This winter, I spent one week in the Caribbean on a TUI Caribbean Cruise with my mum which was my first cruise of this kind.
I want to share my TUI Cruise Review because until I came across TUI’s Caribbean Cruises, I thought that a Caribbean Cruise wouldn’t be something I’d be able to do for a long time, BUT, TUI offers a good value way of cruising and there was so much that I enjoyed about this cruise and would recommend to others.
As a travel blogger always looking for a good deal, I searched many top cruise liner websites looking for the best value Caribbean cruise and I must say, it was harder than I thought! Firstly, many Caribbean cruise start in the USA which I didn’t fancy and secondly, they don’t include flights meaning that’s a big extra chunk of money on top with additional logistics. And, flying from Manchester to the USA isn’t cheap.
That was, until I came across TUI who include flights from the UK in their package (and when you break it down, at a really good cost!), and they start their cruises right in the Caribbean!
TUI Cruise Review
I’ll start off by saying that I have a lot of positive things to share about cruising with TUI and Marella Cruises because for the price we paid, I was really happy and surprised with what we got and this is generally the theme of this post.
Yes, I wasn’t a huge fan of all the food. Our ship lacked newer technology and wasn’t packed with things to do. However, I booked a Caribbean Cruise for my mum so we could see the Caribbean and I could pay for 2 people to go without spending ten’s of thousands, and for that… it more than did the job!
Previous to this, I have experienced a sea-cation with Princess Cruises (remember in lockdown when ships couldn’t dock so many cruise liners decided to do cruises from the UK to UK with no stops?!).
Princess Cruises is without a doubt in another league to TUI Marella Cruises. The ship I experienced with Princess was much more high tech, bigger and much fancier, however, this comes with a higher price point, that for my first real cruise, I wasn’t willing to pay as I didn’t know if I would see the value in it!
I’ve also been on a cruise in Antarctica but I can’t really compare that!
Initially established as Thomson Cruises, the company rebranded to Marella Cruises in 2017 to more closely align with its parent company’s global brand identity. Marella Cruises stands out by offering an extensive range of itineraries that explore destinations across the globe, from the sun-soaked shores of the Caribbean to the culturally rich ports of the Mediterranean.
With TUI’s backing, Marella Cruises benefits from the vast network and resources of the group, enabling it to offer passengers unique experiences, exceptional service, and a variety of leisure and entertainment options onboard its fleet of ships.
SEARCH ALL TUI MARELLA CRUISES HERE!
Are TUI Cruises Good?
Before we get into the detailed review, I’ll answer the popular question – are TUI cruises good?
Personally, based on my 1 week cruising with TUI, I would definitely recommend them for a good value cruise, especially if its your first cruise, you’re cruising as a family and with young children, you’re looking to cruise on a budget and you’re more interested in the places you’ll visit on the cruise rather than the ship.
Without a doubt, there are plenty of ships that are fancier with higher tech, higher quality food and entertainment than the TUI Marella Cruises ships however this comes at a price.
One of the things I really loved about cruising with TUI is that the flights are included in the package from the UK meaning we got really competitive priced flights and all of the logistics of getting bags to and from the airport and ship are arranged from the UK airport you fly from and back into.
For example, when we landed in Barbados, we didn’t have to go through airport security or get our bags as our bags were transferred and we did a check in at the ship instead. We also left our bags outside our room before midnight on our last evening and didn’t see them until 1.5 days later in Manchester Airport.
With a capacity of under 2000, TUI cruise ships are much smaller than many European and American brands. This is a plus to some people and a con to others. Personally, I really liked it because it felt like not too many people were getting off the ship and it meant the ship itself is not huge. But, we did speak to some passengers who said they love big ships with thousands of passengers!
As a British cruise liner including flights from the UK in the cruise cost, of course, TUI cruises are aimed at Brits and the cruise has ‘Brits-abroad-all-inclusive’ feel to it in many ways which is a positive to some and a negative to others.
I know many of the European and American cruise liners bring a range of nationalities which means things are in different languages and people have different preferences, so for me, I did like cruising with all Brits.
TUI also do River Cruises in Europe which my mum expressed interest in. I have seen some YouTube reviews of these and like with their big cruise ships, the River Cruises look more basic in terms of the boat and what’s on offer however the prices are very competitive.
You can look up TUI River Cruises here!
And for great cruise reviews on YouTube that are informative, detailed and entertaining, I highly recommend Emma Cruises Channel!
TUI Marella Discovery 2 Review
There are a few different ships within the Marella Cruises fleet. I was onboard the Marella Discovery 2 which is what this cruise review will focus on.
