Marella Cruises: A Complete Guide for UK Holidaymakers

Keep comparing cruise lines and landing on Marella Cruises? There’s a reason for that. It’s TUI’s own cruise brand. It’s also the third-largest cruise line serving UK holidaymakers. And it does something most rivals skip. It builds drinks and tips into the headline price, instead of adding them later.

That doesn’t make it the cheapest line on paper. Nor does it suit every type of cruiser. This guide covers what a Marella cruise really costs, and what you get for that money. It also covers the ships, the destinations, and the best way to book one.

What Is Marella Cruises?

Marella Cruises is the cruise arm of TUI UK & Ireland. 2026 marks its 30th year in business (the name comes from the Celtic word for “shining sea”). The line runs five ships. Every one started life with a different operator, such as Royal Caribbean or TUI Cruises. Marella bought and refurbished each ship in turn.

Unlike P&O Cruises or Cunard, Marella doesn’t sail round-trip from a UK port. Every holiday works as a fly-cruise instead. You fly out from a UK airport, join the ship overseas, then fly home once the cruise ends. Marella sells the flights, transfers and cruise as one package. That’s part of why the pricing looks different to a Southampton departure.

Marella Cruises Average Prices

Prices vary a lot. The season, the ship, the cruise length and how far ahead you book all move the number. Treat the figures below as a starting point rather than a guarantee.

• Short Mediterranean cruises (7 nights, including flights): roughly £950–£1,600 per person
• Longer Mediterranean sailings (14 nights, including flights): roughly £1,700–£2,900 per person
• Caribbean cruises (7–14 nights, including flights): roughly £1,400–£2,600 per person
• Winter Canary Islands sailings (7 nights, including flights): roughly £1,000–£1,700 per person

Peak summer sailings during the school holidays sit at the top end, especially in balcony cabins. Spring and autumn cruises tend to cost less. Deposits usually fall somewhere between £150 and £250 per person. Marella runs sales often, so it pays to check prices more than once before you book.

Solo cruisers should budget for a single supplement on most cabins. Marella does release a handful of solo-friendly fares each season, so ask about these if you’re travelling alone.

What’s Included in a Marella Cruise Price

This is where Marella earns its reputation. Every cruise carries an All Inclusive label as standard. That label actually means something here, rather than hiding a long list of exceptions.

What’s covered in the fare

Your fare covers:

• Return flights from a UK airport, plus transfers at both ends
• Your cabin, whatever grade you pick
• Meals in at least six restaurants, including the main dining room and buffet
• A wide drinks selection, covering draught and bottled beers and ciders, house wines by the glass, standard spirits such as Smirnoff and Gordon’s, a set list of cocktails and mocktails, fountain soft drinks, and basic teas and coffees
• Gratuities, which Marella folds into the price rather than adding at checkout
• Onboard entertainment, including theatre shows, live music and daytime activities

What costs extra

Marella charges separately for the premium end of things. That covers bottled water, canned soft drinks, speciality coffees, branded or top-shelf spirits, champagne, spa treatments, wifi, shore excursions, and speciality restaurants. That last one carries a modest £5–£20 cover charge. That’s well below the £30–£45 you’d pay on some international lines.

Heavy drinkers of branded spirits or fancy coffee should look at the Premium All Inclusive upgrade. It typically adds around £12–£14 per person, per night. In exchange, you get upgraded spirits, Fever-Tree mixers, Lavazza coffee and a longer cocktail list. Work out how much you’d actually use before you pay for it.

What to Expect Onboard a Marella Cruise

Marella sits firmly in the mainstream, family-friendly bracket. Think closer to P&O Cruises than to a premium line like Celebrity. Ships carry between 1,800 and 2,200 passengers, so you get a proper buzz without feeling crowded. Expect a heavily British crowd on board.

Dining and drinking

Dining has improved a lot in recent years. Every ship carries at least seven or eight restaurants. The fare covers the main dining room, the buffet, and a handful of complimentary speciality spots. One example is an Italian venue tucked inside the main restaurant. Paid speciality dining varies by ship. You’ll often find a pan-Asian restaurant (Kora La), a steakhouse (Surf & Turf), and a sushi counter. Marella Voyager adds a Mexican restaurant to the mix.

