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An in-depth evaluate of the Marella Explorer cruise ship from TUI – together with cabin critiques.
Lazing in a hammock on my balcony, watching the silky blue sea glide by. Dinner with the right view of the solar setting over the ocean. Unwinding in a sauna with enormous home windows, watching volcanic islands slip by as we sailed away from Santorini…
Just some fleeting recollections from an excellent week aboard the Marella Explorer – simply one of many most enjoyable holidays I’ve had in a very long time!
This was my first cruise with Marella Cruises. I’ve at all times been a fan of TUI so I used to be excited to see what their cruise firm may be like – they usually didn’t disappoint.
Relaxed | Inexpensive | Social
The vibe is simply what you’d anticipate from TUI: relaxed, enjoyable and social, with a giant give attention to leisure. It’s additionally very inexpensive – the cruise packages embrace flights and transfers and are all-inclusive as commonplace (together with drinks).
In contrast with extra luxurious cruise strains, the costs are fairly affordable – as are the non-obligatory add-ons like premium drinks, spa remedies and excursions. Marella Cruises affords glorious worth for cash together with nice service and an excellent cruising expertise.
I did the Aegean Shores itinerary: eight days cruising round Greece and Turkey, stopping at Corfu, Crete, Santorini, Kusadasi, Athens and Kefalonia.
Assume scorching, lazy days by the pool, hopping off the boat to discover picturesque Greek villages and Athens’ vibrant metropolis centre, coming again to chill off within the saltwater pool on the highest deck or to chill out within the beautiful spa.
If that seems like your thought of a dream vacation, learn on for a full, detailed evaluate of the Marella Explorer ship, with pictures and a balcony cabin evaluate.
DISCLAIMER: My journey was supported by Marella Cruises, however all phrases, pictures, and opinions on this evaluate are my very own and are unbiased.
Marella Explorer Assessment
Earlier than I crack on with my full evaluate, listed here are a couple of information concerning the Marella Explorer to introduce the ship:
- Visitor Capability: 1,924
- Variety of Crew: 909
- Size: 262.5m (861 toes)
- Beam (Width): 32.2m (105 toes)
- Tonnage: 76,998 GRT
- Variety of Decks: 13
The professionals of reserving a TUI bundle
The factor I favored greatest about my Marella Cruise was that it was a bundle vacation. This meant all the things was booked collectively: flights, transfers, port charges, the all-inclusive cruise – even ideas, that are included within the cruise charge. The worth you see marketed is the entire you pay – SO EASY!
I flew with TUI from Bournemouth to Corfu, the place Marella Cruises employees have been ready proper exterior baggage declare and once more exterior the exit to direct me to the switch. A coach took us to the cruise port, the place we have been met by one other TUI rep who defined the boarding course of. In the meantime, I left my suitcase on the bus and it was taken on to my cabin for me.
The entire expertise was tremendous clean – and I significantly cherished the welcome letter ready on the switch coach, which outlined a couple of key elements of what to anticipate. Good to your first time cruising.
Prime tip: be sure to add baggage tags or go away the airline baggage labels in your suitcases so they’re taken straight to your room for you onboard.
The bundle aspect actually paid off on the way in which house. My flight house was a type of hit by the loopy CrowdStrike/Microsoft IT outage – however as a result of it was a TUI flight, the cruise coordinated with the airport and saved us all onboard the ship for a couple of further hours till issues have been settled. A lot better ready within the ship’s A/C, having fun with a couple of extra free drinks, than hanging round exterior the airport in 38-degree warmth. Thanks, Marella!
Marella Explorer Cabin Opinions
There are 962 cabins onboard the Marella Explorer, together with a couple of put aside particularly for solo travellers. These are the completely different sorts of cabins accessible:
- Inside Cabin: 16m2. These are probably the most inexpensive cabins; they’re on the inside and don’t have any home windows.
- Outdoors Cabin: 17m2. These include a porthole or image window.
- Household Inside Cabin: 19m2. These cabins sleep as much as 5 and have a sliding door partition.
- Balcony Cabin: 17m2. Features a queen mattress and a settee mattress – plus a furnished personal balcony.
- Balcony Cabin (Massive Balcony): 16m2. Similar as above – with a barely larger balcony.
