I’ve recently been onboard an all-inclusive cruise on one of the oldest and smallest cruise ships around.

The ship I sailed on started her life as Legend of the Seas for Royal Caribbean in the 1990s.

She’s now with an all-inclusive cruise line where flights, transfers, tips and even alcohol are included in the cruise fare.

My last trip was a rocky transatlantic voyage, and I spent seven days at sea feeling rough, so I really wanted this trip to be as easy and drama-free as possible.

I booked a cruise sailing around the Canary Islands with just one sea day, hoping that would mean calm seas and hopefully blue skies. I did not want to repeat of my last cruise. 

The cruise was advertised at a little under £1000 per person, so I decided to give it a go. In reality as with most cruises, I did end up paying more than that. 

I knew that there was no guarantee of sunshine, especially as we were cruising in February. I was hoping that this cruise wouldn’t turn into a “booze cruise” because it was all-inclusive.

Even though the ship is old, I was hoping that she wouldn’t feel her age, and that she would handle any bad weather, if we found any. 

We flew to Gran Canaria to board the cruise and arrived at around 3pm. The flights and transfers are all included, which made it very easy.

As soon as we sat down on the bus we were given welcome sheets that explained everything.

The ship still looked pretty big as we pulled up along side her, but by modern cruise ship standards, she is pretty small.

She was launched in 1995 as Legend of the Seas, and at the time, she was one of the biggest and most exciting cruise ships around. She’s 28% of the size of the current biggest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas

Icon of the Seas could almost wear the Marella Discovery 2 as a hat, or carry her as a little bag. 

The check-in process was very fast and easy; we only needed our passports, no other documents at all.

We walked straight into the impressive main atrium with glass lifts on one side. It’s spread over multiple levels and for me this has everything I like – stairs, big windows – and penguins.

They had live music in here sometimes or dance classes – and yes, you heard me right, penguins.

On all of the Marella ships you’ll find different animals. There are Alpacas on Marella Discovery 1, a giant duck on Marella Explorer and cows on Marella Discovery 2!

They do move around the ship. They’re just there for fun but it really set the tone of the cruise.

I should clarify here, they are not real animals but they are pretty much lifesize. 

They used to perform acrobatic shows here when the ship was owned by Royal Caribbean, and you can still see the little doors and areas where they would stand.

I love seeing clues like this to a ship’s past life, and Marella actually changed quite a few things onboard. Going from being an American cruise ship to a British one is more complicated than you might think. 

Find out all about that here:

How Marella Cruises Transformed Ex-Celebrity and Royal Caribbean Ships

As we were on deck 3 we headed down one floor to our cabin. I’d booked an oceanview cabin, which was a lovely treat, and we dropped our bags off there. 

By this time my tummy was rumbling, so we headed in search of food. There is no shortage of food on a Marella cruise, and they have more included options than any other cruise line. I knew that I wanted to try as much as possible over the week. 

I sailed on the sister of this ship way back in 2018, so I knew that there was a restaurant by the pool called The Glass House. I don’t think that most people know that the food here is included, but I’m so glad that I do, and now you do too. 

Find out more about that here:

Pizza, Pasta & Bread in a Plant Pot – Why I Kept Going Back to This Restaurant (Marella Cruises)

They serve pizza, pasta, tapas and different sharing boards all included. There are options that cost extra on the other side, but I’ve got to be honest, I really just looked at the included side of the menu.

We decided to try a few of the tapas bites. We had a cheese board and the pasta. I did come back later for the pizza too because I couldn’t resist, it’s so good.

It’s definitely not normal to have a restaurant by an indoor pool, but it was the best location. It was never too busy, and the crew was so friendly.

The actual pool area is a lovely relaxing space too with lots of seating options. 

There are lots of bars and lounges onboard, but the biggest one is called the Squid and Anchor.

I love the decor of this room. The floor is so cool, and of course, it is decorated with squids and anchors.

Marella are an all inclusive cruise line but as with anything all inclusive there are some things that aren’t included.

There was the option to upgrade your drinks package for £13.50 per day, and I did do that. I don’t really drink a lot of alcohol and I’ve never had a cup of coffee in my life, so you might think that that is a bit of a pointless idea.

