dronnygirl

We didn't do any excursions as the ports were so easy to DIY.  Princess charged $15 per person for a return shuttle in Copenhagen , there was a local bus that did the same run and charged 50 Krone (approx £5.50) for 2 people return. No comparison...

Just back from a Baltic cruise and loved all the ports.  We did no trips as every port is so easy to explore yourself as long as you are mobile.

Helsinki - there is a port shuttle at 10 euros return. It drops you near the market square. We walked round the corner to the ferry to Soumonlinna island, there are 2 ferries and the public transport one is HSL. The ferry runs every 15 minutes and takes 15 minutes to get there. It's 3 euros for a single or 9 euros for a day ticket which also covers the trams. The island is a fortress and is free to enter, there is a tourist info and toilets and they give you a map. You can walk across the island but we walked round by the sea. It was beautiful, loads of lilac trees and wild flowers and many massive cannons left from many wars. We spent 2 hours but could have easily stayed longer.  We returned to Helsinki and walked to the main square to see the cathedral.  From the square we took a no.2 tram to the rock church Temppeliakkio and returned by tram.  Looked at the Uspenski cathedral and, after waking walking round the market, it was time to return to the ship.   Hope this has been useful

Comparison between Marella and Princess cruises – sorry it’s long…

We have done many cruises with Marella, however we booked a cruise with Marella to the Baltic in 2020 from Newcastle which was cancelled due to Covid.  Unfortunately Marella no longer cruise from the UK and, as we still wanted to visit the Baltic, we had to look to another cruise company.  We chose Sky Princess and found a 2 week cruise for around the same price we'd paid for Ex2 last September.

It's difficult to make exact comparisons as Marella have flight costs and Princess had 4 sea days compared to Marella usually only have 2 (we prefer port intensive cruises).  The price we paid Princess included a Plus package which had 15 drinks per day, gratuities, Wifi and other things that we didn’t bother with all in line with the AI from Marella.

We had a 4 hour drive to Southampton for the ship (as opposed to 1 hour drive to airport), we went the day before and stayed in a hotel where we could park the car for 15 days and included breakfast and taxis in the package.  Really loved this, we could have a lie in then breakfast and the taxi picked us up at 10am.  We were dropped at QE2 terminal and were on the ship by 11am – unbelievably quick!  No 6am flights this time!

The ship was lovely, built in 2019 so everything was in good order.  Our cabin, deluxe balcony, was the same size as the equivalent on Ex2 but there were no wardrobes, instead we had a little dressing room with hangers and a very tiny shower room but it worked well. There was a fridge which kept our drinks very cold.  The cabin was immaculately clean and we had evening turn down but no chocolates on the pillow!  However the last evening we had a small box with choccies and a note thanking us for sailing with Princess. The steward, and all staff, were very polite and friendly.

You need to have a Princess app on your phone which we weren’t keen on at first but it turned out to be really good.  When we checked in we were given a medallion to wear and as you approach your cabin there is a small screen on the wall (bit like an ipad) and it recognises the signal and your cabin door opens automatically.  When you go out you touch the screen and this tells the steward that you are out so he can clean, you can also touch the ‘ do not disturb’ sign. 

The ship had 3,500 passengers and around 1,300 crew and was bigger than Ex2 which was a bit daunting but it worked out okay. Very rarely had to queue for a lift, everything was laid out over deck 6 & 7 so was quite easy to find.  There were 3 main dining rooms but they all had the same menu so we used the same one most of the time for convenience.  You can pre-book tables but we just turned up and asked for a shared table and it was fine. We enjoyed sharing the tables as the ship was about 50% Brits, maybe 30% American and 10% Australian. The rest were Canadian, NZ and others so we had some very entertaining conversations. On this trip the vast majority of guests were 60s and 70s so a little older than Marella although this might have been to do with the itinerary.

 The food was very good (much better than Marella and P&O) but some things on the menu were a little strange as there were so many different tastes.  There was always prawn cocktail, salad, steak and chicken available on the menu as alternatives.  We also noticed some of the Americans ordered more than 1 starter if they wanted.  We never used the speciality restaurants as we really didn’t feel the need although others said they were very good.    The Marketplace was very big to cater for so many people but divided into sections so it didn’t feel too big.  We often shared a table but never had difficulty in finding somewhere.  The food was very good and varied and there were waiters to bring drinks if you didn’t want to get your own.

There was a large theatre with very good entertainment, the resident show team were excellent and would work on any London stage but they only did 3 shows in 2 weeks (very different to Marella). The other nights were singers, comedians and a ventriloquist mostly from Britains Got Talent.  We also had Nina Wadia as guest speaker, she was very interesting.  There was another lounge used for comedians, lectures and music in the evening.  The Live Lounge was the equivalent of Squid and Anchor and there were quiet bars with piano etc and the atrium where there was music and entertainment every day.  There were waiters serving in the bars but sometimes there was a wait, however we just went to the bar and picked up drinks without having the large queues that there sometimes are in the Squid.

