this was good value for money! The cabin was excellent - the shower one of the best The staff were hardworking but far too few in number. This caused disjointed service in the dining room and bars. There was a lot of queuing for the buffets. Portions were relatively small - "oatcakes" with smoked …. was one oatcake. The surf and turf restaurant which was an extra charge was excellent. We opted for the premium drink package so we could get canned tonic but this was not available every where on the ship and then only after discussion. There was a good stock of whisky in the Gin and Whisky bar but the whisky was served with chlorinated water. Bottled water was chargeable! What a waste of malt whisky! It was an adult only ship but showed children's films such as Toy Story. The choice of wine was both limited and baffling with different wines available in different restaurants at different times. The cocktails were premixed and highly sweet with no fresh lime juice on the boat. On the whole they were very poor with the exception of Expresso Martinis in the coffee port which were excellent. The shows and entertainment in general was very loud without being good quality sound. The dancers were very good. We didn't pay much and saw new places in comfort. Read Less

First time cruisers and we had a fantastic time. The staff were amazing so polite and very friendly . We ate in the Market place all the time as I had been in hospital 2weeks before and in there I could just eat what I wanted. There was plenty of choice as I am a fussy eater I couldn't complain at all . The entertainment was excellent from the shows in the Broadway lounge (there was only one that I wasn't keen on) but the rest was superb. Danny Lisa and Derek with the Irish/Scootish set was brilliant as was Derek and the Vibes rock set. The pianists were great to. All in all a lot of talent . The sunbeds were all taken by 8 in the morning some people out at 5.30 in the morning putting their towels out made me laugh. Our cabin 1024 was superb lovely bathroom with a large shower bed was extremely comfortable and the balcony was lovely with a table and chairs . All in all a fabulous time was had . Read Less

I am the type of person who rarely complains ... but....... We've been on the Dream and Celebration, and mostly not a great deal to complain about, except the food could be a little hotter. The Explorer 2 however is another thing altogether. The food in the Marketplace on floor 11, even when put out fresh in front of you, is luke warm at best. By the time you are at your table it's getting cold, and when you've almost finished it, it's stone cold. That was virtually every meal I had except maybe one or two. Being in the pub food trade, I know from experience that it's not rocket science to serve hot food, even to large numbers of people. One day we had ham pie which turned out to be preformed pieces of 'so called' ham, which disolved into your mouth like jelly. I can eat anything, but that was the exeception to the rule! The meal at Latitude was hot, but the smallest portions of food I have ever had, which resulted in me going to the Marketplace for a luke warm top up. Scoops Ice Cream bar on deck 12 was £3.99 for a knickerbocker glory with virtually tasteless Ice cream. The all inclusive spirit drinks are - how shall I say this - watered down! Being a regular spirits drinker, and a pub landlord for 18 years, I know how a Smirnoff and Gordons Gin are supposed to taste like - and the genuine, unopened article would be twice as strong as the version I was served daily on the ship. I had a few 50 ml sealed bottled from the cabin fridge and they hit the spot within minutes, whereas I could drink all night in the bars and remain very sober. The Broadway show lounge 'Rockolgy' show was brilliant and very proffesional, with great music skills and brilliany harmonies.. The bar entertainments however, was very poor as compared to the Dream and Celebration offerings that I have seen over the last 18 months. The age group on the ship were virtually all 50 plus, yet the pub quizzes were aimed at teens and a little insulting, in my opinion. Considering the age group onboard, I found it puzzling that all of the contestants were in their late teens or twenties? (crew members perhaps?) Karaoke was good. All staff were very polite except one woman security member who was related to Hitler as she was straight faced and abrupt? Read Less

We chose this cruise because it's the newest ship of the Marella fleet. It is not a brand new ship. Now to dispel some of the complaints posted on this site about Naples airport. Naples is a very small airport. If several flights land at the same time then expect delays getting your luggage. We flew in from Birmingham and we only had to wait 20 minutes. Someone from Marella was on hand to help us. Marella staff were on hand to help us every step of the way. There is a 10 minute walk to the coach transfer. Those who require assistance will be helped. Transfer to the cruise terminal took 25 minutes. We were processed very quickly and we're having lunch on the ship as our cabins weren't ready until 12.30. your cases will be taken off you in the terminal building and taken direct to your cabin. People have commented on the lack of sockets in their cabins. There is a phone charging socket on one of the bedside lamps, a socket by the kettle on the dressing table and a shaver socket in the light over the mirror in the bathroom. You just pull the flap down and it's under there. There is plenty of wardrobe space and a cupboard with drawers m The cabin is small but very comfortable. The bed is very comfortable. For those who wish to take a tuxedo for the Captain's Dress to Impress please do so. Several men took them on our cruise. The meals are amazing. In fact they are better than some I:be eaten in my home town. I hope this post has helped those passengers vho have some concerns as a result of some of the comments especially about Naples airport. O Read Less

