Magna Carta Steamship Company Ltd.

Luxury Cruises

Europe - All

Europe - British Isles & Western

Cruise to Nowhere

Europe - River Cruise

Poor

Excellent

Lord of the Glens

The ship herself is very comfortable,we had a middle deck cabin and found it very comfortable with plenty of storage space,But the pillows on the beds are of a very inferior quality and were very stained under the pillow cases.
The first thing that we noticed considering the fact that most of the passengers were from the elderly end of the age group was that when cruising away from the canal ,a ramp type gangway was in use and at times it was at an angle of 45 degrees or more and there was no crew member present to help boarding or disembarking.
The upper decks have tables and chairs aft and chairs on the forward viewing deck, in the mornings and after rain showers the chairs were only wiped down once in the whole week ,so that if passengers wanted to go on the outside decks they had to stand or dry them off themselves.
The bar system was another failing there was NO table service we had to go to the bar and order and collect the drinks ourselves,Not what one expects on a so called LUXURY cruise.
the cruise advertised an OPEN dining room with no allocated seating Why then was a group of passengers allowed to have a reserved table for lunch and dinner,and why when a group of passengers decided to sit at the reserved table were the group taken up stairs to the FORWARD LOUNGE AND SERVED THEIR MEAL THERE?
We had to change the itinerary because of the weather but that comes from holidaying in England,and was not a problem.
We also found the advertising literature very misleading in the fact that in the advertised pictures the c waiting and serving crew were all in uniform, in practice apart from the captains receptions they wore short sleeved shirts and no tie or jacket. one does not expect meals to be served SILVER SERVICE with bare arms and to be addressed as GUYS not sir or madam.
Finally when we got to the Caledonian canal and started to cruise in the morning up the Neptune's Staircase a famous flight of locks we had no information given at all. In fact on the days spent cruising the Hotel manager/cruise director our link with the crew etc was missing, he had gone ashore and was taking a large generator to our next ports of call and did not re board until we were moored up again.
Once again not what one expects from a so called LUXURY cruise .we have had better service on the continental river cruises at a FAR cheaper price.
All in All an Overpriced Holday that was all FUR COAT and NO Nickers.
 

Not what we expected

We sailed on the Lord of the Glens 11thru 18th June '13.
First the ship,we had a top deck cabin, which are not the biggest but are far quieter and offer better views than the middle and lower decks.By ocean standards the cabins are small particularly the bathroom, we managed okay but larger people may find the space restricting. There no elevators on this ship only 2 staircases between decks.
The cabins have more than adequate storage and feature tv,radio,desk.stool,hairdryer etc.
We did not have the pleasure(?) of local entertainment on board but by the time dinner was finished a quick nightcap in the bar meant it was bedtime,incidentally the bar closes at 10.30,but a small selection of drinks are left for you to help yourself on an honesty basis by leaving your cabin number.There is no stated policy about bringing your own drink on board so we had the odd bottle in the cabin for pre dinner drinks.By the way an average bottle of Pinot Grigio is £18.00and the house red(tempranillo/Syrah) is the same price,expect to pay about £25.00 for reasonable wine.Whisky is £3.15 per 25ml glass with single malts being £3.95.Also tea and instant coffee are available free 24/7
Overall the food that was provided was of a pretty good standard but we felt lacking in imagination for such an up market cruise and you had to select your lunch & dinner in advance by means of a tick box chart in the lobby,however as no cabin number was required it was only a guide for the galley,we changed our minds a couple of times with no problems.Seating for meals is mainly at tables for six and is one sitting except breakfast which is 7.30 till 9.00 all meals are open seating.Lunch would pass for dinner on some cruise lines!
All tours are included which mainly consist of coach trips to various attractions,we enjoyed them al
The upper deck houses the bar and tea station along with a forward lounge,which can get a little crowded at times and an aft lounge with sofas & easy chairs with equally good views .There are also outside areas fore and aft weather permitting!
I would suggest taking a cruise that ends in Inverness as it is a much nicer way to finish up rather than having a long drive from elsewhere,which may leave you feeling a little flat.
Finally the age range on our trip was mainly over 65's .
 

Inner hebrides & caledonian canal

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