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P&O V Cruise & Maritime Magellan


janny444
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Hi ...can anyone please tell me how the C&M Magellan compares with P&O. I know the ships are older and probably not quite "high a standard" but then again maybe they are but they are sailing from Liverpool....big advantage for us....and offering a very interesting itinerary next year so that is tempting us very much . It is only for 7 nights so perhaps if " the standard" isn't for us then we could possibly "tolerate" it. Just would be interested to hear from someone who has sailed with both cruise lines and could enlighten me on the possible differences

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Friend of mine cruised with CM and thought it was awful. She would never go again. Rude waiting staff, Eastern European. Did not enjoy the food. Just her opiniion, but I have heard it elsewhere too.

 

Oh dear...that doesn't sound good....especially when you have heard it elsewhere...maybe best to stick to what we know

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It is a real pity that P&O don't think about offering some sailings from further north but I suspect they never will. I think if any one of the better cruise lines did offer Liverpool or Newcastle or Leith it would sell out very quickly as a lot of people don't like the long journey South.

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It is a real pity that P&O don't think about offering some sailings from further north but I suspect they never will. I think if any one of the better cruise lines did offer Liverpool or Newcastle or Leith it would sell out very quickly as a lot of people don't like the long journey South.

 

There has been talk about this for many years...developing Liverpool as a full blown cruise port....it certainly has the infrastructure but there was mention of Southampton port "blocking" this idea but I am sure a lot of people would cruise from Liverpool if " the big boys" had embarkation there...maybe one day it will happen.

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Hi ...can anyone please tell me how the C&M Magellan compares with P&O. I know the ships are older and probably not quite "high a standard" but then again maybe they are but they are sailing from Liverpool....big advantage for us....and offering a very interesting itinerary next year so that is tempting us very much . It is only for 7 nights so perhaps if " the standard" isn't for us then we could possibly "tolerate" it. Just would be interested to hear from someone who has sailed with both cruise lines and could enlighten me on the possible differences

 

We are quite experienced with P&O (10 cruises, most ships) and have done an overnight (no cruise) on Marco Polo (Avonmouth) and Magellan (Tilbury) just out of curiosity. We went with low expectations and these were slightly exceeded, but I would only cruise with them if it was dirt cheap (which it isn't).

 

First of all, if there is a pecking order of cruise lines, I would say that P&O is firmly mid market. There are the luxury lines and the more upmarket large scale operators above them. I haven't cruised with Fred Olsen, Thomson, Saga etc but looking at their brochures would say that they all sit a little bit below P&O, shall we say lower-mid market. CMV is firmly a budget operator, at least in terms of the product (if not the price).

 

On Magellan, we stayed in a Royal Suite, which is their top tier. It was pretty good but not comparable to a P&O suite, other than the Canapés which were incredible and put the appalling P&O efforts to shame and the seating, which was also better than P&O. It was spacious and comfortable but the balcony was set back from the edge of the ship. The bathroom lacked shelf space.

 

Food was quite acceptable, but not as good as P&O. Also, you have none of the superb Select Dining venues that P&O offers. The theatre is pretty good and the show wasn't up to much. But then, I find many of the P&O ones underwhelming. Staff were mostly friendly, but not as polished as P&O staff. Most noticeable was the senior crew. Mostly surly Eastern Europeans who didn't inspire the confidence that the top teams on P&O do.

 

We enjoyed both overnight experiences, but we agreed that we would only cruise with them if the itinerary was something that we couldn't do with P&O and, only then, if it worked out at no more than half the price of P&O. I have regular mail shots and emails from CMV and, even with their regular 70% discounts, they don't seem to be cheap enough to convince me. Personally, we would rather suffer the drive to Southampton for a superior product.

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We are quite experienced with P&O (10 cruises, most ships) and have done an overnight (no cruise) on Marco Polo (Avonmouth) and Magellan (Tilbury) just out of curiosity. We went with low expectations and these were slightly exceeded, but I would only cruise with them if it was dirt cheap (which it isn't).

 

First of all, if there is a pecking order of cruise lines, I would say that P&O is firmly mid market. There are the luxury lines and the more upmarket large scale operators above them. I haven't cruised with Fred Olsen, Thomson, Saga etc but looking at their brochures would say that they all sit a little bit below P&O, shall we say lower-mid market. CMV is firmly a budget operator, at least in terms of the product (if not the price).

