1) On the flight from Gatwick we were informed that alcohol purchase on the plane would not be allowed on board Marella Discovery - WRONG! The stewardess corrected herself eventually.
2) We were informed that cruise passengers did not need to collect their luggage from the carousel in Palma, Majorca as it would be taken directly to the ship - WRONG! We just happened to walk past the Gatwick flight carousel when I saw my husbands case on it!
3) No TUI reps to inform us where to get the coaches at the airport. It was complete chaos and confusion for many passengers, including passengers having to go back inside to collect their luggage......
Our balcony cabin on deck 7 was very comfortable and well looked after by your member of staff. The only disappointment was that we could not turn off the A/C this could only be done by reception. I ended up with a cough and sore throat, as did my husband. On our return to Portugal my husbands cough worsened and within a few days he was in hospital with bacterial pneumonia! I don't know if this was due to the A/C or not, but this was the first time we have ever been on a ship, or a hotel, and NOT had control of the A/C.
We aren't big cruisers, but we have done a few, and enjoy travelling in general and have done so for many years. This was our 2nd cruise with Marella, the last was in 2018, so pre-CoVid and we enjoyed it. I appreciate TUI lost money during CoVid, but TUI's prices have gone up and the quality has gone down, very down. This time we didn't opt for the premium drinks, but I had a couple of Mudslides, which had no ice cream, just crushed ice, Kahlua, Bailey's, chocolate sauce and cream, not pleasant and almost impossible to drink through a straw, definitely not worth the extra £3.95
We ate in the Korah La one evening and the food was excellent, so no complaints there.
We went twice to Surf and Turf, the x3 salt choices to put on your rustic bread with butter is a very poor choice, a couple of different patés or maybe garlic butter would be a preferable choice, the first evening we chose a surf starter for two which was fine. The second visit we chose a turf starter for two, my crackling was fine, the piece of crackling my husband had was totally inedible and you could not have smashed it with a lump hammer. We did report it to the head waiter, who apologised. We were sat next to a table with a German couple who were sat with one of the ships officers, we could only assume they were from Mein Schiff, what they thought of the food in general was anyones guess. A few days later in the Italian restaurant I chose a brown seeded roll, but scraped the seeds off the outside as they were large, very large. I tore a piece of the bread roll and ate it. I heard a crack and realised I had bitten into a rogue seed that was extremely hard, and appeared to have been cooked multiple times, while the other bit of seed was wedged in my bridge for at least 3 days, it eventually worked itself out, but I have to have new bridge fitted next week! Unfortunately travel insurance does not cover this sort of accident. The next evening at dinner I ordered something light to eat, a soufflé, but when it arrived it was dense and heavy looking, and looked more like the top of a burger bun with some creamy sauce on top, it was certainly not like a soufflé that I have ever eaten! I sent it back and ordered pasta. As far as we are concerned we won't be choosing Marella/TUI cruises again. I can't complain about the staff as they did an excellent job. However, it appeared that the only bar where people were not jumping the queue was the pool bar because it was roped off in two areas. Every other bar on the ship was like a free for all with bad mannered people pushing in while decent people queued.......
