MV Marco Polo ex Aleksandr Pushkin

[Thomas Hypher]

For further updates on Marco Polo, I would strongly recommend following my local WSS Branch website's section on Marco Polo. The admin of the website, a shipping friend of mine, is a friend of the owner from their days at Warsash Maritime College and another shipping friend of mine (David Trevor-Jones) visited her in Avonmouth shortly before her departure. This is as close to the source as any information currently out there for Marco Polo, and is more up-to-date and far more accurate than some other sources that are still being pushed as current on the likes of Facebook.

https://www.shipsdorset.org/resources/c6jz7

[Thomas Hypher]

Thomas , I'm a bit hit'n'miss at the moment, but so glad to've met this post, a beautiful looking lady ( so few left) I hope she makes it . Hopes were there alsio for Saga Ruby  & look what happened there.
  A few years ago I posted a pic of '2 old ladies enjoying the sun'    Ruby & Marco Polo in the Baltic, so opportunistic -that day- to be there to snap it , & I've got to say one of my best for a point & shoot camera,
can't find it to re post but it's on the forum somewhere. regards Pete

Hi Pete, I hope you're coping as well as possible. Likewise, still sad about Saga Ruby . If you find your photo of both ships it would be great to see it in this topic as a reminder of the "good old days".

[pete cain]

Here we go Thomas,
 I couldn't find it but kneew I'd taken the shot, thank goodness Isabelle set up a flicker account for me to extract it from thanks Isabelle      otherwise I don't know what I would've done, it's also along with loads of other Ruby images on the  Saga Ruby Baltic posts from oh so long ago.....

[Thomas Hypher]

Wonderful photo of two "proper" ships!

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Wonderful photo of two "proper" ships!

I entirely agree! So glad that this photo exists . Such a rare sight, even then, and now gone forever...

[Barumfox]

Wonderful photo - have been keeping an eye on the CMV ships and had spotted that she had left Avonmouth and have been following her on her route to Dubai -or is it really Alang?

I was booked on her cruise due to leave tomorrow involving a double crossing of the Bay of Biscay which I had been looking forward to until overtaken by events. Another one on the growing list of 'the that got away' although I did have a visit / lunch on board at Tilbury in 2010 - like Astoria should not have left it so long!

I was on last cruise of Caronia before she went to Malta for Saga Ruby refit in November 2004, which was a memorable trip including a sail down the Tagus from Lisbon with QM2 on her last port of call.

Gary

[Louis De Sousa]

Marco Polo is heading to Alang where she will arrive on the 12th January 2021

[Rob Lightbody]

Marco Polo is heading to Alang where she will arrive on the 12th January 2021

Horrible news, but thanks for sharing.  I'm so sad I never managed to travel on her and that she couldn't be preserved.

So the question is - at the end of the pandemic - what "interesting" ships are going to be left in Europe for us to aim to travel on?

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Marco Polo is heading to Alang where she will arrive on the 12th January 2021

So sad... that ship had character, and beauty, and history... she is pretty irreplaceable.

[Twynkle]

The Sad News
 "This has come directly within the last hour from the Ship.  The orders are to Sail to Alang and will be ending her days on the 12th January 2021".
This was posted on Facebook, by Geoffrey Vickery on the page where he is Admin, Friends who like Cruise and Maritime Voyages.

Like the sale of QE2 - this ship was older still, and thankfully has also given many of  us some lovely memories - even on the lethal slippery "bit below the bridge"!

[June Ingram]

The toll continues to be sadly taken....

[Thomas Hypher]

Very sad news to say the least. The admin of my local WSS branch as I linked to earlier in this topic had his source at her new owners go silent on him, it seems as they sold her on to the scrappers without sentiment. I will never forget how much of a reminder of the seagoing QE2 she was right down to the smell of the cabin bathroom, her portholes, and the bunker C fuel oil smell in places on her lower decks, but whilst also having her own charm and having her own fascinating history. Yet another "proper" ship bites the dust 

[Louis De Sousa]

Ship underway now towards Alang ETA 9th January 2021

[Clydebuilt1971]

The Sad News
 "This has come directly within the last hour from the Ship.  The orders are to Sail to Alang and will be ending her days on the 12th January 2021".
This was posted on Facebook, by Geoffrey Vickery on the page where he is Admin, Friends who like Cruise and Maritime Voyages.

Like the sale of QE2 - this ship was older still, and thankfully has also given many of  us some lovely memories - even on the lethal slippery "bit below the bridge"!

Marco Polo was a regular on the Clyde and a few friends have sailied on her. Sad news indeed - had it not been for this pandemic she would have sailed on a few years longer anyway. Loved that parabolic sheer although anytime I saw her on the Clyde she seemed to be sailing with slight port list!

Geoffrey Vickery - theres a name from the past - I met him quite a few times on Waverley 12-15yrs back!

Gav

[Thomas Hypher]

Marco Polo appears to be underway for the final time according to MarineTraffic AIS, having left Bhavnagar Anchorage about 25 minutes ago where she's been since 9th January after sailing past Alang to get there. The former Carnival Celebration joined Marco Polo at the anchorage in recent days and is awaiting her demise as we speak. Yet another classic, "proper" ship bites the dust. Not looking forward as normal, to the inevitable videos and photos of her beaching and being ripped apart.

How I prefer to remember her, my photo in happier times: