CMV vs HAL / Celebrity

I have enjoyed 4 cruises on HAL and Celebrity. Now I found a perfect itinerary but the ship is CMV Columbus, which is suspiciously cheap compared to the cruises on HAL and X. On this site, the board would be "Other Cruise Lines".

I've never even heard of Cruise & Maritime Voyages. Is it very different from HAL/X?

Have you checked out their forum section on CC?

You might get some info there.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1103

Have you checked out their forum section on CC?

 

You might get some info there.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1103

I overlooked that there is a forum dedicated to CMV. Thanks!

We did a Baltic Cruise with CMV last year, as they were the only line offering the dates we required.

They can best be described as an ultra budget cruise line. The ship was well maintained, which other than the ports was the only positive.

If you like HAL & Celebrity avoid CMV

They are known in the UK for having small, old ships that are full of much older people.

Some of their itineraries are very good though and a steal so I guess it's up to you.

They mainly have British cruisers onboard.

We did a Baltic Cruise with CMV last year, as they were the only line offering the dates we required.

 

They can best be described as an ultra budget cruise line. The ship was well maintained, which other than the ports was the only positive.

 

If you like HAL & Celebrity avoid CMV

They are known in the UK for having small, old ships that are full of much older people.

 

Some of their itineraries are very good though and a steal so I guess it's up to you.

 

They mainly have British cruisers onboard.

Thank you both, I think we won't be booking :)

Adult only; sailing from quite a few UK ports; very unusual itineraries, and enjoyed by people who prefer older, smaller ships. The prices are low, and sometimes they offer what we in the UK call "BOGOFs"- buy one, get one free...

As said above, older ships (But well maintained, Smaller ships (All under 1000 pax) aimed "mainly" at the British market.....

BUT Some absolutely GREAT itineraries, Many of which you cant find unless you spend 4 to 5 times as much (on the "elite" cruise lines!) Yes, many older passengers. On out last trip we were VERY concerned at how many canes and walkers we saw, but then were astounded at how unbelievably mobile and active those same passengers were. Food was fine, (If not a bit "British") and crew attentive (Mostly eastern european) Dont let the negatives stop you if the ports are what you want... It IS an adventure!

If I was 30/40 years older I would probably give them a go because it's all about the ports for me.

Being 32 and 31 its a no-no at the moment.

Have a look on youtube for a feel of the ships.

We are 'going down' a peg as we are sailing P&O Oz this year instead of the US lines but in the end the itinerary won out.

Re the comments about well-maintained ships - Magellan has some issues. It has a permanent problem with a serious 'cruisers cough'. We did the 42 day Amazon cruise on it and it took weeks to get rid of the chest infection afterwards. The medical centre was probably the greatest revenue earner on this trip! Magellan also has rubbish air-con in the cabins and often suffers from exhaust fume smells.

There were other issues as well so I would be very way of booking a CMV cruise (we will not book them again).