The Marella Discovery 2 was launched in 2017 offering an all-inclusive experience that caters to a variety of tastes and preferences. It boasts an impressive array of amenities, including multiple dining options, a climbing wall, minigolf, an outdoor cinema, inside pool and a spacious outside pool deck. With a capacity to accommodate nearly 1,830 passengers.
The fleet also includes the Marella Voyager which looks the newest with most facilities and food and drink areas.
Marella Explorer 2 looks similar looks similar to the Marella Discovery 2.
Entertainment and Amenities Review onboard a TUI Cruise
With an outdoor pool, indoor pool, 2 floors of sunbed access, climbing wall, mini golf course, gym, spa, kids club, 8 restaurants, 4+ bars, club, shops and a show lounge, there are plenty of places to go day and night onboard a TUI Cruise!
I’d say that all of these amenities are not the highest of quality and the highest spec, however they are certainly not bad at all and there are areas of the ship that are better quality than others.
The gym is pretty dated, small and doesn’t open until 8:00am (which sounds ok but when jet lag in the Caribbean wakes you up at 6:00am, it feels late!). The climbing wall and mini golf course whilst good and fun for adults and children, they are only small, they aren’t huge and what you see on big family cruise liners like Royal Caribbean Cruises.
I did book a spa treatment for my mum and I which we really enjoyed and both of our spa staff members were great! There’s a relaxation room you sit in before your treatment, this is again where the oldness of the ship shows as it’s very basic and out the window in-front is a sun deck which was packed on the sea day I went, so again, it was fine, but not luxurious, however the treatment room, the staff member and the treatment itself was high quality.
Both the inside and outside pools are fairly small too when compared to how many people are on board and on sea days people were packed together in the pool and on the pool deck.. although, I think this is the case on many cruise ships.
If you’re cruising on Marella Discovery 2, a tip I’d give is to make use of the indoor pool as a relaxed area. There are certain times children are not allowed in so it’s a bit quieter and if it’s cold and windy outside it’s a nice inside sun trap. Of course, it gets busy, we found the first sea day to be much quieter as people didn’t know about it but by the end of the week, it was hard to get a bed past 9:00am, so get there early!
3 of the restaurants and 1 of the bars come at an additional cost and are on the very top floor of the ship meaning they offer more of an upper class, adults only experience.
If you love getting involved in quizzes and events, there is plenty to do! TUI have a full schedule of activities on both sea days and port days incase you don’t want to get off the ship from dance lessons in the atrium, quizzes by the pool and evening karaoke.
In terms of evening entertainment, we went to see two of the shows in the Broadway Lounge which were really fantastic with a great production and cast! I love that you can watch a show whilst in the middle of the ocean!
One of the things I love about cruises is that you can tailor the day to your preference. Jetlag woke me up early almost everyday so I took advantage of that to go running whilst watching the sun rise on the top deck and then I was in bed early each evening.
Others won’t go to bed until sun rise and be out all night in the ship club, either way, you don’t effect each other and I do believe you can get what you want out of a cruise and this is the same onboard a TUI Cruise.
RELATED POST: Who Is Cruising Alone Right For? Pro’s & Con’s of a Solo Cruising!
Food and Drink Review onboard on a TUI Cruise
The ship offers a buffet style section for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and even Afternoon Tea. Along with a snack bar by the pool serving burgers, chips, sandwiches and takeaway breakfast open during the day.
2 restaurants for seated food all included in the price. A coffee shop that is either included or extra depending if you buy a drinks package. Plus 3 speciality restaurants at an extra cost which did give a good selection of options especially for dressing up and dressing down.
A slight disappointment to me was the food onboard, it certainly wasn’t terrible and the selection was good but it did lack taste (although having travelled a lot of Asia, I do love spice and I know this isn’t always the same for a British palette).
Of course, like in hotels, the restaurants are better than the buffet and we enjoyed the sit down breakfast option on sea days so we could have a chilled breakfast, and we enjoyed the Italian restaurant with an Ala-carte 3 course offering.
For dinner, the buffet restaurant changed up the theme each night with a Caribbean, Mexican, Indian, Italian, British night so this did keep the menu interesting and then they always had a section which remained the same with continuous British type meals.
When booking another cruise and wondering whether cruising with TUI is a good idea. I would keep in mind the food offering and might opt for another cruise liner because of this or budgeting the cost of the speciality restaurants in which cost extra.
On the note the speciality restaurants, you do need to book these well in advance of your cruise because the good time slots book up fast, especially on sea days!