- Household Balcony Cabin with Suite Service*: 20m2. Features a double mattress, a settee mattress and a fold-down mattress (and some further perks).
- Balcony Junior Suite Cabin with Suite Service*: 22m2. Sleeps three with a queen mattress and a settee mattress.
- Govt Suite Cabin with Suite Service*: 49m2. Sleeps 4, with a settee mattress and a set queen-size mattress – plus a furnished balcony.
- Single Outdoors or Inside Cabin: these are precisely the identical because the common cabins, however have been put aside particularly for solo cruisers.
*Suite Service: cabins characteristic a espresso machine, slippers, a dressing robe, upgraded toiletries and a pillow menu. You additionally get one continental breakfast in mattress per individual per week, and a free urgent service for as much as three objects.
Balcony Cabin (Massive Balcony)
I stayed in one of many Massive Balcony Cabins on Deck 9. It was a surprisingly large room and was rather well designed to maximise the house, with a great deal of storage – together with house underneath the mattress for my suitcase.
The principle spotlight of the room is, after all, the balcony. These bigger balconies are nice in order for you numerous quiet chill time. They arrive with a small desk and chairs, a solar lounger, and a hammock: the right spot for lazing about watching the world go by!
There was loads of storage, together with two wardrobes and a tall cabinet with cabinets, drawer house, and a small protected. There’s additionally a mini fridge, a desk with drawers, and two bedside tables with drawers. Above the fridge, you get a kettle with tea and occasional provides topped up every day.
The en-suite toilet, whereas very compact, didn’t really feel too small. Ship bathe cubicles are normally fairly slim and the Marella is not any exception, in order that’s the one draw back. There have been cabinets, space for storing, and a big countertop across the sink – loads of room for the extreme quantities of toiletries I at all times appear to pack!
One factor to notice is that the mattress is extra like a foldaway mattress, so the mattress was fairly agency and wasn’t the comfiest on this planet. It wasn’t uncomfortable, both: simply OK.
The decor was easy and impartial: cream partitions, brown carpets, and many light-coloured wooden. If I’m being trustworthy, it felt a teensy bit uninteresting – however the view from the large balcony doorways greater than made up for it. The cabin was sensible, comfy and spacious – it didn’t have to be fancy (particularly since I used to be hardly in it!).
VIDEO: Click on right here to look at my cabin tour on Instagram
Actions and Amenities
There are SO many actions and amenities to get pleasure from onboard the Marella Explorer. Plus, there’s leisure on all through many of the day and evening, so that you’ll by no means discover time to be bored!
Swimming pools & Sunbathing Areas
Deck 11 is the pool deck: a reasonably large house with a great deal of solar loungers over two ranges, surrounding a fairly sized pool on the centre.
Though it’s formally one swimming pool, it’s extra like two smaller swimming pools subsequent to one another. They’re each fairly deep and have a roomy, ankle-deep shallow space operating across the edge so you may sit along with your legs within the water. They’re full of chilly saltwater – which was scrumptious within the 35°C+ Greek warmth!
Subsequent to the pool are three scorching tubs. These are raised up somewhat so that you get some privateness whilst you’re in them. It was too scorching for me to wish to use them most days, however could be nice when you have been cruising in a cooler local weather.
Be warned, the primary pool space get fairly busy, particularly on days if you’re at sea and within the afternoons (when individuals begin getting back from their shore excursions). I discovered mornings and late afternoons (after 5pm) to be one of the best instances for swimming.
There’s additionally loads of sunbathing house away from the pool – a number of of the decks had exterior house with sunloungers alongside the edges or rear (aft) of the ship. And up on the very high deck, Deck 14, you’ve got The Veranda: a peaceable, adults-only Solar Deck with plush padded solar loungers… PERFECT if you wish to get away from the crowded chaos of the pool.
Health club, Sports activities and Recreation Amenities
Sports activities and recreation amenities onboard are restricted (maybe as a result of the Marella Explorer is aimed in direction of adults quite than households). However there’s a wonderful fitness center, and some enjoyable sports activities choices (see the record under). Regardless of truly packing my fitness center gear for a change, I solely made it into the fitness center lengthy sufficient to take the above photograph – nevertheless it seemed good!
