dronnygirl

We will be on Sky Princess in 4 weeks.  Could you please advise whether there is a kettle and tea facilities in deluxe balcony cabins?  Thank you

I think the best thing would be to check either with Marella direct or via a Tui travel agent

Not really essential but was one of the things that made cruising a little special. They are obviously following the lead of P&O and others.  

Loved sitting in bed and reading the Cruise News and planning the next day

On 4/13/2024 at 3:41 PM, ecnirp said:

Thanks for the replies, I will go ahead and see if I can book a balcony cabin, will take lots of warm clothes to wrap up so I can sit and read later in the evenings ! 

I am currently looking at a P&O Britannia Cruise from Southampton at the end of June, which has quite small balconys (no need for a stretch out sunbed!!!).

 

Best to take layers rather than just warm clothing. When we visited there was a heat wave and we spent 2 weeks in shorts and t.shirts. We were often round the pool for the sail aways and only needed a jumper later in the evening.  However, it can be cold and also rainy!

With regards to balcony cabin, it's lovely to get up early and sit out to watch the sail up the fjords. It's absolutely gorgeous 

1 hour ago, soggy1975 said:

Any idea how the tender ticket process works?

Do we just queue and 1st come 1st served on the day or is there a booking process in advance?

Defo looks like we'll be having an early start either way 

As mentioned above, there will be an announcement advising what time and where you can collect  tickets. If there are lots of excursions, you may have to wait quite a while as they have priority.  There is no booking in advance. Best to be ready early and take everything you need with you for going ashore as you will have to take the tender when they announce your ticket number. 

There are 4 ships arriving that day, luckily Marella is due at 7am so should be the first. It's a tender port so I would advise getting off the ship as early as possible.  Marella will announce the time tender tickets will be issued and once you have a ticket you have to wait in the theatre to be called. I'd advise to get there early.  You should then be able to get the cable car without too long a queue (best if you can be at the front).  There are buses to Oia, they take around half an hour. It's also best to be at Oia early as it gets very, very busy. The restaurants are very expensive. 

We pre arranged a hire car in Fira and drove to Oia, had an early lunch then drove around the island which was lovely. We got back to Fira but saw that the queue for coming down the cablecar was 90 mins so we had to walk down the donkey track - not pleasant as it's very slippy with squashed donkey poo - and it took us half an hour.

If you book an excursion you usually get priority on the tenders and the buses take you up a track rather than the cablecar.

Other alternative is tender to shore and you can get a boat trip to Oia from the dock, then come back to Fira by bus.   Enjoy your day whatever you decide to do

1 hour ago, Sheera07 said:

Ok thanks for the info , was just looking for out side space not near the pools .

If you are looking for outside space away from the pool to sunbathe, there are plenty of sunbeds on the veranda. It's much quieter and you can always get a sunbed 

14 hours ago, Brummijam said:

And as I recall no bar. 🥲 It’s an outside seating area for the market place buffet.

Nice for lunch outside and lovely for afternoon cakes and a cuppa!

Shame,  but at least we can pick up a copy if required. Many other cruise lines have stopped them altogether, everything is on line.  We like to keep our Cruise News for info

22 hours ago, gavman99 said:

Marella Fly Cruise in April/May 2025

Return flights from Edinburgh to Dubrovnik

7 nights round Adriatic sea so visiting Croatia/Slovenia

Inside cabin where we get to pick which one

Standard drinks/wifi/tips included (no upgrade to Premium Drinks)

No excursions

Cost for 2 people is about £2,900

 

If you had £2.9k to spend on a cruise, would you do it on Marella or can you get more/better for your money ? We've never cruised before so trying to get a feel of whats considered a good deal or not.

Hi gavman, if you are comparing cruises you need to take everything into account. For example flights,  amount of port days etc. It is not usual for excursions to be included but it's very easy to DIY the ports. WiFi isn't usually included but you can use it in the port buildings and cafes. You don't need to upgrade to the drinks package unless you like the branded spirits etc.  It's possible to not spend anything  if you don't want to, you can come back to the ship for lunch and go ashore again if you want to.  We've done many Marella cruises,  I'm sure you will enjoy it

Explorer 2 sails from Dubrovnik,  it's a beautiful area to visit. We really enjoyed it in September 

On 3/15/2024 at 5:11 PM, sarar said:

Does anyone have a rough idea of how much a taxi would cost from the cruise terminal in Stockholm to the ABBA museum.  I have looked at using public transport, but it looks to difficult considering my mobility problems?

Not sure about your mobility problem but check out Emilie Ferries. I understand the ferry is very near Stadsgarden where the ship docks and takes you to Djurgarden where the ABBA museum is situated 

20 hours ago, Jim The Scot said:

Not sure B

 

8025 which looking at the deck plan is about 7 from the stern I think…Short cruise so it wont really matter plus spend little time in cabin

Is this Explorer 2?  It looks like the front of the ship 

Hi Broomeboy,  as Jim said you will need to do a trip to Rome from the ship. There are various excursions but they usually do 'Rome on your own' so you can wander wherever you like for a few hours.  We went on the train but that's not for everyone .  We bought a pop-up map of Rome online and planned our route around Rome in advance so that we didn't waste time .  We got to see all the sights , a brilliant day out. Enjoy!

On Explorer 2 this sign is shown for double bed fixed against the wall on deck 8. Not sure if this is the case with Discovery 

The water dispenser on each floor is really good, always cold water available and a carafe in every cabin. 

Don't forget the weather can go either way, we were in Norway July 2018 and it was very hot the whole time.  Shorts and t.shirts all the time.   Best to take layers to cover any type of weather

5 hours ago, 2BACRUISER said:

Can you get decaff coffee in the MDR at breakfast time?  DH has switched to decaff and the results have literally been life changing, I know they do the nescafe sachets on the cabin hospitality tray but wasn't so sure about mdr. Thanx in advance. 

Definitely can get decaffeinated in the MDR and the buffet

The bus into Chania is only 10-15 minutes.  You get off in the centre of Chania, cross over the road and you are in a lovely shopping centre. There are modern shops and there are also market lanes. You eventually get down to the beautiful port where there are lots of cafes and bars

Totally agree with all you said Jim.  We like to feel comfortable on holiday,  really don't fancy the new huge ships no matter how nice they are.

However, not sure where you live in Scotland but Ambassador are doing cruises from Dundee!  Reading about them they sound similar to Marella and have some good itineraries 

We also love Marella, had many fabulous cruises and visited so many places that we wouldn't have visited without Marella.  However, we are open to try different things and are booked on Princess this summer as we wanted to visit the Baltic. The price is similar to Marella for 2 weeks (drinks included) but we will have 4 sea days. We'll see how we go but I'm sure we will be back with Marella at some point.

51 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Yes you can, though be prepared to possibly wait a few minutes.  There should be two lines at the hostess stand; one if you have reservations and one without.

Many thanks for your help 

First time on Princess for many years,  can we just turn up at the MDR when we want to or do we have to book first?

In Flam there is  teepee type shop where you can purchase items made by the Sami people. Some lovely items but very expensive. All can be paid by credit card

Jamie, I think it's appalling what they have offered,  and you seem to be very reasonable about it. Obviously these things can happen but should be put right quickly and compensated accordingly. 

Good luck and please let us know how you go on.