In terms of drinks, I don’t drink alcohol so we kept the minimum package included in the cruise price which did offer plenty of mocktails, soft drinks and plenty of alcoholic options. However you can pay more for a drinks add on to get unlimited drinks with branded spirits, soft drinks and coffees from the coffee shop.
One thing I did love was the coffee shop onboard Marella Discovery 2. It was nice to know you can get a good coffee there instead of relying on filter coffee from the buffet and the prices were about half of what you’d pay in a cafe at home so its a reasonable additional cost.
Accommodation Review onboard a TUI Cruise
I booked my mum and I a Deluxe Balcony Cabin which I was really happy with.
I think, space wise, I would have been ok with a standard Balcony Cabin when sharing with my husband but when sharing with my mum or if I was with a friend, having the extra space and sofa in this cabin was really nice and made sharing much easier.
Many people on our cruise were on a 2 week Caribbean cruise and I’d say having the extra space for a 2 week cruise would be beneficial too.
The room was very similar to that of a hotel room and I could tell it had been refurbished recently. I was really impressed with the storage on offer and the bathroom size and quality was really good too!
Our room was really quiet, we were on deck 6 so had no noise from bars or the deck area and couldn’t hear anything from the rooms nearby.
I think it goes without saying that I LOVED having a balcony. We got a Starboard room meaning we were on the other side of the ship to Portside where when docked, you always have a view of the port and this was really great. I’d always book a room this side in future. Waking up in the Caribbean with a coffee watching us sail into the islands from my quiet balcony was a huge highlight of the trip!
Another pleasing thing about the accommodation was the housekeeping staff. We bumped into them most times going back to our room and they were always very friendly and happy to help.
Internet onboard a TUI Cruise
I did want to disconnect on this cruise but I also wondered if I’d get internet at all during the week?!
A TUI all inclusive cruise includes a lot of things but not wifi!
Here’s a detailed post about the Marella Cruises wifi packages however you’re looking at £8.00 for a 1 hour 75MB session (which is a tiny amount of internet!) and £49.00 for a weeks worth of internet which doesn’t sound too bad but the offering is just 1600MB.
These internet packages are ok for checking social media and keeping in touch with friends and family at home on WhatsApp but they aren’t great for uploading and definitely not streaming!
As with all cruise ships, wifi doesn’t tend to work well out at sea and works better when closer to ports.
I was pleasantly surprised however to find that all of the Caribbean ports we stopped at had wifi which meant I did go online, send messages and upload a few things without paying for internet on the ship.
I’d say if small Caribbean ports have wifi, European ports will too!
TUI Cruise Excursions Review
I did 3 organised TUI shore excursions and I was really happy with them all. One of the things I wasn’t sure about when thinking of booking a cruise was how cruises often don’t help the local economy of where you’re visiting and it is important to spend money on port days in these places.
I did however want to book a TUI excursion over one I found on Viator or Get Your Guide myself so I had the reassurance we’d be picked up ok and make it back to the ship in time, especially travelling with my mum and I was actually really pleased as I feel like the TUI shore excursions we did would be very similar to ones I booked independently.
We travelled with local guides, in local transport, visited attractions and had lunch in local places so whilst of course, some of the cost of the excursion goes to TUI, I do feel like the cost also went locally.
On the last day of our 1 week Caribbean Cruise, we had half a day in Barbados before getting our flight but we had to check out of our room at 9:00am, TUI offered 2 ‘going home’ excursions which were really good and the perfect length of time.
Depending on your cruise destinations, you might not need to book tours but if you do, I do recommend TUI Shore Excursions.
Destinations and Ports Review onboard a TUI Cruise
Of course, your port experience will depend on your cruise destinations however from my Caribbean Cruise with TUI, all of our ports were the main ports, in a great location.
It’s not like, we paid for a cheaper cruise and therefore docked in a port further out. No, we were in the same port as other cruise liners we saw and on 1 occasion, actually in a better port than another cruise liner!
All ports had taxi’s waiting outside to take guests, buses waiting for the TUI Shore excursion guests and were well organised by Marella staff!
I hope this TUI Cruise Review had helped you decide if a TUI Marella Cruise is for you!
- For more of my related posts see:
- 1 week Caribbean Cruise Review with TUI
- 5 BIG Reasons To Cruise With Princess Cruises from Southampton!
- Information For Sailing from Southampton Ocean Terminal on a Cruise!
- 10 Reasons to Cruise the Thames with City Cruises, Review!
- Who Is Cruising Alone Right For? Pro’s & Con’s of a Solo Cruising!