The first thing to note is that whilst this ship is new to Marella it was built in 1994 and in places despite a refit is showing its age. You will need to travel on TUIs German Mein Schiff 1 & 2 if you want brand new ships! It is also a shame the all inclusive bit doesn't start when you step on the very old Boeing 757 plane but then i suppose prices would be higher.
We booked a cabin with a ...
Booked under no illusion this would be like a Celebrity, Princess Cruise ect for the money paid, and that it was also an old shop which had been renovated rather than brand new. Overall impression public areas were clean and modern although there was a few snagging issues but this is to be expected and didn’t distract from our enjoyment while onboard.
Food in the main dining room was really ...
This is only our fourth cruise and we wanted a cruise that visited interesting places in the Mediterranean and was only a short flight from home. Mornings and evenings were cool but temperatures in the day around the low 20 degrees C and we had one rainy morning. We flew from East Midlands to Palma and although check-in was slow arrangements went smoothly until check-in at the cruise terminal ...
We have sailed previously with Marella and overall been very happy with the product. Note... this is not a new ship. She is 25 years old and while she has been refurbished (some public areas are beautiful) there are some expected signs of the ships genuine age. Marella and TUI have been very upfront about the ships age, however some travel agents will say what they need to say to get the booking ...
We have been with Mariella (Thomson) several times including Baltic capitals this last August on Discovery -which encouraged us to go again with this company. As we wanted to avoid the Bay of Biscay and have limited mobility, we opted to fly cruise via Majorca.
We are less mobile than we used to be and assistance was booked but this seemed to exclude TUI staff. Help was needed with luggage not ...
We went on the 2nd sailing of Explorer 2. Collection at the airport went smoothly, we were given some information to read on the coach. The check in at the port was quick and easy. Was slightly disappointed that we were not given a map of the ship but there were screens and pictures around the ship that you could look to find your way around. The ship isn't perfect despite the recent refurb but ...
We booked this cruise based on the ship having been refitted, adults only and all inclusive. However, it was very difficult to see where any major investment had been made. The ship looked dated and tired in places. We had opted for a Junior Suite which was allocated on deck 12, and although the cabin was a reasonable size with a decent balcony, it was far from a premium product. The fixtures and ...
At the time we booked the cruise because we thought we were going on a brand new luxury ship. Wrong. It is an old ship which has been refurbed once before. Some of the public rooms had had a make over and seeing them for the first time raised expectations about the cabins. But looking around you realised many of the carpets had not been replaced in the upgrading. Unfortunately the cabins were ...
This was our first cruise, and was a disappointment for several reasons.
When we booked, we were sold the "newest" ship in the fleet, we later discovered it had undergone a 9 week refurbishment. My local pub was recently refurbished, and it took 4 times that.
We had 3 "Code Victoria's" meaning that that a serious flood had occurred requiring intimidate attention. We later discovered that ...
It was an anniversary cruise and we have sailed with TUI before and the Explorer 2 was supposed to have been refitted for this maiden voyage. We were given our cabin number at the airport and told our luggage would be taken straight to the ship, this however was not the case, we were then told by the TUI rep on arrival we would have to get our cases ourselves. (For us not a big problem ) . ...