My friend and I booked an overnight “Festive Event” on Marco
Polo At Avonmouth last weekend. As a keen ship historian I had wanted to see
the ship and since she is mainly based at Tilbury – a pig to get to from my
home in the West Country – this was the perfect opportunity of looking over her
and taking lots of photos!
Marco Polo is 50 years old this year. She was built in 1965
as a Russian liner on the Montreal-Leningrad route and named the Aleksandr
Pushkin. After a long and chequered history she is now operated by Cruise &
Maritime Voyages. Now – readers of my blog will know I have not had a lot of
success with CMV cruises and something (occasionally a lot) has gone wrong. So
would this visit restore my faith in them?
We had an embarkation time of 18:00hrs but as I wanted to
arrive in daylight, we parked the car outside the terminal at 16:30hrs. This
late embarkation was a disappointment as it was going to leave little time I
felt to thoroughly look over the ship. I had hoped/expected one nearer
16:00hrs! Bristol Cruise Terminal is
basic but adequate and there was plenty of seating for us to wait – which we
had to do until check-in opened at 17:30hrs. Not a problem as this was our choice.
 |
| Uhmm - a sign of things to come?? |
We were asked to complete the
health declaration and given our cruise cards. These were then activated at
check-in proper when we registered a payment card, once our group was called
forward. Next was the usual security –
Caryll was asked to open her bag for a random check while my knee set off the
alarms and I had to be wiped over with a hand scanner! After that it was a very
short walk across to the ship, which we could see from our seats!
Up a small gangway and at the top, once our
cards were scanned, stewards were waiting to take everyone to their cabin and
help with hand luggage.
Being an old ship, traditionally built with steel plates
welded to a metal frame, there were lots of high thresholds to step over on the
way to our cabin; four in fact - at every watertight partition. We were on Deck
5, Baltic deck, cabin 268. The cabin was spacious with lots of good storage –
12 drawers, three wardrobes, safe and pull-out tables at the top of every chest
of drawers. There was a chair and old-style 14” TV. The beds were very
comfortable with memory foam mattresses. The bathroom was OK, with a little
storage, water-flushing toilet (not suction) and open shower with curtain.
Unfortunately the shower head was very scaled up and cold water dribbled
from it when showering. There were bath and hand towels and a bath mat carefully folded into
the usual CMV boat-shape! But no face flannels. I was a little concerned over the antiquated life jackets, but that didn't matter on this occasion!
Once we dumped our overnight bags, we set off to the bar to
get our included welcome drinks – champagne, orange juice or rum punch. I picked up a rum punch while Caryll had
champagne, but I think they forgot to put any rum in it so switched to
champagne myself. All the drinks were out on a table to help yourself. Our
initial thoughts were very positive. I am a fan of older ships with character
and Marco Polo had character in spades.
Most of the public rooms are on Deck 8 and we
worked our way along after our drinks, taking photos etc. Like most ships of
her age, or in fact until the modern apartment barge style, she has public rooms
with windows and views to the ocean both sides. I love being able to
sit and sip a cocktail and look out. Most new ships have staterooms with
balconies all along the exterior with public rooms in the middle and thence no
sea view!
By now it was time to change for dinner and our first major issue. All
our pre-visit paperwork had said that dinner was at 20:15hrs. However, the deck
plan and programme in the cabin said it was at 19:30. When we booked this
event, there was an option to either come for the dinner only or stay on
overnight. I am guessing those that didn’t have a cabin allocation for
overnight didn’t realise the change of timings over dinner. (We were later told
that due to the reduced number of guests they were able to switch from 2
sittings to 1).
So after going back to the cabin and changing we went to the
Waldorf restaurant for 19:25. We were shown to table 18 – a circular table for
8. All the tables were very close together and when the restaurant was full the
noise levels were very high. All along the outside of the room under the
windows were tables for four with banquette seating at right-angles to the
wall. The rest were a mixture although I didn't spot any tables for two.
