Having introduced the cruise yesterday, almost the first thing we did, as it was a new ship to the fleet, was to nip round taking some photos. However it's such a big ship that the following photos are from throughout the week 19-26 May.
Although we boarded her in Palma de Mallorca, Marella Explorer was too long to get a good photo from the dock. This was taken a couple of days later, in Palermo, Sicily. Explorer started life as MV Galaxy in 1996 for Celebrity Cruises, being renamed Celebrity Galaxy in line with company policy in 2008.
In 1998 the BBC featured her in their programme The Cruise, which made a star out of onboard singer Jane McDonald. She (the ship) transferred to TUI as Mein Schiff in 2009 and became Mein Schiff 1 a year later when the company mislaid their imagination and named another ship Mein Schiff 2 - unfortunately something they thought was a good idea to be replicated about the fleet... We are on her first cruise as Marella Explorer. Explorer 2 will be along before all that long.
Miss Franny is in Cabin 9108 on Deck 9. Luckily it is our cabin or someone would have been annoyed... We have a balcony with two chairs, a table and a hammock. I don't think I'll be clambering in and out of a hammock somehow...
In the middle of the ship is a high atrium, stretching upwards from Deck 5 where the Reception Desk and Destination Services are, up to Deck 8 which has a Gamer Zone for people with twiddly thumbs and The Attic which houses a library.
On the way up, Deck 6 has a Coffee Shop around the atrium space and Deck 7 has the Broad Street Shops. Gents should be wary in this area...
Against the wall of the atrium is a three storeys high video screen which shows scenes such as seascapes and waterfalls and which can be very spectacular.
There is a selection of seating around the ship! This is a decorous way of sitting on it... Others chose to curl along it! (Actually Miss Franny did shortly after this photo...)
There seemed to be pianos all over the place! But only one pink one. The Lounge was on Deck 6 between the atrium and the main restaurant which we shall see in a moment.
This little space is located between the Lounge and the restaurant lifts on Deck 6.
Latitude 53 is the name of the spectacular restaurant which occupies the rear of the ship on Decks 5 and 6.
Yet another piano sits on a space halfway down the steps from one level to the other and we heard it tinkling a couple of times as we had our evening meal.
Looking forwards from the stern windows. We ate in here every night on the row of tables for two against the wooden partition on the right. This was the station of waiter Rohman and his team.
The Squid and Anchor, at the rear of Deck 7, was a version of an English pub. I helped lighten the load of cans of Guinness a few times here...
Our corridor. This is half only of the full length of the ship as the cabins at either end of the ship had smaller balconies and the corridor fore and aft was closer to the side of the ship and out of sight here.
Way up at the top of the ship, Deck 12 had a Crazy Golf course!
Looking down from the gallery on Deck 12 over the Pool Deck on Deck 11, we are dodging the fitter passengers as there is a jogging track around the opening to Deck 11. I can't remember just how many times it was to run a mile, but if you were training for a marathon you'd have been dizzy before being tired! Keep an eye open for the biggest rubber duck on the seven seas!
The same view from the other end. On balmy evenings you could watch films on the big screen. Here it is showing something called "Virtual Band" - studio recordings of a live band on a stage. These featured in some of the bars and as a musician myself I was disappointed that a bigger ship and more bars did not mean more live bands and musicians. There was no atmosphere with the films; you couldn't interact or ask for requests and applauding was meaningless, not that anyone did... It's stuff like this that makes modern audiences so unthinking when seeing a live artist - talking loudly, never applauding and being so ignorant as to approach mid song to talk to the artist. How on earth do they think you can talk and sing at the same time? There should have been at least two party bands onboard and more cabaret-style singers/duos.
The Indigo Bar (Indigo / Outdicome) was aimed at younger cruisers.
It had a nightclub with booths and dancefloor and sometimes hosted "silent discos" which I surmise (I didn't try it) means you wear headphones and dance to your own choice of music whilst texting and trying to avoid any actual contact with (ugh!) another human being. What a world we are creating...
Indigo also has the onboard casino. On our second ever cruise in 2005 I won £75 on the last night and immediately cashed in my chips and haven't gambled since then. No point in pushing my luck...!
Coming down to Deck 11, this is the bar that faces the pool. The pool area is smaller and with far less seating than the older ships in the fleet. Probably because with so many cabins having balconies that it was felt unnecessary. I recommend reading Isaac Asimov's book The Naked Sun to see what happens eventually when people become too scared to be in the presence of another human. But then... how many younger people read books these days?
Luckily there are still several places where you can happily nudge accidentally and bump into and even talk and make friends with other people on the ship. It's a very rewarding exercise. The Market Place on Deck 11 is the informal self-service restaurant. We used it when on excursions that were too early a start to allow us to use the waiter service restaurant in Latitude 53.
Marella Dream remains my favourite ship in the fleet, though I suspect we will find ourselves on the bigger ships again at some point. Meanwhile I'm looking forward to another trip on the Celebration later on in the year! Blimey - and I haven't told you all about this trip yet!
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