We flew from Manchester to Naples and were expecting the worst after reading the reviews however, thinking back I personally think the reviews were harsh. The walk is about 5 minutes away and if you have any issues, staff were on hand to assist. We embarked smoothly and were able to go to our cabins immediately so could freshen up before exploring. We knew the ship was an older ship but it’s been refurbished very well and every where was spotless with hand sanitizers placed strategically. We had a 2 week cruise and I definitely didn’t want to leave and would have loved to continue with the ship to Croatia for another week! All food on board was of a very high standard and a big shout out to Surf &Turf, loved our meals in there - book early if you can, gets booked up quickly. We didn’t try the Fine dining experience but will do that next time :) The staff on board were incredible, big shout out to Kushan who assisted on the pool deck during the day and in Aperitif at night, Marc who was on hand in the Squid & Anchor and Joko who looked after our cabin. It had great colour coding on stairwells and the Captain was clear on all aspects especially the ‘pointy end’. The shows on board in the Broadway Lounge were fantastic with Cogs being my favourite. The bands were great and the silent disco ....... what fun. We participated in a number of quizzes but maybe these could be reduced to a couple per day but this is not a negative, just my opinion. A few ports were industrial but didn’t detract from the excursions if you chose to do them. Disembarkation was smooth and as we also flew with TUI, our luggage was bonded and a plus for me. I am not sure why I thought this cruise would not be as previous cruises but I was very pleasantly surprised and will definitely look to book on again. Read Less

Our 50th anniversary. Arrival was a walk from airport in Naples but staff all the way to bus, and happy to help. We had a junior suite and it was roomy, clean and very comfortable. We had ordered the celebration package and at £99 found it excellent value for money. Wherever we were on the ship the staff could not have been more friendly and helpful. The captain (Richard) and his staff were seen at various places on the ship and were very welcoming to the guests. The staff went beyond our expectations. We enjoyed the food, and felt special every time we ate in the restaurants, and again all the staff there were happy and efficient. Minus would be that next time we will go from an airport using Tui flights, where from the airport your luggage is taken care of till it arrives at your room.It was stressful having gone from Luton on another airline and we were in charge of our cases. We did not get any labels to attach to them and consequently they arrived at our rooms hours after us, despite trying to tell the reps that they had no labels to inform anyone of our ship details. Same when leaving, baggage hall disorganised for us to collect luggage. We found trying to book the celebration package via the Tui shop thwarted by difficulties in the way. Would book direct in future. We are now planning our next cruise with Tui. Read Less

This is the first time we have been with TUI as before we have tried Royal Carribean once and Norwegian Cruise lines 3 times. TUI is up there with the rest and the holiday was enjoyable. The entertainment team were very professional. The food was good except in the Italian (perhaps we ordered the wrong dish) . The Italian was part of the main restaurant Lattitude 53 and not in a separate venue. The shows were good. The cabin was excellent and the biggest we have had. (we always have inside cabins). My criticisms of the ship would be the Coffee Port and the Golf bar. Both of them having no atmosphere whatsoever. We were on the premium package so we could anything we wanted from the coffee port, however you could only have a fancy coffee with Tia Maria etc. after 6 pm. Why when we are on premium package. We should be able to have a nice coffee when we want one. The Coffee Port is massive and has no atmosphere and hardly any people in it, unless the weather turns and then everyone goes in there. We didnt attempt to go in the golf bar. It was silly and again no atmosphere. To summarise, a good holiday. Will be taking a break from crusing for a while now though as I am tiring of the same evening entertainment which is generally the same format on all ships but having said that, TUI's entertainment was really good. Read Less

I've cruised once before on the discovery 2 and enjoyed so had high hopes for this "new" ship and could directly compare. On the Explorer 2 there was the same great entertainment, more choice in sunbathing areas (loved the Veranda), bars (loved Flutes) and restaurants (loved Nonnas! + the terrace was a nice extra) and although the food in Latitude was good but it definitely wasn't nearly as good as it was on Discovery 2 which was disappointing as last time that was a real highlight. The coffee choice had been removed from the buffet restaurant (apart from Nonnas) so if you wanted say a latte you had to purchase it from the much expanded coffee port - which was at least an extra € a cup more than the price shown between 07:00 and 10:00!? I couldn't find anywhere that had this information until they told you at the till. Although I had a great time and enjoyed the ship I think I'll be trying another cruise line next as Marella aren't improving overall. Read Less

First the good points. 1. Terrific stage shows 2. Friendly crew (apart from Zak the barman who thought he was a comedian but, was just annoying). 3. Damjano on reception is an absolute star. 4. Lovely destinations. Now the bad points. 1. Awful smell of sewege in cabin (1014), which could not be resolved, even with a deep clean of the drains. After a week, we were given another cabin, which was directly above the reverse thrust engines, that made the cabin rattle every morning at around 5.30, for about 30 minutes. 2. Sun loungers always reserved. Never saw any towels removed, even though it was threatened. 3. Food, especially breakfast, was never hot. 4. Some passengers seemed to be straight out of Weatherspoons. 5. Can only get desert cocktails when eating in Surf & Turf. Having been on Explorer 1 in March, we feel that Explorer 2, although newer, was much, much better. Read Less

