Alternatives to Marella?

[itonlyrains]

Maybe I'll start here first.

 

We did enjoy our first Marella cruise and soon going on second, but I do wonder about alternatives. It's not a secret that Marella cruises are on the expensive side but every time I tried to find an alternative it either doesn't exists or turns out more expensive than Marella. Here are the constraints we are working with:

 

• Long haul (from UK point of view i.e. Caribbean, Americas or Asia)
• School holiday time (we have kids) +- couple of days
• ~14 days cruise option (7+7 or just near 14 days)
• at least 4 ports per week (5 better) excluding departure/arrival port

 

So the above normally means that we are normally after a fly cruise that apart from Marella only P&O does from the UK. Otherwise a long haul flight during school holidays is going to cost us close to half (if not more) of the total holidays cost. P&O for some reason finishes Caribbean cruises well before easter break (and during Easter their ships are on relocation back to Europe). Leaves only Marella...

 

Maybe someone did some research and found cheap options for travel to cruise ports that we missed?

 

As for itineraries - this is also seems to be problematic. For example I searched a lot of Caribbean cruises and they seem to have 2 problems: first, a lot of them start from mainland America, so a lot more time spent travelling (and we like actually visiting places), so only 2-3 ports a week is actually a norm for them. Second, duration is all over the place with almost none of cruise lines offering stackable 7+7 options. I did find a few nice 15-16 days cruises, but because of these non-repeatable durations they only do them once every two months and chances of them being the dates we need are close to zero.

 

Am I missing something or this is the exact reason why Marella is doing so well and not under any pressure to provide more competitive prices? 

[insidecabin]

MSC do port intensive from Barbados.

Some have flight options.

 

There was a deal this week  for MSC £999 14n balcony with BA flights and transfers (not Easter)  Barbados.

 

Easter is early this year do Marella always wait before relocation back to Med

Late April next year when are the relocation?

 

Princess UK have package options with discount flights, you can check flight availability on line before booking.

 

Plenty of packager TA's in the UK.

 

Costa and MSC use other Caribbean bases, direct flight an issue.

 

[suech1970]

We picked up a very good deal with NCL, on a flash sale for this April. However the flight and the overnite accommodation was more than the cruise🙄 but it was 9 nights no sea days!

They have a ship sailing out of Dom Rep for a couple of months. Not sure when you were looking at but they have 9 to 14 nights out of Miami, Tampa and their itineraries are pretty good. Their older ships get the better itineraries, which are probably about the same age as Marella’s.

May be worth a look😁

[Andy24v]

One thing I will add, we looked at P&O fly cruises, but they don't release flight details until some time before the cruise departure. This makes planning overnight stays, airport parking difficult.

In the case of flying from London, they don't even specify airport.

We ended up sailing from Southampton, which was rubbish. 5 ports in 14 days.

[itonlyrains]

10 hours ago, suech1970 said:

We picked up a very good deal with NCL, on a flash sale for this April. However the flight and the overnite accommodation was more than the cruise🙄 but it was 9 nights no sea days!

They have a ship sailing out of Dom Rep for a couple of months. Not sure when you were looking at but they have 9 to 14 nights out of Miami, Tampa and their itineraries are pretty good. Their older ships get the better itineraries, which are probably about the same age as Marella’s.

May be worth a look😁

 

Thanks. Yes, I did look at Dom Rep ones for this year, but 12 days plus separate flights was exactly the same price as 14 days with Marella and moreover we will need overnight accomodation on top of that as there is no direct flight on that day, so really not worth it (I would consider only £1K+ savings compared to Marella to be viable alternative unless looking for a specific itinerary). But I will look into their offering from Miami and Tampa for 2025 again...

[itonlyrains]

13 hours ago, insidecabin said:

MSC do port intensive from Barbados.

Some have flight options.

 

There was a deal this week  for MSC £999 14n balcony with BA flights and transfers (not Easter)  Barbados.

 

Easter is early this year do Marella always wait before relocation back to Med

Late April next year when are the relocation?

 

Princess UK have package options with discount flights, you can check flight availability on line before booking.

 

Plenty of packager TA's in the UK.

 

Costa and MSC use other Caribbean bases, direct flight an issue.

 

 

I don't quite get how MSC works with flights - by the look of it they have last minute deals for January/February only with them. For example 2 weeks in February inside cabin (no outside) is almost the same price as Marella outside during Easter... Where can I see these kind of deals you mentioned (£999 with flights)?

 

Marella does relocations normally end of April. P&O this year: 9th,15th,16th,23rd of March. Marella - 14th and 18th of April. I don't understand why...