 

On Magellan, we stayed in a Royal Suite, which is their top tier. It was pretty good but not comparable to a P&O suite, other than the Canapés which were incredible and put the appalling P&O efforts to shame and the seating, which was also better than P&O. It was spacious and comfortable but the balcony was set back from the edge of the ship. The bathroom lacked shelf space.

 

Food was quite acceptable, but not as good as P&O. Also, you have none of the superb Select Dining venues that P&O offers. The theatre is pretty good and the show wasn't up to much. But then, I find many of the P&O ones underwhelming. Staff were mostly friendly, but not as polished as P&O staff. Most noticeable was the senior crew. Mostly surly Eastern Europeans who didn't inspire the confidence that the top teams on P&O do.

 

We enjoyed both overnight experiences, but we agreed that we would only cruise with them if the itinerary was something that we couldn't do with P&O and, only then, if it worked out at no more than half the price of P&O. I have regular mail shots and emails from CMV and, even with their regular 70% discounts, they don't seem to be cheap enough to convince me. Personally, we would rather suffer the drive to Southampton for a superior product.

 

Thank you Selbourne...that was exactly what I wanted ....a comparison... and after what you have said you have confirmed my suspicions that the standard won't tick our boxes. Even if they were half the price ....which they are certainly not....I won't consider cruising with them. I know I said that the itinerary and the advantage of cruising from Liverpool were tempting ....but not that tempting....we will just have to "suffer" the coach transfer down to Southampton :D....I am only joking on that point....always found the coach transfer absolutely fine and stress free.

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Thank you Selbourne...that was exactly what I wanted ....a comparison... and after what you have said you have confirmed my suspicions that the standard won't tick our boxes. Even if they were half the price ....which they are certainly not....I won't consider cruising with them. I know I said that the itinerary and the advantage of cruising from Liverpool were tempting ....but not that tempting....we will just have to "suffer" the coach transfer down to Southampton :D....I am only joking on that point....always found the coach transfer absolutely fine and stress free.

 

Pleased that I could help. Although we are quite happy to go from Southampton (we quite like the cruise down the Solent and past the Isle of Wight) I do want to do a round Britain cruise and would hope that one of the stops would be Liverpool! I worked there for a couple of years in the 80's (when Albert Dock was being developed) and would like to approach the city from the water rather than the Mersey tunnel or train!

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We sailed with Cruise and Maritime a few years ago.We embarked at Hull on a 6 night trip around the Scottish Isles and Faroes.We disembarked in Liverpool.We live between Hull and Liverpool so we caught the train to Hull and the train home to derbyshire from Liverpool.Two hour journey each way which was ideal.Fantastic itinerary but we felt everything was of quite a low standard.Like others have posted,we might consider them again for a short cruise if it was an itinerary that other cruise lines didn t offer but the company certainly wouldn t be my first choice

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Saga is far above mid market. We have found the service and food way above P&O and even Cunard. They have used older ships but they are building a brand new one "Spirit of Discovery" in service summer 2009.

 

David.

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Saga is far above mid market. We have found the service and food way above P&O and even Cunard. They have used older ships but they are building a brand new one "Spirit of Discovery" in service summer 2009.

 

David.

 

That's interesting and would help explain their high prices. However, until they ban smoking on balconies I won't even consider them.

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Based on the lines I know. You may not agree but I would order them as Cunard, P&O, Fred Olsen and CMV from a quality perspective. Fred have regional departures which might help. I am happy to take short cruises on CMV when the price reflects the cruise quality provided.

 

 

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All my cruises have been with P&O with the single exception of a cruise with Fred Olsen on Black Watch. We were able to get a very good discount which is why we tried Fred Olsen. It wasn't good for my son as the facilities were very limited for children but I found the food to be very good and perhaps slightly better than P&O main dining room. I would certainly try Fred Olsen again once it is just my wife and I holidaying.

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Pleased that I could help. Although we are quite happy to go from Southampton (we quite like the cruise down the Solent and past the Isle of Wight) I do want to do a round Britain cruise and would hope that one of the stops would be Liverpool! I worked there for a couple of years in the 80's (when Albert Dock was being developed) and would like to approach the city from the water rather than the Mersey tunnel or train!

 

 

 

We've just done a Celebrity cruise that stopped at Liverpool. Everyone we chatted too loved the Liverpool stop. The terminal is opposite the Liver building, Albert Dock is 5 mins away and we had a ticker tape sailaway with can-canning firemen. It was the talk of the cruise. A really great port stop.

 

 

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I've sailed with P&O, encountered problems which were rectified (sometimes with a bit more fuss than should have been necessary) I've given feedback to P&O on return who have given thoughtful replies and a little compensation where they realised they had not matched the expectations. I'm also happy to say that I gave favourable feedback too - it's not all about whining.

