The Cruise of a Lifetime!
Written: May 18 '00 (Updated Jun 05 '00)
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Pros: Excellent ports of call, good price, good entertainment, superior cuisine
Cons: Long flights, overcrowded ship, 1/2 the crew was new to the ship, ship's public areas were too small, we got gypped on some of the tours (shortened), More computers are needed to be able to send e-mail, cost to have laundry done is very expensive - so, tak
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| D_Edgers's Full Review: Orient Lines Marco Polo |
I call this "A Cruise of a Lifetime" because we aren't particularly affluent, but wanted to see many parts of the world, and travel somewhat "in style." We saved some money, didn't buy a new car, and limited our traveling before retiring. We spotted an "Orient Lines Internet Special Offers - Route of Marco Polo" which was a 2 for the price of one on a 33-day cruise vacation on the Marco Polo cruise ship. We left the U.S. on March 23, spending 19 hours flying (one stop for 20 minutes in Tokyo, Japan)to Singapore (a large island off of Malaysia)where we stayed for 3 nights in a luxurious hotel. We had to buy our meals, but there are innumerable restaurants nearby and very inexpensive (or expensive, if you want).
Singapore-Very nice city - clean - safe - shopping malls up the gazoo - reasonable traffic (only the wealthy can afford to drive cars - Honda Civic=$50,000) Very hot and humid.
Boarded the cruise ship Marco Polo (850 passengers)on March 27. The ship was built in the 60s, and refurbished in the 80s. The cabins are of a reasonable size (similar to Norwegian Cruise Lines or Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines)and well maintained. You don't spend a heck of a lot of time in your room, and there was adequate space for clothing and baggage.
Port Kelang (Kuala Lumpur), Malaysia - The city was a 3-hour drive from the dock, and didn't look too intriguing since we were fighting off some sort of "bug" we got on our flight to Singapore, so we limited our shopping to some stores on the pier. Since it was a drizzly, hot and muggy day we didn't feel that we'd missed an awful lot. The ship's doctor, who was from Ireland, did an outstanding job of diagnosing and treating us, and we were "up and at 'em" within a couple of days.
Penang, Malaysia - very hot humid and interesting - took a pretty long ride in a trishaw (sort of a rickshaw pushed by a bicycle)around parts of the city - also rode in a bus and saw many mosques and mansions and monkeys - probably not a place we'd go back to visit.
Phuket, Thailand - another hot and humid place, only lots of elephants, mosques, temples and rubber trees - some pretty foliage - went to a cultural show that was pretty interesting - glad we visited, but probably wouldn't make a return visit.
Cruise Indian Ocean for 2 days - It was pretty smooth sailing during our entire cruise, EXCEPT during this part of the trip. When the water sloshes out of the ship's pool, you know it's rougher than usual. The stabilizers were pretty effective, but those prone to sea sickness popped their Dramamine, applied their patches or used a variety of sea sickness treatments. The rest of the cruise was very smooth. It was also obvious that the Marco Polo was totally full! There wasn't one extra cabin, and lectures in the theater were standing room only. People would appear to be walking laps on deck, but in reality they were looking for a place to sit. The ship may hold 850 passengers, but it sure can't accommodate them!
The entertainment on the ship was very good - especially the singers and dancers. We've seen a lot of shows and entertainers on other shorter cruises on much larger ships, but the Marco Polo singers and dancers were absolutely top drawer. Also, Australian Dance Champions Matthew & Janelle Pentreath were outstanding! They also gave dance instructions throughout the cruise to those so inclined. The Mikel Orchestra was the best small musical ensemble I've heard. Irish Comedian Pat Mooney kept us all laughing, and Steve Blake & Tricia wowed us with their magic, and Eric & Wendy Duo Des Iles who did everything from mimes to acrobatics, were outstanding. Helen Jaynes, a singer sounding much like the late Julie London, was very talented, also. John Daniel played the piano and sang throughout the trip, as did the Cafe Concerto Strings, who were superb.
