Marella and the UK

[OTrail]

Hi all

Asking here as I'm sure there's people a lot more informed than myself, are there any plans for Marella to sail from the UK again? I did a few cruises with them (back when they were TUI) and found they were very good for solo travellers but I've not seen any cruises from them starting at a UK port.

 

Failing them, does anyone have any recommendations for a similar cruise line for a solo traveller? I'm not too keen on the thought of the larger cruise lines, like Royal Caribbean, and prefer smaller ships with fewer kids.

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, OTrail said:

Hi all

Asking here as I'm sure there's people a lot more informed than myself, are there any plans for Marella to sail from the UK again? I did a few cruises with them (back when they were TUI) and found they were very good for solo travellers but I've not seen any cruises from them starting at a UK port.

 

Failing them, does anyone have any recommendations for a similar cruise line for a solo traveller? I'm not too keen on the thought of the larger cruise lines, like Royal Caribbean, and prefer smaller ships with fewer kids.

Although I am not a Marella expert, I doubt it. The cruises are often tied in with the charter flights of their own airline and offered with a week's hotel stay as an option.

Cruise lines offering ex-uk itineraries on smaller, largely child-free ships include Ambassador, Fred Olsen and P&O. The first two of those offer departures from ports around the UK like Newcastle, Liverpool and Scotland. P&O only sail from Southampton.

[Brummijam]

Saga are perhaps the most advanced regarding offerings for single cruisers on smaller ships but the downside is they are more expensive than the other lines mentioned here.

Got to be worth a look if you fit the age criteria. (60 plus) as I am not sure what the single supplement is with TUI ,P&O or Fred.

All cabins on Saga have balconies and both ships are all inclusive.

 

My other half is on the spirit of adventure with ma in law at the moment and they are having a fantastic time.😉

 

 

 

 

Edited May 18, 2023 by Brummijam
Spillng

[Brummijam]

17 hours ago, Brummijam said:

Saga are perhaps the most advanced regarding offerings for single cruisers on smaller ships but the downside is they are more expensive than the other lines mentioned here.

Got to be worth a look if you fit the age criteria. (60 plus) as I am not sure what the single supplement is with TUI ,P&O or Fred.

All cabins on Saga have balconies and both ships are all inclusive.

 

My other half is on the spirit of adventure with ma in law at the moment and they are having a fantastic time.😉

 

 

 

My mistake 60 plus should read 50 plus I believe.

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by Brummijam
Spellink

[OTrail]

Cheers both! Disheartening but I guess I'll take a look at others. Not a problem as such, but I'm on the younger side of the cruising demographic so Saga are very much out and I'm sure I've read before that Fred Olsen are a bit of an older crowd too.

[davecttr]

Basically Marella have dropped Ex UK cruises because there is more profit to be made in fly cruises and maybe they don't have the problem of increasingly severe environmental restrictions.

 

Saga too expensive and formal. Fred too old and formal, Ambassador too formal.

 

I enjoyed my many Marella cruises but I don't want to fly nowadays and you can't book a balcony on Marella, plus they are expensive and i don't drink much nowadays. i want more choice of cabin location than the 'ghetto' on the lower decks.

 

Marella 14 night cruise to Adriatic and Greek Islands over £3,000 for an outside cabin. P&O 21 night cruise to Norway and Iceland £1799 for a balcony plus £150 OBC. My next 5 cruises are with P&O

 

I enjoyed my over 25 Marella cruises though

[Mike.S]

Feel Marella are missing a trick here, there are a lot of Marella cruisers who'd rather not fly, perhaps if the Marella fleet continues to grow they may deploy a ship sailing from the UK in the future, we can only hope.

[Pensioncruiser]

9 hours ago, davecttr said:

Basically Marella have dropped Ex UK cruises because there is more profit to be made in fly cruises and maybe they don't have the problem of increasingly severe environmental restrictions.

 

Saga too expensive and formal. Fred too old and formal, Ambassador too formal.

 

I enjoyed my many Marella cruises but I don't want to fly nowadays and you can't book a balcony on Marella, plus they are expensive and i don't drink much nowadays. i want more choice of cabin location than the 'ghetto' on the lower decks.

 

Marella 14 night cruise to Adriatic and Greek Islands over £3,000 for an outside cabin. P&O 21 night cruise to Norway and Iceland £1799 for a balcony plus £150 OBC. My next 5 cruises are with P&O

 

I enjoyed my over 25 Marella cruises though

Thanks for that info Dave, don't mind formal so having a look at Ambassador better that not cruising again 😉

[nancyneptune]

On 5/21/2023 at 8:06 AM, davecttr said:

Basically Marella have dropped Ex UK cruises because there is more profit to be made in fly cruises and maybe they don't have the problem of increasingly severe environmental restrictions.

