This was our first cruise and we are both in our mid 50s and still at work so this is our completely unbiased review about the Marco Polo ship. Firstly I have to say that this cruise ship has a non child policy and that the average age of the passengers was at least 70 plus. The whole experience we found to be excellent. Embarkation and disembarkation was well organised and everything went to plan. The cabin (ours was inside on deck 7 ) was all we needed. The beds were comfortable there was plenty of room, the tv had entertainment on and also plenty of info about the cruise as it proceeded. The staff were wonderful. Nothing was too much trouble. They were kind, courteous and very respectful and considering some of the pompous, arrogant passengers we witnessed they had to deal with we admire them for keeping their cool and composure. Indeed the one disadvantage was some of the fellow passengers. Yes we did meet some lovely people but they also had the same opinion that we had that some people are never satisfied and really think that they are far superior than they really are. Some of the complaints we heard were quite frankly pathetic. If some passengers were used to been pampered on Cunard then they should go back there!! So going back to our experience the food was excellent. You have 2 options the Waldorf restaurant and the buffet lounge. The menus were the same but the Waldorf was waiter service. We ate breakfast and lunch in the buffet and dinner in the Waldorf. I would recommend to dine for dinner in the Waldorf. If you can tolerate your fellow passengers you are dining with the food and service was 5 star. 5 courses I can honestly say I could not complain about one of them. Fantastic presentation and superb quality. There was plenty of entertainment on the ship for all concerned, the gym and sauna were excellent and we also had a tour of the bridge where we found the crew to be informative, friendly and helpful. We did 6 excursions all very well organised and that was a theme through the entire cruise excellent organisation. Yes the ship looks a bit tired in certain areas but generally for us it was a touch of luxury. So in summary we enjoyed it immensely and would we book with CMV again YES.