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Orient Lines

MV Marco Polo

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: William Cox
# previous cruises: 21 to 30
Date of Trip: April 7, 2003
Itinerary: Transatlantic

Considering the ship is quite old, the ship is maintained to the highest order. Everything is very clean, and continually cleaned, the service is excellent, the food is very good and the itinerary was excellent. The passenger mix tended to be forty and older. With many repeat passengers and a large percentage of the passengers were from the UK.

The public areas are well maintained. The promenade does not go around the ship. One must go up a flight to complete the trip or cross to the opposite side. The Polo Lounge is very relaxing for reading throughout the day and has a piano bar for evening entertainment. The Charleston Club has dancing before and after dinner. The show room has some sight problems but it was never full so a good seat was always available.

The highlight of the trip on board was the food and service. Raffles ( for buffet service) was good. the morning breakfast buffet was the same as on all ships, lunch and dinner were themed and were good. For the evening buffet, tables were set with silverware and glassware. There was an oriental buffet one evening for an additional charge, we did not attend but one of our table mates said it was very good.

Dinner in the Seven Seas dinning room was excellent( we found as good as HA or Celebrity Cruise lines, our favorites). We were on board for three weeks and no menu was repeated, occasionally some items were repeated. Our waiter and busboy new what the passengers liked and disliked after the second day and recommended accordingly.

We thought that there may be a drop off with the tips included in the cruise price, but this was not true.

Cabins were small. We found there was enough storage space and the bathroom was similar in size to other ships we have sailed on, but large enough for two full size people. We were on the Promenade deck #9, but our cabin was 610, this did lead to some confusion at times.

The entertainment offered was fine. Not spectacular but enjoyable. There was a small troupe of dancers who put on a good show considering the size of the stage and the age of the ship. There were comedians some nights, a magician, juggler, and there were special concerts offered by a pianist, the group who played in the Charleston did a special concert. We found them, the Cafe Concerto Strings to be one of the best groups we have seen on any ship we have sailed on. The entertainment filled the bill but was not a highlight of the cruise.

There is a small pool on board that filled only on a limited number of days. There are three jacuzzis on the top deck and this was were many people met and exchanged impressions of ports and general conversation.

There are no pool games, horse races or other entertainment all day long as on the mass market ships. Yes, the BINGO game is offered, there is a small casino, there are games such as Bridge, Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble offered throughout the day.

The passenger mix was basically forty and above, many Marco Polo repeat cruisers, many people who have sailed a on a number of ships. Also, many passengers from the UK. We found the passenger mix to be very interesting and only met one person we really didn't care for. The conversations ranged from world politics to who had the right answer at Trivial Pursuit ruins.