Thomson Cruises, The Calypso Review

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3.7 stars
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besafisher's Review of Thomson Cruises, The Calypso Mediterranean Cruise

12th May 2009

Overall Rating

3.5 stars
  • Value for money
    4 stars
  • Nights on board
    7
  • Cabin Type
    Outside standard
  • Food - quality & variety
    3.5 stars
  • Date of Cruise
    May 2009
  • Itinerary Name
    Crimean Discovery
  • Group description
    Couple
  • Entertainment on board
    3 stars
Good Points

Good tours and guides to the places mentioned, and for us at least made the whole experience worthwhile. Generally friendly staff, waiters in particular. No complaints about ship's cleanliness.


Bad Points

Engine noise in cabin (deck 3); cabin old fashioned and in need of cheering up; understaffed in restaurants and bars - (30 minutes to get a cold starter?); needed to go looking for bar staff sometimes. Restaurant meals sometimes unimaginative; and why was the lower, main area of the restaurant so noisy? Talking point for many was the disappointing quality of the lectures on the Crimean War and the Ottoman Empire which could have been so good and informative - suffice to say in the final one, about forty in the audience had been reduced by walk-outs to about twenty by the end. CNN seemed to be the only comprehensible satellite tv channel, which in an important week for British football clubs in European competitions was a disappointment.


General Comments

We went on this Calypso cruise for the itinerary - the Crimea and Istanbul, so we got what we wanted, but we have to say as experienced cruisers, that on-board was a disappointment, and as someone else said, Thompsons can (and do) do better. The fact that the ship wasn't built as a cruise ship shows at times, for example the theatre is a single storey room with no raked seating, and the stage is at the general floor level. A fair bit of live music around the boat, which was no bad thing, although the ever present musak (wailing pop music for passengers nearly all over 60?) was difficult to escape. Daytime entertainment was of the bingo, quiz and "Mr and Mrs" variety (but thankfully no ice carving or napkin folding demonstrations!); evening entertainment was around but we saw little due to its lateness after our second sitting meal, and our lack of enthusiasm. But many enjoyed it. We understand that this is the ship's last season, but it is to be hoped that this particular Black Sea cruise survives in a newer ship.

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