We booked this cruise having read about the extensive, multi million pound work, carried out on the ship, earlier in the year. The idea of an adults only, all inclusive, port intensive cruise, especially during school holidays, in an Executive suite, appealed.....how wrong we were ! The public areas are very well appointed, but our Executive suite, oh dear. When we first walked in, we presumed it hadn’t been used much before & was a spare, back up suite. There were so many things wrong with place, missing door handles, rubber seal falling off the bottom of the fridge door, hooks broken, & missing, on back of bathroom door. We had difficulty in opening bathroom units, which are supposed to be spring action, but need a small knob on at least one door under each sink. Water from one sink tap sprayed everywhere, especially the mirror & the person standing in front of it ! The bathroom had been partially modernised, but nowhere else, and even here, more work still needs to be done. The door leading to the bathroom had been damaged and repaired, at some point, but long cracks could be easily seen. There is a shower screen over the bath, but .... no shower ! This rendered the screen futile, & the rubber seal on the door kept falling off when it was opened & closed. Why did we constantly open this door ? The bath towels were always on a shelf above the bath, inside this unit, & we required them twice daily ! When we read about the suites before we left, and again, after we returned home, it clearly stated that there is an over the bath shower, as well as a walk in one. The tv unit in the lounge area was in a very bad state of disrepair, in fact falling apart, & wires were everywhere. Photographs we looked at, of some suites, showed flat screen tv’s mounted on walls, not in ours. Both TVs sat on units, with many wires bundled behind them. The USB points on both bedside lamps, didn’t work properly. The left one didn’t work at all.... The biggest shock...the safe was not secured to anything, meaning it could be lifted & removed from room ! Fortunately we managed to get maintenance to repair some things, especially the safe, but if this place was in regular use, surely others, including cabin stewards, & inspections by senior management, would have noticed the dreadful state of the place. We found an old pair of sandals under the coffee table, & a packet of painkillers in a bedroom drawer..... For what we were charged, almost £7,000, about 5 weeks before we embarked, we expected superb accommodation, & numerous amenities which goes with suites. Prior to leaving home, we had to seek advice as to what amenities would be included, as nothing is stated in brochures, or any website. Eventually, after phoning the South African call centre, several times, as to begin with, we were told “ the system was down “, so they were unable to answer our queries, we were advised we would get robes & toiletries. In fact we got robes, slippers & Clarins toiletries, but.....no shower cap, shoe shine cloth, vanity pack containing cotton buds & cotton wool discs. Once a week, we were also given a tiny tube of lip balm, & a slightly larger tube of limb & foot balm, described a mini spa luxuries. Our suite was also an interconnecting room, so could hear the ramblings during the night, of the occupants in the balcony cabin. The balcony for our suite was massive, the loungers were very comfortable, so we spent much of our on board time there. Unfortunately, this also needed much attention & tlc, particularly in need of painting of the metal floor area under the wooden slats, & varnishing of chair arms. The floor was rusty & old, although no doubt cleaned daily...It is directly under the pool bar, so during the day, it was very noisy, but we were not aware of any noise once we were inside. We went ashore every day we were in port. Leaving the ship early, meant we could enjoy the places we visited when it was quiet, returning to the ship once it started to get very busy. There were times when our suite hadn’t been serviced by the time we got back, in spite of having told our stewards that we rose early, went out, & also were early bedders. Unfortunately, for the majority of the time, our place was the last to be done, until almost the end of the two weeks, when, having spoken with supervisors, it was done early, both morning & evening. There were many issues, which we have already submitted to the company directly, but the bottom line is that we got virtually nothing, having paid a great deal of money. On the very last morning, we returned to our suite after breakfast, & found a letter asking us to go to reception for compensation. We went, & were given a form to sign in order to get our compensation, in which it stated that we wouldn’t get any more money. The amount we were given was underwhelming....£50. Evidently this is the norm, & maximum given out...really ?!? To date, we have not even had an automated reply for our report, which was submitted shortly after we returned home. We decided to wait until we received word from them, but since over a week has elapsed, have decided to carry out the request of the CD. He asked, through the television, for us to post our thoughts on social media, so that everyone could read our comments ! Premium service is a joke.... Not all suite levels should be treated the same. Those pax paying more should get better amenities, but no, on this ship, all suites regardless of money spent, get the same. We suggested some benefits which could be given to Executive & Royal suite guests, but they have obviously fallen on deaf ears. These suites should automatically be given the premium drinks package, & at least 1hour of free Wi-fi daily. There is no Concierge lounge onboard, no private areas for sunbathing, drinking or eating, in fact, once you leave the suite, nothing is given. We read CruiseMapper’s description of this accommodation, prior to embarking, & were wowed, but alas this is completely wrong. This ship started life with Celebrity, and obviously the description given was for when it was a suite with them. There is one line saying, half way through the information, that this suite gets only ‘Premium Service’...... The entire overview should be removed from publication, as it is completely false. We are very experienced cruisers, not with this company, so know what is acceptable, & what is not. To say we were appalled by the standards in this suite, is fairly accurate. Many fellow passengers also left much to be desired. Walking about the ship, in lounges, and the Market Place( buffet ), females wearing only a bikini, men, bare chested & with bare feet were common sights ! Fortunately, the crew in Indigo lounge, deck 12, where we were enjoying a preprandial drink about 17.30, asked men to put on tops, although some men were wearing swimming shorts, but not always dry ! We didn’t frequent the Squid & Anchor pub, as Bingo was being played there daily before dinner. Most crew we encountered were very pleasant. Our servers in the MDR, Latitudes, table 412, which we managed to get regularly, were very good, attentive, friendly & helpful. We found the presentation, & quality of food, to be very good, & had no complaints at all, regardless of where, & when, we ate. We both liked the concept of the Snack Shack on the pool deck, where light prepared snacks could be taken from the refrigerated cabinet, during the day, and consumed on our balcony, & small portions of fish & chips, readily available at the counter for lunch. Two bar staff, Flocera in Flutes, & Alikasandra,( from Belarus ), who worked in both the pool bar, & Aperitif, were excellent. The latter spent much time in conversation with us, when the place was quiet, and we thoroughly enjoyed these encounters. All bar staff we met were good, but the barmen in both Indigo & Aperitif, were particularly attentive, & knew our choice of drinks in the evening. Naples Airport is a disaster, especially when leaving. Arrival wasn’t too bad, except we had to wait quite a while for our luggage, then had a long walk, in the heat, to the coaches. Returning home was horrendous. The place is too small to cope with all the people. UK citizens tend to stand in line, not other nationalities, so it was just a general free for all when going through immigration etc. The departure gate was extremely small, meaning most people had to stand until the bus arrived to take us to the plane. To make matters worse, we were standing for almost an hour. Fortunately the door was open, so fresh air could circulate, but a dreadful situation, especially for older people. The ports of call, particularly the Greek getaway sector, were very good. The second week was alright, but think we would have preferred the following week’s itinerary, going to Croatia etc. We have submitted constructive criticism, & trust our points have been noted by HQ. It is not as if we have manufactured situations or conditions....we report what we found. We have not detailed all the faults on here, but did in our report submitted to the company. One supervisor actually said that it was just the fact the suite didn’t live up to our expectations, was why we were being so critical ! We would defy anyone, paying what we did, for such substandard accommodation, not to be concerned, & report same. Most clocks around the ship displayed the wrong time, some out by many hours. If all other accommodation was in the same dire state as ours, then the ship should not have been put into service when it was. Maintenance work was ongoing all around the ship during our two weeks on board. Did the company run out of time, & money, before it could complete the renovations to our suite ? If so, then the cost to us should have been amended. Surely, the top suites should have been the first places to have undergone massive refurbishment, after the public areas. Finally, some may think, when reading this, that several faults are minor...individually, some are, but collectively, they make for appalling conditions. Read Less