- Totally geared up fitness center with floor-to-ceiling home windows for a exercise with a view.
- Jogging monitor – a circuit round Deck 12 (go early, earlier than they put the deck chairs out as these get in the way in which). 11 laps = 1 mile.
- Sports activities Courtroom – for basketball or mini-football.
- Minigolf – a seven-hole placing course overlooking the ocean.
- Desk tennis – on the Household Deck on Deck 12.
Ocean Spa
Arms down my FAVOURITE a part of the Marella Explorer was the Ocean Spa. This can be a enormous spa space with two saunas, three steam rooms, heated rest beds, foot baths, an ice-bucket bathe, and extra.
The most effective half? The large sauna with floor-to-ceiling home windows searching to sea. This was particularly nice through the night, after we sailed away from port every day. There’s nothing fairly like enjoyable in a sauna while having fun with a front-row view of Greek islands gliding previous!
I assumed the worth of the spa was very affordable: I paid £99 for 7 days of limitless entry. The spa is open 8am-10pm so you may get quite a lot of use out of that! And you may get an excellent higher deal when booked with a remedy.
There’s a fantastic remedy menu with an enormous vary of magnificence and wellness choices. Once more, the costs have been surprisingly affordable, particularly when you guide one in all their particular affords. I handled myself to a foot bundle which included a scrub, masks, foot therapeutic massage and scalp therapeutic massage for £59. I additionally had a 75-minute scorching stone therapeutic massage which I HIGHLY advocate – good after an extended day exploring.
Different Amenities
Indigo On line casino – a small on line casino with slot machines and card tables, tucked behind Indigo Bar. I’m not a gambler, so I steered clear, nevertheless it seemed prefer it had a enjoyable ambiance.
Broad Road retailers – There’s a surprisingly giant vary of retailers onboard the Marella Explorer the place you may take advantage of duty-free procuring at sea. Anticipate purses, sun shades, jewelry, watches, and fragrance – in addition to a couple of high-street manufacturers. There’s additionally a small store promoting necessities like shampoo, good when you’ve forgotten one thing.
Cinema – I by no means watched a film right here, as I at all times watched the stay leisure through the night. It was a decent-sized cinema and there have been normally two showings a day, with a family-friendly possibility within the daytime (nice if it is advisable to get the youngsters out of the solar for a few hours).
Photograph Studio & Kiosks – There have been photographers at varied spots all through the ship able to snap your pic when you needed. However there’s additionally a studio on Deck 6 the place you may get an expert photoshoot. Not my cup of tea – however could be nice for a honeymoon. I did, nevertheless, pose for a photograph with Captain Alan – which ended up wanting like an engagement photograph! I cherished that TUI’s Navigate app used AI face recognition to mechanically discover any pictures of me – making it straightforward to view them.
Marella Explorer Leisure Assessment
Broadway Present Lounge: A full-sized theatre with a unique manufacturing each evening – from musicals to comedians. The reveals and performers have been unbelievable – I used to be blown away by the 2 I watched. Be sure you catch Full Swing if it’s on throughout your cruise – pure Thirties fabulousness.
Films by Moonlight: Alfresco movies on the pool deck after darkish, with scorching chocolate and popcorn readily available. Good in order for you a extra chilled night.
Dwell Music: There have been additionally stay musicians at a number of venues throughout the ship every evening. Once more, these performers are so proficient – and there’s a implausible combine to go well with all tastes. The Lounge and Indigo Bar are one of the best locations to move for this.
Pub Enjoyable: After darkish, there have been additionally recreation reveals and pub quizzes on the onboard pub, the Squid and Anchor. These have been simply the proper mix of difficult and holiday-park-cheesy enjoyable – I had a blast dropping spectacularly on the quiz evening!
Different Leisure: Through the day, there was common poolside leisure (suppose trivia video games, aqua aerobics and pool events). In reality, it was so frequent it was nearly somewhat annoying – however many of the different visitors appeared to adore it so it’s attainable I’m only a grump!!
Marella Explorer Meals Assessment
Relating to eating on the Marella Explorer, you’re spoilt for alternative. There are tons of various choices and most of them are included in your all-inclusive bundle – together with some that you just would possibly anticipate to pay further for.
