pleasure to visit,i always catch the train and do my own thing,its crazy not to do so at only 9 euro for a return ticket,simply get off the ship as soon as you can,hop on the shuttle bus walk to the station buy and validate a ticket jump on the train,1 hour later you are in rome,a metro bus ticket only 4 euro linea b takes you to most of the must see sights within a few minutes,in my mind its the best way to see rome at your pace,all you have to remember is to allow plenty of time for the return trip,the ship leaves at 20.00 hours so you should really have plenty of time .
next stop was olbia in sardinia and what a stunning place ,we opted again for a ship organised tour to costasmerelda what a great place we will definitely return there one day.
the last stop was mahon yet another beautiful place always clean and tidy,the glass bottom boat trip is highly recommended,run with teutonic efficiancy by the german owned boat it really is a great experience.
oh well back to palma for the trip home and planning for next years thomson cruise !!.
as usual the crew was superb,the food excellent,the entertainment was excellent we have done 4 trips on this ship she really has that something,i think a ship is only as good as its crew,from the seamen constantly working,cleaning,painting and always smiling,the bar staff as always are superb,some staff remembered us from previous cruises on the spirit how they do it i don't know,some names that spring to mind are farouk from the lido,spike up in high spirits,galena in raffles bar and the lovely nataliya in the broadway lounge.
we mainly ate in the compass rose restaurant and our table was catered for by delboy and don + robert the wine waiter a really great bunch of guys.
we also met some great people here hello to ian and karen !.
the entertainment was top notch as well we particularly enjoyed the comedy act the harper brothers really funny and great to talk to,
one thing that wasn't seen on previous cruises was a large contingent of russian tourists,these people were amongst the rudest/arrogant people we have ever seen they took over the spa / pool area and treated the bar staff like slaves especially the ukrainian staff many whom we know as friends and to see them treated like that was not pleasant,are these people the new germans? !when my wife opened the door for some of them they barged past here as though she wasn't there without a please or thank you they were mostly aged from approx 55/65 years old i hope this isn't going to be the norm !.
well apart from that gripe it will be thomsons again next year probably the destiny,due to the spirit being in the norway/baltic area,having been there before with the royal marines i will give it a miss a very pretty area to visit but very expensive i seem to recall !

Although in our fifties this was our first experience of cruising.
We chose the Med. Renaisance cruise calling at destinations in France,Italy, Sardinia, Minnorca. We as first timers relied on the organised tours by the Thompson company.
Th wealth of knowlege of the lcal guides was amazing, , we saw so much that on occassion pareticularly in rome couldnt take it all in. ( future city break rquired for rome )
Getting back to the ship. The staff from the young lass who looked after our cabin to the waiters bar staff etc were very friendly and some could remember your names after several days having only spoken to you once before.
We usually took a slf serve breakfast in the morning and in the evening had a relaxing meal with waiter service.
i wasnt aware of any problems with vibration of the ship.we had one short period of rough seas otherwise the weather was great.We booked an outside cabin though wouldnt be diheartened with an inside one as we usually berthed in the early morning so little was to be seen anyway.
The entertainment staff were very good and we had a special guest ( bernie flint ) who was so funny.
would i go on anothyer cruise.... you bet i would.

This was our third cruise on the Spirit and we enjoyed it just as much as ever. Yes, the ship is not the most modern, but I just don't think it can be faulted for the hard-working, friendly crew and the quality of the food and entertainment. We were pleased to see that the ship is offering alternative excursions for those who have already 'done' Rome, Florence etc.

We did notice more of a vibration this time, but it didn't spoil things for us. We also had the smoothest cruise ever - no rolling whatsoever, which was great.

The shows were up to the usual high standard, but the guest acts were variable - one poor, one excellent.

What we really appreciated were the attentive staff - nothing was too much trouble for them. Special mention to our waiters Henry & Chami.

Gill

The was the first cruise that me and Elly have ever done and we absolutely loved the whole package / experience - the friendliness of the staff from top to bottom, the amazing 'showteam' that put on West End quality performances twice each night, the visit to the bridge, the cabin stewards, waiters, bar staff - according to the many regular cruisers that we spoke to there is something incredibly unique to the Thompson Spirit about the friendly, intimate, but professional, atmosphere on board that makes it so much more enjoyable than larger, more formal cruise ships that plough the seas - the Thompson Spirit has a fantastic aft deck that is accessible to everybody to sip a cocktail and listen to a band play either whilst at sea or alongside.

We did the Jewels of the Mediterrean Cruise July 08 - the weather and the ports of call were amazing - Palma, Trapani, Naples (the excurion to Pompei awesome), Corsica, Toulon, Barcelona, back to Palma. The Captain always seemed to get the Thompson Spirit in the No.1 berth in the middle of each city.

We are now back home in the UK (where yes it's raining) and are grieving to be back on this lovely ship and hope to return in a couple of years or so.