My wife and I chose this for our honeymoon. Having never cruised before we were apprehensive - there was no need for that. What a perfect holiday. Arrival at Naples was fine for us mid twenties couple, although there is a little 10 minute walk from the terminal to the bus so can't imagine it's great for everyone. Straight onto the boat and into our cabin, bags were delivered about 15 minutes after our arrival. We can't fault any member of staff on board the ship, and a special mention to our cabin steward Anastasiia and also Zaida in the perfume shop as their service went above and beyond. We were invited for dinner with the captain on our second week which was a great experience! Plenty of places to eat and the food is great for everyone, plenty going on in the day and at night, the shows were good - we both felt that the male singers weren't great. Went past Stromboli after leaving Sicily and WOW. As I said... Perfect holiday. Read Less

Went on 4th cruise... chose Marella Explorer 2 for itinerary and port of Naples .... cruise and stay to encompass Sorrento and Amalfi Coast.. Travelled with friends to celebrate 30th wedding anniversaries. My opinion ( shared by husband and friends). Fabulous week had by all. Ship and cabins very comfortable and spotlessly clean. Service and staff all amazing . Bend over backwards to ensure passengers enjoy their time with them . Food brilliant standard. We tend to avoid the buffet type restaurants. Prefer to be waited on and finer dining offered in the other restaurants. Had one upgraded meal “Surf and Turf” which was an excellent experience all round. Food service all faultless Entertainment on board was very good. Shows ok to good. The musicians .... in a class all o their own. Just absolutely brilliant. Sooo talented. And something for everyone. Jazz/swing quartet to soul and rock sessions. Just amazing. Can honestly say the best we have EVER seen ( apart from famous band of course). Standard of hygiene, the decor and presentation of on board facilities all very good and o par with 4 and 5* all inclusive resorts we have stayed in many times previously across the Med, Caribbean and Australasia. I dot understand some of the bad reviews... beyond me how people have rated below 4*.....were we on same ship?? My advice.... if you are looking for all round fun, value for money, good food and service then Marella deliver on all . Do not listen to the moaners.... maybe they have 5* lifestyles every day. T Read Less

