farewell marella

[2BACRUISER]

On 2/21/2024 at 4:49 PM, S1971 said:

 in my opinion not substantially enough for me to go elsewhere, looking a P&O threads recently doesn't fill me with confidence, especially the newer tower blocks at sea, regular mediocre comments, better the devil you know and all that.

Just booked to go on Ex2 in June. We could have gone 11 days on p&o for same money but as above comments on that board put me off, also we can fly local LBR and not have to schlep to s'ham or Heathrow win win imo 😉 

[suech1970]

Tried P&O last year in Caribbean, last minute cheaply. One and done. Just not our fit, too many formal nights, really slow bar service, poor food, and people glaring at you coz you’re still in swim wear at 6pm and they’re all dressed for dinner🙄. 

 

We started cruising with Ocean Village, their tag “the cruise for people who don’t do cruises”.  They had a feel very much like Marella, revamped older ships, casual, family, and very friendly atmosphere with awesome itineraries. We did 4 with our kids till they got sold off…my girls actually cried!! 
 

I’m struggling between 2 med cruises atm, one with Discovery 2 and the other on NCL Sky.  Both great itineraries, minimal sea days, both  ships tried and tested, but the £££££ for just the Med 😱, just can’t get my head around. Just back off Far East cruise and that cost roughly the same! It’s not like Marella are dropping their prices for last minute deals now either. Haven’t sailed with them since 2022 but we get a few nice perks with NCL now, so maybe I’ll just toss a coin 😆

 

 

 

[GOQ]

I have been on quite a few Thomson/Marella cruises starting with Destiny, and the obvious benefits are:

 

Fly from your local airport, all inclusive and up until recently good value, a low number of sea days per cruise and Marella do really have a good selection of cruise itineraries (I hope they bring back the USA cruises).

 

However as a Solo cruiser I have a slightly different viewpoint on Marella. The drawbacks for me are:

 

I am limited to a choice of 15 inside or 15 outside cabins in fixed blocks on the lower decks, it gets a bit boring after a few cruises, and no option of a balcony.

 

Limited ship type, either Discovery “Type” or Explorer “Type”, again it gets a bit boring. If I could change the cabin location it would not seem so bad.

 

If I don’t book really early, most of the cruises I would like to book disappear, but they are still there if I put 2 people in the cruise search. It seems once those 15+15 cabins are gone that's it, no Marella cruise for me.

 

The Solo cruise experience is very hit or miss, if you get a good Solos organizer it is great, otherwise it can be a poor experience.

 

So I tend to do more cruises with P&O these days, I can book any cabin I choose, there are much more Solo passengers on P&O and I don’t have to book a year in advance to get a Solo cabin.

 

So my Marella cruises were 3 times a year, then 2, then 1 and now 0. But I am still getting bombarded with mail and emails from Marella trying to sell me a cruise. They can't seem to figure out why I haven't booked any cruise lately.  

 

Edited February 25 by GOQ
Added

[Jim The Scot]

7 hours ago, suech1970 said:

Tried P&O last year in Caribbean, last minute cheaply. One and done. Just not our fit, too many formal nights, really slow bar service, poor food, and people glaring at you coz you’re still in swim wear at 6pm and they’re all dressed for dinner🙄. 

 

[b]We started cruising with Ocean Village, their tag “the cruise for people who don’t do cruises”.  They had a feel very much like Marella, revamped older ships, casual, family, and very friendly atmosphere with awesome itineraries. We did 4 with our kids till they got sold off…my girls actually cried!! [/b]
 

I’m struggling between 2 med cruises atm, one with Discovery 2 and the other on NCL Sky.  Both great itineraries, minimal sea days, both  ships tried and tested, but the £££££ for just the Med 😱, just can’t get my head around. Just back off Far East cruise and that cost roughly the same! It’s not like Marella are dropping their prices for last minute deals now either. Haven’t sailed with them since 2022 but we get a few nice perks with NCL now, so maybe I’ll just toss a coin 😆

 

 

 

Same,we started cruising with OV and loved them.Once they ventured to Australia we were at a loss regarding cruising with someone with a similar vibe.We tried Thomson/Marella and been cruising with them since

 

On the pricing.Been tracking a 4 night cruise at the end of March for some time,I say 4 night but its is really a 3 day due to late flight time out of Glasgow and midday return flight.Very little movement on price,in fact its went more North then South

 

Price is scary and currently at over £1800.

Edited February 25 by Jim The Scot

[insidecabin]

For something closer to Marella style(without a ship full of Brits) the smaller NCL ships can be a good fit.

 

We like the Jewel class, Dawn and Star.

 

Check where you local airports fly to and try to match if Southampton it not convenient.

 

Keep an eye out for price drops as starting prices tend to be high.

You add service and Free At Sea to get the AI equivalent, wait for a 50% FAS offer.

 

For cheap filler cruises we keep an eye on MSC out of Southampton.

 

For bigger ships and a very different vibe MSC and Costa have good offers in the med, flying into Genoa seemed best if you can get those flights, alternative Barcelona and Civitavecchia have more options.

[paularmstrong]

agree the NCL ships are very good , remind me of princess , also for solo travellers there is the solo section with your own lounge and only solo key holder section , nice cabin with double bed which our teenage son loved , this was on the epic which is a bigger ship but price wise it was good 

[Dinglebert]

Ariva is far too big a ship for me.  I don't enjoy the floating holiday camp type ship with didgem cars and water slides., balcony cabins facing inwards to view other people on their balcony cabins.