All-Inclusive Eating places
Latitude 53: the primary eating room
That is the primary eating room on the Marella Explorer, unfold throughout two flooring on the again (aft) of the ship with wonderful ocean views from the floor-to-ceiling home windows. That is significantly particular round sundown!
The costume code is sensible, however not like different cruise strains, it’s not overly strict – suppose shirts, attire, and no flip-flops.
Service was glorious, and the home wines (these included with the all-inclusive) have been all nice. The meals was normally fairly good, though I’ve to admit that a few of the mains have been a tiny bit bland – I feel they’re going for mass enchantment quite than daring flavours. Nonetheless, I actually by no means had a nasty meal on this restaurant and I cherished the vibe.
Vista: Italian delicacies
Vista is definitely a piece throughout the Latitude 53 eating room – so that you get the identical decor and lovely sea views. However the menu focuses on Italian delicacies, so it’s nice when you fancy one thing somewhat completely different.
I discovered the meals at Vista to be higher than in Latitude 53 – though that will merely be my private desire. Don’t miss the trio of mini tiramisus for dessert if it’s on the menu!
The Market Place: buffet restaurant
A reasonably bog-standard cruise ship buffet – open all day for breakfast, lunch, “afternoon tea” (truffles and snacks) and dinner. Supreme when you want one thing fast & straightforward or don’t fancy dressing for dinner (the costume code is informal).
I wasn’t blown away by the meals right here, nevertheless it was respectable and there was a fantastic choice, particularly at breakfast. I cherished the contemporary omelette station!
Snack Shack: poolside takeaway
Up on the pool deck, there’s a small takeaway joint serving up scorching snacks like scorching canine, burgers and hen wings. It’s nice for an off-the-cuff lunch when you don’t really feel like altering out of your swimwear – and the meals is all contemporary, scorching, and really tasty!
The Mediterranean: Pizza, pasta and tapas
Behind the buffet restaurant, on the aft of the ship, is The Meditteranean – with seating each inside and outside. One half is Spanish tapas, the opposite half is Italian pizza and pasta.
Dinner is a la carte, with both tapas or Italian meals relying on which part you head to. You may also pay an additional complement for “espetadas” (Portuguese-style meat skewers. Through the day, The Mediterranean additionally serves self-service lunches – and there’s a implausible bar with some distinctive cocktails.
Speciality Eating places (further charge)
Along with all of the eating places talked about above, there are additionally 4 speciality eating places. These aren’t included within the all-inclusive bundle so it’s important to pay somewhat further to dine in a single – and it’s extremely really useful to guide upfront as they are often massively in style.
I discovered these eating places to be extremely moderately priced contemplating how particular the meals is. For instance, Surf & Turf prices £31.95pp for 3 programs (and home wine by the glass continues to be all-inclusive) whereas Kora La is £26.95pp.
Surf & Turf Steakhouse: Steak and seafood. That is the one one of many speciality eating places I personally ate in, and it was undoubtedly one of the best meal I had onboard so I’d extremely advocate it. Good for a special day, date evening, or simply an indulgent deal with.
Kora La: Pan-Asian delicacies spanning noodle dishes, curries, and extra.
Umi Sushi: An upscale sushi bar close to the again of the ship, serving conventional sushi and non-fish choices.
The Eating Membership: Tremendous high-end effective eating for one thing actually particular.
Scoops – A small ice cream parlour on the pool deck – good on a scorching day! One scoop prices £1.50 they usually’re beneficiant scoops, so once more, it’s very inexpensive.
The Espresso Port – The onboard espresso store is included within the Premium Drinks Bundle or you may pay as you go. You will get free tea and occasional within the eating places and buffet – however for speciality coffees (latte and so on) you want the Espresso Port. Additionally they do some very tasty truffles and pastries.
Marella Explorer Bars
A fast run-down of all of the bars onboard the Marella Explorer – there are 9 to select from!
- The Lounge – a cool venue with every day stay music, a colour-changing bar, scorching pink piano, and cool-looking ring seats.
- 53 – intimate bar space proper subsequent to Latitude 53. Supreme for pre-dinner drinks.
- Pool Bar – poolside drinks, together with frozen cocktails.
- The Shack – vibrant poolside bar proper above the Snack Shack.