My husband and I both choose this cruise a year and a half before our wedding as we wanted to get everything set in advanced. Additionally, we also booked the excursions online as soon as they became available. Firstly, this was our Honeymoon and I started this review mid-way through our cruise as we were so disappointed. We had quite a few issues and as we were only away for 7 days we seemingly had the worst luck possible. We arrived in Naples, Italy via a flight from Gatwick which overall wasn't too bad. The wait for the luggage was around 30 minutes so not a bad wait compared to what we had seen on other reviews. The crew on the ship are delightful and I cannot fault anything here. Everyone is lovely and so accommodating - Jaya, our cabin steward was brilliant and would recommend anyone to say hello if they ever pass by him. The only department I would complain about is the Excursion team. When we were in Dubrovnik no one had any idea who was queuing where and was a nightmare. My husband and I got told to go the wrong way/ into the wrong queue twice and other cruisers were having the same issue. Please, can someone make sure in the future there is a protocol for these members to run by as they had no idea? The food is great, and the a la carte dining experiences (specifically Surf and Turf and also Kora La) was amazing. The specialty restaurants are fabulous and would thoroughly recommend. Now, the massive negatives here are our experience with the port days. We are here only for a week for our first cruise and honeymoon. Just as we had got into our cabin, we had noticed there was an excursion ticket missing. So there were 4 days worth of excursions instead of 5. We had to go to the desk to find out what was going on as no other information was provided, no letters sent etc. When speaking with the excursion team, it turned out that our excursion had been cancelled due to congestion which I cover below. We had also taken out around £500 worth of euros, to be told that the currency on the cruise itself is GBP. No one mentioned this at all which is surprising and also disappointing. If we wanted to change this we'd end up with much less than what we set out with which again is a joke. We ended up using our credit card which was the last thing we wanted to do. Our first port, Messina Sicily was fantastic. We travelled to Mt. Etna and had a great time, no faults here. The port team was lovely and very insightful about our trip. The coach journey to Mt Etna was around 1hr 30mins (or so) however the lady who had done our tour (can't remember her name), was great. Our 2nd port was Drubovnik. Now, this is the excursion that was cancelled - we also were not able to Dock due to "congestion". This meant we had to wait for a tender to pick up and drop off hundreds of people. This was an absolute nightmare and we were not able to get on shore until 5 hours after anchoring. The tenders were also very limited which was above and beyond frustrating. This was at no fault of the cruise however none of the excursion team really knew what they were doing which made things even worse. When we were queuing for the tender after our ticket number finally being called the staff didn't even know what queue we were to get in, it was very disorganized. This meant we had 2 hours before "rush hour" to get back in the cruise. We had next to no time to do anything which is extremely disappointing and a massive waste to a day in a location we really wanted to explore more. The next day, the port was Ancona. My husband and I had booked the picture-perfect bayside duo. Originally when booking we were told we would be heading down to the pebble shores and would be able to take a dip in the fantastic beaches. Oh, how wrong they were, as we didn't even touch the beach. Sirolo was lovely but again after lugging our swimwear around we felt this day wasn't great but was not as bad as the last. The tour guide here was very knowledgeable in regards to the area and provided a better experience, even though we were disappointed as we wanted to go for a swim in such lovely weather. The 4th day, where we were when I started to write this review, is Venice. We were supposed to Dock at 5am, however, it was around 9am and we were still a few miles from shore. There was a power outage in the early hours of the morning which resulted in us both being woken up by several announcements between the hours of 1:30am and 2:40am. This, in turn, meant we did not manage to get to the Dock in time and as Venice operates a time slot functionality - we inevitably missed our slot and we had to wait until midday to dock. This meant our excursion, which was a gondola ride (the 2nd favourite excursion we booked) was cancelled, along with many others from other passengers. The destination desk was absolutely packed so there was no chance of us booking a different excursion. We were however given a cruise card credit of £50 each and of course, our excursion was refunded but the time lost on both this excursion and the other excursion (Dubrovnik) was just a little too much for us and we were overwhelmingly disappointed. On the 5th day, we arrived at Split, where we went onto our last excursion - Krka waterfalls. This was our favorite day and can I just say everything on this day was fantastic. Starting from the coach Journey with the tour guide (Coach 1, can't remember his name unfortunately - the driver was Ivan) down to the Waterfalls and exploring the nature park and then the boat ride back to the coach > then back to the cruise. The tour guide was awesome and hilarious and we're very happy with how this day turned out. The last day was a full day at sea. Unfortunately, this means everyone is up at the crack of dawn to get onto a sunbed where apparently if you leave your towel it is yours for the day. There was a note which mentioned if you leave it for longer than 45 minutes the items will be removed however I noticed some people were covering 2 sunbeds at times to make sure their partner could come back and I also noticed some people coming back to their sunbed for 10 minutes at a time and then leaving for another 30 minutes, cheating the system. This is very disappointing. Similarly, in the whirlpool, it says on the sign 15 minutes at a time however there were people in there for hours, m4eaning my husband and we didn't get a chance to go in there. The pool is nice when hot but very salty so head above water at all times. My husband and I ended up paying something around £3 to watch movies in our cabin as we'd already had enough of walking and trying to find a sunbed over a period of 2 hours (we went to the bar to wait for a further 10-15 minutes). Overall, including the cruise itself, excursions, euros we had taken and the current amount accumulated was around £4500. This is one of our biggest spends but I can certainly say we won't be booking this cruise again due to the disappointments with the excursions. We did, of course, get the canceled excursions refunded but there was no recognition to the fact that our days were wasted and we had to make our own way around with no insight to the locations whatsoever. We understand these things can happen but in our perspective, we had a nightmare on some days that became very stressful on what should have been a relaxing holiday away for a week. Read Less

