We done a fly/cruise with TUI/Marella and came away impressed with their whole operation. Checking-in at London Gatwick was very easy with a short queue, representatives were on-hand from Marella to provide us our check-in details for the ship. Bags were checked in all the way to the ship, so no need to pick them up at Barbados airport. Flights with TUI were good on-board the Dreamliner and is comparible to any good quality long haul carrier with TV's in seats etc.

Landing into Barbados TUI had organised for buses for the cruise passengers to pick-us up from in front of the plane, so no need to go through immigration, which was a huge plus. Transfer took us straight to the ship where we checked-in. Check in was fairly quick to get on the ship. Bags arrived an hour or so later once we were on-board and were places outside our cabin door.

The Marella Discovery was an impressive ship, my girlfriend and I were both first time cruisers so can't really compare to any other ships but the ship seemed to be kept in good condition, very clean and all new carpets throughout. We had a Balcony Deluxe cabin and found this roomy, balcony was good too and had a small table and 2 chairs, which we used quite a bit in the evenings. Read more