Kalynan

We had the same experience 10 days ago when we boarded Discovery....

Show Lounge for video, then to muster point on outside deck to get card scanned.

Glasgow flight out last week was 2 hours late taking off !!!!

Also on the way home on Tuesday this week was another hour-ish before leaving Palma !!!

Everything else about the cruise was quite good, just flights a bit of disappointment due to the delays.

We cruised out of Tampa back in 2017 on NCL Jade to the Caribbean and had an Avis hire car for about 5 or 6 days pre-cruise.

We picked the car up at the airport when we arrived and returned the car to an Avis depot at Embassy Suites Dwnt, 513 South Florida Avenue, Tampa 33602 which is very close to the cruise terminal.

We asked the Avis guy if he could drop us off at the terminal (which he did) and I gave him a 20 dollar tip !!

Think it would be easy to get an Uber or taxi from the Avis depot if necessary. 

In my experience during the period when there were requirements to complete PLFs for entry into various countries & returning to the UK, the wifi cover on-board was very, very terrible.  So much so, that huge queues developed at the Guest Services / Reception desks with numerous passengers becoming really irate at the staff.

I wouldn't waste money on wifi at sea, on any ship, but then again I'm not too much into web stuff or social media when I'm on a cruise.

We do our luggage tags at home, pre-flight.  We do them with plenty of staples and then sellotape to be doubly sure they didn't become detached.  Works fine !!!

John Prescott = 2 jags (injections)

Update on our Covid experience - we have all fully recovered now and no-one is testing positive.

Last of our party to test positive was yesterday and that was day 13 after first positive result.

Cheers, we're all on way to recovery.  

I'm in front and now testing negative !

Forgot to add, the only other thing we brought back on the flight was Covid !

Well we think we got it on the flight rather than the cruise as we tested several times after our return on the Thursday - all negative and then the first of our party of 4 (me) to test positive wasn't until 3 days later on the Sunday.  

After myself, all 3 others tested positive in the next few days.  All have had only minor symptoms and now getting well on the way back to normality, thank goodness !! 

We were there a few weeks back and we had to collect the luggage from the carousel at Dubrovnik and take through security to the waiting buses outside.  The luggage was loaded into a box-type van and then transported to the ship to be delivered to our cabins while we were transported by bus to the port terminal to compete all the admin.

Interestingly on the return flight the luggage was 'bonded' all the way from outside our cabin door the evening before our flight, to the carousel back in the UK (Glasgow for us) without us having to lug it around.  Only stuff we took through the airport security and onto the flight was our carry-on bags.  

To be fair, this was reasonably well organised both outbound and inbound.

Pool towels (blue) were provided recently on Ex2.

To change them over, just leave them on the floor in the shower with your other bathroom towels that need to be replaced.

Hi Jim, apparently on our sailing there was around 1400-ish passengers (information sourced from a girl in the Spa who did nails for my sister-in-law) which is around 75% - 80% capacity.

Definitely would have needed more staff if we had been at full capacity !!

Hope things are better on your Discovery cruise !!

We just finished the Sail 3 Seas today which included Sicily and Italy as Destinations & they still require FFP2 masks on public transport including tour buses and some shops.

Marella say bring your own, however on our tours they were handing out masks at the tour buses when passengers were boarding.

We were also on this cruise and agree with everything mentioned by Oscar.

We sailed on Ex2 from Newcastle last September to Iceland and the experience then was a lot better.  Better food, better service & better entertainment all meaning a better experience with better value for money.   Having said this, this cruise was still good (just not as good as 8 months ago).  

We have also cruised on a few of the other Marella ships, even the old Dream and things have changed quite a bit for the worse unfortunately. 

We had really long waiting times in the MDR and when food did arrive the quality was not there (beware the Lasagne in the Vista about which we complained to the senior dining room supervisor ).  In Nonna's restaurant last night it took the staff 3 attempts to bring the ordered drinks and this was only 2 x cans of Diet Coke !!!

The same Cocktails ordered in different bars were frequently not made to the same standard and some were just plainly rubbish. 

The crew are not to be blamed directly but much rather the senior management team at TUI/Marella who set the strategy and corporate approach are responsible.  TUI/Marella are obviously cutting back on their costs however they will need to be careful to not diminish the product too much to make it unattractive, especially since their pricing does not make them as attractive an option as they once were to the bigger cruise lines.

Overall it was a good cruise MAINLY because the weather was brilliant and the destinations were all excellent, as opposed to anything that Marella did.

PLF no longer required for Croatia, as per below......

