Marella Discovery 2

Launched in 1995 as "Legend of the Seas", Marella Discovery cruise ship (formerly "TUI Discovery 2") is one of the first Vision-class Royal Caribbean ships, with sister-vessels Vision, Grandeur, Enchantment, Rhapsody, and Splendour (now Marella Discovery). The vessel is fully-owned by TUI and chartered via the parent company TUI Cruises. Its operations for Marella Cruises (formerly "Thomson Cruises", TUI's subsidiary company) started in May 2017.

History - construction and ownership

Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson Cruises UK) is a British passenger shipping company and trademarked travel brand owned by TUI Group. The company entered the cruise market in 1973 via Thomson Holidays (now TUI UK), but due to rising fuel costs, this service was terminated in 1976. Thomson Cruises restarted passenger shipping operations in 1995. The Thomson brand was renamed to "Marella Cruises" in 2018. Marella's parent company (TUI Group) owns hotels, the sister-companies TUI Cruises, Marella Cruises, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, the travel brands International Expeditions and Zegrahm Expeditions, also aircraft and the airlines Corsair International (France), TUI Airways (UK), TUI fly Nordic (Sweden), TUI fly Belgium, TUI fly Deutschland, TUI fly the Netherlands.

In April 2017, Legend of the Seas was transferred to the UK cruise line Marella Cruises (then Thomson Cruises) - an RCCL-TUI joint venture cruise company. The vessel started operations as "TUI Discovery 2" on May 14, 2017 (for itineraries see in the Wiki section below). No financial details about the deal were disclosed.

Cruise itinerary program

Legend of the Seas itinerary program was based predominantly on Australia cruises from Brisbane, and on Southeast Asia cruises out of Singapore.

Marella Discovery 2 sets sail on her maiden customer cruise on May 14, 2017, sailing the Continental Coasts itinerary, with ports of call including Barcelona, Marseille, and Valencia.

Homeported in Malaga Spain for summer 2017, Marella Discovery 2 visited some of the most iconic Mediterranean port destinations, such as Barcelona, Ibiza, Valencia, Oporto, Lisbon, and Marseille prior to the repositioning to homeport Tenerife Canaries for roundtrips to ports Canaries, Madeira Island, and Morocco. In December, the ship repositions to homeport Montego Bay Jamaica for Caribbean roundtrip itineraries visiting Central American ports - in Belize, Cuba, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Panama.

Cabins

Most staterooms are 150-190-sq.foot balcony cabins. There are a total of 915 staterooms in 26 categories. 17 are the wheelchair accessible rooms. The largest accommodations are the Royal Suites (1000 ft2).

Shipboard dining options - Food and Drinks

Marella Discovery 2 dining options include the Main restaurant, along with two a la carte restaurants, Chef's Table, Lido restaurant, Café, and Snack bar.

Shipboard entertainment options - Fun and Sport

Marella Discovery 2 is introducing innovative technologies onboard to enhance customer experience, in addition to the wide variety of facilities. Launching on the maiden voyage of the ship, the new onboard app ‘Navigate’ enables passengers to view onboard accounts, information about entertainment schedules and facilities, and book onboard extras like excursions, spa treatments, and tables in the stylish a la carte restaurants. The app (free to use) is hosted on the network of Marella Discovery 2 and will open on any browser, so guests are not required to download it or buy wi-fi packages.

Also, brand new for the vessel is Virtual Reality Experience, where passengers can use HTC Vive headsets to experience virtual reality and play games, explore universes or make 3D paintings. The onboard photobooth Green Screen Room allows guests to take a picture with a background of their own choice. New shows as part of the entertainment onboard include Chaplin, Brexfactor, Steel City and Festival Live.

Other facilities include: a Broadway Show Lounge, five-storey Atrium & Bar, Sky Bar, Pool Bar, The Coffee Port, Lounge Bar, Cocktail & Piano bar, Oceans Spa, Beauty Salon and Gym, 2 swimming pools, 4 jacuzzis, solarium, Rock climbing wall, Minigolf, Outdoor Movie Screen, 24-hour Room service (extra charge), casino, Marella Kids' Club, Video Arcade, library with Internet access, Broad Street Shops, Photo Gallery.

Marella Discovery 2 cruise ship was acquired by the Marella cruise line in April 2017. The vessel's name TUI Discovery 2 was announced in early June 2016. With the names of both former RCI ships, the parent company TUI Cruises decided to change the traditional "Thomson" name with "TUI" for the sole reason to popularize the German brand in the UK market.

