FAREWELL MARCO POLO

Iam certain that I was far from alone when, during the evening of 13 January, I watched the final hours of the classic cruise liner Marco Polo play out on my AIS screen. Amid optimistic statements that she was to be used as an accommodation ship and possibly return to cruising once the Covid pandemic was over, she arrived at Dubai from Avonmouth on 17 December 2020, but instead of berthing lay at anchor offshore until it emerged that she had in fact been sold for demolition at Alang.

Sailing on 3 January, she arrived in the Bhavnagar anchorage six days later and lay there until the morning of 13 January, when she moved to a position two