Caribbean Cruise P&O v Marella

[Presto2]

Hi, we are researching Caribbean cruises for what may be a special cruise / date! We love Celebrity but don't like the ports, so are looking at Britannia for 2 weeks or a 2 week cruise and stay with Marella. 

 

Just wondering if anyone who has been on both cruise lines has a view re the best choice and best time of the year to go. We are thinking late February or early March. (Never been in school holidays before so this would be the first time so exciting !!!!)

 

Thanks everyone

[wowzz]

Which Marella ship ?

And what sort of cabin are you looking at ?

[Presto2]

6 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Which Marella ship ?

And what sort of cabin are you looking at ?

Probably Marella Voyager (complete with Celebrity funnel!) and probably Junior Suite or Large Balcony dependant on location. Haven't done enough research to know where they are located yet.

If we used Marella we would do a cruise and stay in Barbados

[sagaris]

We have been cruising on P&O to the Caribbean since 2010 and have always enjoyed them, but the itineraries are very "samey", so we decided to try Marella last year.

The main difference is Marella are more casual i.e they have a dress to impress night, but it is voluntary so no areas are off limits if you don't want to dress up.

We found the entertainment was much better, one downside is there were no quiet bars.

We liked the size of the ship, I think there were 2 - 2,500 passengers, so no huge queues to get off or on when in port.

Overall we preferred Marella for the Caribbean so we have booked another one for February next year - Flavours of the Caribbean followed by Exotic Explorer😁.

Hope this helps

Molly

[Presto2]

3 minutes ago, sagaris said:

We have been cruising on P&O to the Caribbean since 2010 and have always enjoyed them, but the itineraries are very "samey", so we decided to try Marella last year.

The main difference is Marella are more casual i.e they have a dress to impress night, but it is voluntary so no areas are off limits if you don't want to dress up.

We found the entertainment was much better, one downside is there were no quiet bars.

We liked the size of the ship, I think there were 2 - 2,500 passengers, so no huge queues to get off or on when in port.

Overall we preferred Marella for the Caribbean so we have booked another one for February next year - Flavours of the Caribbean followed by Exotic Explorer😁.

Hope this helps

Molly

Many thanks Molly 🙂 What are the bars like if not quiet? To be honest we are not too bothered re the entertainment and the end to a perfect day is a drink in a quiet bar with a piano tinkling away. Sounds boring I know, but our idea of heaven !! We quite fancy the itineraries with Marella though - fancy a visit to Guadeloupe as we are mad fans of Death in Paradise. Sad I know !!!

 

 

[sagaris]

19 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Many thanks Molly 🙂 What are the bars like if not quiet? To be honest we are not too bothered re the entertainment and the end to a perfect day is a drink in a quiet bar with a piano tinkling away. Sounds boring I know, but our idea of heaven !! We quite fancy the itineraries with Marella though - fancy a visit to Guadeloupe as we are mad fans of Death in Paradise. Sad I know !!!

 

 

You are not sad, we visited Guadeloupe about 4 years ago for the same reason😂. Regarding the bars, there were a couple with just a piano playing one of which was the atrium, that was on Discovery, we are booked on Discovery 2 next year.

Molly

[Presto2]

4 minutes ago, sagaris said:

You are not sad, we visited Guadeloupe about 4 years ago for the same reason😂. Regarding the bars, there were a couple with just a piano playing one of which was the atrium, that was on Discovery, we are booked on Discovery 2 next year.

Molly

To be honest we have just been looking at Voyager and really don't like the look of the cabins at all -- look a bit grim. Off to look at Discovery - am guessing she is a former RCY ship and she does similar itineraries. Am guessing the family areas will be quiet out of school holidays? (May be wrong but as I've never holidayed out of school holidays am only guessing!)

[yorkshirephil]

47 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Hi, we are researching Caribbean cruises for what may be a special cruise / date! We love Celebrity but don't like the ports, so are looking at Britannia for 2 weeks or a 2 week cruise and stay with Marella. 

 

Just wondering if anyone who has been on both cruise lines has a view re the best choice and best time of the year to go. We are thinking late February or early March. (Never been in school holidays before so this would be the first time so exciting !!!!)

 

Thanks everyone

We have done both at various times between Nov and April. Feb/March is a good time to go as usually you are fed up with the winter months. We used to travel more with Thompson/Marella when we were working as they were all inclusive which suited us then and more lively IMHO. Now we travel more with P&O as we like the longer round trips to the Caribbean and we don't drink much so no point subsidising everyone else's drinking on Marella unless it is a really good deal. 

[sagaris]

1 hour ago, Presto2 said:

To be honest we have just been looking at Voyager and really don't like the look of the cabins at all -- look a bit grim. Off to look at Discovery - am guessing she is a former RCY ship and she does similar itineraries. Am guessing the family areas will be quiet out of school holidays? (May be wrong but as I've never holidayed out of school holidays am only guessing!)

