We were supposed to embark Marco Polo at the Port of Leith, which was fine for us as we were just taking a taxi, when we got to the port we were told that because of a technical problem the ship had missed the tide for Leith and we were now embarking from Rosyth. Had they let us know before hand it would have been good as it was easier for us to get to Rosyth (and cheaper!) than Leith. Nobody seemed to be organising anything, one man was holding some coloured tickets for buses, but nobody was giving out information or organising the milling throngs onto buses, it was pretty chaotic to put it mildly.

We did leave for Rosyth eventually and embarked fairly swiftly after that, I found the deck labelling somewhat eccentric, but we found our cabin, which was on deck 9 although was numbered 645, all very odd. Anyway the cabin was small, but perfectly adequate and comfortable. Sufficient storage for a week sailing, although not perhaps for a longer voyage. The bed was comfortable. The room steward was consistently pleasant and helpful, we had a flickering light when we entered and it was fixed by the same evening. He produced extra hangers like a magician out of a hat. The cabin was clean although a little unexpectedly after a couple of days I couldn't close one of the drawers in the bedside unit, so took out the drawer and at the back of the drawer was a white top which had obviously slipped down the back of the unit, as it wasn't mine or my sisters, it had to be from a previous occupant, so not quite as clean as it should have been.

The ship is old, but was clean and comfortable and warm, on several occasions I heard the same comment, she felt like a "proper ship" not one of the floating hotels. Most of the staff were very pleasant, but catching the eye of a waiter/ress in one of the bars could be a challenge. Read more