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/croatia/entry-requirements

Plus, TUI / Marella always throw in "check the FCO website for travel guidance to ensure safe entry to destination countries".

Clear as mud right enough !!!!!

Agree with PC's comments, we wouldn't cruise with 4 adults in a balcony and would recommend you get two cabins (of whatever grade) for the four in your family.

Suppose for your first cruise if your budget is fairly restricted you may be best thinking of getting 2 x inside cabins to find out if you are going to enjoy the cruise holiday experience

Good luck planning!!!

TUI / Marella website is generally rubbish and information is all over the place, however this is a helpful spreadsheet which they update fairly regularly.....

https://www.tui.co.uk/holidays/where-can-i-go-on-holiday/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Marella-Cruises-entry-requirements-for-our-holiday-destinations-140422.pdf

Also, the travel advice on the FCDO government website is a helpful source of information regarding overseas travel which you can find here ...........

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice

Although it doesn't mention it on Marella's Entry Requirement Table for the Sail Three Seas cruise, think you will also need an online entry form to enter Croatia as per below:-

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/croatia/entry-requirements

Just had an online chat with an NCL agent, who confirmed that Getaway sailings as below

are cancelled:-

"from June 14, 2022 through and including October 9, 2022"

"from October 18, 2022 through and including November 27, 2022"

Apparently formal notification will be sent out to travel agents etc in due course

Hi Jax

We had cabin 8136 last September on Icelandic cruise from Newcastle which we found to be quite suitable for our needs.  Not a massive balcony but enough for the usual 2 x chairs and little table for drinks / coffees / nibbles / books / crossword puzzles etc.

We have done several cruises on some of the Marella ships and would say that Ex2 is the best for us.

We wouldn't hesitate another deck 8 balcony cabin on Ex2.

Iceland was really, really good, so were the Shetlands & the Orkneys !!

Also sailing from Newcastle is fab, it's a real pity that Marella have stopped cruising from there !!

Have a great cruise in July.

Lynn....agreed, we really expected to be checked for everything when entering Iceland as UK infection rates were really (and still are) quite high at the time, but we walked off the gangway, through a small portacabin-type office and into the car park for tour buses.  Presumably those travelling ashore independently did the same.  The only official we saw was a uniformed police, customs or immigration officer standing near the portacabin watching the passengers walk off.

We didn't have such expectations when returning to the UK at Newcastle, as our expectations are always low when it comes to officialdom in the UK !!!

The only place where there was apparently any official local or governmental interest was when the ship berthed at Kirkwall in the Orkneys (probably due to the fact that there was COVID on board our ship and another, the Celebrity Silhouette which were visiting that day).  We had about an hours delay before the ship was cleared by the port authorities, but ultimately people were allowed to go ashore independently and on pre-arranged ship tours.

Having said all of the above, COVID issues & the small amount of infected people on board the ship, were handled really well and Marella procedures left us feeling safe and keen to make another booking soon.  

On our recent Icelandic Adventure from Newcastle (10th - 22nd Sept), the internet connection onboard Explorer 2 was abysmal (and yes, they are still selling internet packages which I would never, ever purchase).

They gave us vouchers to get free access to upload test results to Chronomics and to complete PLF documents for both entry to Iceland and return to UK.  

En route to Iceland, we were eventually able to get the necessary connection and certificates, however on way back to UK we were never able to get the Chronomics certificate downloaded.

NONETHELESS, both in Iceland and the UK, no person from any government organisation ever asked to check any of these documents.  We simply walked off the ship into the 3 ports in Iceland without having passport checked, COVID vaccine passport examined or any mention of PLF, in fact no-one at all looked at anything.  

Same for the return to UK at Newcastle.

Just back home after the Icelandic Adventure from Newcastle and had a brilliant time !!

Have to say that all covid procedures seemed to be working well from our perspective and we were aware that there were cases on board, HOWEVER the isolation procedures, face masks, sanitiser etc appears to have kept the numbers very, very low (I believe only 4 cases in total, according to a local paper after our visit to Orkney) and in our group of 4, we felt very safe in terms of our health.  

There were about 780 passengers on board and about 680 crew.

In our opinion, Marella are doing a good job sticking to procedures and keeping on top of things.

Totally agree with the previous comments about the onboard Internet provision, it is shockingly bad and caused a lot of upset when passengers were attempting to comply with testing procedures and form filling to visit Iceland & then return to the UK.  This could definitely be improved upon.

Overall, we would definitely cruise again with Marella soon (really good prices at the moment) and the next sailing from Newcastle today only has about 400 passengers onboard.

Had similar issue and received following emails when I queried with local TUI store.....

and also.....