Marella Cruises announced the retirement of the chartered from Costa Cruises ship Marella Dream. The 34-yo vessel leaves the fleet after 10 years of service, joining TUI Cruises as Thomson Dream in 2010.
The departure of Marella Dream is part of a plan to reshape the line’s programme for the upcoming seasons. All voyages scheduled to take place on the ship between October 26, 2021, and beyond will be cancelled.
Booked passengers will be notified and able to book onto another sailing, receiving a 10 % booking incentive, or receive a full refund.
In order to protect next year's Mediterranean season, Marella Cruises transferred all Marella Dream summer cruises to Marella Discovery which will now sail from Palma de Mallorca (Majorca Island, Balearic Spain) instead of Port Canaveral Florida USA, stepping in for Dream‘s Mediterranean voyages.
This means that Marella Discovery‘s new US destinations for the 2021 summer have been cancelled, including American Dream, Big Apple Adventure, East Coast Adventure, Floridian Adventures, Sunshine and Jazz, and Sunshine State and Sands itineraries.
Marella Cruises said it will contact affected passengers. Like on Marella Dream, it offers a 10% rebooking incentive or full refund.
Marella UK is not currently operating voyages due to COVID restrictions and uncertainty within the ship cruising industry. As a result, Marella Cruises is offering more flexibility for the 2020 winter cruises, allowing guests to amend any trip for free before October 31.
Hopefully, Marella Dream will be sold and used again for passenger shipping (or hotel ship) and not scrapped.