If you ever thought about going on a cruise but didn’t know which cruise line was best for you then this post probably won’t help. However it might give you a place to start.
As we head towards our second cruise (fingers crossed Boris doesn't mess it up again) I thought I'd share why we decided to go with Marella and what I've looked at and considered to come to this conclusion.
Initially my research centred around YouTube, lots and lots of YouTube. There is a literally sh*t ton of videos on there covering every cruise line. While each company will of course have their own channels often the most informative videos are those done by passengers. The problem is these tend to be terrible. Even those done by people trying to flog cruise holidays. They are normally waaay too long, shot with no editing, poor or no commentary, no music, no image stabilisation and in the wrong aspect ration. But they can give you a more realistic view of what to expect. That is If you can bear to sit through them.
My 'goto' channels for cruising information are Emma Cruises and Tips for Travellers I'm not going to lie, I was initially drawn to these two because they weren't over excitable Americans and being British they are going to have tastes and a cultural perspective similar to my own. Their videos are well thought out and put together and they also don’t do video’s with their partners.
Couples trying to do holiday info videos often have the feel of impending separation/divorce/murder about them. There is one person who's idea this was and they are very enthusiastic. The other person has clearly been forced into doing it. I have a brilliant idea for a video pastiche of this but I would have to try and get Lyn to participate. Oh the irony.
There are around 50 ocean going cruise lines. I’ve probably got this number wrong but its close enough. Each one tries to offer you a unique selling point (USP) but they can broadly be put in to 3 main categories. Mainstream, Premium and Luxury. Examples for mainstream would be the ones you've probably heard of like P&O, Royal Caribbean and MSC. Premium would be Oceania or Saga and then Luxury would be Seabourn or Silversea. To give you an idea of price I've searched for a 7 night cruise in April 2022 in the Mediterranean with a balcony. P&O £949pp, Oceania £2209pp and then there's Seabourn at £4299pp. So what's the same and what's different?
Every cruise, as far as I'm aware, is full board. You're not going to starve. Entertainment is included as well as access to pools, gyms and most other facilities. So no matter which company you book with you'll have these basics. The main difference seems to be the size of the ship. A basic rule of thumb is the more passenger capacity the cheaper the cruise. Seabourne and Silversea only have about 600 passengers on their ships. SAGA and Oceania are around 1000 while P&O's latest ship, Arvia, can have 5200 passengers. Currently the largest cruise ship in the world is the Symphony of the Seas owned by Royal Caribbean at 6680 passengers!
Of course you get what you pay for as well. The more you pay the more opulent your surroundings and extravagant the food and service but that's only to be expected. If you feel that actual artwork on walls, branded alcohol and a butler will enhance your experience then who am I to argue. It would defiantly enhance mine. The question is how much are you willing to pay for that enhancement. You're also more likely to get 'All Inclusive' on the more expensive lines with added extras like door to door transportation.
Like any other business the cruise companies want to squeeze as much cash our of you as they can. If you want to have some alcohol? Splash some cash. Want to eat in a speciality restaurant? That'll be extra. Fancy a visit to the Spa? You'll have to open your wallet before you open your pores. Sometimes the price of your initial cruise can make no difference to these extras. Just because your P&O cruise cost half that of Oceania doesn't mean they don't both charge extra for a drinks package. But you are more likely to get extras, like WiFi or indeed a drinks package, thrown in on the more expensive cruise.
Then there's gratuities. Being English I don't like to tip as a matter of course. This is a ridiculous American thing because they don't pay their service workers a decent wage to start with. Gratuities are around $15 per day, per passenger so 2 of you for a week will need to find an extra $210. Depending on what you do while on board you can end up with an unpleasant surprise at the end of your cruise.
So given all the above why did we pick Marella? Well the first thing was the ease. Marella are owned by TUI so the price you see always includes flights and transfers. Talking of the price you see, Marella are also all inclusive (this includes drinks and gratuities) quite a rare thing for a mainstream cruise company. You can sail with Marella, eat till your bursting, drink to your harts content and not have to pay anything extra at the end. Of course they have speciality restaurants and spa's like everyone else to try and get you to spend more but there is defiantly no need to if you don't want to.
The next thing that attracted us was the size of the ships. Marella ships have a capacity of around 2000, a lot smaller than the mega ships of the larger cruise companies. In fact the ship we are sailing on is about the size of the Titanic. This means you're not swamped by the size and it doesn't feel crowded. I've heard on the larger ships you wouldn't even know you are at sea which I suppose if you are worried about seasickness would be an advantage. Smaller ships can also visit places that the larger ships would never hope to get too. On the down side (or up for us) you won't get any of the special attractions you have on the large ships like water slides and go-cart tracks but these things are more for families which brings me on to the last thing.
Marella have adult only cruises. This is ship specific so the Explorer 2 is always adult only no matter where in the world it is sailing. Even the Luxury cruises aren't adult only (SAGA being an obvious exception) although the likelihood of seeing a child on one these would be rare given the average age range of the passengers on premium and luxury cruises. If you have children then I would always recommend the bigger cruise companies and larger ships.
The down side to Marella is that the ships are older. They've not built a ship of their own but instead have bought and refitted the cast off's from other cruise lines. I would describe the ships as comfortable rather than luxurious and the food is good but not great. Because of the smaller theatres the shows aren't going to be Broadway spectaculars either but they are entertaining nevertheless.
So given the smaller ships, the all inclusive and the adult only how does Marella compare to the example Med April 2022 cruise? Well it's £1116pp. A little more expensive than the big cruise lines but almost half the price of the premiums.
As you can see there are lots of options and which cruise line you pick depends on your own personal circumstances. There are some amazing deals to be had at the moment. You need to do the research and I would also recommend going to a cruise specialist travel agent rather than your local one if you decide a cruise holiday is for you.
(prices are correct at time of writing and are likely to change)
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