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An in-depth assessment of the Marella Explorer cruise ship from TUI – together with cabin opinions.
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…
Only a few fleeting recollections from a wonderful 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 | Reasonably priced | Social
The vibe is simply what you’d count on from TUI: relaxed, enjoyable and social, with an enormous deal with leisure. It’s additionally very reasonably priced – the cruise packages embrace flights and transfers and are all-inclusive as normal (together with drinks).
In contrast with extra luxurious cruise strains, the costs are fairly cheap – as are the optionally available add-ons like premium drinks, spa remedies and excursions. Marella Cruises presents glorious worth for cash together with nice service and a superb 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 sizzling, 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 loosen up within the attractive spa.
If that appears like your concept of a dream vacation, learn on for a full, detailed assessment of the Marella Explorer ship, with pictures and a balcony cabin assessment.
DISCLAIMER: My journey was supported by Marella Cruises, however all phrases, pictures, and opinions on this assessment are my very own and are unbiased.
Marella Explorer Overview
Earlier than I crack on with my full assessment, listed here are just a few information in regards to 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 package deal
The factor I favored greatest about my Marella Cruise was that it was a package deal 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 payment. The value you see marketed is the full you pay – SO EASY!
I flew with TUI from Bournemouth to Corfu, the place Marella Cruises employees had 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 had 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 easy – and I notably cherished the welcome letter ready on the switch coach, which outlined just a few key elements of what to anticipate. Excellent on your first time cruising.
Prime tip: ensure you add baggage tags or depart the airline baggage labels in your suitcases so they’re taken straight to your room for you onboard.
The package deal aspect actually paid off on the way in which residence. My flight residence was a kind 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 just a few additional hours till issues had been settled. Significantly better ready within the ship’s A/C, having fun with just a few extra free drinks, than hanging round exterior the airport in 38-degree warmth. Thanks, Marella!
Marella Explorer Cabin Critiques
There are 962 cabins onboard the Marella Explorer, together with just a few put aside particularly for solo travellers. These are the totally different sorts of cabins obtainable:
- Inside Cabin: 16m2. These are essentially the most reasonably priced cabins; they’re on the inside and haven’t 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 non-public balcony.
- Balcony Cabin (Giant Balcony): 16m2. Similar as above – with a barely greater 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 hard and fast 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 particular person per week, and a free urgent service for as much as three objects.
Balcony Cabin (Giant Balcony)
I stayed in one of many Giant Balcony Cabins on Deck 9. It was a surprisingly huge room and was very well designed to maximise the area, with a great deal of storage – together with area beneath the mattress for my suitcase.
The principle spotlight of the room is, in fact, the balcony. These bigger balconies are nice in order for you plenty of 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 area, and a small secure. 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 each day.
The en-suite lavatory, 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 the planet. It wasn’t uncomfortable, both: simply OK.
The decor was easy and impartial: cream partitions, brown carpets, and plenty of light-coloured wooden. If I’m being sincere, it felt a teensy bit uninteresting – however the view from the massive 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 services to get pleasure from onboard the Marella Explorer. Plus, there’s leisure on all through a lot 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 area 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 working across the edge so you’ll be able to sit together 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 sizzling tubs. These are raised up a bit of so that you get some privateness whilst you’re in them. It was too sizzling for me to wish to use them most days, however can be nice in case you had been cruising in a cooler local weather.
Be warned, the principle pool space get fairly busy, particularly on days if you’re at sea and within the afternoons (when folks begin getting back from their shore excursions). I discovered mornings and late afternoons (after 5pm) to be the most effective occasions for swimming.
There’s additionally loads of sunbathing area away from the pool – a number of of the decks had exterior area with sunloungers alongside the edges or rear (aft) of the ship. And up on the very high deck, Deck 14, you’ve 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.
Fitness center, Sports activities and Recreation Amenities
Sports activities and recreation services onboard are restricted (maybe as a result of the Marella Explorer is aimed in direction of adults somewhat than households). However there’s a wonderful health club, and some enjoyable sports activities choices (see the record under). Regardless of truly packing my health club gear for a change, I solely made it into the health club lengthy sufficient to take the above photograph – but it surely seemed good!
- Totally outfitted health club 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 Court docket – 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
Palms 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 perfect half? The large sauna with floor-to-ceiling home windows searching to sea. This was particularly nice in the course of 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 value of the spa was very cheap: I paid £99 for 7 days of limitless entry. The spa is open 8am-10pm so you may get lots of use out of that! And you may get a fair higher deal when booked with a remedy.
There’s an important remedy menu with an enormous vary of magnificence and wellness choices. Once more, the costs had been surprisingly cheap, particularly in case you ebook certainly one of their particular presents. I handled myself to a foot package deal which included a scrub, masks, foot therapeutic massage and scalp therapeutic massage for £59. I additionally had a 75-minute sizzling 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, but it surely seemed prefer it had a enjoyable ambiance.
