As background, my wife and I have cruised on all of the major large Cruise lines multiple times and have been on over 30 cruises from 3 days to 40 days in all parts of the world. We are from the US and decided to try the Magellan Land of Northern Lights Cruise as it was priced right and was the itinerary and time of year we wanted. We read with some trepidation the mixed reviews of the Magellan's short tenure with Cruise and Maritime Voyages but decided the advantages would outweigh any problems. BOY, WHAT A GREAT DECISION THAT WAS!!! This ship is truly a hidden gem! Sure, some of the things you've read about are correct....there IS some noise when the thrusters move the ship to port, and the anchor chain certainly made some noise when it was lowered on our one tender stop. The entertainment IS standard cruise ship fare, with talent that is energetic but may miss a note occasionally....and the dancers may miss a step when the ship rolls too!! But, these very minor issues are more than overcome by the absolutely tremendous atmosphere on the ship! The staff is always - yes I said always - pleasant and making every effort to be of service. The ship's appearance is very nice, and is CLEAN. I swear I saw a person cleaning and polishing the stairway rails every time I used them!!

Now, more specifically, the food was very comparable to that served on most cruise lines. There were 5 options for entrees every night, along with three standard options if you didn't like those! 3 Appetizers, 2 soups (these were great), 2 salads (very nice too) and several desserts were also part of the standard menu. No, there were no specialty restaurants (and no extra charges), but that was part of the charm!

The drink availability was what you would expect on any ship, and the prices were similar The one nice surprise is that NO gratuities were added to the drinks, and I really believe the overall service was better!! I continue to be amazed at the very sincere efforts each person made to make our trips special! Read more