 

We sailed on a three night Cruise and Maritime Marco Polo as it was going from a local port less than an hour away. This was a grade 8 cabin (1 being the lowest, 12 the highest) The beds were hard foam, the noise and squeaking from the engines prevented sleep (not that the rock hard beds aided in that matter) the shower thermostat was broken - it fluctuated between freezing and hot, and to top it all off the heating in the room was broken. None of this was fixed during the trip. We reported it every day and false promises were made that they would fix them.

 

I contacted C&M on return and they really could not have given less of a toss. Their attitude is that if you don't like it complain to ABTA. ABTA is a company that C&M pay for membership. Consequently ABTA don't want to upset the people paying them money. Unless you give them a three figure sum to contract a lawyer to investigate your complaint. I even sent C&M a recording of the noise as they claim nobody else has complained, but they refuse to acknowledge it claiming I could have adjusted the volume.

 

Any company that deals that badly with their customers, and has so low an opinion of their customers is not worthy of people's hard earned money.

 

Which is a shame, because otherwise it was a nice characterful ship. But if you can't sleep or shower the rest is for naught.

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Barnum42, what you have described would certainly put me off.

 

I also agree about ABTA, we had a serious issue with a non cruise holiday and they did nothing except ask for an arbitration fee. We did get an acceptable resolution via another route but not through anything ABTA did.

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Suggest you read the reviews on the Cruise Critic Reviews section. Also many other reviews.

Would not touch CandM with a barge pole after reading them.

With reviews I ignore the best and the worst and see what the middle of the road say.

Would suggest you stick with PandO.

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This is helpful - C+M are departing from our home town next year, so we have been wondering whether they are really as bad as we thought. It sounds as if they are! We are less than an hour from Southampton, so the journey for us is hardly arduous and worth it to get a better cruise.

 

PS - I have just looked at the link for ship visits and note that it says wheelchairs are not suitable onboard - which will certainly rule me out and also a large percentage of potential cruisers!

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The Liverpool cruise terminal was never intended for cruises to start and finish from. It was built as a port of call. .

 

The money to build the terminal was given on the understanding that it would only be used as a port of call. However, the powers that be in Liverpool have pulled a fast one and it looks like cruises will depart from Liverpool

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The Liverpool cruise terminal was never intended for cruises to start and finish from. It was built as a port of call. .

 

 

 

The money to build the terminal was given on the understanding that it would only be used as a port of call. However, the powers that be in Liverpool have pulled a fast one and it looks like cruises will depart from Liverpool

 

 

 

We've just stopped at Liverpool on a Celebrity cruise. It was a great stop, really easy and friendly people but there isn't a terminal as such just a small tent that I could not imagine could deal with an embarkation.

 

In fact when we disembarked, we walked off the gangplank into Liverpool, mixed with office workers then walked along the walkway into a tent and showed our passes again. Liverpool was a great port of call but not a cruise terminal and not great re security either.

 

 

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PS - I have just looked at the link for ship visits and note that it says wheelchairs are not suitable onboard - which will certainly rule me out and also a large percentage of potential cruisers!

 

Yes, it does say that on the page re the visits and overnights. It doesn't apply to their cruises. However, my wife uses a wheelchair and we have done visits with overnights on Marco Polo in Avonmouth (Bristol) and Magellan in Tilbury and they couldn't have been more helpful. On both occasions, whilst we were waiting in the embarkation hall, the senior manager in charge approached us and invited us to be first to board, even though we weren't designated for the first group - well ahead of our allocated time. I did find it odd that we bypassed security, which, whilst a pleasant change, rather reinforces my point that they aren't quite as professional as P&O! Access around the ships in the wheelchair was no problem. As they have fewer floors, very few able bodied people use the lifts, meaning that they are freely available for those that really need them (unlike P&O where most able bodied passengers use them even for just a few floors). The lifts were a good size. Marco Polo had a couple of accessible inside cabins (only). On Magellan we had a top tier suite, one of which is adapted and had a wet room. I would still have reservations about cruising with them but, from a wheelchair users perspective, they were every bit as helpful as P&O and, in some respects, even better.

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Barnum42, what you have described would certainly put me off.

 

I also agree about ABTA, we had a serious issue with a non cruise holiday and they did nothing except ask for an arbitration fee. We did get an acceptable resolution via another route but not through anything ABTA did.

Congratulations on finding another route. What route was that?

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