- Bar @ The Mediterranean – wrapped across the Mediterranean restaurant with beautiful sea views from the outside terrace.
- Indigo Bar – the place to return for fancy cocktails – together with margaritas served in a field of smoke. Chilled within the day, with panoramic sea views, and vibing after darkish with stay music and late-night discos on the membership (see under).
- Indigo Membership – a small nightclub behind Indigo Bar, with common silent discos!
- Aperitif – this fancy bar is correct exterior two of the most well-liked speciality eating places, so it’s nice for pre-dinner drinks.
- Squid & Anchor – Marella’s beloved pub at sea hosts quiz nights, gameshows and stay music.
Marella Explorer Shore Excursions Assessment
Throughout my Aegean Shores cruise with Marella, I did two of their shore excursions: a wine-tasting and sightseeing tour in Crete, and a ship experience and volcano tour in Santorini (click on right here to look at a video of that one).
I discovered all of the excursions to be very moderately priced. Lots of the full-day actions have been across the £30-40 mark, and a few of the extra fundamental ones have been £12-20. I additionally favored that there was no pushy gross sales rhetoric attempting to persuade me to guide excursions – when you desire to remain on the ship, or discover by yourself, it’s fully as much as you.
Each the excursions I did have been rather well organised. The day earlier than, I acquired a ticket in my cabin with the assembly place and time. On arrival, employees have been readily available to ship me to the related bus or boat.
We had skilled native guides for each who have been in a position to share a little bit of native historical past and – within the case of Santorini’s volcano – geography.
Particularly, I’d extremely advocate the Santorini Volcano tour. This concerned a ship experience in a wood tall ship throughout to the volcanic island, a brief hike up for a view of the caldera, and a fast pit cease to swim within the close by scorching springs. It was a implausible day trip and felt like a mini journey!
Prime tip: A bonus of reserving an tour is that the ship will watch for any delayed excursions. If you happen to’re exploring by yourself and also you’re late again for any motive, the ship will sail with out you!
Marella Explorer Amenities for Households
Clearly, as a solo traveller, I didn’t want to make use of the Marella Explorer’s household amenities – however I took notice of what was accessible!
Though there have been numerous households onboard, I’d say the Explorer was undoubtedly focused extra in direction of adults.
The Marella Discovery and Marella Discovery 2 have far more on provide for households – together with a climbing wall – in order that they may be price a glance when you’re travelling with youngsters. That stated, there was nonetheless lots onboard the Explorer for households:
- Babytainment courses – for teenagers underneath 3 (with parental supervision).
- M Membership – a youngsters’ membership for ages 3-11 with a variety of acitivies.
- Cinema – there have been fairly a couple of child’s movies exhibiting whereas I used to be on my cruise, normally through the day. Plus Films by Moonlight on the pool deck, with popcorn and scorching chocolate from the bar.
- Child’s Pool – there’s a small, shallow child’s pool with a mini slide on the rear (aft) of the ship. At any time when I walked previous it was at all times a lot quieter than the primary pool and there are a number of solar loungers and tables on the close by deck.
- Household deck – the place you’ll discover the mini golf and sports activities court docket.
Good to Know: The swimming pools on the Marella Explorer are fairly deep, however they do have ankle-deep shallow areas across the edges. If in case you have small youngsters I like to recommend bringing floatation units and supervising them within the pool.
Is the Marella Explorer Good for Solo Cruisers?
Though I’m a seasoned solo traveller, this was my first time taking a cruise alone. I wasn’t positive what to anticipate – and I used to be somewhat apprehensive, particularly as I’d heard about travellers on different cruise strains being pressured to sit down at a communal eating desk each evening whether or not they needed to or not.
However Marella Cruises does a fantastic job at taking care of solo travellers. On arrival, I had a particular solo cruiser welcome letter in my cabin, inviting me to a particular lunch meet-up on the primary full day.
After that, there was a meetup each night earlier than dinner – and anybody who needed to might go for dinner collectively afterwards. So that you didn’t should dine alone (however you may when you needed to). I ended up eating with the solo group each evening besides one, once I took myself for a solo “date evening” to the upgraded Surf & Turf restaurant.
In fact, the group of solo travellers onboard will at all times be a blended bag. On my cruise, it was principally girls, and I used to be the youngest by about twenty years (everybody else was 60+). However we nonetheless had a good time and I cherished attending to know the group over the course of the week.
