A dire experience never to be repeated.

Magellan Cruise Review to Scandinavia

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 58

Overall rating:

1 out of 5
Verified Review
Magellan

Baltic Cities & St Petersburg

Sail date: October 29, 2016

Ship: Magellan

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 7102

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

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.............

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
The food was plentiful but bland. Breakfast and lunch in the restaurants were rushed, with passengers feeling like they were being herded like cattle. Raffles was constantly oversubscribed as there was not enough room for everyone.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5
There was nowhere to read in peace. The library was next to noisy arcade machines. There was only limited comfy seating available, even then there was no peace.

Entertainment

1 out of 5
Dire and unprofessional.

Service and Staff

1 out of 5
We found most of the staff to be very rude and abrupt. I suspect a lot of it had to do with the language challenges. Our cabin man was very sweet with 3 lines of English to his repertoire. A suggestion would be for customer service training to take place asap.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5
Smell of urine in seating areas. Table cloths and napkins stained. Cutlery smeared. Chairs were very dated and in need of tlc. No grit or sand available for outer decks even though this was a cruise to see the Northern Lights which require you to be outside to see them.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Very dated. No bigger than the one we paid to be upgraded from. We had to insist on it being made into a twin, as it was a double. The safe was unreliable, the toilet seat wobbly. The beds were comfy but the pillows were hard. The cabin man did his best. I'd asked for single cabins but was told they weren't included in the deal. Having spoken to others on the ship, this turned out to be untrue. The hairdryer was totally inadequate.

Ship tip

Don't waste your money!

Ports of call

Tilbury (London), England

1 out of 5
Sort embarkation and disembarkation out.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

3 out of 5

Olden, Norway

5 out of 5

NORDFJORDEID, NORWAY

3 out of 5

Leknes, Norway

3 out of 5

Alta

3 out of 5

Honningsvag, Norway

5 out of 5

Tromso, Norway

3 out of 5
Don't dock for such a long day here on a Sunday as it's shut.

Trondheim, Norway

5 out of 5

Andalsnes, Norway

3 out of 5

Bergen, Norway

5 out of 5
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2 Comments

Redvers    7 years ago

Oh dear, I took my mum who's in her 80's on a Christmas markets cruise and had a wonderful time. They allowed her to get on board early as she couldn't stand for long. Sorry your experience was so different.

JusMe    8 years ago

Thank you for your review.  Sorry you had a bad experience,  I hope your next cruise is better.   I can recommend doing research here with ship and cruise line reviews.   If you booked through a TA I would have a talk with them and consider a new TA.

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