 

Saga too expensive and formal. Fred too old and formal, Ambassador too formal.

 

I enjoyed my many Marella cruises but I don't want to fly nowadays and you can't book a balcony on Marella, plus they are expensive and i don't drink much nowadays. i want more choice of cabin location than the 'ghetto' on the lower decks.

 

Marella 14 night cruise to Adriatic and Greek Islands over £3,000 for an outside cabin. P&O 21 night cruise to Norway and Iceland £1799 for a balcony plus £150 OBC. My next 5 cruises are with P&O

 

I enjoyed my over 25 Marella cruises though

 

Marella cruises are more expensive than many other lines now. Not the good value it once was I don't blame you for looking at other lines. We are doing the same. Well done on getting a great deal with P&O.

. 

It has been said that Marella don't meet the criteria for UK and Scandinavian cruises with their ships being older, but Fred and Ambassador also have older ships and don't have a problem.

 

Tui Mein Schiff was in Greenock yesterday. Her third call there this month and she returns again in June for cruises round the UK and Ireland. Would love Marella to be doing the UK again.

 

Marella seem to have a shortage of planes and are using other airlines for their cruises. Some good others not so. Have heard about a few horror stories with some of the flights.  We had a very disappointing flight with Alba Star for one of our Marella cruises a few years ago and the Marella are using them again for some cruises flying from Edinburgh. Will give that a miss.

 

Like you Dave we aren't big drinkers and don't like that Marella no longer give the choice to have the AI drinks package or not. Too many people only there to drink from morning till night giving Marella a booze cruise reputation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GOQ]

Before Covid when Marella had 6 ships:- Discovery, Discovery 2, Explorer, Explorer2 , Dream and I think Celebration they did have cruises departing from Southampton and Newcastle.

 

I had a Northern Lights cruise booked from Southampton which was cancelled because of Covid.

 

During Covid Marella disposed of Dream and Celebration and reduced down to 4 ships, so after Covid was over the new itineraries excluded UK departures.

 

As a 5th ship joins Marella this year, Voyager, and maybe if they add a 6th ship to the fleet again maybe they will start sailing from Southampton/Newcastle again.

 

[GOQ]

3 hours ago, nancyneptune said:

 

 

 

Like you Dave we aren't big drinkers and don't like that Marella no longer give the choice to have the AI drinks package or not. Too many people only there to drink from morning till night giving Marella a booze cruise reputation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a very good point.

 

I cruise with Marella and P&O.

 

On P&O I have to buy my drinks but they are generally at UK prices and as I bought a few Carnival shares which give me £150 "Spending money" per cruise so that's 2 pints a day for me on a 2 week cruise, which is just about enough.

 

Where Marella are better than P&O is in the breadth of their itineraries, Marella are much more adventurous than P&O, unless you do a world cruise that is.

 

[insidecabin]

Look at the late deals on NCL and any MSC cruise from the UK.

 

Just missed a 10n NCL cruise solo from £400 

 

 

[Pensioncruiser]

On 5/21/2023 at 5:49 PM, Pensioncruiser said:

Thanks for that info Dave, don't mind formal so having a look at Ambassador better that not cruising again 😉

Wow asked for info on Ambassador on CC not one reply 🙄

[Martha1974]

1 hour ago, Pensioncruiser said:

Wow asked for info on Ambassador on CC not one reply 🙄

I have replied to your query on the Ambassador board and at the time your question was showing as being posted 2 hours previously. I’m always happy to help but now feel the need to

apologise that I have to go to work, go shopping, cook meals etc etc and therefore only have time to look at CC 2-3 times a day.

I would imagine that there are lots of people like me that frequent numerous boards because they sail with (or plan to sail with) various cruise lines. Just saying…., 

[Pensioncruiser]

17 minutes ago, Martha1974 said:

I have replied to your query on the Ambassador board and at the time your question was showing as being posted 2 hours previously. I’m always happy to help but now feel the need to

apologise that I have to go to work, go shopping, cook meals etc etc and therefore only have time to look at CC 2-3 times a day.

I would imagine that there are lots of people like me that frequent numerous boards because they sail with (or plan to sail with) various cruise lines. Just saying…., 

Thank you👍 I remember work! 

[Martha1974]

I wish it was a memory for me too 😂 Not quite there yet, but not a million miles away!