We booked this cruise on Thomson Celebration to the Red Sea last minute as it was a bargain and meant that I would be on holiday in Jordan for my birthday. We had cruised with Thomson many years ago and found it ok but after cruising with other companies - Thomson faded into the background in comparison. This holiday in January 2011 confirmed this again, even after approximately 11 years since our first cruise with Thomson - in fact the ship in 1999 was much better compared to this one.

All I can say it that it was ok and you get what you pay for but if you are used to 5 star luxury and good entertainment - this is not the ship for you - yes - we were able to see the Pyramids, Valley of the Kings & Petra which was great - but Thomson are nothing special.We had a lot of criticisms - we were on Deck 3 (Cabin 403) - there was ship vibration, tired bathroom with mold on the shower tiles, unreliable air conditioning, hard single beds which were at opposite sides of the cabin with all white basic quilt & sheet with no colourful quilt cover, extra charge for using the safe in the cabin, a 'fire' in the boilerhouse on the last day - which was explained by the Captain as smoke rather than a fire even though we were woken up by the ship's emergency alarm & we all had to go to our muster stations and wear our lifejackets and being refused departure in Egypt in the middle of the week due to 'suspected' oil leaking from our ship into the Red Sea so wasted a full day whilst stuck in port. Also be prepared for the price of the trips - day excursion to Petra in Jordan was £110 per person.

We have spoken to lots of people who love Thomson and return year after year which is fine if they think the standard is good enough for them but it is not really good enough for us although I must say that the service from the crew, especially the Phillipino staff, was faultless.

 Thanks Paula