Thomson Cruises boss David Selby has hit out at rival attempts to muscle in on the line’s Mediterranean stronghold in Palma, following Royal Caribbean International’s decision to base Grandeur of the Seas there in summer 2011.

Selby, who is managing director of Thomson Cruises and its one-ship sister line Island Cruises, claimed RCI could not compete with their range and choice of fly-cruises.

“RCI has a formidable competitor in us. We run from 21 UK airports; we have an unbeatable range of hotels for passengers wanting to cruise and stay; and we include all gratuities and service charges.

“We have nine different itineraries on different ships; Royal Caribbean has two. Their cruises have two days at sea per week and we only have one.”

One of the ships operating from Palma next summer will be the Thomson Dream – the line’s newest ship which embarked on its five-day maiden voyage last week after helping in repatriation efforts ferrying 2,800 passengers from Palma to Barcelona.

The 1,500-passenger vessel only emerged from a Sicilian shipyard on the day preceding the repatriations. 

It had spent four weeks being patched up after a fatal accident in the Egyptian port of Sharm el Sheikh in February when sailing as Costa Cruises’ Costa Europa.

Selby said Tui considered walking away from the deal after the accident. But it had decided against it and now had a ship that was the most spacious in its fleet, offering 40% more room than its other four vessels.

Selby claimed passengers were also prepared to pay a premium for Thomson Dream, which costs an average of £70 per person a week more than Thomson Destiny and £140 per person more than Island Escape.

He conceded that the lack of shake-out time before Dream’s first cruise had led to teething troubles, which were being rectified.