This was our first ever cruise, going to Spain, South of France, Italy and Croatia. Overall we enjoyed the cruise. Embarkation was straightforward and the ship seemed clean and well-equipped. The major plus point was the staff in the bars and restaurants who were very, very good as were the cabin crew.However, a major damper was put on the cruise early on when I had my wallet with my credit cards stolen in Barcelona on the first excursion out. Obviously this was a fairly big issue but I thought that, as this must be a relatively common occurrence there would be ample help and support available - how wrong I was! I'd emphasise that throughout the whole process on board ship, the everyday staff that I dealt with were all very helpful and friendly and did whatever they could to assist. The problem seemed to be higher up the food chain where senior crew weren't willing to do anything to help if it meant bending their rules or processes and procedures in anyw ay whatsoever. Our account on the ship was tied to the credit card I lost and so this had to be closed down. i was immediately told that the only way to buy anything on board ship going forward would be to put cash on account. Fortunately we had a small amount of cash with us which I put on the account but it wasn't enough to allow us to do all the things we wanted to - it was my birthday, my wife's birthday and our 30th wedding anniversary whilst we were away and we had wanted to celebrate each event in the premium (extra cost) restaurants on board but we now couldn't do this and we subsequently also had to cancel my wife's celebratory meal through lack of money. The reason for this was that because some of the excursions had been so poor we changed our Venice excursion to another one. We hoped, given our situation, to be able to just pay the difference in price between the two trips but no, they insisted on cancelling the original booking (made pre-departure) and refunding the amount to our credit card and making us pay for the new trip from our ship's account - which meant we didn't have enough money to pay the cover charge for the restaurant for my wife's meal. To make things worse, the Venice trip was subsequently cancelled after we spent 30-60 minutes adrift during the night with no power at all which made us 7 hours late docking in Venice meaning that most excursions were cancelled. Of course by this time all of the premium restaurants on board were full so we still couldn't get in! By this time I was sick and tired of the total lack of help or goodwill from TUI. We had paid for our cruise by all due dates, we'd pre-booked and paid for nearly £900 worth of excursions before setting off and yet they still wouldn't bend in any way whatsoever to make our holiday better or less stressful. I met with the Guest Relations Manager who simply reiterated what her staff had told me - that it wasn't their fault I'd had my wallet stolen and as it happened in port they didn't even have any responsibility to us! She even stressed how they'd pointed out that Barcelona was full of pickpockets - pointing out the paragraph in the "Cruise News" where this had been said - inferring that we were either stupid or careless to have our belongings stolen. She said that as I had said I was trying to get an emergency credit card sent to us (which it was, in Naples) they didn't think they needed to do anything more to help us. Yet they knew within 10 minutes of the credit card arriving that it wouldn't work with their systems (again, they have one way of doing things and no other, apparently) but still they showed no goodwill or willingness to help. Then, finally, the Guest Relations Manager told me that someone in the UK could have gone to a TUI travel shop and made a money transfer to us on the ship! When I asked why she was only now telling me this she said that it was "quite involved with many steps so they didn't like to publicise it"!! Although it may not seem it this is a brief recounting of what was a catalogue of issues with the senior staff on board Marella Explorer 2. The total lack of goodwill shown by them and by TUI was completely at odds with the helpfulness and friendliness of the general crew. We could have had a really good first ever cruise, but they managed to ruin it. Read Less

We had a great cruise on Marella Explorer 2. Our cabin was on deck 4 and was in a good position mid ships to get to the MDR, Market place for breakfast and the gangway on Deck 3. The only issue I had was the sound of cutlery or glasses being rattled around late at night from deck 5, MDR. Cabin was spacious with plenty of wardrobe space and drawers. Only one socket though so we had to take turns charging phones, using the hairdryer, kettle etc. Lovely shower with a glass door...makes a nice change to having a shower curtain wrapped around you! Food was great and plentiful served in different areas of the ship. Lots of different types of entertainment venues, silent disco was hilarious. Always able to get a sunbed. Where was the captain? First cruise I’ve been on where I haven’t seen the captain! Lovely ports of call. Paramos, shuttle to beach. Toulon, walkable or a little train from the ship 7€ takes you on a little tour. Livorno, we went to Florence and Pisa with Tuscanybus.com who left us stranded in Pisa !!!! Rome on your own with the ship. Olbia, bus will take you to a beautiful beach for 5€ return, or the town is easy to reach by foot. All staff onboard were amazing, as always! Read Less

Very disappointed with Explorer 2 as was not as good as Explorer 1. Didnt look or feel like been refurbished. Cabin bathroom grotty, particularly shower smelled and grubby. Bar staff unfriendly and rude, never smiled, communication poor. Dirty mop left in pool shower all day, pools small and dirty, all 4 jacuzzis didnt work all week, beds crammed in, very noisy all day like Butlins on Board, tacky and cheesy or trying to sell stuff on screen! Breakfast cold, not much selection, no omlette station, no service on the terrace or bar, no atmosphere dead at terrace end of ship at night. Clock by pool didnt work all week, drink stations didnt work, or no cups, very poor! Even online feedback didnt work. Many complaints from others about no escape from noise level, nowhere outside quiet or able to relax with service. Food was average, needed to book trips as not much near ports! Couldn't understand daily announcements. Read Less

We flew into Naples airport expecting the worse but were pleasantly surprised as we encountered no problems other than waiting 40mins for our luggage to come through.TUI staff were on hand to guide us onto the waiting buses and in a short time we were at the port ready to board the ship.We had to go through some security checks before boarding,but this is perfectly understandable in this day and age.The ship itself is modern and clean and fairly easy to find your way around,we found the different colour carpets to be a big help with this.We ate mainly in the Market Place during the day and Latitude 53 for evening meals where we were expected to dress in smart casual to eat here.We found the food here very good with mostly different things on the menu every evening and the waiter service excellent.On one night we paid approximately £50 for the two of us to book into Kora La for a meal,although this is extra to the all inclusive we found it to be well worth the money as the food and service provided was exceptional.Special mention for Albert who went out of his way to look after us that night.We had paid for the Premium package for drinks and as my wife enjoys different types of gin and I enjoy my whisky we found this to be value for money,again special mention to Rommel in the Gin and Whisky bar in the Squid and Anchor a top class barman.We enjoyed some of the shows in the Broadway Showroom also.We did not go on any excursions preferring to find our own way around the lovely cities we visited.All in all a great first cruise experience,looking forward to the next. Read Less