The reason I did it to be honest was because on the premium package you can have cans of soda instead of fountain. I’m not normally too fussy when it comes to soda, but Marella’s fountain soda is not good.

Find out all about the Premium Package here:

I Upgraded to Marella’s Premium Drinks Package – Here’s Why

On some cruise lines you can pay well over $100 a day for a drinks package, so £13.50 to upgrade to premium drinks seemed like it might be worth it.

I’d usually save money on things like this when I cruise, but to be honest after my last cruise that I really struggled with, on this one I thought I’ll treat myself. 

Find out why I struggled on my Queen Mary Transatlantic crossing here:

In the Squid and Anchor they would have music, play gameshows and do trivia too.

We went to trivia quite a few times throughout the cruise, and it made me realise how much easier I find it on the British ships.

I always thought I was pretty bad at cruise ship trivia, but it turns out I’m just very used to the American-style trivia on the big cruise lines.

On Marella, the trivia was about places and people I’d actually heard of, so that was a nice change. 

I did wonder if this cruise line being so British would be a good or bad thing – but only time would tell.

My second day started with me heading to the buffet for melon. The buffet goes around the front of the ship and it felt so bright and spacious.

There are windows on all sides with the most amazing views, and although it’s smaller than you might find on the newer, bigger ships, we were always able to get a seat and always able to find something that we wanted to eat.

There was Yorkshire tea in the buffet in case you fancy a proper cuppa. A cuppa, of course, is a cuppa tea, and something being proper is its genuine and high quality.

They had other types of tea, coffee and juices too at breakfast. The rest of the day, they had soda machines, beer, and wine available here. 

I was so impressed with the allergen markings in there too, I’ve never seen a cruise line have that level of detail, there are things on there I’ve not even heard of! 

We often decided to sit outside with our breakfast, and there was a lovely covered area where we could get a drink and sit down.

There was a little bit of sunshine trying to peak through the clouds at this point, and the weather was similar when we visited Tenerife and La Palma.

The sun was trying really hard to make a breakthrough, and I hoped that it would during the cruise.

On this cruise, I did get to see the anchor at the front of the ship hanging down, which I thought was very cool. Usually, those are kept out of the way. 

In both ports, we had a lovely walk, and in La Palma, we had the added treat of taking part in one of my favourite cruise ship activities: waving!

We sailed away first and left behind P&O’s Azura. We could see everybody on the ship dancing to our music and waving. It was so much fun. I don’t know why I love it so much, but I’ll never not find it exciting. 

There are some things I just never get bored of, and another one of those is a big, grand main dining room on a cruise ship.

I think it reminds me of when I started cruising when I was a kid, it felt so grand and still does. 

The Marella Discovery 2 really impressed me with the main dining room, and the crew were so lovely. One of the waiters actually took this photo for me.

He saw me taking a photo by myself and came over to me. He said that he knew the best spot and that I should follow him.

I definitely made the right decision by doing it, I look about 7ft tall here, so cool. We always felt as though the crew had time to chat with us, which was lovely.

On a lot of cruise lines the main dining room isn’t open on port days, but it always was on this cruise. I decided to go for a sandwich, which came with chips, which were amazing.

There are no fixed dining times at all on Marella cruises, you just show up when you are hungry and get a seat, it’s that easy, and I love it. 

The main dining room in the evening would split into three. There was the normal menu, the British menu and the Italian menu, all in different sections of the restaurant.

When I told a friend about this, they said to me, “Emma, I notice how you said the normal menu and the British menu – that makes it sound like you don’t think British food is normal”. I do hear that, too.

I had the pie, but I did see some people eating massive bread rolls, which I was envious of. I’m not sure what’s in them, but most things are better with bread. 

I think it’s an odd choice to double down on British food when the whole ship really is British, but we had a good meal in there.

Personally, the Italian restaurant is my favourite, but having choices like this felt like such a treat. I’m very accustomed to going on cruises and having one main dining room and one buffet as options, and that’s it.

There were so many options on the menu too. It wasn’t as though they’d just split up a menu and called them different things. They even had olives in the Italian restaurant, which I of course left there. 

Find out more about the food options onboard here:

This Cruise Ship Has 6 Restaurants Included in the Cruise Fare (I Tried Them All)

Wandering around the ship I’d often come across funny signs or signs that were so polite, like the one that says that the water is fresh as a daisy.