Broad Road outlets – There’s a surprisingly giant vary of retailers onboard the Marella Explorer the place you’ll be able to take advantage of duty-free procuring at sea. Count on purses, sun shades, jewelry, watches, and fragrance – in addition to just a few high-street manufacturers. There’s additionally a small store promoting necessities like shampoo, good in case you’ve forgotten one thing.
Cinema – I by no means watched a film right here, as I at all times watched the stay leisure in the course of 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’s good to get the children out of the solar for a few hours).
Photograph Studio & Kiosks – There have been photographers at numerous spots all through the ship able to snap your pic in case you needed. However there’s additionally a studio on Deck 6 the place you may get knowledgeable photoshoot. Not my cup of tea – however can be nice for a honeymoon. I did, nonetheless, pose for a photograph with Captain Alan – which ended up trying like an engagement photograph! I cherished that TUI’s Navigate app used AI face recognition to robotically discover any pictures of me – making it simple to view them.
Marella Explorer Leisure Overview
Broadway Present Lounge: A full-sized theatre with a unique manufacturing each evening – from musicals to comedians. The exhibits and performers had been unimaginable – I used to be blown away by the 2 I watched. Be sure to catch Full Swing if it’s on throughout your cruise – pure Nineteen Thirties fabulousness.
Motion pictures by Moonlight: Alfresco movies on the pool deck after darkish, with sizzling chocolate and popcorn readily available. Excellent in order for you a extra chilled night.
Stay Music: There have been additionally stay musicians at a number of venues throughout the ship every evening. Once more, these performers are so gifted – and there’s a implausible combine to go well with all tastes. The Lounge and Indigo Bar are the most effective locations to move for this.
Pub Enjoyable: After darkish, there have been additionally sport exhibits and pub quizzes on the onboard pub, the Squid and Anchor. These had been simply the precise 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 (assume trivia video games, aqua aerobics and pool events). In actual fact, it was so frequent it was virtually a bit of annoying – however a lot of the different friends appeared to adore it so it’s potential I’m only a grump!!
Marella Explorer Meals Overview
In relation to eating on the Marella Explorer, you’re spoilt for selection. There are tons of various choices and most of them are included in your all-inclusive package deal – together with some that you simply may count on to pay additional for.
All-Inclusive Eating places
Latitude 53: the principle eating room
That is the principle eating room on the Marella Explorer, unfold throughout two flooring on the again (aft) of the ship with superb ocean views from the floor-to-ceiling home windows. That is notably particular round sundown!
The gown code is wise, however in contrast to different cruise strains, it’s not overly strict – assume shirts, attire, and no flip-flops.
Service was glorious, and the home wines (these included with the all-inclusive) had been all nice. The meals was normally fairly good, though I’ve to admit that a few of the mains had been a tiny bit bland – I feel they’re going for mass enchantment somewhat than daring flavours. Nonetheless, I definitely by no means had a nasty meal on this restaurant and I cherished the vibe.
Vista: Italian delicacies
Vista is definitely a bit 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 in case you fancy one thing a bit of totally 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” (muffins and snacks) and dinner. Excellent in case you want one thing fast & simple or don’t fancy dressing for dinner (the gown code is informal).
I wasn’t blown away by the meals right here, but it surely was first rate and there was an important 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 sizzling snacks like sizzling canines, burgers and hen wings. It’s nice for an off-the-cuff lunch in case you don’t really feel like altering out of your swimwear – and the meals is all contemporary, sizzling, 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 open air. 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 can too 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 payment)
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 package deal so you need to pay a bit of additional to dine in a single – and it’s extremely really useful to ebook prematurely as they are often vastly fashionable.
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 remains 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 the most effective meal I had onboard so I’d extremely advocate it. Excellent 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 tremendous eating for one thing really particular.
Scoops – A small ice cream parlour on the pool deck – good on a sizzling day! One scoop prices £1.50 they usually’re beneficiant scoops, so once more, it’s very reasonably priced.
The Espresso Port – The onboard espresso store is included within the Premium Drinks Package deal or you’ll be able to pay as you go. You may get free tea and occasional within the eating places and buffet – however for speciality coffees (latte and so forth) you want the Espresso Port. Additionally they do some very tasty muffins 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 each day stay music, a colour-changing bar, sizzling pink piano, and cool-looking ring seats.
- 53 – intimate bar space proper subsequent to Latitude 53. Excellent 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 attractive sea views from the outside terrace.
