It was good to get together with Captain Roy Dearman again last night as he sailed Thomson Cruises’ new ship, Thomson Dream, out of Barcelona. He has transferred from the Celebration, where I met him in January, and he and the ship have had a torrid time over the last few weeks, culminating in the rescue of 2,800 holidaymakers stranded in Majorca by the shutdown of flights.
This week the vessel begins to settle into her new life, carrying 1,500 passengers around the Mediterranean on seven-day cruises from Palma, Majorca (where she is pictured above).
I was among a small group of journalists flown out to take a look around the ship yesterday, and we gathered for a celebratory glass of champagne on the bridge wing as Captain Dearman edged away from the quayside, pausing only to point out a whale just ahead of us.
Dream is the biggest in Thomson’s fleet, and as yet there have been few changes made from her former existence as Costa Europa. Over the next few months the company will assess what needs to be done before the ship goes to Hamburg in September for a £5 million re-fit.
In December, the ship will call at Southampton before a Transatlantic crossing to begin a winter season in the Caribbean, where her itineraries will include two-night stops in Havana – something that no American cruise ship can offer.
Under Dream’s newly-painted funnel – now Thomson blue instead of Costa yellow – is a spacious pool area with a retractable glass roof for cooler days. The Andromeda buffet restaurant is on deck 9, and most of the public rooms are one deck lower, with the two-storey Atlante Theatre at the bow and the Labonte disco at the stern. In between there’s a street of shops, the popular Ocean Bar, and another showroom, the Medusa Lounge.
The main Orion waiter-service restaurant is down on deck 4, and there’s Sirens restaurant and the speciality Grill back up on deck 11.
There’s plenty of evidence on board of the ship’s even earlier life, as Holland America’s Westerdam, including an impressive collection of antique objets d’art which was valued some years ago at $3 million (about £1.8 million).
Fortunately, there’s no evidence of the damage caused when, as Costa Europa, she slammed into the quayside at Sharm el Sheik in February, causing the deaths of three crewmembers. Repairs were carried out in drydock at Palermo, Sicily, before the ship was handed over to Thomson.
Later in the week, I’ll be back on the subject of Thomson Dream, including an interview with managing director David Selby, and some pictures of those interiors.
Are you sure that the DREAM is going for a £5million refit in September as i have a cruise booked on her At the beginning of October and i find the information very unsettling as Thomson cruises have not informed us that our cruise will not be available yet again. I would also like to know were you obtained this information. I look forward to your reply.
Apologies for alarming you Steven. The Dream’s dry-dock will begin in October, and the cruise you have booked will be unaffected. Once the work has been completed, the ship will be in the UK before setting out for the Caribbean.
On board did you get that lovely smell of sewage, were you on it long enough to experiance the problem plumbing, blocked toilets, lack of running water, flooded cabins, investation of flys in some cabins.
When i booked this cruise last year, i was told it was a NEW Ship to Thomsons with a complete new refurb, for april 2010.
carnt show any pictures as refurb still taking place at that time.
It was my worst holiday ever.
Never again.