Once seated we perused our menus, which were already on the
table, and were given water and a small glass of wine – red or white as we
chose. This was topped up a little once – and only once. When more was
requested by one couple later it was refused and they had to buy a small
carafe. Soon four others joined us and
then we waited, and waited and waited! The last two arrived at 20:15hrs as on
the original paperwork! So 45 mins sitting doing nothing – time we would have
appreciated to use exploring the ship! It would have so easy to have made a public
announcement that dinner was now being served!!
As soon as the final two arrived the waiter arrived to take
our orders. I chose the Antipasto, Caesar Salad, Turkey Roast and Baked Alaska.
The antipasto was tasteless apart from the slice of pastrami – perhaps I should
have had the grilled seafood and crabmeat salad or mini steak & kidney pie,
although Caryll had the latter and commented that a pie should have pastry not
mashed potato on top! The Caesar salad was delicious. The turkey came in large
slabs with chunks of swede, courgette and potato – OK, but not really my idea
of a festive turkey dinner. One other lady on our table did complain about the
lack of sprouts. Once everyone in the restaurant had finished their main course
we had the Baked Alaska parade. I love Baked Alaska but this tiny slice had too
much dry sponge and very little icecream. Coffee was next but by now we were so
late we were going to miss the show if we didn’t skip coffee.
The show lounge is up one deck. The seating is a mixture of
banquette seating and swivel chairs. The show was Abba – dancing OK, the two
professional ballroom/Latin dancers very good indeed, and the singers very
mixed - just my opinion of course. The whole show was somewhat spoiled by a party of drunken youngsters talking
among themselves very loudly one row back!! That of course is the risk of
events such as this.
After the show we wandered around some more. Down on deck 4
there was a very good indication of the age and traditional build of this ship
as, standing at one end of the accommodation corridor, you couldn’t see the other end due to the sway or
sheer as the floor level went down and then up again at the other end.
There was a small group singing in the Captain’s Lounge
after dinner and a party up in Scott’s nightclub, which was where we headed.
There we met up with another member of the Ocean Liner Society and his
partner. The room was nice with access
out on to the tiered stern decks, but the noise levels precluded conversation
so we went back down to the main bar and lounge for a cold drink. Thee, waitresses were coming round with late-night canapés/snacks such as mini samosas and spring rolls. After
chatting with other visitors, it was 01:30hrs so time for bed as we had to
vacate the cabin by 08:00hrs. This was when I discovered the air-con didn’t
appear to be working and, despite turning it to the lowest setting, I was too
hot to sleep much that night.
We rose at 07:30hrs and re-packed as everything had to be
removed from the cabin by 08:00hrs. Cases could be left (unattended) in the
Marco Polo lounge, but we decided to keep ours with us and use the Marco Polo
Bistro (buffet) for breakfast. This offered a small selection of food including fruit,
croissants, pastries, toast, full-English ingredients as well as cold meats and
fish. A drink dispenser contained orange juice or fruit punch. Coffee was
available from the usual machinery. I
chose some melon and a croissant – once again on CMV I found the croissant far
too salty to eat – so headed back for a fried egg, bacon and sausage, all of
which were fine.
We had to go to reception since, despite registering two
separate credit cards on check-in, only one statement had been pushed under our
door in the small hours. After a last look round, including the top decks, we
disembarked onto the dockside and out through the terminal. A last hiccup – the
dock gate was closed so we couldn’t exit the docks the same way we came in so
had to turn around, along with the cars behind me, and drive what seemed like
miles through the docks to get back onto the motorway.
So, in conclusion, whilst I am attracted to the vessels, CMV
organisation leaves a lot to be desired and it would have to be a very good
offer/itinerary to tempt me to sail with them again. Every cruise I have done
on CMV had been dogged by issues from delayed departures, arrivals etc to late
changes in itinerary unrelated to weather conditions. On the other hand CMV
regard themselves as a 3* cruise line (Marco Polo is 2*+ in the Berlitz Guide)
so you do get what you pay for!!
More photos here: https://picasaweb.google.com/114801993219771801790/MarcoPoloCMV18122015?authuser=0&feat=directlink
