The Majestic Line

Greenock (Glasgow)

Europe - British Isles & Western

Europe - All

Scotland

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Excellent

Glen Shiel

Glen Massan

Glen Tarsan

Glen Etive

Hilo

Our chosen cruise was Around Mull, Wildlife Explorer and we had been very much looking forward to this, especially the wildlife. 

There is much to recommend Majestic Lines - the customer service pre-cruise was excellent and joining the ship all went very smoothly. Accommodation was much as expected.

The weather was not great for June, wet and a bit windy. It was my assumption that the boat would be able to cope with this kind of weather given the location - but apparently not, it lacked modern stabilisation for choppy seas. As a result of this, after testing the waters, the skipper decided that "Around Mull" was not possible and so we sailed The Sound of Mull and visited nearby mainland lochs instead, which were pleasant enough, but not what we had signed up for. It also meant that we saw none of the wildlife we had hoped for. There was a half day trip on Mull with an excellent guide, but this was a bit rushed and we spent quite a bit of time looking at waterfalls and lichen, which was interesting but again, not wildlife.

On the positive side, the crew were all excellent and looked after us well. The skipper felt like a safe pair of hands. The chef worked very hard all day and produced a good variety of quality food. much locally sourced. Also catered well for a vegetarian.

I think others have said that, due to the size of the boat it is worth keeping in mind if this will suit. With wet weather it can be claustrophobic as you are limited to saloon or cabin. We did have a number of shore trips, which were welcome.

A flaw in Majestic's communications was found when we experienced a breakdown in a remote Loch - onboard devices had no signal and if it had not been for a passenger's mobile phone being used to contact base we might have been stuck! It was a stressful time for all. Now hopefully this has been corrected.

Another disappointment was the company's response to my feedback - which basically pointed me to the small print. Given the unpredictability of the weather in Scotland I think "plan B" should be made clearer - this is an expensive holiday and as it met neither of the criteria in the title was bound to be a big let down.

Around Mull, Wildlife Explorer, disappointing - Should have "Weather permitting" in title!

We spent a week exploring the coast of Mull and nearby lochs. The trip included a half day tour of Mull in a min-bus with an excellent knowledgeable guide who managed to find us some sea eagles.

The boat was small but comfortable. 6 en-suite cabins with 10 guests in all, catered for by 4 crew who could not have been more helpful or more fun. During the day we would be put ashore by tender to explore eg Iona, Fingal's Cave, Castle Duart, or for a walk, but could stay on board if preferred. At Tobermory we were alongside the pontoon so could come and go as we wished.

Food was excellent, the highlight for me being the mussels taken straight out of the sea in Loch Spelve and served half an hour later in a cream sauce for dinner (with the most delicious boat-made chips). The chef managed to satisfy everyone's food preferences. There was a good selection at breakfast. Mid-morning coffee came with home-made biscuits. Lunch was normally soup and home-made bread or pasta or cold meats with salad. Fruit was freely available. At 4pm we had tea/coffee and home-made cake. Dinner consisted of canapes followed by (on alternate days) starter and main course or main course and sweet, then a selection of Scottish cheeses (which were a revelation) and chocolates, accompanied by more wine than we could manage to drink.

After dinner we played games or watched a DVD or read or just chatted.

This is a particularly good holiday for solo travellers. 2 double cabins are reserved for singles at no extra cost. My group was 4 couples (3 UK and one US) and one solo like me. They were great company but there is plenty of space on board to spread out including the wheelhouse which was my location of choice while we were sailing. Best position for spotting porpoises and seals. 

I will certainly be going again, probably on one of the longer cruises to the more distant islands of the Hebrides.

Hebrides adventure - Mull and its wild-life

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