- Headquarters
- Luton, United Kingdom
- Founded
- 1973 (as Thomson Cruises); rebranded Marella 2017
- Fleet
- 5 ships (2026)
- Loyalty
- Marella Club
Marella Cruises is TUI Group's British-market cruise brand and the UK's only genuinely all-inclusive mid-size operator. It sails five ships — refurbished second-hand hulls from Royal Caribbean and Celebrity — on fly-cruise itineraries priced in sterling and sold through TUI's high-street and online travel-agency network.
About Marella Cruises
Marella Cruises operates as the cruise division of TUI UK, launched in 1973 as Thomson Cruises and rebranded Marella in 2017 alongside the group-wide TUI consolidation. The fleet is built on refurbished second-hand hulls sourced from Royal Caribbean and Celebrity — a strategy that keeps capital costs low and allows the line to compete on price against fly-cruise package holidays rather than against new-build premium ships.
The core proposition is all-inclusive. Fares bundle flights from UK regional airports, resort transfers, drinks packages, tips, and — on most sailings — speciality dining, giving guests a single sterling-priced total for the holiday. This is a genuinely different commercial model from P&O, Cunard, or Royal Caribbean, all of whom price cruises as add-ons to flights and drinks packages.
Onboard the product is deliberately British: sterling pricing, three-pin sockets, UK food and service standards, and a guest mix skewed heavily to British repeat customers. Marella Explorer 2 sails as an adults-only (18+) ship year-round; the rest of the fleet is family-oriented.
Fleet
5 published ship profiles — more coverage rolling out.
Launched Marella)
Marella Voyager
Marella's newest and largest ship — all-inclusive, Mediterranean-based year-round.
Launched 2018)
Marella Explorer
A former Celebrity Century — Marella's second-largest ship, family-oriented Mediterranean sailings.
Launched 2019)
Marella Explorer 2
Marella's adults-only (18+) flagship — a former Celebrity Galaxy refurbished for British adult-only Mediterranean sailings.
Launched 2016)
Marella Discovery
A former Royal Caribbean Splendour of the Seas — Marella's dual-hemisphere workhorse.
Launched 2017)
Marella Discovery 2
The Discovery sister — a former Royal Caribbean Legend of the Seas, deployed on Mediterranean and Northern European itineraries.
Onboard Experiences
Suite enclaves, fare tiers, and signature onboard products.
Loyalty Programme — Marella Club
Marella Club is a three-tier programme (Bronze, Silver, Gold) earned on nights cruised. Benefits scale modestly — welcome drinks, priority embarkation, spa discounts — and are less structurally consequential than the equivalents at Royal or Celebrity, reflecting the all-inclusive nature of the base fare.
For guests already receiving all drinks, tips, and specialty dining as standard, the marginal value of loyalty perks is naturally smaller than on lines where those items are otherwise chargeable.
Destinations
Marella's core deployment is Mediterranean fly-cruise from Palma, Corfu, and Malaga in summer, and Caribbean fly-cruise from Barbados and Montego Bay in winter — with TUI charter flights included in the package from most UK regional airports.
Marella Voyager, the largest and newest ship in the fleet, operates year-round from Palma and Malaga on seven-night itineraries designed to slot cleanly into TUI's weekly charter-flight rotations. This is the structural advantage the brand has over independent fly-cruise operators: the flights are already there.