Marella's Discovery 2 ship joined the fleet in September 2017. Another former RCI ship in the UK fleet is Marella Discovery (formerly TUI Discovery and Splendour of the Seas). Both ships are the line's biggest ever (each with 915 staterooms, 40% of which are with private balconies). Other new for the Marella fleet features are the multiple dining options, 9-hole mini-golf course, large casino, indoor swimming pool. The theater lounge is 800+ seats. The transformed RCI Legend is Marella UK's second ship with Outdoor Movie Screen, Rock-Climbing Wall, and Ice Skating Rink. It is also the line's second vessel to be operated with an all-inclusive drink package included as a standard amenity.

The Apollo Group company was contracted for providing both Marella Discovery ships (1 and 2) with the entire onboard hotel product and services. This includes administration, food staff (preparation and serving), housekeeping staff, also the vessel's provisioning and crewing. Apollo also assisted in the refit and refurbishment of the former Legend of the Seas (done in Singapore). For Marella Cruises, Apollo Group is also managing the ships Marella Celebration and Marella Dream. Other luxury cruise lines served by Apollo are Oceania (6 ships fleet) and RSSC Regent Seven Seas (4 ships fleet).

Marella Discovery 2 itineraries

Marella's Discovery 2 cruise itinerary program (home-port, exact itineraries, and dates) will be announced shortly. What was initially known for sure was that the ship will operate on Mediterranean itineraries (leaving from Malaga Spain) and Canary Islands cruises (out of Tenerife to ports in the Canaries, as well as Morocco and Funchal Madeira). Marella Discovery 2 cruises were available for booking since July 21, 2016.

Ship's "Inaugural Cruise" (maiden voyage / ever first itinerary for Marella UK) was 7-days roundtrip from Malaga. The themed "Continental Coasts" voyage started on May 14, following the vessel's drydock refurbishment in Cadiz Spain. Next table shows the inaugural itinerary's port of call and port times. Prices started from USD 775 pp (double occupancy rates).

Legend Of The Seas ship

• Cabin grades number: 26
• Total number of cabins: 915 (of which 87 Suites, 144 Balcony rooms)
• Dining Rooms: Romeo & Juliet
• Restaurants and food bars: Windjammer (buffet), Park Cafe (deli), Chops Grille (steakhouse), Izumi (Asian)
• Lounges & Bars: Anchors Aweigh, Concierge, Diamond, Viking Crown (nightclub), Optix (teen), Adventure Ocean (kids), R Bar, Ben & Jerry’s, Schooner, Cafe Latte-tudes, poolside bars
• Amenities: Complimentary 24-hour Room-Service, Adventure Ocean (Youth program), Internet/WiFi Access, Laundry.
• Vitality at Sea Spa, 4 jacuzzis, 3 pools, Rock-climbing Wall, Outdoor Theater, Nursery
• Legend was built in 1995 in France, by the shipbuilding company Chantiers de l'Atlantique. Godmother of the vessel is Cindy Pritzker, wife of Jay Pritzker, member of the Board of Royal Caribbean. The maiden voyage began on the 16th of May, 1995.
• In the RCI fleet, Legend is the ship that has sailed the most. During her career, the veteran has changed destinations in all continents of the world – in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, Central America, South Pacific, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Baltic and the Middle East.
• Like on all Royal Caribbean cruise ships, Legend's atrium is called "Centrum", and on the top of it is the best observation place on the ship - the Viking Crown observation lounge. Public rooms are well let in the sunshine due to their large glass expanses. The ship is a classy, bright, elegant, with a charming ambiance of marble, brass, glass and live palm trees. As one of the older RCI vessels, Legend was extensively refurbished in 2013, receiving a lot of the line's famous upgrades, like the Giovanni’s and the Izumi restaurants, the Chef’s Table, the R Bar, the steakhouse Chops Grille, the huge outdoor movie screen, better Wi-Fi coverage, the Centrum's new aerial entertainment, the Park Cafe deli, the digital signage.
• On June 2, 2016, RCI announced that in April 2017 Legend of the Seas will be sold to Thomson Cruises and renamed TUI Discovery 2. Legend's last RCI cruise was scheduled for March 13, 2017 (13-night Suez Canal repositioning from Dubai to Barcelona). All scheduled cruises (February 20, 2017 onward) were canceled, including the entire 2017 Mediterranean season (departures from Venice Italy, June through October), five round-trip Brisbane Australia departures (Feb 20, Mar 2, 9, 21 and 31), plus the scheduled relocation cruises from Australia to Asia and Europe - 18-day Brisbane to Hong Kong (Apr 9), 7-day Hong Kong to Singapore (Apr 27), 13-day Singapore to Dubai (May 4) and 16-day Suez Canal Dubai to Venice (May 18).
• The new repositioning 2017 itineraries were February 20 (11-night Brisbane to Singapore), March 3 (10-night Singapore to Dubai) and March 13 (13-night Dubai to Barcelona).
• The ship's last RCI cruise was the 13-day Suez Canal transition (March 13-26) from Dubai to Barcelona. All booked on the affected itineraries received a full refund, the option to re-book on another RCI ship plus onboard credit (used on the re-booked cruises). All with purchased through Royal Caribbean airfare were also fully refunded. Those with their own flights were refunded for the airline change fee. Travel agency commissions were protected for all paid in full cruises.
• During its 22 years of RCI service, the ship has sailed over 600 cruises without major accidents. This was RCI's most-traveled vessel ever.

