Marco Polo repeat passenger

I read with a lot of interest the October '04 article by Lew Toulmin about the Marco Polo of Orient Lines (800/333-7300 or www.orientlines.com). Yes, he does a good job on the history of the Marco Polo, but we feel that the biggest reason the ship has so many, many repeat passengers is the staff--from the captain down to the busboys and room attendants.

We have sailed on the Marco Polo three times: in the Mediterranean from Istanbul to Barcelona in 1998, from Copenhagen to Rome in 2002 and from Barbados to Athens in 2004. We have plans to cruise from the Antarctic to Barbados in 2006.

Many people book their cruises based on the ports, but there are a number of passengers who are on this ship for several months at a time, not really caring where they are going but just because they like the ship. There are times when we don't get off the ship because we have been to a certain port a couple of times before.

We do like the idea of assigned seating for dinner, as it is a lot of fun discussing with our tablemates what they did during the day, especially if they went on tours. I don't feel we could handle the new idea of dining at any hour you wish.

When we do our Antarctic trip we will have been to all seven continents. We look forward to doing that on the Marco Polo as we will see many of the Filipino staff; after three cruises, it seems like they are old friends. One thing that should not be missed is the show they put on one night on each cruise.

Marco Polo also books excellent lecturers. Our Barbados-to-Athens cruise had two lecturers, one speaking on archaeological sights and the other on ships that sail the Atlantic as well as the Caribbean.

Just a few of my thoughts on why we cruise on the Friendliest Ship on the Ocean.

RON & BEVERLY HANCOCK

Sparks, NV

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