Who Are Marella Cruises?

To be fair I know and deal with Marella Cruises on a frequent daily basis, however to me they are always be known as Thomson Cruises. Everyday I have to correct myself with customers as always I refer to them as Thomson not TUI or Marella. I have grown up with this brand as a kid and then going into a career in travel in my first job at Lunn Poly which was part of the Thomson brand.

Over the last few years Marella have slowly been increasing it’s fleet while replacing it’s older style ships such as Thomson Majesty and Marella Spirit with the Marella Explorer 1 & 2 and Marella Discovery 1 & 2. These newer ship have been acquired from Royal Caribbean and Celebrity over past new years and although they are not brand spanking new vessels they have a lot sea years left in them and are a lot more modern.

OUT WITH THE OLD!

AND IN WITH NEW!

So with newer ships being bought in and replacing the older fleet, it seems Thomson Cruises have plans to rapidly expand. Which is a far cry from 1973 when they initially entered the cruise market but due to rising fuel costs the venture was terminated in 1976. Then in 1995 re-entered back into the cruise market after seeing the success of their competitor Airtours with their Sun Cruises brand.

Although I have never had the pleasure to sail on any of the Marella ships, I have booked many customers over the years who have and they can’t fault them, and these customers have been on all the major cruise lines. The feedback I generally get is the entertainment, atmosphere and food was great, cabins are fine but the major thing they offer is new ports of call or ports that the majority cruises lines don’t go to or can’t go to. This is a major draw to a lot of repeat cruise customers as they want to do or see a port that they have not been to before.

Thomson, TUI or Marella (take your pick!) have had such a presence and success in the overseas holiday market over the years and this this is now reflecting through their cruise portfolio. The advantage Marella have over the competitors in the cruise market is that they have their own airline TUI which can offer regional flying from all over the UK, which is a great convenience. They offer all inclusive drinks option on all their cruises and another plus point no TIPPING required.

So with Marella Cruises holding approximately 1% market share of the worldwide cruise industry, where will they be in 5 years time? Well with the addition of 4 ships which are double the size of their current fleet over the past few years, watch this space.

What do you think of Marella Cruises?