Thomson Celebration – a Red Sea Magic review

We chose Thomson’s Red Sea Magic cruise on Celebration for two reasons: We wanted to get away during the Christmas break, and we wanted to go somewhere hot. We also wanted a mixture of sunbathing and culture, and so this 7-night cruise seemed perfect. We weren’t disappointed!

I’d hoped to write a ‘live’ blog but I forgot to take the charging lead for my tablet and in any case the cost of wi-fi onboard Celebration was exorbitant at £4 for 15 minutes, so I’ll try to cover everything after the event instead. There’s a lot to say so I’ll break it up into several areas: the itinerary, the ship, the cabin, and the Thomson experience.

This was our first time with Thomson and we chose this cruise solely for the itinerary. We had a fantastic time and there are many very positive things to say about Thomson, but of course there were some niggles too.

I think any review must be taken in the context of price, and this cruise wasn’t cheap – after discounts the total cost was £2333 plus about £500 for excursions. That makes it over £200pp per night – not much less per night than we paid for our all-inclusive Mekong cruise with Viking (which also included wi-fi and drinks).

So although we had a great cruise, I think it’s fair to talk about the value we had for my wife’s hard-earned money! Read on...

Red Sea Magic: The itinerary.

It gets dark around 5pm in winter around the Red Sea and we arrived at Sharm el-Sheikh just after sunset. We had plenty of time to eat and explore the ship before the obligatory drill on deck at 9pm and sail-away at 10pm.

Beach days were a priority for Fred and she didn’t want to take any chances, so as well as our two major excursions to Petra in Jordan and Luxor in Egypt we’d booked three beach hotel resort excursions – each lasting 4/5 hours. The first was in Aqaba and we immediately realised that the Red Sea is a brilliant alternative to the Caribbean for winter sun.

The weather for the whole week was in the mid-20s and usually felt hotter because there was barely any cloud. By the end of the week Fred was asked if she was Egyptian because she was so brown!

Our second day in Aqaba was spent on a full-day excursion to Petra. It was a long coach drive, but worth every minute. We love visiting world wonders and Petra didn’t disappoint.

The excellent included lunch was at a top hotel right next door – another big plus for Thomson who have given us some of our best excursion days yet.

Aqaba is quite amazing in that four countries are within a few miles: Jordan, Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. We had to switch our phones off during the night as we approached because of the countless “Welcome to...” texts!

Given the obvious similarities between Thomson and Fred Olsen it’s interesting to note how differently they handle excursions. We really liked Thomson’s approach – just arrive on the dockside 15 minutes before the departure time. It was so much better than Fred Olsen’s meeting (and waiting for ages) in a lounge to have coloured spots put on your tickets! Not as good though is that no one from the ship ever accompanied us on excursions. We were in the sole care of the local guides, some of whom spoke little English (beyond what they needed).

The next day was the one-and-only sea day as we sailed to Sokhna and of course we spent it lazing in the hot sunshine on deck. I’ll talk more about the ship later, but it was then that we realised just how many people were onboard! As we turned north during the day hundreds of people migrated to the sunny promenade deck and we really missed having a balcony!

We’ve visited Cairo and Giza on a previous cruise so while most passengers set off early in the morning for their long trip we spent our second day at a luxury beach resort near the port. There’s not much to add really!

Our next port of call was Safaga where we spent most of two days. We arrived during the morning and I enjoyed seeing the only other cruise ship we saw all week – Albatros.

It was particularly interesting for me because Albatros is almost identical to Black Watch and Boudicca and I could get a real feel for how Celebration compared in terms of size and appearance to my favourite ships.

The afternoon was spent at our third and last beach resort. I’d forgotten to pack my snorkelling gear(!) but it didn’t really matter because, although sunbathing is as warm as in the Caribbean, the sea isn’t. The water looked fantastic, but I couldn’t bring myself to dive in!

There’s a certain similarity between some of my photos...

The final full day was the highlight of the whole cruise and was worth the four-hour coach ride each way. We began with a visit to the Valley of the Kings where we visited three of the best tombs (unfortunately no photography is allowed). Our guide was excellent and it was fantastic seeing the 3,000 year-old tombs which are in amazing condition and learning something of the history.

Our next visit was to Hatshepsut's temple in its magnificent setting, and then we were taken to the obligatory tourist stop – an alabaster workshop where we bought a pair of coffee cups and saucers.

Next stop was another hotel buffet lunch – this time on the banks of the Nile – and then we were off to the vast Temple of Karnak. I rarely use the word ‘awesome’, but this place deserves it – it’s awesome!

And then it was back to the ship, and the cabin...

But before I leave the tours I must say again how impressed we were with Thomson’s excursions. Everything ran like clockwork and the resorts and lunches were first-class. I’d also recommend beach resorts as a way of avoiding being pestered endlessly (and sometimes aggressively) as can happen in this part of the world.

The Celebration cabin.

We always want a balcony, but since Celebration doesn’t have any cabins with balconies we chose a ‘deluxe’ cabin on the promenade deck. I put ‘deluxe’ in quotes because we thought the cabin was anything but!

But let’s deal with the positives first. There were two: the location was perfect being only seconds from both the promenade deck and the mezzanine area of the show lounge, and the main shops, etc. being very close. I suppose another positive is that the cabin was big, but since it was lacking in anything else it might just mean that it was a longer walk to the beds!

Setting aside the cost of excursions, we paid £333 per night between us (or £167pp) for what was basically a rather tatty outside cabin. Where do I start?

There was no kettle, no ‘free’ room service, the TV was blurry and only provided ship-based movies and information. The sound system didn’t work, the beds were very small, and there was no comfortable seating.

