Marella Cruises

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Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson Cruises) is a British cruise line operated by TUI UK, offering cruise holidays around Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia.

History

The company had initially entered the cruise market in 1973, but due to rising fuel costs the venture was terminated in 1976. In 1995, Thomson restarted their cruise line after their competitor Airtours had made a successful entry in the cruise business under their Sun Cruises brand. On 9 October 2017, TUI Group announced that Thomson Cruises would be rebranded in late October 2017 as Marella Cruises, with all of the existing Thomson fleet adopting the name change either from Thomson or TUI to Marella (except Thomson Spirit which will be renamed Spirit and Thomson Majesty which will be transferred to Celestyal Cruises). The line also announced that it would base TUI Discovery in Asia for the Winter season of 2018, with the ship being based out of Malaysia, the first in the line's history.[1]

MS Island Escape was added to the Thomson fleet in April 2009, as a result of parent company TUI's acquisition of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s share in Island Cruises that took place in 2008.[2] As of March 2013, Thomson operates the Island Escape under its all-inclusive Island Cruises brand.

In 2012, Marella Cruises holds approximately a 1% market share of the worldwide cruise industry.[3]

In March 2015, Royal Caribbean International announced that they had agreed to sell Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". to TUI Cruises in the second quarter of 2016, and that TUI would lease the ship to Thomson Cruises to replace the Island Escape.[4]

In May 2015, TUI Group announced that as part of their modernization strategy, TUI Cruises' Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". would be transferred to Thomson Cruises over the next few years.[5]

In October 2015, the Island Cruise brand was discontinued after the sole ship Island Escape completed her last scheduled cruise with Thomson Cruises.

In March 2017, it was announced that Mein Schiff 1 would join the fleet in May 2018, and would become the TUI Explorer.

In July 2017, Thomson had announced that they would be extending the Thomson Spirit Lease until October 2018, and she will be based out of Palma for 18 April and then based in Malaga from May 2018 with her last cruise being on 21 October 2018.

In March 2018, it was announced that Royal Caribbean Cruises and Ctrip were to close the SkySea Cruise Line brand and that the line's sole ship SkySea Golden Era would join the Marella fleet in place of Mein Schiff 2 which would stay with TUI Cruises.[6][7] The former Mein Schiff 2 was renamed Mein Schiff Herz and joined the Marella fleet in 2023 as Marella Voyager.

In April 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was announced that Marella Celebration would be immediately retired from the fleet.[8] The same was announced for Marella Dream in October 2020.[9] Both ships were scrapped in Aliaga, Turkey, in 2022.

In May 2021, with the cruise sector planning for revival following the COVID-19 pandemic, TUI were reported to be planning to merge Marella Cruises with their TUI Cruises joint venture with Royal Caribbean, as they had already done with Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.[10]

Fleet

Current fleet

Ship Built Builder Entered service
with Thomson/Marella Cruises		 Gross tonnage Flag Notes Image
Marella Discovery 1996 Chantiers de l'Atlantique 2016 69,130 tons File:Civil Ensign of Malta.svg Malta Previously Splendour of the Seas, TUI Discovery. Sub-chartered from TUI Cruises. Renamed Marella Discovery in October 2017. File:Marella Discovery in Tallinn Bay Tallinn 25 May 2018.jpg
Marella Discovery 2 1995 2017 69,130 tons File:Civil Ensign of the Bahamas.svg Bahamas Previously Legend of the Seas, TUI Discovery 2. Renamed Marella Discovery 2 in October 2017. File:Marella Discovery 2 at Argostoli.jpg
Marella Explorer 1996 Meyer Werft 2018 76,522 tons File:Civil Ensign of Malta.svg Malta Previously Celebrity Galaxy, Mein Schiff 1, sold to Marella in 2018.
originally planned to be named TUI Explorer		 File:Marella-Explorer-2019-12-12.jpg
Marella Explorer 2 1995 2019 71,545 tons File:Civil Ensign of Malta.svg Malta Previously Celebrity Century, SkySea Golden Era, sold to Marella in 2019. File:Tor Bay - Marella Explorer 2.JPG
Marella Voyager[11] 1997 2023 77,303 tons File:Civil Ensign of Malta.svg Malta Commenced Service as Mercury/Celebrity Mercury

originally planned to join the fleet in 2019 with the name TUI Explorer 2, later replaced by the SkySea Golden Era/Marella Explorer 2[12]

Replacement for the Marella Dream.[13]

File:Madeira. Funchal cruise ship port. The Marella Explorer, a TUI ship. (51860206065).jpg

Two newbuilts to be built at Fincantieri, Italy are planned for 2030 and 2032.[14][15][16]

Former fleet

Ship Built Builder In service
with Marella		 Gross Tonnage Notes Image
SS Ithaca 1956 Deutsche Werft 1973– 1976 8,977 tons scrapped 2003
SS Calypso 1955 Harland & Wolff 1975–1976 20,204 tons originally Southern Cross, scrapped 2004 File:"Azure Seas" - Port Everglades, 1991.jpg
SS Island Breeze 1962 John Brown & Co. 1997–2000 26,632 tons scrapped 2003 File:"The Big Red Boat III" & "Rembrandt" - Freeport, 2001.jpg
MS Sapphire 1967 Cantieri Navale Felszegi 1996–2002 12,263 tons scrapped 2012 File:Sapphire in Malaga, Spain.jpg
SS The Topaz 1956 Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering 1997–2003 25,516 tons scrapped 2008 File:The topaz (2459865684).jpg
SS The Emerald 1958 Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock 1997–2008 26,431 tons scrapped 2012 File:The Emerald in Venice, Italy on May 13, 2008.jpg
Marella Spirit 1983 Chantiers de l'Atlantique 2003–2018 33,930 tons scrapped 2018 File:"Thomson Spirit" - Dubrovnik, 2010 (cropped).jpg
Marella Celebration 1984 2005–2020 33,960 tons scrapped 2022 File:MS Thomson Celebration in Istanbul.JPG
Thomson Destiny 1982 Wärtsilä Hietalahti shipyard 2005–2012 37,584 tons scrapped 2025 File:El Crucero Thomson Destiny en Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Islas Canarias (6636537143) (cropped).jpg
The Calypso 1967 Fincantieri 2006–2009 11,162 tons scrapped 2013 File:The Calypso cruise ship at Rhodes, Greece 2008.jpeg
Island Escape 1982 Dubigeon-Normandie S.A 2009–2015 40,132 tons scrapped 2018 File:Island Escape IMO 8002597 02 @chesi.JPG
Marella Dream 1986 Meyer Werft 2010-2020 54,763 tons scrapped 2022 File:Marella Dream IMO 8407735 04.jpg
Thomson Majesty 1992 Kvaerner Masa-Yards 2012-2015 40,876 tons Currently operating for Mano Maritime. File:Thomson Majesty (ship, 1992) IMO 8814744; Split, 2013-05-07.jpg

References

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