wanted away for Christmas and New Year My wife Myself her Sister and Friend aged between 60 and 73 having been on larger ships before we were a little unsure of the Marco Polo But right from the start at least you knew your way around Boarding not bad from arriving at quay to our rooms about 40 minutes which we thought normal nice touch mulled wine handed round while we waited Cabin small but functional with good shower , Cabin Steward excellent nothing was a problem ,Every thing was spotless (but too many full length mirrors ,will have to diet) plenty of variety at mealtime with the waiter and wine waiter at our table good fun and always smiling Shows were good and there were a variety of talks lectures and quizzes every day there also were art and craft classes everyday . this suited us as my wife and sister liked the lectures their friend loved all the arts and crafts and I had my quizzes So we always had something to talk about when we met we did not go on many excursions as we had been to most of the places before but the ship anchored off Maderia to bring in the New Year and the firework display was fantastic only downside was that we had to wait for a couple of hours to disembark but fore by that i would recommend the Marco Polo if you want a small pleasant ship without great shopping Malls or Climbing Frames that is easy to get around and give good value for money Read Less

We chose this cruise as it was convenient for us as we live in Bristol, and we thought the weather should be warm. Convenient it was, but the weather was far from good, which was no fault of the ship, obviously. However. I was in bed for 2 days with sea sickness. We were tossed around everywhere, which is one of the drawbacks of a small ship. We have been on bigger ships, and not even known were were on the water. It was most unpleasant, and worrying as you had no way of knowing what the next day would bring. It was extremely hard to keep your feet when walking about and ruined the whole experience for me. The staff, food and entertainment were excellent, as was our cabin. The weather in the Canaries was just passable, but it poured rain in Madeira. The drinks were very reasonably priced. Don't pay for the excursions. We had an hour on a tuk tuk in Madeira, it cost us £84. We saw nothing and spent 20 minutes looking round a shop. I complained to the excursion rep on the desk who was extremely rude and spoke to me as if I were a child. Complete rip off. We did however book as excursion at Coruna, before we sailed, which was great. Most ports have open topped buses for sight seeing. Read Less