An Impressive Week Onboard CMV Magellan!

Last week I returned from a fabulous week on board Cruise & Maritimes ship Magellan having sailed on their Scottish Isles & Faroes cruise, and to say I was impressed would be an understatement!

I’ve sailed with CMV once before for our Christmas conference cruise to Dublin onboard Marco Polo last year. I enjoyed the trip but I don’t think you always get the right impression of a cruise line on a mini cruise as I wasn’t overly impressed. However, all that changed as soon as I boarded Magellan.

You are immediately greeted with a smile and warm welcome by staff which continued throughout the cruise, the staff are truly amazing but I will talk about this more later.

Magellan’s a medium-size ship at 46,000 she has nine passenger decks, 726 cabins and a guest capacity of 1250.

Guests cabins are located on the lower 4 decks with restaurants and public areas from decks 8-12.

Both main restaurants the Waldolf & Kensington are located on deck 8 along with Hampton lounge and the main show lounge.

Above on deck 9 is where most of the entertainment takes place with the higher level of the show lounge, Taveners pub, Sinatras show lounge and the very popular Captains Club where the late-night entertainment takes place.

Towards the Aft you will find the card room along with the Jade Wellness center. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to book in for a treatment but the price looked great compared to other lines with daily offers such as 15 min reflexology and 15 min back and neck massage for just £30

On Deck 10 you will find the pool, Eros and Lido bars, Raffles Bistro, and two lovely hot tubs which I had the pleasure of enjoying to myself on day whilst the ship was in port. It’s worth noting there is also another hot tub on Sun deck 12 so three good size hot tubs and a pool is pretty impressive for a ship of this size. There is also a good size Gym and Observation bar located on deck 11

I really loved the layout of the ship and how everything was so easily accessible. Certainly, a plus point for anyone who has limited mobility or like me has a tendency to get lost on larger ships.

This is our Superior ocean view cabin on deck 7 as you can see it was spacious and light and fully equipped with all the essentials TV, hairdryer and of course a Kettle which is a must I believe for any ship sailing from the UK.

So what impressed me the most?

The Staff

Every member of staff on board were superb, from the very patient bar staff, the cheerful cabin steward and our lovely waiter KoKo who was very professional and provided outstanding service.  He even served me a plate of nothing one night when I declined dessert, so I wouldn’t feel left out and on the last evening, he gave all the ladies at our table the week’s menus along with a cute serviette rose.

Cleanliness

The ship is immaculate, you see staff constantly cleaning the public areas and I was impressed to see they even have a chap handing out the cutlery in the Bistro to prevent any contamination.

The Food

Every meal was excellent, food quality was high and presented beautifully.

Vegetarians have a wonderful choice with a set Vegetarian option on the main menu each evening or a special Vegetarian/Vegan menu available on request.

There are no specialty restaurants as such, however, with the popularity of their Fusion restaurant on Columbus. They have now introduced special Fusion nights on Magellan at a cost of just £14.90pp

On these evening part of the Bistro is transformed with lovely Indian decorations and guests can enjoy as CMV call it “our journey onto Indian gastronomy” and wow what a journey it was! I’m a huge fan of  Indian food and this was up there with the best I’ve had.

A nice touch that we had seen the chef preparing our desserts earlier in the day during a galley tour.

Drinks packages

I pre-booked the premium drinks package at £23 per night so thinking I would pay £161 I was surprised to find out CMV give you the 7th night FREE so it was only £138 and if that wasn’t already great value it also included the following:

• Services charges and gratuities for the duration of your cruise
• Confirmed Seating in the restaurant
• Priority cabin upgrade option
• Welcome Bottle Bon Voyage Wine (per cabin)
• CMV selected house wines (white, rosé & red by the glass at bars and restaurants during meals)
• 50% discount on Premium Beverages from the bar
• 30% discount on all the Premium Wine list
• 25% discount on any Speciality Restaurant

To sum things up,  If you like small to midsize ships CMV is excellent value for money and offer exceptional service and with the choice of 11 UK departure ports the question should be, why wouldn’t you want to sail with CMV??

So all that’s all for now and next time I’ll be talking more about the interesting ports of call I experienced.