National Maritime Museum Cornwall — Attraction in Great Britain

DONT GO ITs RUBBISH .... I have always been looking forward to visiting the maritime museum since retiring & moving to Cornwall 3 years ago so my partner & I decided to enjoy a Saturday in falmouth & went directly to the museum on arrival the shop at the reception has some very nice gifts so after a browse we when to buy our tickets at just under £17 ie £34 for the two of us I was surprised there wasn't a oap price but was told we can visit as many times as we wished within the 12 months. So we entered with anticipation only to find a few suspended boats and not much else but as the guide shows there are 3 upper levels & 2 lower so we thought there must be much more waiting to be discovered but sadly very little a area on the topic of packet trade, then we decided we must be missing parts of the museum so we went straight to the top floor look out and work our way down floor at a time. Ho the look out was a nice view but that's it I have in the past been to the peal tower in shanghai & the shanghai tower & with the interactive information explaing what can be seen so I know what a good lookout can offer. So we started to walk our way down & arround each floor & ended up in the tidal zone which was as uninspiring as the other floors. Well we did see there was a pirate exhibition on so we went there and yet again disappointed, the theme was arround fictional Holywood pirates nothing factual and just to be clear there was a documentary series on TV that was very factual on the subject & informative sadly this exhibition was neither & why did the curator find the need to have a LGBGT exhibit multi coloured what was supposed to look like bones & a canvas skirt.....really it had no relevance but if the curator has a political point to raise then where was the part about pressgangs & slavery ? Just a point that did cross my mind with all the nations maritime history why was there not a single referance to our Royal & Merchant Navy or our voyaging explorers ? Surely those you would think would be mandatory in Englands Maritime Museum or am i missing something ?Anyway moving on the last area was model boats we thought that would be a nice touch for younger visitors only to find they have to pay extra ...after paying the excessive price of entry & the fact all on offer was concrete & wood with very few exhibits seems to be taking the pee. I have been to the old docks in portsmouth & seem more for free to enter apart from the Mary Rose & the various other vessels but that you expect to pay for but all the rest was free & there was a lot to see. To conclude I would advice anyone thinking of going to the falmouth maritime museum DONT it's not worth it & a waste of money I know you can go as many times as you wish in 12 months but I can assure everyone I wouldnt want to go ever again not even if...

The National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth is a major attraction, but at UKP 13.50 it is also relatively expensive, maybe too expensive. Yes, the ticket allows you to re-visit the museum free of charge within the next 12 months., but how many people will actually take advantage of this? Very few, I presume.

The museum itself is quite impressive, especially its spectacular, huge main hall (see photos) with a variety of boats, some of them famous, most of which are suspended from the floor. There is both printed and screen-terminal information on the history and type of the boats, so from an educational angle this is truly well done. "15 galleries" the museum promises, but try as I might my count is substantially lower. This might be because at the time of my visit, several rooms were occupied by a major temporary exhibition, "Titanic Stories". That display has attracted significant publicity - and because of its subject - will no doubt also attract a significant number of visitors. Personally, I found it rather to be a collection of book pages presented as display panels, as there is a lot more to read than to see. The only substantial object from the Titanic is one of its lifeboats - and it is a replica! The remaining objects are a motley assortment of minor pieces either from the Titanic or the Carpathia, but most of the exhibition is concerned with the "myth" the Titanic story created and how it found its way into books, movies and even board games. Frankly, I found the collection well presented but underwhelming.

As for the rest of the galleries, there is e.g. a "Cornwall Gallery" which details the nautical history of the region, and another one specifically on Falmouth history. Illuminating, certainly, but nothing to occupy one for very long.

From the top floor you have an impressive view over Falmouth harbour and parts of the town, and there's a large café for visitors which I did not visit (the area offers plenty of solid restaurants right next to the museum). The small fry get an opportunity to play with toy boats in the museum's indoor pool - another family-friendly feature.

The presentation itself is certainly convincing. Content-wise, I was...

The National Maritime Museum Cornwall contains a number of boats and other displays about sailing, as well as information on Cornwall's seafaring history.

Spread over several floors, including a tower whose bottom level has tall windows from the low tide mark at the base up to above the high tide mark. You can see barnacles and star fish that are on the window, as well as fish swimming past. At the top of the tower is an observation deck presenting panoramic views over Falmouth.

At the time I visited there was a Titanic exhibit, with a recreation of one of the Titanic's lifeboats, as well as the dress worn by Kate Winslet's Rose as she boards the ship in the film. There were also pirate themed activities being put on for the school holidays.

The layout does make it a little tricky to find your way around without consulting a map, and in particular, there's no signs up to point you to the toilets, which is a great help when you've got a little one telling you she needs to go right now. For some reason there aren't any toilets on the ground floor, they're all on the higher levels at the front of the building.

I ate lunch in the cafe with my daughters. The cafe does children's meal boxes but on the day I went the signage wasn't terribly clear about which drinks in the drinks cabinet were options for the children's meals. I ended up picking 125ml bottles of fruit juice for them which turned out to be the right option.

Myself I had a yarg and ale chutney sandwich which was very tasty. I also had a pot of tea to go with it. This, and the cup used for serving in, were a bit on the small side. While I got two and a third cups worth out of it, in quantity it was more like one and a half cups I've had in other cafes.

Overall we had a very enjoyable time. We didn't get to see everything, however, as the nearby car parks only allow up to 4 hours parking (the official car park is also a lot more expensive than the smaller private pay and display car park...