Tuesday 6 December 2011

Thomson Destiny

A short 3-night trip around the Canaries and Madeira on MS Thomson Destiny, originally built in 1982 as the Song of America of Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. Back then the ca. 37,000-ton vessel was the biggest yet purpose-built for Caribbean cruise service from Miami. Nowadays, she serves the British market, providing Mediterranean and Caribbean fly-cruises. An old 1983 Royal Caribbean brochure in my collection shows that prices for a week in the Caribbean (cruise only) ranged from £970 to £1,600. Today, a week in the Med costs more or less the same, flights included!

I joined the ship in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on Friday afternoon.


Tenerife Airport (above) and the Port Authority building in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (below):




A Fred. Olsen InCat arrives:




 Costa departures:



Fred. Olsen's Boudicca with an InCat in front (above).




Thomson Dream's builder's pate (above) and Sky Bar around the funnel (below):








A tour of some of the public rooms, beginning with the Sky Bar:



The Can Can Lounge:





 The Oklahoma Lounge:


















 Early morning at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria:




 Things seen in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria:



































 Satirical sand sculpture:















 


The Thomson Dream's splendid funnel:




 Me in the Sky Bar:



Dinner:



Singing waiters:



Showtime:


Arriving at Santa Cruz de la Palma:


It soon began pissing with rain:






So typical are the balconies that they need a sign to point out their location:





Vanishing road in front of villa:




Departure time:

 














 

At the Captain's cocktail party:



Gala dinner began with Escargots:



 Norwegian modern artwork from the early-1980s:



The Clipper Bar:


Arriving at Funchal on Madeira:




Cruise ships' crews have painted their vessels' names' on the quay wall:










Final view as the coach headed for the airport.

3 comments:

  1. Congratulations for your blog

    Excellent report, great attention to detail

    All the best
    Vitor

    ReplyDelete
  2. Some of the interiors on the THOMSON DESTINY are actually quite interesting and pleasantly surprising.

    ReplyDelete
  3. In fairness, the word "tipico" in Spanish and Portuguese has more the meaning of "traditional" than "typical". Good blog BTW covering two subjects I'm interested in, ships and architecture/design - is that three things?

    ReplyDelete