Island Explorer from Gran Canaria, 30 November 2024

The cruise staff were very friendly, attentive and willing to please. No request was too much to ask and the towel creations each night were a bonus. There were plenty of food options on board and I particularly enjoyed the musical afternoon tea which was well worth the extra £15. Each port was walking distance from the town and had good excursion options. My favourite was the Slovenian Postjana Caves which was a bucket list activity. To improve I’d suggest having a two week schedule for entertainment and it began to feel repetitive. I also felt the 30 minute wait for some restaurants wasn’t justified when I could see plenty of empty tables. For my first cruise this was a great experience and I’d now consider doing another cruise.

Such hard working people who are very attentive. Entertainment very good, all in all a great cruise.

We preferred to explore on our own instead of booking excursions. We would have given the cabin 5 stars except the aircon was sometimes unpredictable and quite noisy, and on the second last day staff cleaned the carpet and left a wet hoover in the cabin just when we were trying to get ready for dinner. The carpet was pretty wet. We didn’t know why they were doing it: no communication. But everything else was fantastic. This was our first Marella cruise and we will definitely do another.

We had a lovely holiday weather was not great, good entertainment on the cruise ship, food was good, staff were friendly. We think the cabins need a refit; they look tired and old.