 

I'm guessing any TA will have the same problem with separate flights (high cost during school holidays and availability of direct flights). What is even more annoying - the deals on cruises are either for very early bookings (when no flights are released yet) or closer to the sail dates when flight prices are high. From my research cruise lines normally do not do sales on dates exactly one year in advance when flight tickets are released...

[suech1970]

Took a cheap deal with MSC in Jan some years back out of Barbados. It was like a roll on/off ferry. Passengers getting on and off every island with daily musters, announcements daily in several languages, drove us potty! Never again but you live and learn🙄

I think these days you’re better off grabbing early prices just for cruise and just guesstimating price of scheduled flights and overnight accommodation and booking them nearer the time. 
I have a very good cruise TA, he’ll put an early cruise  price with flights, sometimes transfers or accommodation and if I’m happy with it I’ll book it.

Only booked 1 cruise direct with cruise line in the last 6 cruises.

 

You're absolutely right about Marella these days. I’m not seeing any big price drops 6 to 8 weeks prior to sailing, so the cabins must be selling even though they’re crazy prices. Loved sailing Marella though, everything was just so easy with them.

 

Im sure you’ll find something between your rock and a hard place😉
 

 

[insidecabin]

MSC have moved on they are actively pushing to the UK and US 

 

Summer from Southampton are nearly all Brits 

 

The £999 came up on a UK deal travel site.

 

Claim they had another inside today at £00

 

The TA supplier says they have  other dates at £1700pp inside £1800pp balcony.

 

 

 

 

[insidecabin]

On 1/10/2024 at 12:17 AM, suech1970 said:

We picked up a very good deal with NCL, on a flash sale for this April. However the flight and the overnite accommodation was more than the cruise🙄 but it was 9 nights no sea days!

They have a ship sailing out of Dom Rep for a couple of months. Not sure when you were looking at but they have 9 to 14 nights out of Miami, Tampa and their itineraries are pretty good. Their older ships get the better itineraries, which are probably about the same age as Marella’s.

May be worth a look😁

 

Those Dom rep trips look pretty good.

(Thanks not looked at those)

 

Waiting for the next NCL FAS 50% to consider any trip.

 

Looking for the cheaper flights routes  can be an entry to finding reasonable totals.

We normally look at BCN or Civit for med trips but options like Savona are serviced by Ryanair which can bring a total down.

 

Sometimes the likes of TUI have late flights close enough to fit around sailing dates.

 

We got flights back from Miami to LGW for £200pp made TAs from Europe very affordable(Flight  did go a bit cheaper Norse Atlantic sales)

 

The NCL flight credits can make flights very affordable.

 

Costa TAs are often under £300pp and can be 15n+, flights are never easy as embark ports not well supported from UK.

 

When flights to Europe from US get pricy it often opens up price drops on cruises, we snagged 2 NCL(Star,Dawn) last year doing British isles ports.

 

We still like to aim under £100pppd total with cruise, drinks, service, flights.

 

Catching cheap flights and cruises to fit school holidays has always been an issue for those restricted to those windows.

 

Cruises that overlap or being able to extend stays to get to cheaper flight dates  can significantly reduce totals.

 

Also important to catch the deals when they happen and not dither.

 

We missed this one(on a cruise).

Black Friday Celebrity had Greece cruises.

 

£49 flight/transfer, $100OB, £450 10n(all pp)

Drink/wifi add on £40pppn service(optional) £140pp

 

All in £100pppd, for Celebrity, don't see Marella under £100pppd that often.

 

[dronnygirl]

On 1/10/2024 at 9:42 PM, insidecabin said:

MSC have moved on they are actively pushing to the UK and US 

 

Summer from Southampton are nearly all Brits 

 

The £999 came up on a UK deal travel site.

 

Claim they had another inside today at £00

 

The TA supplier says they have  other dates at £1700pp inside £1800pp balcony.

 

 

 

 

Before looking at MSC, check out the reviews for Virtuosa over the summer.  We know people who said they would never again cruise after their time cruising on Virtuosa. 

[insidecabin]

28 minutes ago, dronnygirl said:

Before looking at MSC, check out the reviews for Virtuosa over the summer.  We know people who said they would never again cruise after their time cruising on Virtuosa. 

Done Virtuosa a few times been fine if you know what you are doing and pick your dates.

 

School holidays best avoided attracts families with poor parenting skills with the cheap/free kids places.

 

Check  some vlogs on YouTube.

[anchorweight]

I went on MSC World Europa later last year, it blows away any Marella Cruise ship. Also booked on Virtuosa. You really can see the difference between a 25-30 year old ship and a newer design. If you have kids of a certain age they may get a bit bored on Marella ships.

