Table Of Content
CMV Marco Polo cruise ship deck plan shows a total of 425 staterooms for 800 passengers (max capacity is 850) served by 355 crew/staff. The boat has 11 decks (8 passenger-accessible, 7 with cabins), 3 restaurants, 5 lounges and bars, 3 main lobby areas, 1 swimming pool, 3 jacuzzies, 4 elevators. The ship has no self-service laundromats (passenger-use laundry facilities). Her last trans atlantic voyage was in 1980, she switched to fulltime cruising now.
Pools & Hot Tubs
GENERAL RESTRICTIONSCruise fares listed are cruise only in U.S. dollars, per person, based on double occupancy. Full brochure fares may not have resulted in actual sales in all stateroom categories and may not have been in effect during the last 90 days. Promotional fares may remain in effect after the expiration date. Air promotion applies to roundtrip flights only from select Viking Cruises U.S. gateways and includes airport-to-ship or hotel transfers, air taxes and air fuel surcharges. Roundtrip airport transfers are included when air is purchased with a cruise or cruisetour package; if air is not purchased from Viking, transfers may be purchased separately.
Sail in a great explorer’s wake
For a ship of her size we were pleasantly surprised how many bars and lounges the MS Marco Polo had to offer. Next came the longest muster drill announcement I’ve ever heard in my life. Seriously, this announcement took nearly 30 minutes and included how to safely jump off the ship into the water should there not be any available life boats. We were asked over the PA system to go back to our cabins and collect our lifejackets and report to our muster stations, ours was Marco’s Bistro – the buffet restaurant. I’ve never shared a cabin with more than one other person before, but due to the generous size of the cabin and plenty of storage space it was far more enjoyable than I had anticipated.
Decks and Cabins
Only 2 were wheelchair-accessible (all on Amundsen Deck 9) and no connecting rooms. The crew and staff aboard MS Marco Polo were, for the most part, excellent. We had some wonderful waiters who quickly remembered our names even though we were only onboard one night / two days. I started dinner with a Seafood Gratin – served in a scallop shell which was a nice small portion but perfectly cooked. My partner Jimmy had a heritage tomato and mozzarella salad – he said it was delicious but wished there’d been more mozzarella.
In 1975 already, Alexandr Pushkin was refitted quite extensively, with the accent being to make her more suitable for cruising. Now, there were cabins for all passengers, as before she could carry 500 passengers without cabins. Inside cabins were added and her superstructure was extended forward so more public spaces could be created, most important her main lounge was extended forward and now featured a balcony, thus becoming a “grand ballroom’.
Polo's book, in fact, devotes five pages to the elaborate structure, describing how the empire's information highway efficiently and economically covered millions of square miles. Niccolo and Maffeo’s journeys brought them into present-day China, where they joined a diplomatic mission to the court of Kublai Khan, the Mongol leader whose grandfather, Genghis Khan, had conquered Northeast Asia. In 1269, the two men returned to Venice and immediately started making plans for their return to Khan's court.
In the centuries since his death, Polo has received the recognition that failed to come his way during his lifetime. So much of what he claimed to have seen has been verified by researchers, academics and other explorers. Even if his accounts came from other travelers he met along the way, Polo's story has inspired countless other adventurers to set off and see the world. Two centuries after Polo's passing, Christopher Columbus set off across the Atlantic in hopes of finding a new route to the Orient. As they made their way through the Middle East, Polo absorbed its sights and smells.
Why Viking
Debate has swirled among historians as to whether Polo ever really made it to China. There is no evidence outside his famous book that he traveled so far east. Yet his knowledge of the culture and its customs are hard to dismiss. His later account told of Khan's extensive communication system, which served as the foundation for his rule.
Viking Inclusive Value
She can accommodate 820 passengers conveying them between destinations at 19 knots. Myself, my partner Jimmy, and my friend Tobi booked onto MS Marco Polo for a one-night ‘Sample Cruise’. Stay current with special offers, news and destination-focused content. Marco Polo has been the subject of a television programme in the series Mighty Cruise Ships (a spin-off of Mighty Ships) which documented the 2013 voyage to St Petersburg, Russia, and the Baltic States.
The ship will not sail again and over the coming months will be scrapped. Youcan book water taxis online at theConsorzio Motoscafi VeneziaWeb site, or byphoning the Consorzio's dispatchers during business hours. (Phone numbersand hours are on the Consorzio's home page.) The Consorzio Motoscafi Venezia isa cooperative of water-taxi operators, with a fleet of more than 100 boats atits disposal.
Marco Polo was also brought up to standard for the new SOLAS rules (SOLAS stands for Safety of Life at Sea). Spending her time in the Orient and the waters of Antarctica she quickly gained a solid reputation. She even carried a helicopter during her Antarctic trips so wildlife could be spotted.
The work was done by Damen (ship-repair and vessel conversion company). Drydock 2014 featured an extensive survey and regular maintenance works - hull washing-painting, lifeboats maintenance-recertification, valves overhaul, gangway platforms repair. As a general rule of thumb when choosing your breakfast aboard a cruise ship you either head to the main dining room for a la carte table service, or you head to the buffet for self service breakfast.
With just one night aboard we headed to the Marco Polo’s main dining room the ‘Waldorf Restaurant’. The guest services manager was “unable to provide” the VAT receipt for our final bill, or any of our drinks orders. Something not quite right is going on aboard CMV’s Marco Polo – and it left an unpleasant taste in our mouths.
MS Marco Polo Reaches the End and Beached in India - Cruise Hive
MS Marco Polo Reaches the End and Beached in India.
Posted: Wed, 03 Mar 2021 08:00:00 GMT [source]
MS Marco Polo is a truly unique boat amongst the modern mega-ships that cruise the oceans today, but can she keep up with what guests expect in 2019? Marco Polo was auctioned off by CW Kellock & Co for $2,770,000. There was hope she would sail for Offshore Solutions Unlimited but sadly since been removed from their web site and beached. Four other former CMV vessels were also put up for auction and have now been sold to another line or for scrap.
She is targeted to budget-minded well-travelled people being in their fifties and older, and she is an adult only ship. Marco Polo stands out being on of the few ships that do not carry thousands of passengers and her intimate atmosphere attract a loyal following. It is unbelievable, but she is still sailing with her original Sulzer machinery and she has covered an incredible distance with them. Today, Marco Polo is one of the oldest cruise ships in active service.
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