Deciding that we would like a Christmas holiday together, my cousin and I chose CMV Magellan for the “21 night Christmas & New Year Cape Verde, Madeira & Canaries Cruise sailing from Tilbury on Dec. 18, 2019”.

To start this review on a positive note, my first impressions were all positive. The terminal at Tilbury was decorated beautifully and had a festive air about it. Embarkation went without a hitch and upon entering the Magellan, I was struck by its cleanliness and the beautiful Christmas decorations that were throughout the vessel. We had an ocean-view cabin on Deck 6 and it was bright, clean and inviting to enter.

And then the issues began. The storage space in the cabin was limited (one tiny shelf in the bathroom; night tables were just small tables without drawers; and in the desk area there were only 6 small drawers, one of which was home to the hair dryer (which had little power to adequately dry your hair). While we were struggling to find homes for our belongings, it became unbearably hot. There was no thermostat on the wall and in order to *try* to control the temperature, I had to stand on a chair and attempt to turn a knob in the ceiling! Eventually we came to the realization, that there were only two temperatures available to us: boiling hot or freezing cold. The showroom is always cold, take something to cover you, when you go. Read more