Any thoughts on Cruise & Maritime Voyages' MS Marco Polo which has several cruises to Norway and the nearby islands. Interestingly they even sail into October, which would be to cold for us, but a few in late summer, also.
It is a British cruise line and for the summer sailings they are $300-400 less than Holland America and $600-700 less than Princess for the same basic itinerary.
In addition to any replies you get here, be sure to look at Cruise Critic. Here's their review of the ship: http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=48
Note that only "56% of cruisers loved it." That's a very low percentage; most ships are 70-85%, so right away I'm concerned.
Cruise & Maritime Voyages doesn't have a dedicated forum, so it's covered in "Other Cruise Lines" here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=218
Norwegian ports would be in the Northern Europe & Baltic Sea forum: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192
If you want to get a feel for what the MS Marco Polo might be like as a passenger, Google the documentary series "Mighty Cruise Ships" and look for the episode featuring this ship. The programs are 60 minutes in length (shown on The Discovery Channel in Canada) and you should be able to watch it online. The ship could be described as an older smaller explorer-type cruise ship and is not sold as a 5-star luxury cruise experience (such as Holland America or Princess). It would depend on what your expectations might be as to whether you'd enjoy a cruise on this ship.
As a comparison, you could also watch the recent episode about the Viking Sea itinerary in Norway to see the advantages a smaller ship has in sailing some of the fjords and coastal areas. Hope this helps you somewhat. The Cruise Critic website, as mentioned by another poster, is also a good resource.
Thank you very much. I know that in any reviews there are always negative and positive comments. But, after looking more closely at the Marco Pol, we'll stay with the more moderately costly Princess and Holland America lines. Thank again!
