Marella Explorer 2 Reviews

Very surprised to read the bad reviews on this ship. My husband and I had a week's cruise in May, and found very little to complain about. Yes, Naples airport is a nightmare, but this is not the cruiseline's fault. On board we understood that there had been a health problem the previous week, but we thought that the standard of hygiene was exceptional and saw no evidence of overflowing toilets etc. Any illness is unfortunate, but this is quite likely to be the fault of a passenger boarding with an existing problem. We have had several cruises in the past, and were a bit apprehensive about Tui, but we were pleasantly surprised and will definitely take another with them in the future. Really nice ship, good bars and restaurants and other facilities, and wonderful friendly and dedicated crew!

1st cruise in May, did Mediterranean Gems, we loved it, all staff friendly, extremely polite at all times. Ship spotless and hygiene of the highest I have ever come across. Entertainment day/evening was fun, broadway show lounge was fabulous. You don’t have wear long dresses, suits, it is smart/casual. If your thinking of trying a cruise, don’t hesitate, food excellent, branded drinks, soft and alcoholic, we look forward to next trip - Thank you to ALL Marella cruise 2 staff a fantastic job XX

A first cruise for my husband and I. We absolutely loved it, from the lovely cabin with balcony to the food and service, we couldn't fault it. Sad to disembark. I just hope we can save enough to venture on another cruise next year.

Just returned from a 7 day cruise to Norway. I cannot speak highly enough of this cruise and the value for money it offers. Everything from the staff to the food and entertainment was absolutely wonderful. We upgraded to the specialty restaurants and the food was absolutely superb. The Captain Peter Harris was the most lovely person so down to earth and pleasant when on a trip to the Bridge he made it very enjoyable. The spa was beautiful too. Anyone who finds fault with this ship and its staff is too picky

Good ship on the whole but the quality has definitely dropped since on last Marella cruise. The food I would describe as OK rather than great, little things like only once choice of cracker with cheese and biscuits, no grapes with the cheeses etc. The noise levels of music were so loud that it was unbearable at times. There were no extra talks which they’ve offered in the past and activities were quite limited. If you want a cheap cruise - this is great but don’t go with Marella if you want a great food, enhancement talks etc.

The ship was lovely the staff great was not impressed with Naples airport no one had a glue what they were doing did not like taken suitcases have way round Naples to get to coaches

excellent services ,nice and clean ,staff excellent

After waiting 2 hours at Naples Baggage Reclaim and then pulling our suitcases for about 400 yards over rough paving to the coach park worse was to come. Along with other coaches we sat for another hour at the cruise terminal with no information until we found out that we could not board as the ship was being "deep cleaned".No one from TUI gave us any information.Eventually we took it upon ourselves to go into the terminal to find people booking in.After booking in we sat in a large room with at least 300 people again with no information from TUI, After another hour there was a mad scramble to go through the security check to board the ship,again no one from TUI was organising this.It was a disgraceful and dangerous situation with no TUI staff there to take charge. We received a letter from the captain to say each cabin would receive a £100 credit to our account and a payment of £150 when we returned home. This has not been received to date. The cruise itself was below the standard we have experienced with other cruise lines and we would never book another with TUI.

Public toilets where over flowing and one was being fixed with door open so feacal mater was in the air. We where I'll from day 3, we contacted something on the ship as we had been at sea previously. Both my husband and I were confined to our cabins for 2 days and unable to leave the ship. Although we where told that we could leave our cabins after this we were both exhausted and physically whipped out. We never resigned our full strength and this ruined our Honeymoon and my 50th birthday. The cabin staff admitted to us that there were lots of people I'll on the ship in the first week and also staff and entertainment crew. We where adviced by the ship doctor to avoid self service, salads and not to use public bathrooms. No precautions where taken to protect other passengers until week 2 when lots of things changed...this should have been done form day 1 to prevent us from being sick. On the second week the ship was in querentine in Napals and we where delayed getting off ship. It has taken over 3 weeks for is to fully recover and feel better. The holiday was the worst we have ever had and we are seeking competition for the fact that adiqiate prevention of from illness was not in place.

Overall, excellent value for money. Crew marvelous and hard working. Shows as good as west end. Our cabin stewards wonderful. Ship lacking indoor pool, and out side pool very small. For the many smokers, the areas out side were fine but lack of indoor facilities such as we have had on other ships a great disappointment. Information from Captain about the situation about delays caused by Port Authorities in Naples as we were leaving were very good and reassuring.