 

Yes there is multiple nationalities but the announcements were mainly Italian and English, which surprised me, not that it would bother me either way. MSC are flying from Manchester and London from this year so I'm sure there will be something available.

 

Given the Marella price hike and old ships, I doubt I'd choose them again unless a good deal came up.

Edited January 12 by anchorweight

[John Bull]

A  fly-cruise to the Caribbean and many Mediterranean ports has huge advantages over booking separate flights & cruise.

Having sailed a Marella Caribbean cruise you'll know about some of them

 

- there are flights to the departure port from regional UK airports (if you're from somewhere like Scotland that makes a huge difference in cost, time & convenience - but those flights sell out early, last-pickings tend to be Gatwick flights)

 

- easy transfers from airport to ship.  On Marella cruises the aircraft passengers are a mix of cruisers and folk on a TUI resort holiday - efficient transfers but normally the usual airport routine. But it's super-easy if sailing P & O because everyone on the flight is on your cruise - at the destination airport there are no airport formalities, no immigration, no customs, no baggage carousel, you don't even go into the terminal. Instead, your aircraft parks at the end of the apron and you walk mebbe 40 yards from the aircraft to the waiting transfer buses. Your luggage follows in a truck - after checking-in at your UK airport you won't see it again until its outside your cabin door.

 

- If your flight is late, the ship will wait - on a fly-cruise you're the cruise line's responsibility & the ship won't leave hundreds of passengers behind. First day is usually a sea-day, which allows them to make up lost time.

 

- On other cruises you have to be off the ship by about 9.30am to make way for those on the next cruise. Since most west to east trans-Atlantic flights are in the evening this leaves you & your luggage with a day to fill.at the end of your cruise.

With those fly-cruises,  other than having to vacate your cabin by about 9am you have the run of the ship (dining, drinks, pool etc) until your transfer coach is called. This might not be until late afternoon.

 

- whilst this probably doesn't apply during school holidays, there are late-booked holiday bargains. Problem with late-booked cruises is that late-booked flights are usually expensive, nullifying the savings. But with fly-cruise, selling the aircraft seats is dependent on selling the cruise, so no airfare hikes for late-booked cruise bargains (the one downside is that flights will be from whichever departure airport still has availability).   

 

- the legal bit. If you book a fly-cruise (that's one package, not simply booking your flights & cruise at the same time from the same travel agent) should either the flight or the cruise be cancelled or otherwise compromised you will be recompensed the full fare. But if you book cruise & flights separately and for instance a mechanical issue means that your cruise out of the Dom. Republic is cancelled you'll get your cruise fare back but you'll either lose your air fares or have to book a fortnight's  accommodation in Samana - and good luck with that 😮

.............................................................................

 

Modern ships have the whistles & bells that older ships like Marella lack. This is part of the trend to sell cruise ships as resorts in their own right. Essential for cruises with lots of sea-days, of limited value on port-intensive itineraries.

We've always seen Marella as the cheap option, perhaps because of the late-booked bargains that you're unlikely to be able to book. But all Marella cruises are now inclusive of all-you-can-drink packages, they offer unusual itineraries, and both passengers & crew are more convivial than many cruise lines.

 

P&O has a double fare structure, select and saver - the cost differences can be quite significant. and most of the advantages of a select fare are irrelevant for a Caribbean cruise.....

- Choice of dining time. Can be useful if you particularly need or want early or late "traditional" dining, but I think that all P & O Caribbean cruises are now "anytime" dining, so select fares give no advantage at all 
- Free shuttlebuses for up to about 3 miles from port to town at ports-of-call. I don't think that shuttlebuses are needed at any Caribbean ports, and passengers on saver fares can simply pay a nominal fare for the shuttle in European ports.

- choice of cabin location. The one significant advantage of select fares. On saver fares your cabin will be allocated close to sailing day, but it will be the same or better category as booked. On our recent Arvia cruise our cabin was some distance from the lifts - but the fare was £ hundreds cheaper than select. 

IMHO P & O ships are rather bland compared to US & Italian ships..............

 

Which brings me to MSC - the youngest and most-stylish fleet in the business. Last year we sailed a Caribbean fly-cruise on MSC's Seaside.  Similar too-big-for-us size to P & O's Arvia, but chalk-and-cheese in style and whistles-and-bells.

A truly magnificent atrium - compare them

 https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=678835150080234 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMR1o27hdJc

A huge and innovative water park for kids - made me jealous. An FI simulator, a bowling alley, etc etc.

And some great prices for those with kids.

But some down-sides.....