Went on Discovery 2 last year - Eastern Med and loved it so tried Western Med this year. No complaints. Food excellent, staff superb. Relaxed cruise and would recommend. Entertainment hit and miss. Loved the comedian but didn't like the crew's musical. Squid and Anchor pub was a popular venue, got quite busy. Personally would only cruise for a week. We did cruise and stay and stayed in Sorrento after the cruise which was fab. Had an outside cabin with a window and it was more than adequate, not luxurious but you don't spend much time in your cabin. Discovery and Explorer quite similar. More restaurants on Explorer but missing the lovely Atrium on the Discovery. Swings and roundabouts really. If I had to pick a negative it would only be in relation to the ports on this cruise. They were all commercial ports and if you didn't choose to do the excursions on offer which were quite expensive you had to get a bus or taxi to get off the port. The ports of call we visited in the eastern med, we could just walk off the ship into town. Everyone - guests and crew were so friendly and if you had a problem they would sort it out for you. Wouldn't hesitate to book another Marella cruise. If you want a 'posh' cruise and wear your evening gowns and tuxedos every night this is probably not for you. We loved it! Read Less

Old ship showing its age in places where it has been refurbished many times. Some fittings very tired. Cabin ok and nice balcony, although unable to control the air con so the cabin could get cold at times Decent food and entertainment for the price paid. Some customers could get very noisy after a long day utilising the 'all inclusive' drinks and there were a couple of scuffles between passengers. Staff seem to accept these events as normal and took no action. Good itinerary for the one week Adriatic Cruise but spoiled by missing one of the main destinations being Sicily. TUI advised that 'due to customer feedback' the ship would stop an extra 2 hours in Dubrovnik (ie from 7.5 hours to 9.5 hours) then have a 2nd day at sea (on a 7 day cruise!). Nobody that we spoke to on the cruise would have preferred that option and many were angry at the change, which was only advised on the transfer to the ship. The weather was good and the sea calm so there were no operational reasons for missing one of the main destinations on this cruise. TUI gave each passenger a pathetic £25 to spend on the ship in compensation for the loss of 1/6 of the destinations. There seems to be no reason other than TUI cost saving for missing Sicily. On return we sent a letter of complaint (completely ignored) and then email (acknowledged a month ago but no response). TUI's poor customer service continues. Read Less

Loyal Marella customers. This was our second cruise on this ship. It has definitely improved since our last voyage on her - you can tell that the team have settled in and the snagging issues from earlier this year have gone. The ship is being maintained nicely and the public areas are still very fresh. The only snag being that the air conditioning didn’t seem to cope very well when the ship was in port. Our cabin was one of the two Royal Suites on board and it was worth every penny. Very luxurious and comfortable. There always seemed to be some form of entertainment going on around the ship. We saw a few of the shows and also watched the comedians (note to the unaware - stay well away from the front few rows If you don’t want to be the butt of any jokes!). We preferred the pianists in Flutes and Aperitif over the more formal entertainment like the shows. As always with Marella, the thing that made it so good was the service that the staff offered. So many of the staff remember us from previous cruises - it was lovely. A special thanks to Simina the sommelier, the wine tasting she does on sea day is really good fun and informative. She looked after us for the rest of our cruise surprising us with nice wines. Dining was great. From the al a carte dining we went to Surf and Turf, Kora La and the Dining Club. All well worth a visit! The only downside with this particular cruise has to be Naples airport. Really really bad. Stressful. Made better by the fact that the TUI cabin crew warned us before we got off that it ‘runs on Italian time!’ That bit of good humour kept everything in perspective. We waited on the aircraft for 40 minutes on the tarmac before the busses came to take us to the airport. We were told by the screens to wait at luggage belt 5 and then an hour later were told to move to belt 1, and then it took another 30 minutes for luggage to arrive that then got stuck at the entrance to to belt and other passengers had to pull it through. It was also quite a walk to the coach transfer in the heat so if you do have anyone in your party with a disability make sure you ask for assistance. The return experience was just as shambolic with no where to sit while you wait (think people actually arguing over seats!!!), so again if you struggle I would be requesting a wheel chair. Read Less

Having sailed with thomson/marella for more than 15 years we found the shows very poor compared to the other marella ships eg discovery/dream etc all ships in the fleet apart from explorer 1 &2 the only pasengers who thought the shows were good were first time cruisers so had nothing to compare. I spoke to a lady recently who had been on marella dream who stated the shows were fantastic.Ship very nice staff fantastic. so come on marella stick to the entertainment we have come to love and expect We also found the information for going ashore inderpendently very poor no maps available. We have only cruised with one other cruise line but the entertainment did match marella cabin lovely all staff great very friendly but always professional food good but not always hot in the market place. ports of call lovely. excursion in venice disappointing we paid to get back to ship ourselves gondola ride rubbish but still will not stop us cruising with marella so please sort out the entertainment on explorer 1&2 Read Less

