The Thomson Dream is marketed by Thomson as the newest, and most luxurious, ship in their fleet. Thomson say that the cabins were recently refurbished, have 'interior-designed good looks' and that the ship is 'new for 2010'.
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It set sail on its maiden voyage in April this year - but we soon started getting complaints from passengers who had paid up to £1,200 for a week long cruise. Many of them were very disappointed, so we sent two researchers on board to find out why...
(Do you have something to say about this story? Tell us what you think by emailing us here. Don't forget to include 'Thomson Dream Cruise' in the subject line. Watchdog will publish a selection of viewers' comments underneath each story, both throughout and after the programme is on air. Please remember to include your name as you would like to see it published).
Passengers had been expecting a five star break. The company had promised a luxurious and stylish ship - its biggest yet. But passengers who contacted Watchdog after the first few sailings claimed it was tired, creaking and badly in need of a facelift. Passenger Natasha Hopkins told us:
"Everything was very dated, it definitely wasn't new. The first experience was it definitely wasn't luxurious... It was really humid, it made you feel nauseous, it made you feel tired. It drained you".
Susan Macklam was on the Thomson Dream for its maiden voyage and she told us about the water in her cabin:
"Something came out of the tap but it was thick brown sludge so you can imagine I was absolutely horrified".
Susan also told us about the smell on board: "It just overwhelmed you, and you know when you just feel like you can taste a smell. And it was the smell of raw sewage".
Susan's partner Dr John Brass added: "It wasn't a holiday, it was a prison sentence".
Perhaps the passengers would have been less surprised at the conditions on board if they had known the truth about Thomson's newest flagship. As we were to discover, the ship isn't actually 'new' at all. The Thomson Dream was built in 1986 and as recently as April it belonged to a different company, sailing under the name 'The Costa Europa'.
We wanted to find out more about this 24 year old ship, so we sent our researchers Farin and Becky undercover on board to find out. From Palma, Majorca they set out on a five day tour of the Med. This was after they had been assured by a Thomson agent about the level of comfort to expect. We asked whether there was a star rating for the ship, and were told by the Thomson booking agent that the ship was five star.
The first stop was their £170 a night cabin, where they found a stained mattress and yellow pillow. Thomson's website says all the cabins have been refurbished, but ours certainly hadn't. In fact, Thomson hadn't even bothered to change the ship's name on the cabin door. It still said 'Costa Europa'. More importantly, they hadn't fixed the air conditioning and everyone we met was feeling the heat. We caught up with honeymooners Chris and Kate Kingsbury who told us:
"The air con is the main thing. It's so hot you just can't enjoy anything... Even walking down the corridor's roasting hot, isn't it?"
After sweltering in our own cabin, we mentioned the broken air conditioning three times to customer services on board. Three days later they were still working on it. Thomson did offer us another room, but its air conditioning was broken too. One member of staff admitted they were being inundated with complaints, and just like the passengers, this wasn't the sort of voyage she'd signed up for:
"I also expected too much when I came here, and I was so disappointed... they said actually it's a refurbished ship but I didn't expect... it's really bad".
Our team were supplied with a fan to help cool them down.
Passengers on previous sailings had also complained about the ship's plumbing and the resulting smell of sewage. People we met on board had also heard the rumours. Karen McIntosh and James Rollingson told us they had been so concerned they even contacted Thomson before boarding. Karen said:
"Thomson promised me that the situation had been largely resolved but it hasn't been, as my nose detected this morning".
James added: "It was quite clear that brown waste water was leaking from underneath the toilet and by that time it had gone all the way around the rim of the bathroom and we had to get the whole thing sanitised."
On our last day on board we discovered another unpleasant find suggesting that the plumbing was far from fixed. Farin said: "We filmed toilets on the top deck near the swimming pool. It was quite bad, quite filthy. Some had towels wedged down the back so that would suggest leaks or plumbing issues at some point".
Perhaps 'plumbing issues' was a bit of an understatement. Watchdog has since heard from other passengers whose cabins were flooded with water and waste from their toilets.
So, broken air conditioning, sewage smells and flooded cabins. Surely Thomson were planning to do something about it - and soon? We spoke to one of the most senior members of staff on board, the Cruise Director. We asked him about the complaints and the state of the ship. He told us:
"Nothing's been refurbished. Thomson took this ship on the 12th of April, they sailed it for the first time on the 22nd April and in 10 days we changed the branding, we changed such and such. We installed quite a lot of different sound equipment for example. And we set sail." When we asked him whether a refurbishment was due we were told "No".
So there we have it. Not only is the Thomson Dream 24 years old, according to the Cruise Director, it's not going to be refurbished any time soon, which is something other potential passengers might want to remember when they next see the Thomson Dream advertised.
Thomson told Watchdog:
Thomson Cruises is naturally sorry to hear that some of our customers did not enjoy their time on board Thomson Dream this summer. The fuller picture is far more positive, however. The majority of our customers have told us that they enjoyed a fantastic holiday with us. For example, 94% of customers rated the experience as good or excellent at the time Watchdog's team were onboard.
Thomson Dream is described in our marketing materials as "new to the Thomson fleet" (which it is), rather than "new" (which it is not). It has never been positioned by the company as being a 5 star ship, and we can only apologise if any of our customers misunderstood the way this was communicated.
We accept that there were some challenges following the ship's introduction to our fleet in April of this year. The Captain and his crew did their utmost to resolve any concerns our customers may have had at the time. Any outstanding concerns have been or are being looked at by our customer services team on a case-by-case basis.
Thomson Cruises is proud of the service record and positive feedback we receive about all our cruises and ships. We are confident that those due to travel on Thomson Dream will enjoy a quality holiday experience in line with their expectations.
