Explorer joins the Marella fleet.

Earlier this month Marella launched the latest addition to their fleet, the Explorer. Marella Explorer is the sixth ship in the fleet of what used to be known as Thomson Cruises.

With invited guests on board, Craig David kicked things off in style, everyone waving their flashing wristbands as the singer performed some of his biggest hits. The singer was the highlight of an evening that began with a naming ceremony and ended in fireworks as a Take That tribute band had the crowd singing along. Afterwards, the party continued on in the nightclub Indigo until the early hours.

Having spent a month in drydock in Cadiz, Explorer emerged last week after a multi-million-pound makeover that saw 45 sq km of carpet laid, 60km of data cabling installed, tens of thousands of litres of paint applied – including the hull’s signature wave design and three kilometres of bathroom trims fitted.

This fantastic new addition features the only Champneys spa at sea as well as a choice of 10 restaurants, 10 bars and 10 new shows. New venues include The Mediterranean, serving pizza and tapas, The Market Place buffet with different food stalls, Umi Sushi offering Japanese dishes, and Scoops ice cream parlour whose flavours include G&T and Prosecco. Latitude 53 is the two-storey, waiter-service restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and three-course dinners.

You can expect the favourites from the 2 Discovery ships like the Snack Shack and Kora La, plus brand new spaces like Indigo – a swanky bar, club and casino.

Indigo features DJ Emulator, a podium-style gadget, which looks like a giant iPad, with a touchscreen which allows the DJ to select and mix a variety of songs & music videos. The emulator is the only one of its kind on a UK ship and will also be used to teach music mixing classes as part of the onboard teen programming.

• Launched: May 19
• Weighs: 76,988 grt
• Length: 265.5 metres
• Passengers 1,924
• Crew: 830
• Number of cabins: 962 (40 percent have balconies)
• Decks: 13
• Cruising speed: 19.5 knots

I hope to sail on this new addition in October on a Transatlantic cruise, so will update you all then with my findings.

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