- Indigo Bar – the place to come back 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 true exterior two of the preferred 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 Overview
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 journey 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. Most of the full-day actions had been across the £30-40 mark, and a few of the extra primary ones had been £12-20. I additionally favored that there was no pushy gross sales rhetoric attempting to persuade me to ebook excursions – in case you want to remain on the ship, or discover by yourself, it’s utterly as much as you.
Each the excursions I did had been very well organised. The day earlier than, I obtained a ticket in my cabin with the assembly place and time. On arrival, employees had been readily available to ship me to the related bus or boat.
We had skilled native guides for each who had been in a position to share a little bit of native historical past and – within the case of Santorini’s volcano – geography.
Specifically, I’d extremely advocate the Santorini Volcano tour. This concerned a ship journey 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 sizzling 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 look forward to any delayed excursions. When you’re exploring by yourself and also you’re late again for any cause, 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 services – however I took notice of what was obtainable!
Though there have been plenty of 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 supply for households – together with a climbing wall – so that they may be price a glance in case you’re travelling with children. That mentioned, there was nonetheless a lot onboard the Explorer for households:
- Babytainment courses – for teenagers beneath 3 (with parental supervision).
- M Membership – a children’ membership for ages 3-11 with a spread of acitivies.
- Cinema – there have been fairly just a few child’s movies displaying whereas I used to be on my cruise, normally in the course of the day. Plus Motion pictures by Moonlight on the pool deck, with popcorn and sizzling 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. Every time I walked previous it was at all times a lot quieter than the principle 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. In case you have small children I like to recommend bringing floatation gadgets 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 by myself. I wasn’t certain what to anticipate – and I used to be a bit of 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 an important 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 may go for dinner collectively afterwards. So that you didn’t must dine alone (however you may in case 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 combined bag. On my cruise, it was principally ladies, and I used to be the youngest by about 20 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 the each 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 purchase an web package deal 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 package deal might be essentially the most cost-effective.
In my expertise, the WiFi was fairly first rate. The sign wasn’t at all times tremendous sturdy, particularly at sea, but it surely 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 recordsdata.
Prime Tip: When you want to not pay, you’ll be able to normally discover free WiFi at bars and occasional outlets whilst you’re in port – useful for saying in contact with folks at residence.
What’s coated in Marella’s All-Inclusive package deal?
OK – that is the wonderful thing about Marella Cruises. All their ships are All-inclusive as normal, 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 package deal covers an enormous variety of comfortable and alcoholic drinks as normal. This consists of wine, beer, some spirits, and a surprisingly first rate cocktail record (these range from bar to bar). It’s at all times tremendous clear when a drink isn’t included and the waiter or bartender will inform you if one thing incurs an additional cost.
- Meals
- Drinks – fountain comfortable drinks (unbranded), mocktails, and primary teas and coffees.
- Alcoholic drinks
- All crew ideas
I’ve included some instance menus under to indicate how most of the cocktails are included within the all-inclusive. As you’ll be able to see, the premium drinks aren’t too dear both:
Is it price upgrading to the Premium All-Inclusive Package deal?
Actually, I’m probably not certain it’s. The Premium All-Inclusive package deal consists of virtually all of the drinks onboard (see under), together with speciality coffees on the Espresso Port. However I assumed the usual wines and beers had been nice, and there was an important vary of cocktails included. So you actually don’t have to improve except you need the additional freedom and selection.
- Most drinks from The Espresso Port
- Cans of soppy drinks (model title ones)
- Upgraded wine record
- Upgraded cocktails record
- Premium spirits like Bombay Sapphire, Jack Daniels and Absolut Vodka.
- Extra selection of whiskies, brandies and Cognacs.
Ultimate Ideas
To sum up, I LOVED my week aboard the Marella Explorer. This ship is on the extra reasonably priced, much less luxurious, finish of the size – but it surely’s comfy, well-equipped, and full of services. These are, in my view, the principle promoting factors:
Relaxed
Pleasant however unfussy service, chilled-out vibes, a great deal of area for sunbathing, loads of bars, an AMAZING spa, and pretty relaxed gown 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 folks.
Reasonably priced
Good package deal offers, tons of drinks and eating choices coated within the all-inclusive package deal, cheap costs for the speciality eating places and the spa, and really moderately priced excursions. However all of the extras are optionally available and on no account essential to have time – so you may simply spend per week aboard with out spending a penny greater than your cruise payment.
The factor I like greatest about Marella Cruises is that they let you’ve precisely the type of cruise you need. Not one of the actions felt “pressured” or necessary. When you needed to lounge by the pool all day ingesting cocktails, that was completely allowed. However in case you needed to fill your days with aqua aerobics and trivia quizzes, there was at all times one thing occurring. There actually is one thing for everybody onboard.
So, there’s my assessment of the Marella Explorer. Hopefully, I’ve coated just about all the things you may presumably wish to know in regards to the ship, however be at liberty to remark under if in case you have a query!