Trips were extremely expensive, at least double what Marella charge and often 3 times the price.  If they provided a shuttle bus it was $18 return which was sometimes only 15 minutes walk.  The ports we visited were very walkable and we only paid small amounts for local buses, trams or boat trips which we loved doing.

Would we cruise on Princess again?  Absolutely, we really loved it.  Would we cruise with Marella again?  Of course, we’ve had many great cruises and look forward to many more.

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. Kotor beautiful, is the cable car new? I don't recall it.

We're currently on Sky Princess just leaving Stockholm so will do a comparison when just get back if anyone is interested

We are on a cruise at the moment,  we booked a cruise package with  HI Express M27. We stayed Friday night, breakfast, 15 days parking and taxi to and from the ship. £220 which was good and it worked perfectly. Would definitely recommend. Last Saturday there was a bad accident and the M40 was closed for hours, one of the coaches didn't arrive until 3.45 so a lot of very worried people

Ajaccio just walk off the ship. Nice town with references to Napoleon, who was born there. Walk right over the top and you come to a lovely promenade with beach

If you wish to go to Rome it's best to take a ship trip as it's quite a way. Civitavecchia is a pleasant walk along the front,  shops and cafes

Livorno-depends on how adventurous you are. We took the train to Lucca and Pisa but there are lots of trips. The ship docks at a working port and a free shuttle takes you into town where there is a canal, shops and cafes

If your neighbours start again tonight I would contact reception. Good luck 

17 hours ago, 2BACRUISER said:

Sat 1st June Valletta 

Ex2 parked in the industrial part of harbour with free shuttle ferry across to cruise terminal, we waited a bit and then headed to the lift to Barraka Gardens, then a walk round to Grand Masters Palace (€14 each) water taxi across to Birgu and a mooch round marina done 17k steps 13km walking absolutely pooped, back on board for afternoon tea and sailaway at 6. 🌞🙂

All that walking, at least you won't feel guilty with the lovely little cakes in the afternoon.  Thanks for your updates

On 5/29/2024 at 10:09 PM, 2BACRUISER said:

As title suggests we depart from Leeds/Bradford at 2pm tomorrow and I'm going to try and do a livish report from Ex2. We were last on her in May 2019 so be interesting to see how she's doing and how things have changed or not as the case maybe. Just about packed, boarding passes printed, just greenhouse to water and a bed to change for incoming housesitter.  ☀️🌞 here we come 🤞🙂

Hope you have a fabulous cruise, we really enjoyed Ex2 last yr.

We're off on Sky Princess tomorrow so looking forward to comparing. Going to the Baltic so all new places for us

On 5/28/2024 at 2:26 PM, Jayne 99 said:

If the ship is scheduled to dock at 0600, what is the earliest time you could get off? There is a flight we could catch that leaves Palma Airport at 0900. Would we have enough time to get to the airport to catch this? TIA

Please bear in mind that Palma airport is massive and there are often long queues for check in. I think 9am is a bit ambitious 

51 minutes ago, Martha1974 said:

We're sailing with Marella next month and are flying from Manchester at about 8:00am. The information I've received says that we can drop off our cases between 14:00 and 21:00 the day before we fly, which we're very tempted to do. We'll be staying at the Premier Inn and it would be great just to take hand luggage into the hotel without worrying about leaving cases in the car. However, this is also the first time we've flown with more that just carry-on luggage in about 6 years and I'm worrying that we'll drop the cases off early and never see them again! 

 

So my question is this - has anybody used the day-before drop-off service (either at Manchester or anywhere else) and how did you find it? 

We used this service at EMA in September. We dropped the luggage off around 6pm and there was no-one at the desk. There was a bell and someone came really quickly and checked us in and the cases disappeared.  It was great the next morning, we arrived at the airport and there were massive queues for check-in but we just passed them and went straight through to departures.  I admit we did keep wondering whether the luggage would arrive at Palma but everything worked extremely well. We recommended this service to my brother who also used it and was impressed.

25 minutes ago, Justpackingmybags said:

Has anyone else had issues getting into the app today? I can’t login either using my email or via my booking reference. I just keep getting “Something went wrong - try again later”. The website login works fine. With a cruise coming up very soon it would be quite convenient to be able to access the app!

Just tried and mine is okay

Will be on Sky soon, not been on Princess for years.  Could someone please advise about wine in the MDR?  If we order a glass of wine on the medalian, do the waiters refill glasses or do we have to order again on the medalian? Thanks in advance

22 hours ago, 2BACRUISER said:

Thanks for the update we are due on Ex2 in two wks time so good to hear all is shipshape 👍😅

Enjoy your cruise, we are on Princess this time so will be interesting to compare ships as we've been with Marella mostly

Discovery 2 was going to be in the Far East but those cruises have been cancelled due to the Suez Canal troubles.  Cruises resume early May from Palma.  Not sure whether they will find alterntive locations for Disc2, I can't imagine they will send another ship to the Caribbean.

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