Noble Caledonia Omdömen 

Noble Caladonia cancelled our cruise 5 days before departure due to a fault with one of the engines, fair enough, things happen. We were offered our full money back, BUT NO compensation or discount off any further trips. the same trip in 2027 was already fully booked which meant we would have to pay the 2028 prices!!
Shall not be using this company in the future.

The brochures and shiny leaflets look inviting however take your money elsewhere. We can only review their sea cruises (we were on Island Sky end of August). Basic cruise and basic food, we had significant changes of itinerary due to bad weather to the point of whether we should have set sail at all. Very much designed for the much older generation over 70. Many were repeat cruisers who get constantly bombarded with leaflets and brochures from them, it actually had the feel of an old peoples home. Oh and don't bother to provide any constructive feedback - they really don't like that. We got off the cruise and flew home. (and yes we are well travelled and cruised many times before).
There are other companies out there doing small ship cruising more worthy of your monies.

About the September 20, 2025 four river cruise
At 6600 pounds for two, we found the cruise underwhelming. Noble Caledonia rented or hired Croisieurope to do the river cruise. Everything was done by the croisieurope staff, except for 2 Noble Caledonia organizers on board.
Croisieurope offers a similar cruise at about half the price.
The two persons on board from Noble Caledonia were fine and did not do anything wrong or great. The conference person clearly did not seem to be well prepared and terrible as she read from her computer.
We did a river cruise with Viking and it was far superior and way less costly.
Taking us back to the airport the Caledonia lady and the bus driver had no idea where to park. Checking in was a nightmare because most passengers did not know how to use the computers to check in. We almost missed our plane because there was a spelling mistake of my wife's name that Noble Caledonia people did not correct for the return trip when we asked them.
The excursions were OK but often left little time to walk around..
Anyway, there appears to be many other cruise lines offering river cruises.

As far as we are concerned, the Noble Caledonia sub contracted river cruise with Croisieurope was average and very overpriced.

A friend and I went on the British Isles cruise in the summer of 2025. It was wonderful. The food was incredible. Nothing was too much trouble. The expedition team were exceptional and the scenery was stunning. Have already booked to go on another cruise with them.

We have just done a cruise round Ireland in Island Sky. Food and hotel service excellent. Happy with safety arrangements, especially Zodiac transfers. However, the itinerary was not exactly as advertised and some trips were oversold - for example island advertised as having an 'artist trail with many artists' studios' had only an exhibition of fish paintings all by the same artist in the village hall and there was not much to do or look at at some of the stops unless you are only interested in sea birds. Local guides very variable = some amusing and knowledgeable but others peddled completely inaccurate historical 'facts' (Didn't know Vikings had steam ships....!). Ceiling fell down on a table of diners during dinner and another cabin was flooded from the shower next door - staff offered towels to mop up the water overnight. We were woken by reception after 10 pm to say our credit card authorisation had not gone through (actually it had). Got a couple of bars of chocolate as an apology. Mostly we enjoyed our trip, but are left with the feeling that we won't book with Noble Caledonia again.

I have just read all the one star reviews and have no trouble believing every negative thing said about this company. I have just spent 10 nights on Island Sky as a solo traveller and felt as if my identity was increasingly eroded by the treatment I received from both some passengers and some members of the expedition team. I will never go on a cruise again.

I attempted to book one of this company’s (very expensive) cruises via their website. Filled in the booking form. Instead of confirming whether or not the chosen cabin was available, the website would only generate an automated message to say ‘one of our consultants will contact you within 24 hours’. 72 hours later, nothing. I emailed them to enquire about it. No response at all.

I’m guessing that the cruise (or at least the type of cabin I wanted) was already fully booked, and so, given there was no sale to be made, they simply couldn’t be bothered to contact me. But: (i) why couldn’t the website indicate that there was no availability, like other travel companies’ sites do; (ii) is it really too much to expect the company to have the basic courtesy to email me and let me know?

If this is the lack of professionalism offered by this company, I’m extremely glad I didn’t book a trip with them. Having now seen all of the other 1 star reviews, I can see that my experience is just par for the course.

Booking process hopeless. Tried to book a cruise online for 2026. You get to the end of the booking which then says a booking reference no. is needed and you need to call them. Why don’t they say the reference no. is needed first before you complete the online booking form. Tried to call the sales team (option 2), on hold for 10 mins then cut off. Very poor service.

Noble Caledonia, don’t risk your money.

Noble Caledonia pride themselves on delivering extremely good high quality, albeit expensive holidays. My wife and I have had several over the last few years.

However as we have discovered on a recent trip “autumn in maritime Canada and New England”they have absolutely no concern or interest in any holiday they deliver which for any reason doesn’t go well.

Recently this holiday for which people paid £8000 to £11,000 per person for whatever reason was a bit of a disaster. This was accepted by the cruise director, by the Caledonia staff that came with us and by practically all the paying customers.

Towards the end, we were told the managing director himself was directly concerned with what was going wrong and would be writing to us after we got home.