There were not any children on when we went in November 2021, which was nice. I think Discovery 2 has just had a refurb, but our cabin on Discovery was nice - it was an outside with a large picture window, but we have gone for a balcony for next Feb.

[Presto2]

3 minutes ago, sagaris said:

There were not any children on when we went in November 2021, which was nice. I think Discovery 2 has just had a refurb, but our cabin on Discovery was nice - it was an outside with a large picture window, but we have gone for a balcony for next Feb.

Think Discovery is having a refurb too.

Must admit we have been pricing a stay and cruise up with Marella v PO on Britannia and Marella stay and cruise is coming out at about £8k and Britannia £6200 with 650 OBC. Think the price may lead this decision!!!

[sagaris]

11 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Think Discovery is having a refurb too.

Must admit we have been pricing a stay and cruise up with Marella v PO on Britannia and Marella stay and cruise is coming out at about £8k and Britannia £6200 with 650 OBC. Think the price may lead this decision!!!

We have paid just over 6k for 2 weeks in a balcony cabin including the upgraded drinks package and airport meet and greet parking, so all we have to take is spending money, but one thing that swung it for us is the itinerary, we have been to all of the islands visited by P&O many times, but only 1 on the Marella cruise, Guatemala, and also the size of the ship, but whichever you choose, I am sure you will have a fabulous time.

Edited September 24, 2022 by sagaris
punctuation

[Kittyonions]

We did a Marcella on Discovery just prior to covid, chosen for the itinerary (from Jamaica to Cuba, Porto Rico and partial Panama Canal transit) Although we really enjoyed the ports was not very impressed with the ship. Most of the bars felt like a fast food outlet, and the Atrium was very difficult to get a table each evening. The balcony cabin seemed to have been furnished from a jumble sale, with odd bedside chests etc. For us we thought the P & O ships (tried both Azura and Brittania) were a class above.

[jh1809]

Late February / early March sounds like a good time to go, as I believe it tends to be drier than the autumn, and it's also well outside the hurricane season. Having said that I'm going there in late Nov / early Dec on Aurora because (1) Aurora is my favourite ship and (2) it's no-fly, which I much prefer. Hopefully we won't encounter any hurricanes!

[Technoman2]

We had 2 cracking cruises on Marella to the Carribean. The first was on Tui Celebration and we booked it 3 weeks before travelling , wasnt all inclusive (only 10 people on cruise on that basis) we were on deck 2 inside cabin, it was fine and a 2 week cruise cost £799. Following year we went on Marella Discovery , again booking late and under £1000 AI  for 14 day fly cruise. Entertainment was fabulous and as already said laid back but some people over indulged in the drinks but just a few.  Loved Grand Cayman and the town called HELL so yes i have been to Hell and back . Didnt feel safe in Castries St Lucia, dont wear any bling and i suggest booking a tour here but not the over priced dotto train. Love both P&O and Marella but i think Marella edged it for entertainment. We prefer to go cheap and spend the money on experiences.

[wowzz]

Without being a party pooper, when are you planning on going ?

We booked Britannia for a Caribbean cruise in December 2023 a couple of months ago, and the cabin choice was already pretty limited.

I assume you are looking at 2024 - perhaps if you check availability now for the type of cabin you want, it will help you decide.

As an aside,  as previously mentioned,  whenever I have priced up a Marella cruise versus P&O  (select type fare,  precise balcony location etc) Marella have always been considerably more expensive than P&O,  for no obvious benefits, apart from a few different ports, which imho, is not that important in the Caribbean. 

 

[davecttr]

If you are looking at Marella Voyager check out the cabin videos for Mein Schiff Herz as I think there will only be detail differences. A interesting difference is the Kitchens which we call the buffet which looks more like the Quays on Iona but with 8 separate serveries and the images on the Marella site show the food behind glass shields. If this means the food is plated and handed to you it gets my vote.

For a quiet bar try the summer house or take your drink into the coffee port

[Presto2]

17 hours ago, wowzz said:

Without being a party pooper, when are you planning on going ?

We booked Britannia for a Caribbean cruise in December 2023 a couple of months ago, and the cabin choice was already pretty limited.

I assume you are looking at 2024 - perhaps if you check availability now for the type of cabin you want, it will help you decide.

As an aside,  as previously mentioned,  whenever I have priced up a Marella cruise versus P&O  (select type fare,  precise balcony location etc) Marella have always been considerably more expensive than P&O,  for no obvious benefits, apart from a few different ports, which imho, is not that important in the Caribbean. 

 

Thanks - am looking way into the distance as normal as I like to research and get what I want in terms of the holiday, ship and cabin - if that makes sense. We are probably talking 2024 Feb / March. Re cabins we like an aft balcony cabin. From what I remember the aft cabins on Britannia aren't isolation cabins so if they are still being affected by Covid then (who knows) we are hoping that this will not impact on our cabin choice as it has on Ventura.

Re Marella - off to do more research