Thomson Calypso

The Thomson Calypso is the latest addition to Thomson's cruise fleet. It is the smallest Thomson ship, and is an 'adults only' ship. It has everything you would expect from a cruise ship: restaurant, informal dining, shops, a beauty salon, bars, a gym, sundeck, and pool. At over £100 per night Thomson cruises are not especially cheap, and the brochure promises personal service and plush facilities.

Having previously cruised with Thomson ...
...right.

Thomson promise a more personal style of service aboard the 'intimate' Calypso. The atmosphere amongst guests was certainly pleasant, but a relatively low ratio of staff to guests (9 bar waiters for the whole ship - approx 450 guests) means that service is sadly lacking. The cabin steward did not introduce herself, and seemed to find it strange that we should want clean towels on a daily basis. All the towels we received were ... more

The Thomson Calypso is the latest addition to Thomson's cruise fleet. It is the smallest Thomson ship, and is an 'adults only' ship. It has everything you would expect from a cruise ship: restaurant, informal dining, shops, a beauty salon, bars, a gym, sundeck, and pool. At over £100 per night Thomson cruises are not especially cheap, and the brochure promises personal service and plush facilities.

Having previously cruised with Thomson on Celebration, I must admit to being sceptical when I read the numerous poor reviews of Calypso on various websites. Having now cruised aboard Calypso I am forced to admit that previous reviewers were absolutely right.

Thomson promise a more personal style of service aboard the 'intimate' Calypso. The atmosphere amongst guests was certainly pleasant, but a relatively low ratio of staff to guests (9 bar waiters for the whole ship - approx 450 guests) means that service is sadly lacking. The cabin steward did not introduce herself, and seemed to find it strange that we should want clean towels on a daily basis. All the towels we received were unpleasantly stained. In general many staff seemed disinterested in guests, and repeatedly highlighted that this was their last week. On the final day they had begun decommissioning the ship early in the morning, having berthed in the dirty and noisy commercial area of the dock, where the ship was to spend the winter. By lunchtime the sun loungers had been removed, and staff were refusing to replenish items such as toliet paper in public areas.

The Calypso started life as a ferry, and is now relatively elderly. This is evident from the general standard of decor and furnishings throughout; peeling safety stickers, battered decor, and plastic covered chairs being just a few examples. The small size of Calypso means that both cabins and facilities are heavily affected by engine noise. Conversation at dinner often took the form of shouting over the engine noise and rattling of crockery from the vibration of the ship. The plumbing also shows its age, creating bad smells and with steam rising from the shower drain at times. Some toilets were loose, and leaked water onto the floor.

The standard of food in the restaurant was generally good, but there was noticeably less variety than on the larger ships. I suspect that this was also affected by the fact that we discovered on arrival that our holiday was also Calypso's last week of the season. In general the food was a strange mix - perhaps using up what was left in the freezers? Without doubt, more effort could have been put into the seating arrangements for dinner. These were completely random, and left people sitting all week with others with whom they had little or nothing in common. There was no option to change seating if you had made friends onboard and wanted to sit with them.

Although Thomson state that there is a fully equipped gym, fitness fanatics amongst you should not get excited. The equipment is old and in poor repair, and with full length windows the whole length of the gym and no air conditioning it is generally too hot to use.The sauna is undoubtedly the best element of the finess facilities on the ship.

The ship boasts sufficient sunbeds for all guests, but unfortunately the pool is small and situated well away from the sundeck, and in the middle of the bistro tables.

The small entertainment team proved to be perhaps the best thing about the ship. The entertainment was suited to the majority of guests, who were mainly over 55, and was of a good standard.

The Calypso offers two shops, but neither is particularly well stocked in comparison to what is available on other Thomson ships or other small cruise ships.

The Ancient Empires itinerary calls at Heraklion (Crete), Kusadasi (Turkey), Rhodes (Greece), Piraeus (for Athens)(Greece), and Antalya (Turkey). On this final cruise of this itinery for 2007 Thomson has changed the Antalya stop to Alanya, following guest feedback that the port of Antalya was too far from the town centre. This was a good choice, as Alanya was certainly pleasant, as were the other ports of call. The excursion we went on was very well organised, and Destination Services were helpful. I would recommend the itinerary, if not the ship.

Overall, despite the pleasant atmosphere between guests which is achieved on this small ship, the drawbacks of the small size, such as low staff numbers, higher than usual noise disturbance and limited facilities would lead me not to recommend this ship to others. 

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