This was our first cruise and in truth we had been rather sniffy about cruises before but we wanted to go to Iceland and CMV were offering a 2 for 1 deal so we gave it a go.

The Marco Polo appealed as it was a small ship and looked like a real ship as opposed to the floating blocks of flats that pass as cruise ships. So, how was it?

The embarkation started off well, we parked our car (under cover) and our luggage was whipped away and we were shuttle bussed to the terminal. Here there was a long queue and a lot of waiting. We trooped through the P&O ferry terminal as if we were on a day trip to France. It is at this point that you realise the Marco Polo has 800 passengers and there was only one window where you picked up your boarding card. CMV do stagger the boarding times but two or three windows would help. Read more