The Marco Polo is a small ship by today’s standards and offers those who cruise aboard her a comfortable and friendly atmosphere with stylish public lounges and attentive service.

Owner/Operator: Cruise & Maritime Voyages CMV
Year built: 1965
Rebuilt: 1993
Builder: Mathias-Thesen-Werft, Wismar, Germany
Registry: Bahamas
Former names: Alexandr Pushkin
Gross Tonnage 22,080
Length: 176.3 m (578.4 ft)
Beam: 23.6 m (77.4 ft)
Passenger Cabins: 425
Passengers (maximum): 850 /
Crew: 450
Service speed: 16.5 knots

Onboard photos of Marco Polo (Orient Lines)

The highlight of any Baltic Cruise has to be St. Petersburg (often featured with the ship staying in port overnight) with the famous Hermitage Museum, Catherine the Great’s Palace and St Isaac’s Cathedral.

Other popular ports of call include the fabulous medieval capital of Tallinn, Estonia.   Beautiful Stockholm and the wonderful Copenhagen.

The Baltic Cruise season generally runs from May to September but the best months to go are July & August.

Weather can be a bit mixed, so be prepared and take layers, ideal to remove as and when the weather dictates.

It’s worth pointing out that a visa is required for Russia unless on an organised tour, if you book an excursion via the cruise line, you bypass this formality by using the ships group visa.

Fred Olsen offer a 12 night Baltic Cruise on the 14th September 2012 from Newcastle aboard Boudicca sailing to: Stockholm (overnight in port), Tallinn, St. Petersburg (overnight in port), Ronne and Kalundborg.

Britain’s newest cruise line launched last week – Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) with a range of ex-UK ‘no-fly’ cruise holidays with sailings from London Tilbury, Hull, Newcastle, Edinburgh Leith, Greenock, Liverpool & Plymouth.

The Marco Polo and Ocean Countess – formerly the Cunard Countess will together offer 24 no-fly cruises to the Amazon, Orinoco, Venezuela and Caribbean in the winter and the Norwegian fjords, the Baltic, Iceland, Mediterranean and Canary Islands in the summer of 2010.

 Prices are to start at just £149 per person for a two night taster cruise to Amsterdam aboard Ocean Countess.

The new cruise lines aims to offer a more traditional and leisurely style of ‘no-fly’ cruising, with their small to medium size ships with friendly and attentive service at exceptional value for money.

Sailing from a choice of seven British departure ports with sterling as the onboard currency, this will appeal to those who like an all round British cruise experience and without the worry of exchange rate variances.

Discover more at: http://cruiseandmaritime.co.uk/

Carrying just 800 passengers, the 17,500grt Ocean Countess will be added to the fleet in spring 2010 following a £3 million refurbishment programme.  She began service as the popular Cunard Countess and at the time became one of the best-known ships to sail the Caribbean Sea and a favourite on the British market.

Joining the Ocean Countess, is the poplular Marco Polo who together will offer a range of 24 no-flycruises from the UK to the Amazon, Orinoco, Venezuela and Caribbean in the winter and the Norwegian fjords, the Baltic, Iceland, Mediterranean and Canary Islands in the summer of 2010.

Three cruises are featured for 2010 from Newcastle with Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) aboard the Ocean Countess, two of them are round trip cruises whilst the third embarks in Newcastle but repositions to Leith for disembarkation.

Springtime Fjordland
Round trip Newcastle
23rd May 2010
6 nights
Brochure price from: £399pp
Ports of Call:
Newcastle, Geiranger, Flam, Gudvangen, Bergen, Lerwick, Newcastle

Baltic Treasurs & St Petersburg
Round trip Newcastle
29thMay 2010
12 nights
Brochure price from: £899pp
Ports of Call:
Newcastle, Kiel Canal, Warnemunde (Berlin), Tallinn, St Petersburg (overnight), Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Newcastle

North Cape & Land of Midnight Sun
Newcastle to Leith
10th Jun 2010 
12 nights
Brochure price from: £899pp
Ports of Call:
Newcastle, Hellesylt, Geiranger, Leknes, Honningsvag, Tromsø, Molde, Andalsnes, Bergen, Rosendal, Kirkwall, Leith

The new cruise line aims to offer a more traditional and leisurely style of ‘no-fly’ cruising, with their small to medium size ships with friendly and attentive service at exceptional value for money.

Sailing from a choice of seven British departure ports with sterling as the onboard currency, this will appeal to those who like an all round British cruise experience and without the worry of exchange rate variances.

Cruise lines are increasing their no-fly round trip (Ex-UK) cruises more and more every year to meet growing demand for passengers who want to get away on holiday without flying. 

Over half a million UK passengers chose to take an Ex-Uk cruise last year and the number is set to grow.

Cruising from a UK port could not be easier because it removes the ‘hassle factor’ of possible flight delays, missing luggage, strict and confusing restrictions on hand luggage and the hassle of lugging baggage through busy airports.

Newcastle Cruise Terminal offers passengers from the North of England a great alternative to the Southern UK ports of Dover Harwich & Southampton as you could save almost a day’s sailing when cruising to the Baltic, Norwegian Fjords & Scandinavia.

A popular choice for passengers and being recognised increasingly by the cruise lines is the rise of the mini-cruise or taster-cruise.  These short cruises, typically of around 3 to 4 nights often focus around a city break like Paris, Amsterdam and Bruges.

These cruises offer a great alternative to the traditional and less exiciting means of travel to these destinations and are a superb choice for those who might not have taken a cruise holiday before or those who are not ready to commit to a longer and more costly itinerary.