Ionian Gems & 3 Nt Corfu Stay, 7 June 2024 (10 nights)

Very average ship. The boarding was very easy and quick. as was the disembarkation We had a balcony cabin. It was sufficient for our needs. Very powerful shower with a glass door. The cabin steward did a great job. The restaurants were average. I did not rate Marketplace. I lived on repetitive salad with very little change. Same cheese ham etc every day. The fruit selection did not vary from melon and the occasional pineapple. We tried the new trial “English with a twist “ restaurant where the food was better. Service was good with a good system for waiting for a table. Looked as though they had their most experienced waiters in there. The service was much quicker. The other restaurants were very slow though the staff were very friendly. The snack bar around the pool was awful. The pool area was very busy and noisy but we found a quieter place by the Mediterranean bar which suited us better. Impossible to get a lounger by the pool as guests towels went out really early in the morning. The entertainment in the bars and around the pool was very poor. I’m sure there are better singers and musicians out there somewhere. The ships own entertainment staff worked tirelessly all day and were very good. They obviously enjoy working on the ship We went to a couple of shows were good fun. All the staff were very friendly,efficient and hardworking. It felt as though they enjoyed working onboard and created a good atmosphere… Overall I won’t be booking a Marella cruise. I have to say though that lots of other guests seem to enjoy themselves. There were quite a few children on board who were having great fun and were very well behaved

Nice ship and fantastic crew who work extremely hard to make your cruise memorable only issue was long waiting times for a table in the Piccadilly and vista restaurants. was on this ship nine years ago when it was royal Caribbean and it hasn’t changed one bit ,would be nice to have usb sockets in cabins Had a great time and the iconic Greek islands itinerary was brilliant would highly recommend

We enjoyed our weeks cruise on the Explorer. The food was good both in the buffet restaurant and in the main restaurant, everything was clean and the staff in both restaurants were excellent. Would like to give special thanks to Ali from Tunisia, Hendrix from Philipines and Ikhwan from Indonesia (all in the main restaurant) for their excellent service and always with a smile. Cabin staff were always pleasent and helpful. The shows were excellent and the comedian on one night was the best. One minus in our opinion is that the ship is starting to show her age, in both of our cruises in the past 7 months on Explora there was a strong unpleasent smell in the bathrooms from the sink and shower. This is dissapointing in a balcony cabin which costs over £4000 a couple for 7 nights.

We loved the ship. Cabin was spacious and lots of wardrobe and drawer space. The shows were excellent. Staff were friendly and very courteous. The food was lovely.