The bathroom worked, but you can probably see the condition from the photo – stains and repairs are evident.

It’s true that there was a lot of storage space, but we’ve not been in a cabin where there wasn’t room to put everything (I’m never sure why people rate this feature!).

But the really bad thing about cabin 233 is the noise and I don’t mean noise from the ship, but noise from other passengers. The walls seemed paper-thin, as was the locked connecting door shown in the photo. There might just as well have been curtains between the cabins! To make things worse, the cabins on either side were occupied by three people, and three people make far more noise than

two. (I noticed that the third berth is provided by replacing the small chairs and table with a camp bed.)

I’ll explain why I really liked most of the rest of Celebration shortly, but for us the cabin was the reason why we’re very unlikely to cruise with Thomson again. If I can put things in context yet again, we paid nearly as much for this cabin as we’ve paid for premier suites on Balmoral and Boudicca, and a lot more than we paid for a nice balcony cabin on Ventura – there’s simply no comparison.

Thomson Celebration – the ship.

Now I’ve got the awful cabin out of the way, I can focus on the rest of the ship. I thought she was great – albeit with one proviso. There are too many passengers!

Weight and size don’t tell the whole story, but I think they’re relevant. At about 34,000 GRT Celebration is a lot smaller than Balmoral (nearly 44,000 GRT) yet carries nearly as many passengers. Black Watch and Boudicca are a little smaller than Celebration (at about 29,000 GRT) but carry around 800 passengers compared to Celebration’s 1250. When everyone wants to sunbathe at the same time on the sunny side of the ship, it becomes obvious just how many people there are onboard.

Much of the time though it seemed to me that Celebration is deceptively large. The lounges and dining areas are spacious and there’s a great deal of deck space too. The promenade deck and the areas at the stern are wide and very open making it easy to find somewhere to lounge or sit – albeit not necessarily in the sun. My impression is that Thomson have achieved a lot of space in the public areas by cramming in a great many (too many!) cabins.

We thought the most impressive aspects of the ship were her wide promenade decks, the show lounge with its mezzanine, and the buffet restaurant.

I felt that Celebration was similar to Fred Olsen’s ships in many ways although some things were better while others weren’t as good. If the promenade deck was very like Boudicca’s and Black Watch’s, the show lounge was far better than on any of Fred’s ships and we were always able to get a seat on the mezzanine with a great view. The show company were very like FO’s and we saw four excellent shows during the week. We also gave the comedian and the singer a try but left soon after they started their acts. I must also mention the rock band that was quite brilliant; they played for the sail-away and regularly in one of the lounges. Any band that opens with Band on the Run and performs it as well as Wings is okay with me!

On our first evening onboard we ate in the huge buffet restaurant which extends outside to a large area near the pool where it’s flanked by pizza and other serving areas. We were amazed by the quality and range of food on offer and never bothered to eat anywhere else for the rest of the cruise. There was always lots of room (and tables for two) and plenty of variety for vegetarians and, unlike anything we’ve experienced before, the buffet area was open 24 hours a day. Having eaten formally on our last few cruises we really enjoyed the freedom to eat when we wanted – and not have to make conversation with every meal. Although the cabin lacked a kettle, there were three coffee/tea stations around the buffet restaurant and the coffee wasn’t quite as bad as FO’s.

To keep with the FO comparison a little longer, the staff were exactly like Fred’s except that there were very few women. The shopping area was far better and more extensive than Fred’s, but the so-called library was dire. Why a few tatty books need to be guarded by a member of staff is beyond me!

In most respects though, Celebration felt very much like a FO ship – at least physically, because Celebration’s passengers seemed very unlike Fred’s. The age range was much wider and, on average, much younger... I’ve paused at this point for a while because I want to get across my preference for the company on other cruise lines we’ve tried without sounding too much like a complete and utter snob (which I undoubtedly am!). Let’s just say that the mix was okay but very different from what we’re used to...

The Thomson experience.

I think that trying a cruise line for the first time makes for inevitable comparisons with others. I must admit though that we’ve only experienced three others (or four if you count an evening on Marco Polo): Fred Olsen, Viking River Cruises, and P&O.

I felt there were things that Thomson did extremely well and other things that were not so good. I’ll deal with some negatives first so that I can end with the positives...

I think it’s fair to include the flights in my comments since they were on Thomson’s planes as part of the deal. It was a bit of a shock to discover how downmarket the fly-part of the fly-cruise was. Our

last couple of fly-cruises have used BA and Thai Airways, and Thomson suffered badly in comparison. The planes were very basic and every extra had to be paid for, from ‘comfort packs’ to food and drinks, to entertainment on a handheld device. I was also daft enough to pay for us to sit together! Sharm el-Sheik airport was an absolute nightmare and although Thomson might not be responsible for that it’s certainly true that the reason for the over-crowding on the way home was largely down to Thomson bussing thousands of people to the airport from their resorts as well as from the ship – all at the same time. We’ve never experienced anything like it and don’t want to again!

Although gratuities were included Thomson seemed to want to wring extra money out of us in other ways, such as ridiculously high charges for wi-fi , charging for room service, and offering to let us stay in our cabin on the last day for a fee. That might have been reasonable for a budget cruise, but we paid well above a budget price. I’ve never tried a Butlins holiday, but I sometimes had the feeling that Thomson does Butlins at sea.

Having said all that though, the good far outweighed the bad. We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and that was down to the brilliant itinerary and excursions, the relaxed and excellent dining, the great entertainment, and the feeling we were on a real ship. And the weather helped too!

As I said at the outset though, we probably won’t cruise with Thomson again because we want a balcony cabin with walls thicker than cardboard. If only certain other cruise lines realised the Red Sea is a fantastic place for a winter break...