First time cruise as a family - good idea with Marella?!

[BettyBrum]

Hi,

Me and my hubby used to cruise quite a lots before we had kids having been on NCL, Princess and RCL.. Having not cruised for a while now we were toying with the idea of a 7 night Med cruise  on Marella Discovery and then a 7 night hotel stay (keeps both kids happy as one wants a cruise and 1 wants a hotel!). Appreciate that Marella might not be in the same league as the main cruise lines but main thing is seeing some fab places. But just wondered if anyone could offer any pearls of wisdom about this cruise? Just want to make sure we can have some good excursions and that there are enough things to keep the kids amused on the boat on the sea day. Also is the ship ok!

[AlanCruise]

We like Marella (which is part of the TUI holiday company).  They are not up to the quality of the main (mainly US) cruise lines but are normally significantly cheaper.

We like that there is normally only one sea day per week, the standard drinks package is included, there are no added tips and plenty of choice of UK departure airports.
The ships are not as big as some of the lines (which we think is better) but this means that they do not have as many on board attractions. The main attraction should be the destinations!

[Izzywiz]

We have done 3 cruise and stay holidays in school holidays with our son, DIL and two grandsons. The first one was in August 2019 when the boys were 10 and 6. The itinerary was sailing from Palma, Majorca to ports in Italy, France and Spain on Discovery 2 and then a week at the Hotel Son Baulo in C’an Picafort.

My husband and I are seasoned cruisers on many different cruise lines but it was the first experience for the rest of the family. They had such a great time that they couldn’t wait to do it again but Covid came along which meant that we had to wait until 2022 followed by 2023 for our next cruises.

The boys found plenty to do on the ship even though they didn’t go to the kids’ club’. They loved the dining options, especially the tapas and pizza restaurant and the snack shack. They enjoyed trying different drinks and raved about the ‘non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiris’. They used the pools, climbing walls, table tennis, sports court and crazy golf so rarely had a quiet moment. In the evening we all went to the show and then retired to a bar for their final daiquiri of the day.

The family enjoyed the ports but the boys preferred their time on the ship.

Our ship in 2019 and 2022 was Discovery 2 and we had a large outside cabin on deck 7 which was really spacious with more than enough room for 2 adults and 2 boys 14 and 11 (7555). We didn’t miss having a balcony as we were out and about for most of the day.

 

 

[howmuch!]

5 hours ago, AlanCruise said:

We like Marella (which is part of the TUI holiday company).  They are not up to the quality of the main (mainly US) cruise lines but are normally significantly cheaper.

That used to be the case, but prices have risen significantly in 2023/24 in my view, meaning other lines are worthy of consideration.