The following tables show Legend Of The Seas' last itineraries for Royal Caribbean International. Tickets prices started from around USD 400 pp per day (double occupancy rates).

14 nights / 15 days, round-trip Australia to New Zealand.

(repositioning) 11 nights / 12 days, Brisbane to Singapore

(repositioning) 10 nights / 11 days, Singapore to Dubai

And the last one (repositioning) 13 nights / 14 days, Dubai to Barcelona

Farewell RCI, hello TUI! Godspeed to the new ship!

Legend of the Seas review

The main Dining Room, Romeo, and Juliet is an elegant mix of tan and cream. Overhead, in the middle of the 2-deck room, a light fixture made of crystals and giant mirrors create a flowerlike structure. Tables are available in a variety of configurations seating from 2 to 8 people. At lunchtime, Romeo & Juliet changes into Brasserie 30, which has a salad bar and dishes from noon to 1:30 p.m. The Windjammer, located on Deck 9 forward, is Legend's nautically themed buffet. A chef at a special omelet station can make an omelet for you while you watch. The Windjammer is also a good fee-free casual dinner option. You'll find the same fare as in the dining room, but you'll have to serve yourself from the buffet. Park Cafe, situated in the adults-only Solarium, is a dining option added during the 2013 refurb. It offers free light fare throughout the day, such as sandwiches, salads, soups, carved meats, cookies, and other light desserts.

Follows the complete list of Legend of the Seas restaurants and food bars.

• Romeo & Juliet Restaurant (1020-seat aft Dining Room; offers Brasserie 30 lunch on sea days; Chef's Table)
• Windjammer Cafe Lido buffet restaurant (546-seat, offers Early Breakfast at 6:30 a.m., Breakfast between 7:00-11:30 a.m., Lunch 11.30-3:30 p.m. and Dinner 6.30-9:00 p.m.)
• Chops Grille (62-seat specialty restaurant; reservations recommended)
• Izumi (Asian specialty restaurant)
• Park Cafe (84-seat deli restaurant; complimentary - serves the Solarium area).

Most public rooms onboard Legend of the Seas are located on Decks 4 and 5, all radiating out from the central 7-story atrium full of glass elevators and faux palm trees. On Deck 4, there’s flashy Casino Royale, the crowded That’s Entertainment Theatre, the nautically themed Schooner Bar for relaxation and piano entertainment, and the Champagne Bar which offers musical entertainment as well. Deck 5's central area is dominated by a number of small shops, while Anchors Aweigh Lounge offers a mix of live music and dancing. Up at the top of the ship, on Deck 11 is the Viking Crown observation lounge turning into a disco by night. For kids, the playroom Adventure Ocean is stocked with toys and games. As for teens, there is the Optix Teen Disco and a video arcade.

Follows the complete list of Legend of the Seas lounges, clubs and other entertainment venues for kids, teens, and adults.

• That’s Entertainment Theatre (800-seat, features grand production shows with dance, acrobatics, comedy, and games)
• Photo Gallery & Shop; Art Gallery
• The Centrum (7-deck atrium and social hub, offers aerial acrobatics entertainment); Anchors Aweigh Lounge (550-seat show entertainment lounge); Diamond Club & Lounge; Concierge Club (suite and past guests only); Viking Crown Lounge & Nightclub
• R Bar (33-seat cocktail bar); Cafe Latte-tudes Bar (36-seat specialty coffee bar, Starbucks Coffee); Schooner Bar (104-seat piano bar)
• Centrum Boutiques (duty-free; clothes, perfumes, accessories, jewelry, logo souvenirs, General Store/alcohol, and cigarettes)
• Casino Royale (240-seat)
• Royal Caribbean Online center (Internet computers room; 24-hour)
• Vitality at Sea Spa & Fitness Center
• Solarium lounge (includes Cafe Bar, pool bar and adults only pool area)
• Outdoor Movie Screen
• Video Games Arcade; Optix Teen Center & Disco Club; Royal Babies & Tots Nursery
• Adventure Beach; Adventure Ocean kids lounge area
• Sports Court (golf simulator, table tennis, basketball court); Legend of the Links mini golf course; Jogging Track; Rock-climbing Wall.