TUI Cruises
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Worst cruise ever
This is the second December Marella cruise we have taken, We have also cruised on three occasions during the Summer months. We have had no cause to complain with regard to the Summer cruises as indeed no cause for complaint on December 2023 cruise to the Canary Islands which in our opinion was excellent. In 2024 we had more or less the same itinerary but the ship was Explorer and not Discovery. Our initial reaction to the accommodation was a qualified positive one given that the ship had been recently refurbished however we could not help notice that the cabin and balcony sizes were less than Discovery. The balcony was considerably smaller than the one on Explorer. We understood from enquiring with the crew that this could have been part of the refurbishment. We had an early observation that the ship was cold. The cabin was cold as well but thankfully we were instructed in how to control the cabin heating. I am now going to enumerate the multiple complaints regarding the cruise and our expectations will be that we will receive a genuine engagement in this process not a “fobbing off” of a major UK leisure operator looking for internet “clicks” without really caring or paying attention to take remedial action. 1. Food and dining facilities – We found comparison between Discovery and Explorer quite frankly, shocking. In general, the restaurant 47 seemed to have the same choice as Explorer however on the first night we noticed that although the choice seemed the same the quality was poor and the choice was less exotic. When we were on Explorer my husband would regularly have prawn cocktail probably a universally popular starter however it was never on the menu. Another repeat dessert we liked on the Explorer was home made apple pie and custard. My husband and I ordered this on the first night to only find that not only was this not remote home made it was a rectangular tasteless clearly a frozen product probably not even worthy of a high street café. There were several other dishes that I rejected and although offered alternatives there was nothing in these remotely comparable to the food on Explorer. We could not help noticing that every vegetable was frozen and occasionally under thawed. We became desperate after a while and started using the serve yourself facility. Thi was slightly better but the vegetables were still not the same as we had had on Explorer. We tried other desserts and they were all mass produced and of a quality of a cheap supermarket product. We tried a fish dish with an exotic description only to find this was a minute piece of fish so watery it just disintegrated. This was the first holiday cruise or otherwise where my husband and I actually lost weight. We complained several times about the standard of the food including senior restaurant who promised to take this up with the chef but things did not improve. Having said all this the waiters and waitresses were attentive and accommodating. 2. Entertainment – Our cruise last year on the Explorer included a large group of young dancers and singers of a “West End” standard and performed every night. I don’t think there was any entertainment the first night. The second night was a tribute band based on the limited appeal audience for “Glam Rock”. The tribute band was imitating the Sweet. I think it must have been the third night we saw the musical theatre group. They were talented but the stage settings were sparce and clearly money was being saved here. The performances compared with Explorer were shorter and limited in scope with what we had experienced the year before. 3. Internet - We paid in excess of £40 for internet connection. It was either slow or non-existent. The connection was long drawn out . I would go to the desk and get them to connect me which they did. I would go back to the cabin call up the internet and a message would appear that there were connection problems. 4. As mention the ship was cold. We were not the only people to notice this. In fact on our return flight to Bournemouth the aeroplane was an hour late. By the time our plane arrived in Bournemouth our flight anf another came in at the same time. Being a regional and relatively small airport we queued for a long time and were delayed further in a cold car park waiting for our taxi. As a result of this we both went down with severe cold symptoms which required anti - biotics and have only passed in the last week. We were contacted by TUI by phone who offered an apology but were unwilling to give any assurance that would give us cause to book further holidays with this company.