We booked this Land of the Northern Lights Cruise in Nov 2013 through Holidays Please. The first problem was all communication with CMV had to be through this agent. Despite emails and several phone calls to both the agent and CMV we did not receive our tickets.until arrival at Tilbury, where we were kept waiting for 2 hours as there was no record of our prepaid car parking.

The cabin was acceptable although the top drawer of the bedside cabinet collapsed onto the shelf below. There were numerous buckets along the corridor to collect water leaking in from above. Decor however was generally good. The ship was full, as a result dinner was in 2 sittings and we were unfortunately in the last. (A request to the maitre D' to change to first sitting was met with the disdain for the passengers she showed for the whole trip).This resulted in us missing virtually all the laid on entertainment, as we did not finish dinner until 10.30 most nights. The cabin steward and waiters were excellent, unfortunately this was not reflected in those higher up the chain! .

Hygiene appeared to be good, with sterilsing liquid being squirted on everyone's hands before you could enter a restaurant. Despite this we were both sick during the voyage for several days. Salad was served up which was spoiled, having been frozen; on being informed the chef merely shrugged. The wine cellar was poor and exorbitantly priced. Read more