South Quay Travel Limited (“SQTL”) – which traded under the name Cruise & Maritime Voyages – was placed into administration on 20 July 2020, meaning CMV is no more. CMV Magellan was subsequently beached in India for scrapping on 30 January 2021. Be sure to check out my other gluten free cruise reviews.
I recently spent a night on CMV Magellan for one of their overnight cruise events in Liverpool. I’ve done a separate blog post reviewing my experience on CMV Magellan’s Halloween Event but I wanted to focus in on one of the main reasons I went on the ship, to get an idea of what eating gluten free on CMV would be like.
CMV Magellan is a relatively small ship at just 1250 passenger capacity – she was originally built for Carnival Cruise Lines, launching in 1985 and actually has a really interesting history – in 2005 she was taken out of service to be used as temporary housing for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and in 2014 served as a four star floating hotel for the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Dining venues on CMV Magellan
CMV Magellan has two main dining rooms, Waldorf and Kensington, which both offer breakfast and lunch on an open seating basis – they also have two sittings for dinner.
For a less formal option, there is also Raffles Bistro (there’s definitely a 4 star theme running through the names of venues on board!) – Raffles is an informal buffet area.
Of the six ships in the CMV fleet, Magellan is one of the four ships to feature a speciality restaurant – Fusion, proclaimed as a journey onto Indian gastronomy. This, like most speciality restaurants, comes with a £14.90 per person supplement.
CMV also offer a ‘VIP’ experience called The Chef’s Table, a nine-course dining experience created and hosted by the Executive Chef. At a cost of £59.90 per person, this includes a sparkling wine and canapés reception, a tour of the galley and a menu accompanied with specially selected wines. The Executive Chef sits with you throughout the meal, describing the ingredients and techniques used to produce each of the courses.
Raffles Bistro
We passed through the Raffles Bistro on our exploration of the ship. One of the standout features for me on Magellan was the excellent identification of allergens and foods that are suitable for gluten free and other dietary requirements. I’ve been on ships like Marella where buffet options are marked as gluten free, dairy free, vegan etc but the buffets options here are actually marked with the 14 allergens, which I thought was brilliant! This is such an easy way of making eating gluten free on Cruise & Maritime Voyage so accessible (not to mention a whole load of other dietary requirements).
The Waldorf Restaurant
We sat down for dinner in the Waldorf restaurant, where again the menu the menu was marked up with the 14 allergens. It does seem to me that this seems to be the most accessible of all the cruise lines – you often find yourself having to search for the right person to speak to about allergens especially in busy buffets or bustling restaurants.
All the main courses were marked as containing gluten on the evening we were onboard, but the waiter told me to just pick what I wanted and they’d sort it out, he also said there’d be a gluten free option for me for dessert.
I opted for a Smoked Salmon and Avocado Tartar with prawns, a Greek Village Salad, Lamb Saddle with Provencale vegetables, dauphinoise potatoes and snow peas and was served a small chocolate cake for dessert – brownie points for it not being tapioca or one of the other weird gluten free desserts ships often serve!
We returned to the Waldorf for breakfast the next morning – breakfast in the MDR are similar to Marella and are a buffet style arrangement, with waiters offering juice, hot water to make tea, and coffee. I have to say, the orange juice was frankly a bit insulting – it was so watered down I would have believed you if you’d said it was water with orange food colouring in. It had pulp in so was definitely juice and not squash, but squash would have been more welcome.
Once again, food at breakfast was fully allergen marked, it did make for easy selection of food when one is very hungover and not in the mood for much human interaction!
Unfortunately only being on board for one night I didn’t get a full impression of eating gluten free on CMV Magellan – have you cruised gluten free on Cruise & Maritime Voyages?
Read more gluten free cruise reviews
- Eating gluten free on Marella Explorer 2
- Eating Gluten Free Afternoon Tea at Marella Cruises’ Great Musical Afternoon Tea
- A gluten free guide to Scarlet Lady’s restaurants (Virgin Voyages Menus)
- A first glimpse of gluten free treats on Virgin Voyages
- Eating gluten free on CMV Magellan (Ship no longer in service)
