We were persuaded to go on this cruise by friends who had been on the transatlantic voyage several times with Thomsons. They too were extremely disappointed by this one.

Where do I start? On boarding the ship on previous cruises we have always been escorted to our cabin. Not this time. We were put in the lift with several others and one member of staff who opened the door on the relevant floor and directed the guest in which direction to take, only to come running after us to tell us she had sent us the wrong way. The suite was fabulous but the sunbeds on the balcony were dirty but we couldn't fault the service we received from our cabin steward.

We enjoyed our first meal but the next day was an eye opener. Having stood in a queue at the restaurant for a while we were given a pager with a 45 min wait. Of course we had given up our seats in the bar so had to wander the ship until our table was ready. The same thing happened the next night but when we asked to see the supervisor there was suddenly a table free. On entering the restaurant there were several tables set up but no staff to service them. When we managed to get a table on other nights we had to wait a long time between courses, so we were dining whilst a lot of the entertainment was occurring which we then missed. On several occasions the meal was inedible. We were offered an alternative but this isn't feasible when others on the table have their meal. OBVIOUSLY BOTH THE KITCHEN AND RESTAURANT WERE UNDERSTAFFED. Read more