Marella Explorer Canarian Flavours

Marella Explorer - Marella Explorer joined the fleet back in 2018. The ship stepped up to the plate with a bumper batch of 10 restaurants and 10 bars. You‘ll find fleet favourites like Snack Shack and Kora La onboard, plus brand new spaces like The Dining Club for foodies and a swanky bar, club and casino. The highlights don't stop at food and drink, though. There's also an indoor cinema, a Sports & Family Deck and a spa, where you can sign up for everything from body-balancing acupuncture and slimming treatments to body wraps and facials.

It has 13 decks, 962 cabins and takes 1924 passengers. It is a good size ship, not too big (still kept getting lost though!) and plenty of space for everyone.

I had an outside cabin sleeping up to 4 but tbh, found it quite cramped evening for me on my own so would recommend upgrading if more than 2 people. My room had 2 pullman beds coming down over the double bed and would definitely have hit my head on them, had they been down. There was not a lot of space either side of the bed and a small space in front for getting dressed. The shower was amazing!

We ate at the main buffet - Market place (mainly lunch & breakfast), Snack Shack, main a la carte restaurant - Latitude 53, Med Tapas, Med Italian, Vista and then had a special lunch giving us a sample of the chargeable restaurants of the Surf & Turf Steakhouse and Umi Sushi which was amazing. All the food on board was of a good standard and there was something for everyone so you would not go hungry.

We were given a back stage tour of the theatre which was intersting and also taken through the Galley...OMG...the operation back here is incredible with the amount of food they have to prep/cook and serve...it is imense! We also had a tour of the Bridge which was really interesting and informative.

The entertainment was fantastic, the show each night was great and the entertainers were really enthusastic. The comedy act was great and the other bands in the bars, silent disco, nightclub were all great with varied music and a great time was had at all venues.

Excursions:

Gran Canaria - Las Palmas - Walking tour and scenic drive. Very informative guide for those interested in the history of the town. Great stops along the route for pictures. Wasn't too hilly but not really suitable for those with walking difficulties

Fuerteventura - Catamaran cruise. In the summer this would be perfect but although the weather was dry and sunny in part, the seas were very rough and many of us were seasick so was not as enjoyable as it could have been. Crew on board very nice and helpful and food was nice. Was all inclusive too so plenty of drinks (if you wanted) Lanzarote - Timanfaya mountain tour and scenic drive. This was amazing, the tour guide was very informative and kept the talk interesting on the coach. We went to the top part of the mountain where there is a restaurant and demonstrations of the heat of the volcano and then had the tour around the volcanic landscape which you can only do on a tour as cars are not allowed in this area. Lots to photograph and stops along the route to allow for this too. The final stop was a wineary where we had a taster and had enough time to look through the shop and have another drink if we wished.

Madeira - Scenic tour, fishing village and Toboggan run. This was another great trip taking us to the highest point on this side of Madeira which has a viewing platform made of galss so you could see down beneath your feet. View were amazing and we were very lucky with a clear day too. Next stop was a fishing village called Camara de Lobos which was a favouite of Winston Churchill. Very quaint village with plenty of cafes, shops, lovely church and was a nice place to spend 45 mins walking around. The Toboggan run is usually at the end of the tour but as there was a larger cruise ship docked, the guide decided to do this first so as to beat the potential huge queue. We had to wait around 30 mins so wasn't too bad and then experience sitting in a wooden toboggan sliding down the streets of Funchal which was great fun and would highly recommend as it is near impossible to try to wak down the hill on foot!

La Palma - own time. We were supposed to be at La Gomera for our last stop but sue to the weather, it was decided to head to La Palma instead which was a wise choice. We had a few hours to ourselves here so had a wander into town, checked out a few shops, dipped our toes into the sea and walked along the (very) black sandy beach. Was a very chilled afternoon and would have been nice to spend a bit more time here and see more inland but was nice to see the bits we did.

Overall, I really enjoyed the ship and found it comparable to P&O so would easily recommend it to people who have done P&O and first time cruisers.