This was on the day that we discovered that the ship we were on had not got the correct documentation to enable us actually to go into United States water.

The whole trip was a bit of a disaster and it was clear that for whatever reason Noble Caledonia had not done their usual preparations et cetera to make sure this tour was good.

Reading through the extensive brochure I quote “in Montréal we will stop at Mont Royal for a panoramic view of the city”, we didn’t get there, the tour guide took us to a lake half a mile from the viewpoint and told us to go and get a coffee. The cafe was closed. He told us six times to go to a jazz club in Montréal that night where his friend was playing, it was fully booked when I looked.

In Québec, one of the highlights supposedly of the tour we had 90 minutes with a guide who didn’t want us to get off the bus. We were repeatedly told about things that we couldn’t actually see. It was only when a few of us insisted on getting off the coach that we saw most of the sites as we walked towards them. People on another coach complained they saw nothing.

We got on the ship “the Exploris One” which Noble told us “we have known for years and is ideal small ship cruising”. Unfortunately it was looking very tired, as soon as we got off it went off into drydock for some updating. The crew unfortunately though willing, were not particularly trained and food was often cool and wine and soup was often served with splashes on the outside of the glass or bowl.

We were greeted onto the ship on the first evening with a welcome glass of prosecco, !cm of wine in the bottom of the normal champagne glass!.

A lot of the cruise was sold as sailing on the St Lawrence River. “We will witness stunning scenery, encounter marine life including the many species of whales” “one of the most exciting whale watching sites in the world”. Unfortunately during the several days of cruising we saw no whales at all and when I talked to several locals about the lack of whales they told me they always went by the end of September. We were in October.

Several places we were told we would see we never went to, and visiting a place called Perce where we were told we would be able to see the work of many artisans and artists for which the area was famous we discovered they had all gone home for winter.

On the day we were told that we couldn’t go into United States waters we had to sail to place called St John in Nova Scotia. We were disembarked to a hotel where we were told we had a sum of money to spend on an evening meal which we should have been having on the ship. Clearly the $50 Canadian was insufficient to buy a meal and we are out-of-pocket.

The following morning we had to get up at 5:30 AM to go on a coach to the local airport where we were to fly to Boston which had been our intended final destination.

The airport was not used to international flights and we queued for quite a time, not helped by the fact that the airport couldn’t print boarding passes and they all had to be done by hand!.

I could go on, the whole of this holiday for whatever reason just didn’t work.

However we assumed that noble Caledonia because they so pride themselves on being the best and are very dependent on return customers would accept that the thing had been a bit of a disaster, and would take the hit and would give everybody a large sum of money in compensation. Basically apologising and saying this is not what we want to give our customers and so we apologise and hope you will come with us again when we can do better.

However we have been offered only£500 off the the next holiday we book with them and that’s it. This is a very small percentage of the money this holiday cost and it is clear that this company has no interest in their customers if something goes wrong.

I would be very careful about trusting them in the future to always delivering a wonderful experience, when I know that if it goes wrong they not bothered.

So well organised. A trip around the islands of the UK concentrating mainly,but not exclusively on birds was well done with a range of experts available at all times.
Only 96 passengers meant that there was little hanging around on expeditions ashore or in the restaurants. Cabin was standard but certainly adequate.
What was impressive was the ability of staff to get us on and off the Zodiacs.
Difficult to fault!

We took the Nile cruise on SS Misr in 2023. Very disappointed. The boat is not a good choice as cabins are cramped and impractical not to mention dark and dingy. The sun deck us unusable due to constant emission of smuts and black soot from the engines. Many guests had clothes ruined and seat cushions were unusable for the same reason.
Food questionable and boring buffet every day. Only tables of 6 and limited dining hours. Personally I had the worst sickness/ diarrhea of my life, twice. Approx a quarter of guests affected too.
After returning home we wrote to the company voicing our complaints but didn't even have the courtesy of a reply.
I would never use this over priced company again.

We are possibly one of Noble Caledonia's most loyal customers. At the time of taking our last cruise on MV Elixir we had four more already booked and this was our 39th trip with them. They have had over £600,000 of our money over the years and yet with no explanation they have decided that our custom is no longer required...

We suspect that the reason for this is that the cruise director was completely useless. Specifically the Zodiac procedures on this ship were, in my opinion, dangerous. Despite a safety briefing lasting less than 5 minutes, the crew made no attempt to follow their own procedures.

On the first return to the ship, the zodiac was not secured to the ship, there was nobody on the landing platform, the two crew on the zodiac were holding onto the landing stage, no two handed grips were used - you get the picture. The cruise director was at the top of the ladder and when I tried to tell him about the potential dangers, he completely blanked me.

I tackled him later over lunch. He was dismissive and said he had no control over the procedures as these were down to the ship. When I pressed him, he accused me of shouting at him and said that he deserved respect. I was not shouting at him and walked away to get a drink to defuse the situation. When I returned he said he would arrange for me to speak to the captain. It never happened.

At Delos the crew of the zodiac were literally hanging on by their fingertips to the tread of the old tyres on the dock wall. They overloaded the zodiac. I did remark that it felt like a cross channel migrant crossing.