It’s cute and silly and doesn’t take itself too seriously, I think that sums up Marella nicely, and it suits me. They’re always very British too, like you should “pop to the other restaurant”. 

The vast majority of people on this cruise were British and that’s probably because its been nearly impossible to book a Marella cruise from outside the UK for the last couple of years.

I’m very excited that the US travel agents I recommend can now book everybody on Marella Cruises. Click on the link below to get help from Dan and his amazing team.

Book a Cruise

I always say you can tell a lot about a ship by the public toilets, and I love the design of Marella’s. I never found any out of order which is something that often happens on ships of this age. 

Next up on my schedule was to go to the theatre, I love going to the theatre on a cruise, and on land, for that matter.

On Marella they have a different show every single night, there are no repeats. Out of a 14-day cycle, the show team performs 12 shows, which blows my mind.

On the other two days, they have guest acts. We had an Elvis tribute act that was really very good.

I’m not sure I would want his sweaty scarf, but the audience was really going wild for it. I was going wild for the fact that I was allowed to film in the theatre, which isn’t allowed on most cruise lines.

The seats were comfortable and they all had drink holders, which was perfect as most of us had drinks. 

The singers and dancers were fantastic, and when you walked into the theatre, there was a table of drinks that you could just take because they’re all included.

No need to scan your cruise card or anything.

I hadn’t seen any bad behaviour yet caused by the unlimited alcohol, but I did wonder if it might change when the sun came out. I say “when the sun comes out” because I was determined that it must.

Unfortunately, I did start to see the sick bags appearing on this evening, and I really hoped that I wouldn’t have a repeat of my last cruise.

I was reassured by the fact that I had a cabin in the middle of the ship that was far down, so I carried on with my evening. 

Have a close-up look at my ocean view cabin in this video:

The bags were always by the stairs, and here were also amazing 3d models of the ship. This is exactly what I need to help me get around, and I wish all ships had these.

We went to a bar at the top of the ship called Bar 11. Here, they have very fancy cocktails, and we’d sometimes sit here in the day when the bar was closed.

It was a great place for me to catch up on work, when the wifi was working, that is.

Marella are the only cruise line I know of that still sells internet by the MB. At first, I thought that was a silly idea, but I think for a lot of people it does make sense, it means that you can just pay for as much as you need, and you don’t have to pay by the day for the entire cruise.

For me, though, I run my business from ships and work when I’m at sea, so I am a higher-demand customer. I hoped that it would improve, but this was one of the only signs I’d really noticed about the ship’s age so far.

Sure there were a few things around that were scuffed and damaged, but I don’t think she’s in bad shape at all.

I’ve been on much newer ships that are in a much worse condition. When Marella bought the ship in 2017 they really did strip everything back and basically rebuilt.

On one of their ships, extra balconies were added during a refurbishment! Find out more about that here:

Why Cruise Ships Have More Balconies Than Ever Before

The Snack Shack is another place where the food is included and this where you can pick up a pool side burger, chicken wings or cookies in their little bags.

I knew that there were other cookies onboard too and I decided that on this day I would find them all. I’d already found the buffet cookies, but the giant cafe cookies I still needed to add to my cookie cruise list. 

When the sun was shining, this was a great place to hang out, and luckily for us, the sun did come out for us in Madeira and Fuerteventura.

Both are some of my favourite places to visit in the world. Standing on the sand wearing shorts felt like a dream come true. This was a real pinch-me moment and reminded me why I love cruising so much.

I was only a few hours away from the cold of home, but it felt like another world entirely.

The temperature reached 18c which is around 68f. For me, that is gloriously warm, and I couldn’t have asked for anything better. 

I left my cat mascot, Captain Hudson, in the window, and he was happy in the knowledge that he’s raised almost $150,000 for charity now. What a clever cat.

I did drop off a few Captain Hudson books to the library too, and because this library was right opposite the Coffee Port, I decided to stop in to try a giant cookie.

These aren’t included in the cruise fare, but they are worth every penny. I had a brownie here, too, and we could pick up the cans of Coke that were included in our premium package. 

I did try the included Diet Coke from the buffet just to see if it was still as weird as I remember, and it absolutely was. I am so glad I upgraded to premium drinks! 