 

Last year we did P+O Azura and Marella Ex2 and D2  It was our first P+O post pandemic and in our opinion a lot of things had gone downhill.  We were not the only ones as the complaints were frequent.

 

They were all basic and perhaps petty but its part of what makes a cruise. 

 

Less staff on board.  The turndown was removed as the cabin staff were having to wait tables in the evening.   Frankly they were not very good at it.  I lot of mistakes, meals arriving well after one another etc.

 

There were shortages of basic food items.  No orange juice one morning.  Certain cereals just not there.  Butter felt it was being rationed.  If there were 6 of you at the dinner table then you got 5 portions of butter.   The menu choices in the MDR had halved from what was available pre pandemic.

 

We bought the Captains Wine package of 6 bottles of wine.  It was only after we bought it that it became clear that many of the selections were not available (usually the expensive ones).

 

The entertainment was still great and the ship was good.   However we won't be back to P+O unless there are imprvements in what is offered to guests and probably new destinations.  I do think using the massive ships to do the Norway run is a mistake.

 

Yes Marella ships are looking a bit tired but I can't fault the MDR food or the staff.

[S1971]

23 minutes ago, Dinglebert said:

 

Yes Marella ships are looking a bit tired but I can't fault the MDR food or the staff.

 

I think that's always been Thomson, Tui and now Marella's selling point for me, I've never expected new tower blocks at sea, if anything even the newer additions are getting to the stage where they are becoming too big and modern, I loved Destiny, Celebration, Majesty and Dream etc, good size with their faults if course, but most of all the crew are simply the best I've ever encountered, across several cruiselines.

 

Explorer next for me, not sailed on it previously so looking forward to comparing to others.

 

Edited March 15 by S1971

[Jim The Scot]

Concur S1971

 

We,re off on Explorer in a few weeks for the first time,and that,ll give us the full set

Edited March 15 by Jim The Scot

[Pensioncruiser]

Hi Jim does that include the Calypso? 😃 Have a good one.👍

[Jim The Scot]

Thanks P

 

Had to google Calypso so that tells you that No it doesn,t include her

[Brummijam]

7 hours ago, Jim The Scot said:

Concur S1971

 

We,re off on Explorer in a few weeks for the first time,and that,ll give us the full set

We have been on Explorer many times, it’s a nice ship. Some of the beds have been a bit too firm for my liking but we were informed on our last trip that mattress toppers were available. Hope you have a great time.😉

[Jim The Scot]

Cheers B

 

Also been on Explorer and enjoyed it like all other Marella ships.On Explorer 2 this time,the one ship we haven,t been on

[paularmstrong]

Wrong cruiseline pal , P&O do not have didgem cars ,water slides or balcony inward facing cabins sorry

[pennib]

We have just got home from our 4th time on Explorer round the Canaries. Excellent on the ship except for the mattress on our bed which was very thin and not a bit comfy. However, you have to fly to get to a Marella ship and that is where our relationship ends as we have to negotiate the monstrosity which is Manchester airport and then the airport at the other end. We arrange mobility assistance. This is excellent at Manchester but in the Canaries it is gross. Our experience this time was at Tenerife. I never want to see that place again. Even though we had arranged assistance, we were still made to stand for some time and at one stage we were literally abandoned in wheelchairs. This was very stressful for both of us as at one time, I did not know where my husband had been taken. Cannot be doing with that again. In future it will be coach to Soton. And we weren’t the only people saying that. What a shame as we have really enjoyed the ship.

[Brummijam]

3 hours ago, pennib said:

We have just got home from our 4th time on Explorer round the Canaries. Excellent on the ship except for the mattress on our bed which was very thin and not a bit comfy. However, you have to fly to get to a Marella ship and that is where our relationship ends as we have to negotiate the monstrosity which is Manchester airport and then the airport at the other end. We arrange mobility assistance. This is excellent at Manchester but in the Canaries it is gross. Our experience this time was at Tenerife. I never want to see that place again. Even though we had arranged assistance, we were still made to stand for some time and at one stage we were literally abandoned in wheelchairs. This was very stressful for both of us as at one time, I did not know where my husband had been taken. Cannot be doing with that again. In future it will be coach to Soton. And we weren’t the only people saying that. What a shame as we have really enjoyed the ship.

Hi pennib.

We were on explorer the week before Christmas 22. We also found the beds slightly hard.

I think the problems at Manchester Airport will be resolved later this year, when the new security halls are completed, With regards to Tenerife, my wife who is able bodied unfortunately turned her ankle a couple of days before we embarked and was limping into the check in building, a young phillipino lad came to us with a wheelchair and wheeled her straight to our cabin we were very impressed so not all bad.

keep well.

[pennib]

Hi Brummijam

Thanks for your note. As you were going through Manchester airport at the end of 22, I can assure you that things have not since improved  in terms of distances to be covered to and from the gates and are about to get a whole lot worse as terminal 2 is still being extended (to cater for traffic being transferred from terminal 1 which is closing. As far as we are concerned it has become a place to avoid which is a shame as we are only 25 minutes away. Once of a day it was part of the holiday experience. Not now.