Again when we returned to the ship, it was not secured. I was the first passenger off and refused to move until the zodiac was secured, one member of crew had got onto the landing platform, and the proper two handed safety grips were used.

I tackled the cruise director again at a briefing meeting. He said he would talk to me separately afterwards. It never happened.

So I wrote a long letter of complaint to Noble Caledonia. Rather than a response, I received a cursory letter from Noble informing me that they had received reports of rude and abusive behaviour (after 39 trips this was never commented on previously?) and that they had decided to cancelled all future bookings.

I suspect that knowing that I was going to complain about the completely useless cruise director, he'd managed to put the boot in first. Needless to say I don't expect they'll be bothering to read my complaint letter.

This is an appalling way to treat loyal and long standing repeat customers. No discussion. No attempt to establish my viewpoint.

There are plenty of other cruise companies offering the same trips, especially bearing in mind that Noble now have only 2 ships of their own. I've already re-booked two of my banned journeys with other companies.

My advise - don't use them. They don't care about you.

My wife and I have travelled with Noble Caledonia over 10 times and each time have had little or no complaints . The trips are well organised with great expedition staff, excellent food and ,where necessary , good quality hotels . We have taken both land, river and small ship holidays and do recommend travel with them. We have had some small complaints which have been dealt with quickly and always resolved in our favour.
The holidays are not cheap but you get what you paid for .

I read the reviews on this site with interest.
Personally I have been on 3 Noble Caledonia tours in the last year. The first to Italy (Venice ) and Croatia, the second on a Nile cruise and the third a cruise from Egypt to Greece where I took the opportunity to spend 2 additional nights in Athens.
Each and every cruise was super. So I fail to see why there are negative reviews. The accommodations, the Noble staff, the ships crew and the official guides were all phenomenal.
I’m currently on a Noble land tour. I’m half way through it and so far it has been the same as the previous 3, well organised, interesting and I’ve met a lovely crowd of like minded individuals.
Do yourselves a favour. Try again, I’m sure you’ll be surprised.

In short, a chair on which I was sitting in my cabin broke and I was thrown to the floor.

This was September 2022 and I write this in July 2023.

The company accepted no responsibility, merely wishing me a speedy recovery.

The last half of my holiday was ruined and I am still not fully recovered some ten months later.

Shoddy behaviour by an allegedly reputable company.

We spent years researching and saving for a once-in-a-lifetime voyage to Antarctica, and finally settled on the Noble Caledonia cruise ‘Antarctica – Land of Heroes’, an extensive cruise to the Falklands, South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula. We booked early to make sure we could select the cabin we wanted and Noble Caledonia happily took our deposit, thereby (we thought) guaranteeing our place on the cruise. Safe in the knowledge that our place was assured we booked our return flights to Buenos Aires, again early enough to get the exact flights we wanted.

Three months after taking our money Noble Caledonia decided they could make more money by redeploying the ship MS Island Sky to Easter Island and cancelled our cruise. This was a crushing disappointment for us. Worse still, Noble Caledonia resolutely refuse to offer any kind of compensation for the loss of our flights even though this was entirely their decision. Now we feel utterly betrayed as well as disappointed.

Noble Caledonia’s booking conditions are desperately one-sided. If the customer cancels for any reason they forfeit a massive expense – anywhere from 10% to 100% of the total cost. If Noble Caledonia cancels for any reason they don’t incur any expense at all – they merely return your deposit. It’s one thing to write such escape clauses into the small print, but it’s another thing entirely to actually treat your customers with such contempt. The Noble Caledonia business model is based on alienation of existing customers for short term gain. If they have done this to us they will certainly do this to others.

Avoid this company at all cost!!!

Refused to make good on a full refund after they held our deposit for over two years and then canceled their own tour.

Having joined an aborted cruise in March 2020 (covid) we found their office both unhelpful and obstructive when trying to claim some recompense for curtailment from themselves and our insurance company. Generally their cruises are overpriced for v average accommodation/food. The mediocre guides/experts all enjoy a 5* cruise at your expense. Definitely not worth the money. Avoid at all costs

My wife and I became non-persons confined to our cabin when she tested pos for covid a few days in to our very expensive Scottish Isles cruise. Eating tray meals sitting on the prison bed wasn't part of our expectation. We were strongly encouraged to leave the ship at Stornoway, which we did rather than spend another 6 days in confinement, and then spent 4 difficult days trying to get home whilst dealing with covid symptoms. Meanwhile, not a single phone call from them to establish whether we were ok. Hey ho ! But top marks to the ship's Doctor, a sympathetic Ukrainian who did his best. So if you book with them, you need to factor in a fairly unsympathetic response if you are unlucky enough to contract covid from other passengers.

I guess it would be nice to be able to write a review, but as an American I am not able to book a cabin on any cruise at all. They simply do not return calls or emails, or state that all the cabins are sold when there are available ones on their website. I guess they have forgotten that they would all be speaking German were it not for our fathers.....