Marco Polo

[Gwendy]

Has anyone cruised on this ship? Can you tell me a bit about it - what's it like, dining, atmosphere, rooms etc.

 

Thanks

Gwendy :confused:

[sandiefran]

Gwendy, did you hear anything back on the above? We are cruising on the Marco Polo out of Tilbury 8 September 2010.

 

Many, many years ago (in the 70's) this ship sailed out of Sydney, Australia as the CTC Lines (Russian) "Alexandr Pushkin". We sailed on it then - at that time the toilets and showers were down the hall....!

 

It has all been refurbished and we are looking forward to sailing on her again.

[Hughjohn]

We are just back from a double cruise to North Cape and to Iceland on the Marco Polo. We have had three previous cruises totalling over 100 nights when it was with the Orient Line.

We were apprehensive given the change of owner and critique over recent cruises. We were happy to find that nothing much had changed. Much has been done to remedy criticisms. The ship was in fine and exceptionally clean condition. As a three star ship it certainly was showing its age compared to the modern cruise ships. Decor was of last century and staterooms were dated but very clean and adequate given the price of the cruises.

Entertainment was of a high degree with the Cruise Director being one of the best we have experinced ( 11x cruises). Staff is a mix of Eastern European, Indian and Filopino. The Filopinos were always smiling. The Eastern Europeans, mainly Ukranian, were more reserved until you made the effort to break the ice with them. We had no complaints re the staff and found them helpful and cheerful. Shore excursions were well organised and ran smoothly and efficiently if not a little too expensive if on a tight budget. However the destinations more than made up for this!!

Food was reasonable given that it is a budget ship.Plenty of it and reflecting that part of the world.

Passengers are predominately English middle class with a few Australians thrown in.

We enjoyed the cruise and got value for money.

Hughjohn, Sydney.

[Reynagh]

Hi Cool cruiser! thanks for the info on the Marco Polo. I am going to book a short cruise on her tomorrow. I like the idea of a child free ship.