Marco Polo - very gay friendly!

[Eurovisionfan]

We're a gay couple in our 50s and are just back from an excellent Xmas/New Year cruise on the Marco Polo. I suppose at the back of my mind, I wondered how gay friendly it would be, as it had a Russian captain and a lot of Eastern European staff.

But nothing could prepare us for how gay friendly it would turn out to be. We knew that the pensioners on board would love us, they usually do! However, they didn’t love us as much as they loved Richard Sykes, the cruise director. His camp humour was wonderfully received by the passengers (the average age was well towards 70). Quips like “well, it won’t surprise you when I say that I don’t know much about sports, but I do love musical theatre”… And listening to him doing Victoria Wood (or on one occasion, Kenneth Williams!) is fab, but that’s just scratching the surface of his entertainment skills – I’ve no idea where he gets his boundless energy from!

And then there’s Andi, whose great comments at the quiz and Jakkalo (throwing beanbags into a bin) were legendary.

True enough, there wasn’t an FOD announcement in the ship newsletter, but as there were only 850 passengers, it was easy to find each other, and we even had another same sex couple on our dinner table!

The nightly entertainment was also fabulous, including Queen, Musicals, Abba – and to round off a perfect cruise – a Eurovision extravaganza, where passengers were grouped into countries and then had to vote for fifteen songs, both old and new. Bucks Fizz apparently always wins, and on our cruise, Dana International came second. And being the Xmas cruise, and a British ship, there was a panto. Richard looked like Bette Middler’s sister when he was in drag as an ugly sister!

Other entertainment included She3, who reminded me of the Beverley Sisters, along with Cait, Amy and Ed, all accomplished entertainers.

And after the main show in Marco’s, it was up to Scott’s bar where there was more singalong entertainment, then a disco until you dropped – and the DJ would play any requests at all, including some very obscure Eurovision songs I’d brought with on a memory stick.

A special mention has to be made to the fabulous Sheena, whose duties included being the librarian, decorating the ship for Christmas and accompanying us on many of the tours. And especially for giving us the honour of joining her on the Captain’s table on our last night!

One of the funniest moments came when we were having a photo taken against a sunset backdrop and the photographer asked if we wanted a woman in between us! She did get the message when she saw our startled faces!!!!

If you’re at all pretentious, or want rock climbing walls, or lobster every night, then the Marco Polo isn’t for you. But I can’t recommend it highly enough if you want a glimpse into how fabulous life can be when you’re getting on in years and are still up for it!!

[ikelmay]

Our first cruise was on the Marco Polo in its previous incarnation with Orient Lines. Not the flashiest or most modern vessel at sea, but it still remains one of our favourites - it has a character and history to it.

 

The crew in those days were mostly Philipinno and were absolutely wonderful. I am so pleased that the ship is still creating wonderful memories for passengers.