We have cruised with CMV before so know, more or less, what to expect although this was our first time on Magellan.

December 22 started with an early morning telephone call to advise the ship had encountered bad weather and would be late in at Tilbury so our embarkation time was put back 5 hours (to 6.30pm). This was re-iterated in an email also received that morning and this advised that the ship would now be sailing at 8pm.

We duly turned up, as requested, just before 6.30pm and were virtually alone in the ‘unloading’ area with our luggage being taken from us almost immediately. We went to check in, our Cruise Cards were already waiting for us at a separate table (together with about 20 others) and we were next in line to actually check in. The latter was quickly accomplished and we proceeded to ‘Security’, they obviously wanted us on board promptly as nothing we were carrying was put through the scanner. Nor were we invited to go through the body scanner. Just how much time did they think they were saving by these unwise actions? Read more