Booked on Marco Polo to Fjords in April

Greetings all,

Have booked for Fjords cruise on the Marco Polo

A few questions:

1 - Thoughts / Reviews of the boat?

2 - Is it worth getting Kroner before we leave?

3 - Any recommendations for excursions on the trip?

4 - We are in our Mid 30's, are we likely to be the youngest people on the boat?!?!?!?

Greetings all,

 

Have booked for Fjords cruise on the Marco Polo

 

A few questions:

 

1 - Thoughts / Reviews of the boat?

 

2 - Is it worth getting Kroner before we leave?

 

3 - Any recommendations for excursions on the trip?

 

4 - We are in our Mid 30's, are we likely to be the youngest people on the boat?!?!?!?

1 - Really good ship for Norwegian fjords, small enough to visit smaller places with a deep hull, so comfortable in bad weather.

2 - Yes, we would get a small amount of kroner and then withdraw more from the ATMs if/as we need it. The exchange rate is fairly good at the moment in comparison to what it has been recently. We use credit cards for any bigger purchases or meals.

4 - Yes, you are likely to be among the younger passengers but don't let that put you off, there are usually lots of interesting passengers to chat with. Make the effort to interact with the crew, they're fun (if busy) people and many have been with the ship for several years.

1 - Really good ship for Norwegian fjords, small enough to visit smaller places with a deep hull, so comfortable in bad weather.

 

2 - Yes, we would get a small amount of kroner and then withdraw more from the ATMs if/as we need it. The exchange rate is fairly good at the moment in comparison to what it has been recently. We use credit cards for any bigger purchases or meals.

 

4 - Yes, you are likely to be among the younger passengers but don't let that put you off, there are usually lots of interesting passengers to chat with. Make the effort to interact with the crew, they're fun (if busy) people and many have been with the ship for several years.

Thanks, really helpful

V

Anyone any views on excursions, whether we need to book on board or "freestyle" ourselves?

There seem to be 3 fjord cruises on Marco Polo next spring with different itineraries. Which sailing are you on?

Hi,

My wife and I are early 50s and cruised on the M.P. in July to the North Cape and Spitzbergen for 13 nights out of Edinburgh. This was our 1st cruise on the M.P. although our 16th cruise over 10 different cruise lines, so I will try and give you an honest opinion of the ship.

We booked the cruise 3 weeks prior to departure due to having read an advert in the Daily Mail quoting a barely believable low price, that it was really a no brainer for us.

Yes the ship is quite old, however once aboard you would not know this. Public rooms are very smart with good furnishings and colour schemes. The crew are great and very friendly with the majority of the waiters and bar staff coming from Eastern Europe.

Bar prices are very reasonable, certainly compared with the large American cruiselines.

We also found the costs of the excursions and their quality to be very good.

Entertainment overall was also pretty good, with the ships singers and dancers putting on a number of shows. The only disappointment in our opinion was the Magician. Friends that we met didn't care for the Comedian either, although we found him quite funny.

With regards to the age demographics, yes you will be amongst the youngest onboard but I would not let this put you off.

For instance, at our table for 8, the youngest were in their 40s and the oldest was 60. It seemed to us that the Cruiseline had sat us together as we were reasonably close in age, however this could be a total coincidence. We all reckoned that the average age for our cruise was about 70.

We would certainly cruise with them again, especially if we got another outstanding deal.

Thanks Goody, gives a good overview of the boat

Gaelsail - We are leaving from Tilbury on the 13th April!

The excursions are cheaper by buying either from the cruise line excursion form via the cruise documents or on board they are all the same price-we used them as we went along on the Fjords cruise in August.The only thing to watch out for is the apparent appearance suddenly of the Novorvirus outbreak which seemed to have followed the MP a few time this year and last.

The first thing you would say to Norwegian sellers touting for sales-"How much?"!!!Yes,norway is very,very expensive what ever you buy and be prepared to dip deep in your pockets-but it was still a wonderful and beautiful country which compensated somewhat!

When on board ship particularly note how some members of the crew and staff do not observe the strictly imposed hand sanitisation enforced on the passengers-which occurred on our cruise.We had to point out to other members of the crew of their shortcomings!-good sailing

Thanks everyone, interesting views on here and elsewhere about the Marco Polo.

We are all booked and paid so looking forward to it.

A couple more additional questions

1 - What are the likelihood for an upgrade?

2 - What are the entertainment options on board currently?

Clearly a tragedy on this boat recently is a terrible situation

Bring on the cruise on Sunday, looking forward to Flam and Bergen!!