Myself and my wife are first time cruisers (is that the right terminology???) and chose the CMV trip to the Shetlands, Faroes, and Orkney islands in April this year. The ship itself is both incredibly old, and incredibly small. I know a few people have criticised this, but for us it simply added a bit of old-world charm to the cruise. And with only 550 passengers - and no screaming kids - it was quite pleasant. We never had to queue anywhere for a seat in the bar or restaurants, and the ship never felt crowded.

We did hear quite a few other passengers moaning about the size of the boat, the limited entertainment, how poor it was compared to other cruises etc, but as the days at sea went on we realised these people were pretty much cruise-snobs who saw it as a competition almost comparing with each other how many cruises they'd been on, how big the ships were, blah blah blah. Boring people in other words. Let's face it....CMV give people enough information about what they are embarking on prior to travel.....so don't book it if all you are going to do is complain.

Staff were superbly attentive (apart from our room attendant who rated "okay"), food was very good, and the entertainment was more cheesy than a cheese fondue - but it was fun. Don't expect big budget entertainment on a ship that is smaller than a cross-channel ferry. Read more