Our cruise was 20th June around the Med,on the THOMSON SPIRIT, being our first we were unsure of what a cruise entailed. I must say it was FABULOUS. The staff were always cleaning, be it on deck or the cabins, when we went to breakfast in the morning, by the time we got back our cabin had been cleaned by our little lady 'Victoria' she was so polite and nice. The food was absolutely great, I can only say 'watch your waistline', there is no much to choose from and all the food was delicious, and well presented. The Lido self service bar seemed to be open 24 hours, and the Compass Rose Restaurant was superb, the waiters were quick, attentive and also many had excellent voices, (2-3 Elvis's), they would sing as they worked, it was great.The Staff were very happy and seemed to be like one big family, always laughing and very pleasant, nothing seemed to much trouble. The onBoard entertainment was great, the troupe worked really hard and put on great shows every night, we also had many other things we could do be it tennis, to bingo, to occupy us whilst on board and the trips were great. Each night we had an itinerary posted under out door for the next day to tell us about the next place we were visiting and how we could get around, etc.
I could not fault this ship and its staff, we had a wonderful time and will certainly be cruising with them again.

Ships staff were excellent, the entertainment was very good apart from the Cruise Director who when he sang left a bit to be desired. Also he needs to get some new jokes.

Food onboard was very good, with loads of choice at every meal and always very hot.

Ports of call, very good but could have stayed longer in some places. The shore excursions are good value for money if you are first or even second time travellers.

The ship overall was excellent, although there was a slight vibration which I believe was going to be sorted out at the end of this season.

I will definately travel with Thomson again, as they take all the hassle out of the travel arrangements.

Loved this ship, very clean and tidy, when the ship is docked staff are even painting its outside bobywork. Maid cleaned our cabin twice a day morning and evening we were very pleased with her.

No complaints about the food, 24 hrs a day. Real english bacon and tomatos in the morning and more fruit then ive seen in the supermarket, the food is being cooked all day long, at 4pm them lay on sanwiches and cream scones as well as still cooking hot foods, they always have 1 hot pudding plus cold puddings, we were eating creamcrackers and cheese at 2am most nights before going to bed.

We didnt go to see a show every night as we spent time sitting on deck with a drink in the evenings or went in the bar with the disco and band in but the shows we did go to see were really good. There are many bars plus casino all very good with some kind of entertaiment going on.

We have been back a week but are already looking to see what other destinations the spirit is doing as we want to sail on her again later in the year, we dont have one thing to complain about we loved the boat the staff and the trips, well done spirit

This was our grandsons first cruise (our fourth), he loved every minute! Nothing was too much trouble and we found every staff member we met pleasant and helpful. The cabin was roomy and had loads of storage space but four adults may have felt a bit hemmed in. The shows were excellent, our grandson loved them all!The food was good, my only gripe was the childrens menu was so boring and if children ordered from the main menu they got an adults portion. We went on two organised trips Monaco and Pisa which were well organised and the guides brilliant. All in all a good time was had by us all, our grandson is already planning his next cruise on the Spirit.

Just got back from our first ever cruise which was overall FANTASTIC. Great ship, staff are brilliant. Food/drink/entertainment/cleanliness all faultless. Weather was hit and miss around the med and had a couple of "rolling" nights but we weren't sick thankfully. Destinations were good although we weren't keen on Olbia or Trapani and wished we'd done an excursion on those days.
My only problem with the ship is the constant vibration and mild engine noise - you do get used to it but it would be so much better if they could sort it out. I slept with earplugs each night because our cabin sounded like it had a washing machine going on inside. We were on deck two and sometimes we would get awoken too by the ship pulling into dock in port. These things did not spoil it for us at all though and I think we would go back on the spirit again - we did two weeks but I may do one week next time - put on 5lb in weight!
Also Thomson excursions - generally very good but expensive. We spent £400 on them but we did budget for that because we knew what we were doing before we went. We had the drinks package for free on the ship and so all of them we had were free which was good but the cost of the drinks is quite resonable anyway.

PM me if you have any questions.

Just got back 23/05/08 from the med.cruise on the spirit.been on once before in 2005, we re-took our vows on board then for our silver anniversary.
Took mother this time (81yrs but dont tell her we said). Did everything through Thomson and they were fantastic, from arriving at Manchester for departure to arriving back again after the holiday. cant even begin to tell you how helpful the staff were with mums wheelchair, into the dining room,off and on the ship, nothing too much trouble. Jenni from housekeeping kept our room spotless(disabled cabin , massive, lots of room to manouvre round).Luve and Bobby in the Compass Rose Restaurant.Made a fuss of Mum every night and made her feel special.Food was fantastic,different menu every night (I dont know how they manage it)they arent just service staff they're entertainers as well.
You can do as much or as little as you like, no pressure anywhere. Lots of guided tours available or just shore access if you prefer. I'm not going to say anything negative because personally, I couldnt find anything negative about the whole thing. All in all a brilliant holiday for mum and a nice break for us. The staff treat everyone well,please treat them well in return. We are looking to go again but next time probably the Norweigan Fjords. Thanks for reading.