It’s going to be the biggest year ever for Marella Cruises, with over 350,000 guests expected across the company’s fleet of five ships, said Chris Hackney, managing director.

TUI Group, which owns Marella, reported the cruise line’s second quarter occupancy at 99 percent, up from 95 percent a year ago. The daily rate per guest was reported at 197 euro, up from 181 euro for the second quarter in 2023.

Three new homeports included Singapore last winter, Marmaris this summer and La Romana for winter 2024-25.

“Customers choose a cruise around destination, and we are working hard on new deployments,” he said.

The company’s fly-cruise model means most guests are within a 90-minute drive of a UK airport, and board TUI planes that take them to the ships. It’s a seamless experience, said Hackney. It also means the company can vary its deployment thanks to having its own airlift.

“That gives us a huge amount of flexibility with our deployment. We’ve deployed ships in Corfu and Dubrovnik, which don’t have the natural airlift,” Hackney said, noting there are no plans to base ships in the UK.

Big Investments

The Marella Discovery 2 will drydock later this year, with work highlighted by a significant cabin refurbishment for balconies and suites, Hackney said.

Other technical projects include bulbous bow updates across the fleet, waste heat recovery and LED lighting, along with investment in HVAC to make the ships more efficient.

“The customer may not see or notice it but it’s important for us across the fleet,” Hackney said.

Deployment

New next winter is the company’s La Romana homeporting program, giving it a new wrinkle in the Caribbean with calls into the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico with the Marella Explora 2.

Next summer the Marella Discovery 2 heads to Limassol for a new deployment, Hackney said.

“We generally operate in the Mediterranean in the summer and the Caribbean and Canaries in the winter. That is our blueprint that has worked successfully,” he explained. “It brings the strengths of our airlift and cruise-and-stay product.”

The company will have one additional ship in the Canaries for 2024-25 as earlier this year the Marella Discovery 2’s program in Asia was cancelled due to the geopolitical situation in the Middle East and the repositioning of the ship back-and-forth to the Far East.

Looking Good

“We are in a fortunate position,” Hackney added. “The bookings are looking good at the moment. We had a successful winter and the summer season is positive.

“We are conscious in the UK of where our customers are coming from. There is a cost-of-living crisis here and we offer value for money with the all-inclusive proposition we have. That is something we put in a lot of our messaging.

“The key is to make sure the customer experience is phenomenal. We discuss that on a daily basis and look at how to evolve the product proposition. Our customer satisfaction scores are the best they have ever been and we know that directly relates to better retention. If we can get customers coming back, that is the number one goal that will drive all other measures.”