To start with the ship is not new. It has had a refit before joining the Marella cruise line. Tired, old, battered, broken but areas are clean, staff try really hard to make things look good. Cabins are again tired, it’s difficult to see were the refit took place, our balcony cabin had wood holding the glass balcony together, broken air conditioning, which either blasted cold freezing air all the time or nothing at all, battered ceiling tiles, if you could call them tiles. Waited days for repairs, toilet didn’t work for several days Poor communication, when the ship had noravirus, closed restaurants, no buffets, cancelled excursions because of noravirus, no compensation package. Poor communication with guests, lack of support. The whole cruise was a total disappointment, expected better, However the crew did everything they could but were restricted by having to ask more senior management. I really could not give a earring on this cruise. Read Less

To celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. Have Cruised before around UAE but the Greek island cruise all inclusive seemed ideal. We were looked after immediately we stepped aboard, went to our cabin 8229 aft of the ship and found it was very clean with sufficient space. The bathroom was good with an excellent shower. Every time we ventured through the Ship and returned to Cabin it had been cleaned and tidied as if by magic, the cabin crew were excellent as were rest of crew can't speak highly enough of them. The Dining was very good with plenty of choice and if you asked for something not on menu the staff would try to serve you with alternative. I must repeat the staff were excellent. The shows were very good it was obvious that entertainment team had spent many hours rehearsing. seating was very comfortable, the only negative of cruise is what happens on all cruises and thats passengers who think they own the sunbeds, however even this problem was addressed with the introduction of 45 minute rule, if beds were vacated for 45 mins then towels were removed a great idea that should be implemented on all ships and holiday resorts. Read Less

This was our first ever cruise as a couple of 26 year olds and my parents in law, who had been desperate to try a cruise, so we booked together and then personally followed our cruise with a trip to Sorrento. We have been truly converted and would love to cruise again, on explorer 2 again too. Wish we’d done a 2 week cruise!!! Best bits: - Food was really good and in such abundance! (Vista and the Dining Club were brilliant). - Crew were lively and generally super helpful and polite. - Drinks package is very good and although we upgraded to premium we needn’t have as there was such a large selection of drinks. - We always managed to get a sunbed, even on sea days and we certainly weren’t up at the crack of dawn- but they were enforcing rules for people leaving towels on beds which is good to see. - My mother and father in law had a cabin on lower decks and their service from Nui (their steward) was incredible. - Jack Glanville the guest comedian was the highlight of the week for the entertainment. - I loved using the gym, running track. - Fish and Chips from snack shack were a treat! - We did excursions to St Tropez, Rome and Florence but did the ‘on your own’ versions as didn’t fancy following an umbrella!! They were beautiful places, but hot and over crowded at this time of year- completely not Marella’s fault, but just a word of advice for other cruisers. Think we would organise tours independently next time as they were extremely long days and fellow cruisers said we could do them cheaper if we arranged taxi tours ourselves! Things to improve on: - Both main speciality restaurants (Kora La and Surf and Turf) were booked up by day 2 of our cruise which we were gutted about. They didn’t seem to care either, I did complain and say customers should be told they book up quickly and I would have booked day 1 of the cruise (even though this seems a bit sad to have to do as soon as stepping on the ship). It did mean we booked The Dining Club instead which in the end was superb, but my boyfriend really wanted to try Surf and Turf. - Our steward kept walking into our room without knocking, whilst we didn’t spend a lot of time in the room, it was a bit uncomfortable! He walked in without a moments knock or hesitation and my partner was quite frustrated by this when he walked in and I was in the shower and he just asked, ‘is someone in there?’ A little strange but I suppose they’re just used to people not being in the cabin, but may require some further training. We just ended up leaving the lock on the door or do not disturb in whenever we were in. - As others have mentioned, Naples airport was a nightmare, queues galore through passport control and a very long wait for bags, and long walk in the heat for the bus transfer. I hope they don’t only use Naples (although it’s good for Sorrento trips for us!) - Noise in our cabin kept me from sleeping one night due to a loud noise when the ship was rocking in the wind- I didn’t sleep till 5am. (Cabin 8128) - Spa is great, but an infinity pool it is not! (It is only deep enough to sit in!) - Gym needs air con!!!!! All in all, these are minor complaints for a superb cruise but things which if rectified would be amazing! Read Less

My first cruise with my partner.Was nervous and apprehensive at first but put at ease with the experience.Security in this day and age are very important and the security unit certainly lived up to expectations.The room “Jnr Suit””was unbelievable,spacious,clean and well turned out.Balcony included was an extra advantage and welcome.Food was absolutely beautiful and well presented.The restaurant personnel were well turned out smart and very helpful.The shows which I can understand are not to everyone’s taste but that’s a personal choice.Shows we liked were ‘Cogs’ and the Comedian.The drinks were plentiful.We went on two tours ‘Barcelona’and ‘Rome’which were amazing and interesting (a bit hot though)lol.The Crew were polite and nothing was to much trouble for them,always there to help.I think a lot of people don’t appreciate the crew under working in the guts of the ship.As I said in the beginning,this was my first Cruise and I was to say the least apprehensive but having said that would I cruise again......yes most definitely. Read Less