A Thomson Dream come true?
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
It set sail on its maiden voyage in April this year - but we soon started getting complaints from passengers who had paid up to £1,200 for a week long cruise. Many of them were very disappointed, so we sent two researchers on board to find out why...
(Do you have something to say about this story? Tell us what you think by emailing us here. Don't forget to include 'Thomson Dream Cruise' in the subject line. Watchdog will publish a selection of viewers' comments underneath each story, both throughout and after the programme is on air. Please remember to include your name as you would like to see it published).
Passengers had been expecting a five star break. The company had promised a luxurious and stylish ship - its biggest yet. But passengers who contacted Watchdog after the first few sailings claimed it was tired, creaking and badly in need of a facelift. Passenger Natasha Hopkins told us:
"Everything was very dated, it definitely wasn't new. The first experience was it definitely wasn't luxurious... It was really humid, it made you feel nauseous, it made you feel tired. It drained you".
Susan Macklam was on the Thomson Dream for its maiden voyage and she told us about the water in her cabin:
"Something came out of the tap but it was thick brown sludge so you can imagine I was absolutely horrified".
Susan also told us about the smell on board: "It just overwhelmed you, and you know when you just feel like you can taste a smell. And it was the smell of raw sewage".
Susan's partner Dr John Brass added: "It wasn't a holiday, it was a prison sentence".
Perhaps the passengers would have been less surprised at the conditions on board if they had known the truth about Thomson's newest flagship. As we were to discover, the ship isn't actually 'new' at all. The Thomson Dream was built in 1986 and as recently as April it belonged to a different company, sailing under the name 'The Costa Europa'.
We wanted to find out more about this 24 year old ship, so we sent our researchers Farin and Becky undercover on board to find out. From Palma, Majorca they set out on a five day tour of the Med. This was after they had been assured by a Thomson agent about the level of comfort to expect. We asked whether there was a star rating for the ship, and were told by the Thomson booking agent that the ship was five star.
The first stop was their £170 a night cabin, where they found a stained mattress and yellow pillow. Thomson's website says all the cabins have been refurbished, but ours certainly hadn't. In fact, Thomson hadn't even bothered to change the ship's name on the cabin door. It still said 'Costa Europa'. More importantly, they hadn't fixed the air conditioning and everyone we met was feeling the heat. We caught up with honeymooners Chris and Kate Kingsbury who told us:
"The air con is the main thing. It's so hot you just can't enjoy anything... Even walking down the corridor's roasting hot, isn't it?"
After sweltering in our own cabin, we mentioned the broken air conditioning three times to customer services on board. Three days later they were still working on it. Thomson did offer us another room, but its air conditioning was broken too. One member of staff admitted they were being inundated with complaints, and just like the passengers, this wasn't the sort of voyage she'd signed up for:
"I also expected too much when I came here, and I was so disappointed... they said actually it's a refurbished ship but I didn't expect... it's really bad".
Our team were supplied with a fan to help cool them down.
Passengers on previous sailings had also complained about the ship's plumbing and the resulting smell of sewage. People we met on board had also heard the rumours. Karen McIntosh and James Rollingson told us they had been so concerned they even contacted Thomson before boarding. Karen said:
"Thomson promised me that the situation had been largely resolved but it hasn't been, as my nose detected this morning".
James added: "It was quite clear that brown waste water was leaking from underneath the toilet and by that time it had gone all the way around the rim of the bathroom and we had to get the whole thing sanitised."
On our last day on board we discovered another unpleasant find suggesting that the plumbing was far from fixed. Farin said: "We filmed toilets on the top deck near the swimming pool. It was quite bad, quite filthy. Some had towels wedged down the back so that would suggest leaks or plumbing issues at some point".
Perhaps 'plumbing issues' was a bit of an understatement. Watchdog has since heard from other passengers whose cabins were flooded with water and waste from their toilets.
So, broken air conditioning, sewage smells and flooded cabins. Surely Thomson were planning to do something about it - and soon? We spoke to one of the most senior members of staff on board, the Cruise Director. We asked him about the complaints and the state of the ship. He told us:
"Nothing's been refurbished. Thomson took this ship on the 12th of April, they sailed it for the first time on the 22nd April and in 10 days we changed the branding, we changed such and such. We installed quite a lot of different sound equipment for example. And we set sail." When we asked him whether a refurbishment was due we were told "No".
So there we have it. Not only is the Thomson Dream 24 years old, according to the Cruise Director, it's not going to be refurbished any time soon, which is something other potential passengers might want to remember when they next see the Thomson Dream advertised.
Thomson told Watchdog:
Thomson Cruises is naturally sorry to hear that some of our customers did not enjoy their time on board Thomson Dream this summer. The fuller picture is far more positive, however. The majority of our customers have told us that they enjoyed a fantastic holiday with us. For example, 94% of customers rated the experience as good or excellent at the time Watchdog's team were onboard.
Thomson Dream is described in our marketing materials as "new to the Thomson fleet" (which it is), rather than "new" (which it is not). It has never been positioned by the company as being a 5 star ship, and we can only apologise if any of our customers misunderstood the way this was communicated.
We accept that there were some challenges following the ship's introduction to our fleet in April of this year. The Captain and his crew did their utmost to resolve any concerns our customers may have had at the time. Any outstanding concerns have been or are being looked at by our customer services team on a case-by-case basis.
Thomson Cruises is proud of the service record and positive feedback we receive about all our cruises and ships. We are confident that those due to travel on Thomson Dream will enjoy a quality holiday experience in line with their expectations.
A Thomson Dream come true?