Other activities while at sea were Aerobics, total body conditioning, lectures and demonstrations, ping pong tournaments, line dancing workshops, chess tournaments, shuffleboard tournaments, bridge tournaments, Bingo, and my favorite-"Team Trivia." Jewish Sabbath, Catholic Mass, and Protestant services were held throughout the voyage. We were in Israel on Good Friday, and arrived in Greece on Easter.
Colombo, Sri Lanka (Ceylon)- I was deluded into thinking that Sri Lanka was going to be absolutely wonderful - NOT! - Lots of elephants, places to buy tea, filth, heat, humidity, armed outposts and abject poverty. This country is hurting since its financial failures, and it's not bouncing back. We were very uncomfortable in this country - it was obvious they need our money, but we didn't feel particularly welcome.
Cruise the Indian Ocean - much smoother sailing - still over crowded
Cochin, India - We took a Backwaters Tour and saw how these 2-foot above sea level settlers have been fishing for over 700 years - very interesting, and extremely hot (an umbrella or bumbershoot is advisable)- the City Tour was really interesting and we got to see some very interesting shopping areas - quite a few beggars and lots of peddlers clinging to everyone like flies - despite this, we could've spent more time here.
Cruise the Indian Ocean - We're looking forward to losing 200-300 passengers - we're picking up some new passengers too, but not nearly as many as we're losing.
Mumbai (Bombay), India - some folks paid $1,000 to take a plane trip to visit the Taj Mahal - The Taj seemed to be the raison d'etre for some of our passengers - those who went seemed (for the most part) to think it was worth it. We took a trip through the teeming masses (estimated to be around 17,000,000 - give or take a couple million)of this port city. Absolutely amazing! There are thousands of men who are born into families who do nothing but wash clothes in one part of the city - a truly amazing sight! Another group (caste?)does nothing but iron clothes. The traffic reminds me of going on a Universal Studios tour and seeing traffic of every conceivable kind mixed with uncountable pedestrians who seem to think they're invincible placed in such tight spaces that gridlock occurs every two minutes. We rode in a cab for several hours, and the cab driver would simply park where ever he could, then take us into a shop or store waiting for us by the door. At a shoe store where I wanted to buy a pair of sandals, when the store wouldn't take dollars, the cabbie went to a money changer a block away, returned with rupees, and I made my purchase. The cab wasn't metered (thank God)but we had to buy his gas. If you're unable to go where there's a fan or air conditioning, you're dead meat. Supposedly the summer's starting out very hot this year. We were expecting the awful poverty in India - there's an awfully lot to see - fantastic bargains (rugs, jewelry, carvings, exotic junk, etc.)- We'd go back.
Cruise the Arabian Ocean - When you cross the Tropic of Cancer, the humidity is left behind, like a blanket being thrown off(4 days)- Very smooth - more room, but not a lot - good time to read, write post cards, send e-mail. We sent e-mail every time we were at sea - each message cost $6.50 to send - we set up a folder of addresses of people who wanted us to e-mail them, then sent one message to a relative who would forward our e-mail to the addresses in the folder - incoming e-mail was free - because of the number of people on the ship wanting to send e-mail there was usually a line waiting to use the one terminal, and each person was limited to 15 minutes - the e-mail room was open 24-hours, though, so longer messages were able to be sent in the evening.
Djibouti, Africa - 6 hour stop - Djibouti was the last French colony on the African mainland to gain its independence in 1977 and consists of the port of Djibouti and "an enclave of semi-desert hinterland." The m.c. for the shows on the ship continually "ranked" Djibouti, and we thought it was going to be a total bust - it wasn't, though - even though it wasn't the greatest place we've ever visited, it was in AFRICA and very interesting, and the shopping was outstanding if you like wood carving and crafts - absolute exquisite works of art at garage sale prices! - the only things that were more expensive than anywhere else we visited were the postcards - picturesque sights in Djibouti are at a premium - we could've spent a few more hours there.
Cruise the Red Sea - We weren't able to spot the place where Moses led his people across it towards the Promised Land, and the Egyptian soldiers were swallowed up, but we were thrilled to be sailing in this part of the world.