On high of that, there have been a great deal of different methods to satisfy fellow cruisers by means of the every day actions and excursions. I’ll be doing a separate write-up of the entire expertise as a solo traveller, so keep tuned for that.
READ MORE: 7 Causes to Take a Cruise on Your Personal
Extra Data and FAQ
Is there WiFi on the Marella Explorer?
Sadly, there’s no free WiFi onboard the Marella Explorer. You should buy an web bundle when you get on board – these begin from £8 for an hour and go as much as £90 for 15 days. For a one-week cruise, the £49 8-day 1.6GB bundle might be probably the most cost-effective.
In my expertise, the WiFi was fairly respectable. The sign wasn’t at all times tremendous sturdy, particularly at sea, nevertheless it was surprisingly good more often than not. I used to be in a position to publish Instagram Tales (together with movies) all through the journey, stream podcasts/music, and carry on high of my emails – however I by no means tried it for streaming movies or downloading giant information.
Prime Tip: If you happen to desire to not pay, you may normally discover free WiFi at bars and occasional retailers whilst you’re in port – useful for saying in contact with individuals at house.
What’s lined in Marella’s All-Inclusive bundle?
OK – that is the wonderful thing about Marella Cruises. All their ships are All-inclusive as commonplace, which incorporates all of the eating places I listed above.
Not like many cruise strains, which promote separate drinks packages (some costing £100 a day!!) the all-inclusive bundle covers an enormous variety of mushy and alcoholic drinks as commonplace. This contains wine, beer, some spirits, and a surprisingly respectable cocktail record (these fluctuate from bar to bar). It’s at all times tremendous clear when a drink isn’t included and the waiter or bartender will let you know if one thing incurs an additional cost.
- Meals
- Drinks – fountain mushy drinks (unbranded), mocktails, and fundamental teas and coffees.
- Alcoholic drinks
- All crew ideas
I’ve included some instance menus under to indicate how lots of the cocktails are included within the all-inclusive. As you may see, the premium drinks aren’t too dear both:
Is it price upgrading to the Premium All-Inclusive Bundle?
Actually, I’m not likely positive it’s. The Premium All-Inclusive bundle contains nearly all of the drinks onboard (see under), together with speciality coffees on the Espresso Port. However I assumed the usual wines and beers have been nice, and there was a fantastic vary of cocktails included. So you actually don’t must improve except you need the additional freedom and selection.
- Most drinks from The Espresso Port
- Cans of sentimental drinks (model title ones)
- Upgraded wine record
- Upgraded cocktails record
- Premium spirits like Bombay Sapphire, Jack Daniels and Absolut Vodka.
- Extra alternative of whiskies, brandies and Cognacs.
Remaining Ideas
To sum up, I LOVED my week aboard the Marella Explorer. This ship is on the extra inexpensive, much less luxurious, finish of the dimensions – nevertheless it’s comfy, well-equipped, and full of amenities. These are, in my view, the primary promoting factors:
Relaxed
Pleasant however unfussy service, chilled-out vibes, a great deal of house for sunbathing, loads of bars, an AMAZING spa, and pretty relaxed costume codes within the eating areas (in contrast with a few of the high-end cruise strains).
Social
A great deal of actions all through the day, meet-ups for solo travellers, and loads of methods to satisfy individuals.
Inexpensive
Good bundle offers, tons of drinks and eating choices lined within the all-inclusive bundle, affordable costs for the speciality eating places and the spa, and really moderately priced excursions. However all of the extras are non-obligatory and certainly not essential to have time – so you may simply spend per week aboard with out spending a penny greater than your cruise charge.
The factor I like greatest about Marella Cruises is that they let you’ve got precisely the sort of cruise you need. Not one of the actions felt “pressured” or obligatory. If you happen to needed to lounge by the pool all day ingesting cocktails, that was completely allowed. However when you needed to fill your days with aqua aerobics and trivia quizzes, there was at all times one thing taking place. There actually is one thing for everybody onboard.
So, there’s my evaluate of the Marella Explorer. Hopefully, I’ve lined just about all the things you may presumably wish to know concerning the ship, however be happy to remark under you probably have a query!
