Thomson Cruises has risen three places to land second place in the UK's Official Cruise Passenger Ratings, as compiled by Cruise.co.uk, putting it way ahead of P&O Cruises, which calls itself Britain's favourite but is languishing at number eight.
Cunard takes the top spot, with Royal Caribbean at number three, Princess Cruises at number four and Ocean Village - the line that's being closed down next year - up five places, at number five.
1: Cunard Cruises - no change
2: Thomson Cruises - up three places
3: Royal Caribbean Cruises - no change
4: Princess Cruises - no change
5: Ocean Village Cruises - up five places
6: Holland America Line - up two places
7: Island Cruises - new entry
8: P&O Cruises - down one place
9: Celebrity Cruises - down three places
10: Fred Olsen Cruises - down one place
Rankings like these are very hit and miss as they depend so much on who voted. Get a lot of Thomson lovers, as could have happened here, and the results are immediately skewed.
But what interests me are the comments from P&O stalwarts on P&O's Community website in response to the results of this poll.
This from Dave T
"I have cruised several times with P&O and am very happy with their product, but in defence of Thomson I have to say, having cruised once, that they are almost as good.... The food and general service on the ship (The Emerald) was at least as good if not better."
This from Bella36
"I am not at all surprised that Thomson have scored so well.... Their itineraries are varied and different to the "same old, same old" P&O ones and they have a very loyal customer base, most of whom have tried other cruise lines, but always go back to Thomson. I would not hesitate to go with them again."
This from Anthony Smyth
"We thought we were downgrading going on a Thomson ship but how wrong we were... the Celebration is a beautiful ship .... Food was good, entertainment just great and there was a classical concert every evening. In the end we felt we had enjoyed our cruise far more than even on the QE2 the previous summer."
There will be some very happy people at Thomson Cruises right now.
Jane Archer