Safaga, Egypt - We were looking forward to this, you know, the Nile River and Egyptian temples - everybody left the ship and was bused into Luxor where we would spend the night in various hotels in or near that city - security is VERY tight - armed guards on each bus, buses travel in a caravan - armored vehicles full of armed soldiers at the front middle and rear of the caravan - many armed check points along the route - it wasn't scary, more like, exciting. We toured the temples of Luxor (thousands of years old - huge columns - hieroglyphics all over the place - breath taking) - next we went to Karnak, the largest temple in the world - Almost undescribable! Obelisks, hundreds of enormous columns, almost like a maze. Our accommodations in a resort hotel on the Nile River were excellent. We'd like to go back and take a cruise up or down the Nile on a river boat - interestingly the Nile flows north to the Mediterranean Sea. The next day we went to The Valley of the Kings - It's quite an experience to actually go into ancient tombs - it's soul stirring, and not something you can fully appreciate without actually being there.
Aqaba (Petra), Jordan - Now here's an interesting country! - During a two-hour bus trip to see the ancient city carved in stone at the end of a canyon road paved by the Romans, we saw maybe 50 vehicles on a recently completed 6-lane highway - We also saw maybe 100 camels (owned by the Bedouins)along with 100s of goats and sheep whose wool they use to weave the cloth with which they make their tents to live in the desert - Petra (a depiction is in "Raiders of the Lost Ark")is about 2-miles downhill through a canyon and makes an awesome impression when you finally reach it - Take two bottles of water, though - the uphill walk is a "killer" although you can ride a cart for $20-$30, or a horse for $3.
Suez (Cairo), Egypt - After waiting a couple of hours for the major portion of a sand storm to pass - we got a late start through the Eastern Desert to Cairo - A two-hour visit to the Cairo Museum was cut to about 45-minutes - We could've spent two days here, but had to be content with seeing the major part of the King Tut exhibit with a dash of some of the other ancient Egyptian displays - Went up the Nile past the bull rushes where Moses spent some of his infancy - Ate lunch at a hotel near the Pyramids, then got to take in the major pyramids, ride camels (if you wanted) and walk around the bases of and touch the real McCoys that you always see on travelogues - It was almost closing time by the time we got to the Sphinx, but we got to see it! - Very exciting!
Haifa, Israel - from Haiffa (the port)to Jerusalem is about a two hour bus ride, so we stopped 1/2 way for a rest stop and a cup of coffee (the ship's coffee is as bad as military coffee)at the Elvis Inn, Jerusalem, a virtual Elvis Presley museum - www.elvis-inn.8m.com - then on to a kibbutz for lunch - Bethlehem was first, to see the cave where Christ was supposedly born - it was kind of neat to walk down Bethlehem's streets (the Pope had walked down these same streets not long before us) - to Jerusalem where we entered the Joppa Gate and were able to see where Christ was crucified, laid on a slab and the tomb where He was placed - all were very close to each other - it was actually thrilling to us to be able to touch the slab on which Christ was laid - to the Wailing Wall - everything was very moving - walking on part of the Via Dolorosa and through the market place where the scene is much like it was during the time of Christ was very stirring - it was hard to believe we were actually doing all the things we were and seeing things we never thought we would - we weren't able to visit the Dome of the Rock because Friday worship services were being held - we were drained emotionally by the end of the day.
Cruise the Mediterranean Sea - Now we had to see if we could pack all the stuff we had bought into our bags - by carefully folding, jamming and cramming we miraculously fit everything (almost) into bulging suitcases.
Piraeus, Greece - this port which is just outside of Athens is very picturesque - we got a pretty good tour of the city and visited the Acropolis and Temple of Dionysius and soaked up the amazing architecture of ancient times - it was almost too much - we stayed in a nice hotel for two nights, but were really too exhausted to enjoy our time there very much. The Greek Isles call for another visit, with Turkey thrown in.
We departed Athens for London, then back to the U.S. Boeing 747s are not the most comfortable way to travel on a long flight - maybe 1st class.
It was absolutely the trip of a lifetime! We brought home some awesome memories that we'll treasure until our dying day.
Recommended:
Yes
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D_Edgers
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Location: Port Orchard, WA USA
Reviews written: 5
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Don Edgers
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