Interesting US Itineraries

[wowzz]

I'm not sure if I will be shot down in flames for posting this, but Marella (Tui) have some really interesting US itineraries in 2023.

Prices are reasonable (ish)- balcony cabin,  extra legroom seats,  work out at around £3k pp for a 14 day AI cruise, but probably no more than P&O to the Caribbean. 

The question  is  - would I like Marella ?

[2BACRUISER]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

 

The question  is  - would I like Marella ?

It depends on having an open mind. Marella gave us our first introduction to cruising and got us hooked. It also depends on the ship and you need to look at the demographic of the passengers. On longer cruises its likely you'll find more couples whilst during school hols more family groups who can be on the noisy side. 😉  the ships whilst comfortable are older but don't have the capacity or facilities of the mega ships. May be worth trawling the Marella board. Hth 

[brian1]

I like Marella.The MDR is comparible to P&O and the buffet IMO is better with different sections and choices.The ships are "second hand" but I'll put up with that.

[davecttr]

You will find more similarities than differences. The main difference IMO is a more relaxed atmosphere. Your ship will be Discovery? which i like and has all the expected venues etc. The Glass House, the roof retracts and there is an indoor pool, has just had a complete makeover last year. A bar plus light buffet at lunchtime and steaks on lava etc in the evening.

 

Formerly Spendour of the Seas.

 

ps - If you like a drink the included package is good and the premium one is also good value at I think £60 per week.

 

pps - i have had lots of cruises on P&O and Marella and IMO there are no more drunks on Marella, honest 😁

[brian1]

12 minutes ago, davecttr said:

You will find more similarities than differences. The main difference IMO is a more relaxed atmosphere. Your ship will be Discovery? which i like and has all the expected venues etc. The Glass House, the roof retracts and there is an indoor pool, has just had a complete makeover last year. A bar plus light buffet at lunchtime and steaks on lava etc in the evening.

 

Formerly Spendour of the Seas.

 

ps - If you like a drink the included package is good and the premium one is also good value at I think £60 per week.

 

pps - i have had lots of cruises on P&O and Marella and IMO there are no more drunks on Marella, honest 😁

It's deffo not SPENDour now Dave.

[Eddie99]

You’ll be fine

Many more similarities than differences.

The atmosphere is less “stiff” than P&O; the customer-facing crew are more cosmopolitan and less India-centric.  IMO this is an improvement as the hierarchical divide is diminished.  Lower-grade staff feel relaxed to interact with passengers and think outside the box, without looking over their shoulder for their manager’s reaction.  Senior catering staff will muck in doing bus-boy duties at busy times and are on hand to e.g. open up extra buffet facilities

[Eddie99]

… ooh, sorry, interrupted by Tesco delivery!

 

I think Marella have more clout with the TUI organisation behind them and can get services P&O can’t.  We went on some fabulous trips - eg Petra - which ran smooth as silk.

They handled passports, permits etc v efficiently on that Red Sea itinerary

Actually, as an example of their service, that Petra trip was long, starting at 6.30 iirc.  We were later than expected back to the ship (10pm?) and had a welcoming party of a senior CS officer, lots of staff to offer us a cool drink and damp flannel and a small band of non-entertainment crew singing Welcome Home! 🎶 

 

MDR food is not at P&O standard wrt choice or presentation; buffet is more varied with interesting ‘cook stations’.  Passenger buffet behaviour is no better and no worse than P&O (ie, pretty poor IMO, but, as J-P Satre said “Hell Is Other People)

 

 

[Eglesbrech]

As Dave says above there are more similarities than differences.
 

The ships are older and a lot less plush than P&O. The cabins are more basic but have what you need (that said the balcony cabins with the hammocks as well as chairs etc are great, spent hours reading in the hammock). The plumbing can be an issue, we have seen buckets in the corridor on several cruises (but then I’ve seen that on newer ships as well).

 

The buffet is better imo with more choice, the food in the MDR more basic but you won’t starve. The pizza and salad area is good. The extra pay restaurants are fine, not quite the Epicurean standard but still enjoyable.

 

There is a much more daytime entertainment than on P&O and the staff put a lot of effort into it. The evening shows are good if not as sumptuous. thomsons/TUI /Marella we’re always good for entertainment. Some of it does not appeal to me like the noisy game shows but then I love the classical music. There is such a broad range offered that there is something for everyone.

 

The all inclusive drinks package is good enough but it very much depends on what you drink. I am a wine drinker and on the basic package it is not great imo but on the upgrade absolutely fine. Same for the soft drinks which are postmix on the basic package and branded in a can on the upgrade. The gin and whisky bar (upgraded package) was really good with perfectly mixed drinks with the correct aromatic in them.

 

The staff are very friendly.

Like any other cruise your fellow passengers can change from one week to another and depending on the itinerary, there is a mix of people. Many also cruise with other lines.

 

If you go with an open mind knowing in advance that it is an older ship with a different offering to P&0 then there is no reason you can’t enjoy the cruise. 
 

Now this is purely my preference but I tend to book TUI to visit more interesting long haul places because of the linked flights so I’ll be looking at the one you have highlighted.

 

 

[tring]

Tui tend to offer cruise and stay holidays, which is something we have looked at, though not booked as yet, but can be a big advantage IMO.

 

We like to stay a while on land as well as cruising on fly holidays, especially long haul destinations and have been booking independent flights, hotels etc. to go with that in recent years.  Until this year we had disruption insurance, which would have allowed us to cancel related elements if one fell over (e.g. cruise cancelled), though we could have chosen to alter our plans instead of cancelling, which is what we did on one occasion.

 

Because of an insurance change, we now do not have disruption insurance - the overall max length of any  holiday was reduced to 30 days instead of 45 days on our previous insurance, which will not do us in the winter!  We also feeling a bit more cautious of combining independent bookings now, so can feel a trial of Marella coming on in the next couple of years as likely to be cheaper than using other agents, if a straight forward hotel stay will fit our requirements for a particular holiday. 

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by tring

[Eddie99]

Yes, I should have mentioned cruise & stay, which we have also enjoyed and which were well organised

If your US airport is somewhere interesting it might be worth thinking about, Wowzz

[Megabear2]

On 4/25/2022 at 8:09 AM, davecttr said:

Formerly Spendour of the Seas

I loved that ship! Sailed her last Middle East cruise from Dubai before RCI handed her over to TUI as it was.  So much natural light.

[Ilovemygarden]

I would generally agree with the other posters regarding food - really no better or worse than P and O.  I have been on two Marella cruises mainly chosen because they have quite a few singles on board and the second one because I wanted to visit Cuba.   I have cruised a lot in the past as a couple with many different grades of ship including Seabourn and Azamara amongst others and yes, for what you pay they are ok.   As someone said to me “Tui is a holiday company who also offer cruises and the others are all  cruise companies”.   Their main attraction for me now would be having local direct flights as I just don’t any more want to have to go to Heathrow or Amsterdam etc first.