Restaurants and Excursions

[SteveJ57]

Not going on our first Marella cruise until May 25

When can I expect to be able to book speciality restaurants and excursions 

[solohol]

Going by the website it says 6 months before BUT  they are having "issues" with the system or something (got told in May, they haven't figured it out yet). I'm going end of November, and got told (on second time of asking) that they would start being available two months before, but only a few have been trickling onto the site and i'm getting annoyed tbh! You can't book an excursion when you can't see all the options! And the dining is not available at all, even though the link works. I've emailed them today as this is not the normal service from them, hopefully it will get fixed before you try to book anything! But from past experience the excursions and the dining were really good! (solo travelled to greece, nice coaches and tours, and they didn't cram the coaches so I didn't have to sit next to a stranger)

[gramwold]

Good luck, we go in just under 6 weeks and not all the ports have excursions to book and none of the speciality restaurants as yet. 

[solohol]

@gramwold when I first rang up I was told they would all be available two weeks before, then when I contacted the chat they said two months, but was told as I booked in store that a travel agent could let me know when they were available, went in store and they told me to keep checking the website and it could be another two weeks! Some clarity might be helpful haha I just want to give them money.

[SteveJ57]

Thanks for your replies

Hope it is sorted before you both travel

 

[2BACRUISER]

15 hours ago, gramwold said:

Good luck, we go in just under 6 weeks and not all the ports have excursions to book and none of the speciality restaurants as yet. 

Ditto i messaged them thro Facecloth and was told that the winter content on cruise control for dining was not yet available but to keep checking we go 14th Nov and still nothing though you can book a hairdo or massage or an excursion so not sur whats going on!! My birthday is while we're away and i want to book in to Surf & Turf for that!!

TBH i'm a litle apprehensive about this trip and the quality, marella are not cheap and its only that we can fly from a local airport that they get our business. we shall see!!🤔

Edited 21 hours ago by 2BACRUISER
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[solohol]

@2BACRUISER its so stupid because we know what restaurants they have, its not like anything has changed! I got an email today saying that "there have been numerous updates on the control planner and launches causing delays for excursions, dining and spa treatments being released." and that everyone was in the same boat and I'll have to keep checking like everyone else, or wait until I'm on board (sounds like a fun start to a holiday). I pointed out I got told about these issues in May, so why aren't they sorted by now? That's thousands of people all in the same boat trying to give them extra money and not being able to!

[Jim The Scot]

Been cruising with Marella for years and in our expetience what your experiencing is the norm for them.For a company that size there IT/system is brutal

 

Dont do facecloth so cant comment on that but in store staff/call centre staff dont know the MarellaTUI product.You can have a room full of Marella/TUI customer advisors(use the advisors loosely)and get a multiude of different answers to queries

[dronnygirl]

We go on Voyager next week and all the restaurants are open for booking. Great availability - I guess the price puts people off. Higher than most other cruise lines

Incidentally I've seen that Marella can now be booked through one of the major cruise agents so they might be more useful (it's the one near where I live)

[gramwold]

Hi all, yesterday i booked 2 more cruises with Marella  a repo one next April and  a Christmas one  2025.  i did it to take advantage of the  £300 off that is due to end tonight ( i know i got sucked in  by tui  and they will be cheaper  closer to the time  but there you go.)   so i have 3 cruises in the planner now and when i click on the one that is leaving in 39 days to see if we are able to book speciality restaurants  on the planner it takes me to my second booked cruise in April. I messed about a bit with it on the laptop, but i gave up and did it on the Tui app on the phone.  Success  i am on the correct planner to book excursions and restaurants, but wait .... still no availability to book a table.😂