Marella Dream Review
Brilliant holiday; stop worrying about some negative reviews.
Rating by category
Additional details
If you are reading some of the negative reviews and worrying (as I was), please take some comfort from my post. As a family we tend to go with and open mind and remember that everyone is human. We had a perfect trip out from Manchester I was expecting Corfu airport to be a nightmare having read reviews, it was very efficient and we were soon on the ship.
Our cabin was hot on arrival, (perhaps the air con had been off whilst empty and in port?) I was worried about this as we couldn't have a balcony on this ship only an ocean view. However, once underway the temperature reduced to the level we wanted. Our children's room was set up as a double, we raised this issue and before bed time it was converted into a twin. I looked at the bath mat (a complaint on a previous post, that person had not asked for the mat to be changed, but complained when it wasn't!) I thought it could do with changing so asked a steward, he spoke to our steward and within minutes it was replace. We had a missing handle on the safe, I told reception and within an hour maintenance had mended it. Once again I could complain about this not being picked up on final room checks or praise the fact that when raised the problem was resolved within minutes... It just depends how you look at things!
Other posts have criticised food, queuing and the length of time for drinks to arrive. All not an issue for us. We used the pool side grill for lunch, the self service for breakfast and the waiter service restaurant for each evening meal. (We didn't use the restaurants you needed to pay a supliment for... Why bother when a great one is free of additional charges). Our tip go for 6.30pm and service will be great, four courses in about 1.5hrs so you are not rushed and it is a nice experience. We went later one night and the service seemed to drag. If you don't want to use the self service for breakfast then you can go the the waiter service restaurant instead. Lovely being able to get our own ice creams whenever we wanted, from the machines. Waiters brought drinks promptly.
Cabin Review
Big, dated (but this as been the case on other cruise lines, depends when the ship was built!). On deck 6 near the middle of the ship.
Port Reviews
Koper
we walked into the town and climbed the clock tower, back to the ship for lunch and then out for a walk along the new coastal promenade.
Split
Split Croatia, (Croatia used the Kuna not the Euro) we visited the markets, the old town, Cathedral etc, walkable from the ship, in the afternoon we walked along the Riva promenade.
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik, Croatia, you will need a taxi (100 Kuna - equals £11 each way) to the old town, enter the walls at the Pile gate, it took us 2hrs to walk round them, the most complete and spectacular was have ever seen.