We were on the colourful Coasts Cruise. It was a complete waste of money and a waste of 7 days holiday entitlement from work and quite honestly, with no exaggeration, the worst holiday I've ever experienced; I cried in frustration. I will never book a Thomson holiday again as a result as it feels like customer experience doesn't matter to them at all. I subsequently found out my colleague endured the same holiday with the same horrendous experience. Other passengers we sailed with, even frequent Thomson cruisers, shared the same view urging us not to avoid cruises in the future as this was incredibly poor cruise even in their eyes.

We were advised by the booking agent our room would be a double. Upon arrival it was not and advised to simply contact reception and they'd alter the bed configuration. Reception advised its a common misunderstanding between booking agents and staff as no twin beds on deck 6 can be moved. We had to pay for an unexpected 'upgrade' to deck 9. What we got was a smaller room to the point that there was room for only one of us to stand and get ready at a time, less storage having only one single draw set and half wardrobe so we lived out our suit cases all week, the twin bed mattresses were pushed together without a zip which meant I fell between the gap in the mattresses every night, our window had an amazing view of a lifeboat which required maintenance so we were awoken by metal clinging several early mornings. The bed could only be accessed by climbing in it from the bottom, it could not be accessed from either side. We weren't even moved until after 9pm so unable to really do anything on our first day so it was lost.

Food was basic and repetitive but edible. Dining times are inaccurate, with sit down buffets being packed away much earlier than closing. Chasing food when you're hungry is not fun. Wine was like vinegar. We paid for a beer drinks package but still charged for beer due to staff error. Getting a refund was hard due to language barriers at reception. Read more