Nice ship! RC obviously have their ship design sorted and Marella now own a nice/modern ship. It isn’t a monster either and we like ships this size. We’d prefer this ship over P&O’s Oriana and Aurora and it’s that much ‘nicer’. Shame about the buffet being at the front where every other ship puts a bar: Many tables weren’t available due to people being sat at the windows with a glass of orange juice just to watch the world go by.
The ship. Looks and is very nice. Great to walk around, shiny and well maintained. Humorous captain and most of the crew very attentive. The culture on our sea-day intensive cruise was lovely & laid back. The main restaurant was good; 3 courses for all and the house wine or Prosecco please.
We enjoyed our 2 weeks aboard, one week of which was at sea (we love sea days). The enrichment talks and presentations on board were great (Astronomy/Space, Piracy, belly dancing lessons and others) and the trips ashore to Petra, Wadi Rum and Spinalonga were a proper cultural immersion. Shame about the extremely average food at Spinalonga. (we didn’t order the rain either but we didn’t complain to Marella about that…)
Nice, clean and well maintained cabin. Good views, comfortable bed. Bathroom roomier than the Queen Victoria. Shower always overflowed into the main bathroom area. Euro 220v and USA 115v sockets. Safe and large cupboards but slightly short of drawers for 2 weeks.