We often picked up a can just before we were going out for the day too. 

We came to the buffet fairly often during our cruise for lunch or afternoon tea, sometimes dinner and late night snacks too, it was very rarely closed.

One thing that I loved about it was that there was a menu outside, it’s quite rare to get a menu with a buffet but because they often had a theme we could decide if that’s what we wanted before we looked around.

All the menus were available in the app too which was great, it might not seem like a big thing but it does make a big difference to my cruise.

We could also see the daily schedule in the app and keep an eye on our onboard account.

I was so excited to see that the company I co-founded, The Cruise Maps, is now in the app, too. That’s really cool.

The last time I was mentioned in one of these apps was when I let the captain of the ship shave my head on the stage. I was raising money for a cancer research charity.

Our cruise only had one sea day and to me it was everything that a sea day should be, the sun was shining and the seas were so calm.

I appreciated it more than ever. They had gameshows going on by the pool and we played a game of mini golf too. I wasn’t brave enough to give the rock climbing wall a go this time, but plenty of people did. 

The atmosphere was just so fun and the entertainment team were great. Our cruise director did jump into the pool fully clothed at one point, that’s dedication to the job. 

It was here on the pool deck that I found bottles of Pepsi, my favourite. These carts and tables are set up, and you can get just a drink anytime. The carts even get wheeled around sometimes, and there are always waiters taking drink orders. 

By the pool, there was a “lost and found” table, which is a great idea. I’m not sure who lost their walking stick, but at least now they can find it when they come back for it. 

I found something on this cruise, but it wasn’t something that I had lost – it was a cruise duck.

These are quite a popular cruise thing, particularly for kids. People hide cruise ducks, which have little notes on them about where they’ve been, and then other people find them.

I’ve found them in the past, I took one home and bought them on my next trip so they can try different cruise lines.

There weren’t many kids on board our cruise, but the ship isn’t adult-only. We were cruising in February, though, and Marella usually doesn’t offer free kids’ places or big discounts for kids, so that makes sense.

I wasn’t cruising with any kids, so that suited me nicely.

There is an adult-only veranda at the back, which was always very popular. There are great views from down there.

By the pool, they’d often have live music, and we were always able to get a seat in the sun somewhere.

There definitely was some sunbed reserving onboard. But not the worst I’ve seen by far. It felt as though the ship had a lot of outside space per person.

Inside the ship, we explored an area called the Live Lounge. We actually never had a drink here during the cruise, not for any reason, just because there were so many other options.

It’s always funny to me how two people on the same cruise can have a totally different experience. There are probably people in here every day who I’d never cross paths with.

The live lounge also has a casino in the corner. It’s pretty tiny, and I only ever saw a few people using it. Gambling isn’t a thing on British ships in the same way as it is on American ones.

The WiFi did get a little bit better as the cruise went on, but I usually just used my 5G when in port, and I scheduled all my work meetings and live streams for times when I knew that we would be docked.

The WiFi worked much better in the corridor than my cabin so, I did sit there with the door open sometimes so my emails would send. 

I definitely wouldn’t recommend working onboard, but if that is the compromise that comes with a ship of this age, I’ll take it, that’s a pretty good deal. 

Marella is a very casual cruise line, but they do have one ‘formal’ night of sorts, where there is a suggested dress code, it’s very casual, and it doesn’t apply all over the ship.

If you wore a polo shirt and chinos, for example, you’re more than dressed up enough.

I decided to wear my green sparkly dress, because why not? What I love about cruise lines with suggested dress codes is that you can always dress up more if you want to, it just means that you don’t have to. 

The lead in price for this cruise at the time that I booked it was £996 per person, which is $1290. I paid an extra £36 to upgrade to an oceanview, £95 for premium drinks and £99 for WiFi. I also spent £8 on other snacks like the cookies. That brings my total to £1237 which is around $1600.

Given that that included flights, transfers and all tips and gratuities too, I don’t think that’s bad at all, this cruise was exactly what I wanted and needed. 

Before You Go

Find out about the important things to know before your first Marella cruise here:

7 Important Things to Know Before Your First Marella Cruise

Find out why Marella differs from traditional cruise lines below:

6 Ways Marella Cruises Are Different From Traditional Cruises