Entertainment and activities

Entertainment leans on West End-style production shows, live bands and quizzes. The family ships also run a genuinely decent kids’ club. Don’t expect a Royal Caribbean megaship here; you won’t find a rock-climbing wall or ice rink. For a relaxed, sociable holiday at sea, though, the entertainment programme does its job well.

The Marella Cruises Fleet

Five ships sail under the Marella name:

• Marella Discovery – family-friendly, one of two older sister ships
• Marella Discovery 2 – family-friendly for most of the year, switching to adults-only from November 2026 for its Canary Islands winter season
• Marella Explorer – family-friendly, one of the larger ships in the fleet
• Marella Explorer 2 – adults-only, year-round
• Marella Voyager – the newest ship, launched in 2023, family-friendly, with an expanded dining line-up

Travelling with children? Pick Discovery, Explorer or Voyager. After a grown-up getaway? Explorer 2 is the safer bet all year, with Discovery 2 joining it for winter.

Marella Cruises Destinations and Home Ports

Every Marella holiday is a fly-cruise. So “home port” really means the overseas port your flight lands near, not somewhere in the UK.

Summer destinations (roughly May to October)

The fleet bases itself around the Mediterranean, with home ports including:

• Palma de Mallorca, Spain
• Corfu, Greece
• Limassol, Cyprus
• Dubrovnik, Croatia
• Malaga, Spain

Itineraries from these bases take in Italy, France, Malta, Greece, Croatia, Spain and Portugal. The odd sailing pushes further, to Morocco or Tunisia.

Winter destinations (roughly November to April)

Ships reposition to warmer waters for winter, with home ports including:

• La Romana, Dominican Republic
• Bridgetown, Barbados
• Santa Cruz, Tenerife
• Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

Caribbean sailings from these ports call at islands including St Lucia, Antigua, Grenada, St Kitts, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Canary Islands cruises take in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, with some newer itineraries reaching Madeira and mainland Morocco.

Flights leave from a wide spread of UK airports, including Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle, East Midlands, Bristol, Cardiff, Stansted and Doncaster Sheffield. You won’t need to live near Southampton for this one.

The Best Way to Book a Marella Cruise

You can book Marella Cruises directly through TUI. Or go through an independent cruise agent, such as Iglu Cruise, Cruise118 or a high-street TUI shop. Either way, you’ll pay the same fare, since Marella fixes its prices regardless of who sells them.

What changes is the service you get. A good agent often throws in perks such as onboard spending money or a cabin upgrade. You won’t see these advertised on the Marella website. A good agent will also chase Marella on your behalf if something goes wrong before you sail. Booking direct suits you better in one case. You already know exactly which cruise, cabin and dates you want, and you’d rather manage everything yourself through the Marella Cruise Control account. Our guide on cruise line versus travel agent covers this trade-off in more detail.

A few practical tips, wherever you book:

• Book early for summer sailings. Mediterranean cruises during the school holidays sell their best cabins first, and early-booking discounts genuinely save money.
• Watch for sales. Marella runs frequent promotions. Prices often drop a few weeks after launch, so set a reminder to check back.
• Pay your deposit by credit card where you can. It gives you extra protection if TUI or a supplier runs into financial trouble.
• Read the deck plan carefully. Some cabins on Marella’s older ships have obstructed or no views, and the cabin category name doesn’t always make that obvious.

Is Marella Cruises Worth It?

Marella makes a strong case for UK holidaymakers. It suits anyone who wants an all-inclusive break without watching every drink hit their cabin account. Flight-inclusive pricing removes one of the biggest headaches of cruising from the UK. Gratuities come sorted from the start. And the drinks selection included as standard beats most of the industry.

It won’t suit everyone. Want the scale and gadgetry of a Royal Caribbean megaship? Or the extra polish of a premium line like Celebrity? Marella’s older ships will feel more modest by comparison. But for a relaxed, sociable, all-inclusive holiday that’s easy to budget for upfront, Marella ranks among the better options. It’s a solid choice for a UK cruiser.

Frequently asked questions