Magellan

My elderly mother and myself would certainly not recommend this cruise to anyone else. As this cruise was on my mother's bucket list, we are exceptionally disappointed. The best part of the cruise was leaving Tilbury dock on our return. The list of required improvements is indeed a long one but I will endeavour to outline them, as they will be outlined in our official complaint. Having endured a 6 hour delay, the embarkation was a complete shambles. My mother, who has issues with standing for long periods, was made to stand for 2 hours due to the vast number of people needing to be processed at the same time. The cabin was a double, not a twin as ordered. The food was plentiful, if bland. The majority of the staff were foreign with limited English language knowledge which made communication difficult, indeed impossible at times. The open decks were inaccessible at times due to no grit or sand being available-on a trip to see the Northern Lights, really??? Most passengers, including ourselves, came down with chest infections, flu etc. which signifies that something in the air conditioning was faulty. The seating areas (limited as they were, with noisy arcade machines next to them) often smelled of urine. So it goes on.............

I would not reccomend this particular cruise. As my accomodation was not what was ordered or promised by Cruise119. I had booked for a window cabin and     was allocated a cabiin with porthole and persudo window ledge. I am 6ft tall and I could not see outside the porthole, also I was heard the anchor  downed and raised, causing noise every time we berthered at port, as the cabin was very close to the equipment being used. BOW END of ship.

I found the vessel very confusing to find the different rooms, due to the layout of the ship.

Never enough seating when all passengers were on board, and a deck chair mentality with the seating.

Staff very helpful. Itinerary good and excursions efficient. The voyage was  lucky to see the Northern Lights.

The disembarkcation was very drawn out, and delayed.

 

 I expected better for a single paying double occupancy.

Miss C Campbell

 

Seeing the Northern Lights, we were exstremely lucky to see this display

 

some people on our cruise this was their first views after their 3rd and 4th cruise.

I have sailed on this ship 3 times already and would recommend it to anyone. I am going back on her next July and very much looking forward to it. The cabins are always kept clean and comfortable. The ship is constantly being kept spotlessly clean. I have heard some people complain about toilets being shut while being cleaned but there's plenty of other toilets. The staff are friendly, helpful and professional and are always smiling. The food is delicious and there was plenty of it and a great variety. There are lots of games and activities laid in but it is all very relaxed and friendly with nothing pushed on you. You can take part in as much or as little as you like.

Four of us sailed from Newcastle to Norway 9th sept 17. First the positive , I booked a twin cabin. It was a double bed , within an hour we were moved to deck 7 from deck 4, Food was fantastic , ship was clean , staff were keen and happy at their work . The ports visited were typical Norway and as expected , tours great Negative , The medical facility has been hived off to a private company from Eastern Europe Not EU, so when my sister in law tripped at the lifeboat drill. Scuffed her knees , and was taken to the medical centre, her final bill had £72 added for her treatment , which was a plaster and an external inspection of her knees . On complaint she was told to claim off her insurance , we gathered negligence evidence , presented it to the customer service manager , same answer , it's coming off credit card . We had one more try where I explained on Stella's behalf that a no win no fee lawyer would be instructed snd CMV may end up paying 1000s, I asked him to sign off his decision so there was a paper trail, he declined , but at 5pm the day before disembarkation the bill was scrapped . Now the very worst complaint . Emergency drill Out of 1200 passengers I estimated 500 were either mobility impaired, clinically obese or over 80 years old , Yet the cruise company expected all of the passengers to leave wherever they were when the emergency siren sounded snd walk down many flights of stairs, go to their cabins, recover lifejackets and return up to 6 deck levels by way of the stairs to attend their emergency muster station , The service facilities are deck 8,9and 10. During any training drill or the real thing people will die or be seriously injured just recovering their lifejackets , it's legal SOLAS. Regulations say it's ok? But cruise ships have superseded these outdated regulations. Some cruise ship carry 4000 passengers. , having these mostly elderly people moving around without use of lifts is just not practical CMV is not the only company. Thomson cruises have the same set up. Lifejackets are in cabins, only a few are kept at lifeboat stations , The solution is really easy Move lifejackets to lifeboats and instruct passengers to go direct to lister station from wherever they are when emergency siren sounds