Daily tips/service charges/call-them-what-you-will, and service charges on drinks.

Beware of repeated ports, which will tell you that fellow passengers will be of different nationalities - Italian, French, German etc. For instance on our cruise there were passenger change-overs in Martinique & Guadeloupe. Ours was the only fly-cruise flight out of the UK, most of our fellow-passengers were Europeans. The language barrier seriously stilted our interactions with them, their mainly limited English and my schoolboy French & German & absent Italian & Spanish.  Not a big problem with the crew.

 

Years ago Princess used to offer UK fly-cruises, but no longer.

Fred Olsen also offer Caribbean fly-cruises, their clientele is almost entirely recently-retireds - your kids will be seriously unimpressed.

There may be other small cruiselines such as Ambassador offering Caribbean fly-cruises.

 

Many ships - including P & O - switch from winter bases in the Caribbean to summer bases in Europe. Re-positioning cruises, when ships switch bases are very good value & involve only one flight,, but they have a lot of sea-days & few ports. Not our scene

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

 

[Pensioncruiser]

Hi JB nice comprehensive report, only ever done Thompson/TUI/Marella to the Caribbean, probably over twenty five now and as you say trouble free entry it's also good for return with dedicated check-in.Thanks for taking the time to post.👍

[fruitmachine]

On 1/13/2024 at 10:46 AM, John Bull said:

- the legal bit. If you book a fly-cruise (that's one package, not simply booking your flights & cruise at the same time from the same travel agent) should either the flight or the cruise be cancelled or otherwise compromised you will be recompensed the full fare. But if you book cruise & flights separately and for instance a mechanical issue means that your cruise out of the Dom. Republic is cancelled you'll get your cruise fare back but you'll either lose your air fares or have to book a fortnight's  accommodation in Samana - and good luck with that 😮

I think it's more complex than that.

 

Booking two or more elements through the same travel agent still makes it a package if it's booked as a single transaction (or paid with a single payment) with them.  For example, we booked a combination of a cruise and scheduled return flights, and the TA gave us a single price.  That made it into a packaged holiday.  If the cruise had (say) changed either the start or end port, the TA would be on the hook for everything.

 

If there are two separate but interlinked transactions, then there is still financial protection. 

 

I may have oversimplified, but it's important to realise that you can get full package protection if you make sure whoever you are dealing with structures it the right way.  There's some good information here: https://www.abta.com/help-and-complaints/frequently-asked-questions/what-package-holiday-and-what-linked-travel

 

 

[John Bull]

1 hour ago, fruitmachine said:

I think it's more complex than that.

 

Booking two or more elements through the same travel agent still makes it a package if it's booked as a single transaction (or paid with a single payment) with them.  For example, we booked a combination of a cruise and scheduled return flights, and the TA gave us a single price.  That made it into a packaged holiday.  If the cruise had (say) changed either the start or end port, the TA would be on the hook for everything.

 

If there are two separate but interlinked transactions, then there is still financial protection. 

 

I may have oversimplified, but it's important to realise that you can get full package protection if you make sure whoever you are dealing with structures it the right way.  There's some good information here: https://www.abta.com/help-and-complaints/frequently-asked-questions/what-package-holiday-and-what-linked-travel

 

 

 

Thanks for the link, an interesting read.

I know of folk who lost out on their air fares when a cruise got cancelled, both transactions with the same TA. But I don't know the whole circumstances, and that was some years ago.

 

For road trips we've booked separately and & not through a travel agent,  flights and car hire and some accommodation. We know the risks, but they're not the same as missing a cruise thro an airline going belly-up or flights delayed, or figuring what to do in Sharm el Sheikh because a cruise got cancelled.

 

Circumstances where different elements are brought together by a TA may be covered or mebbe not.

But - same as tour operators' packages - for sure a "fly-cruise" is one package, and there are examples when full compensation has been made without prevarication.

I think probably we're both over-simplifying, but I'd rather not find out the hard way.😏

 

JB 🙂

[showingdiva]

On 1/11/2024 at 10:11 PM, dronnygirl said:

Before looking at MSC, check out the reviews for Virtuosa over the summer.  We know people who said they would never again cruise after their time cruising on Virtuosa. 

 

Despite being the child of a captain, years as a passenger with P&O, still currently fitting in cruises on QM#2 and working on cruise ships in my home port.  Knowing the product well, I have no idea why Virtuosa attracts reviews like this.    Wouldn't book any ship in the school holidays for the reason I don't do mass volumes of children in any circumstance.   I have cruises No 5 and 6 booked on Virtuosa since cruising resumed in 2021.  

Edited February 10 by showingdiva