Marella Cruises review as a disabled person

As I finish off this blog post, it’s been just over a month since we got home. Life got busy and I struggled to find the time to sit down and write. However, do not mistake that for a lack of enjoyment! We had the time of our lives and it was an incredible introduction to cruises — I have a feeling it will not be our last!

Here’s my review of the Magical Mediterranean itinerary onboard the Marella Explorer as a disabled person.

Overall thoughts on accessibility

At the end of April we flew from Manchester Airport and boarded the Marella Explorer in Palma. We could not believe how big the ship was. Doing research online beforehand did not do it justice. From a practical point of view, this is something I struggled with. I had not factored in all the walking we’d do on the ship. I assumed most of the walking would be done on excursions, so bear this in mind if you have reduced mobility.

It was obvious the staff received disability awareness training. Every single person asked me what I wanted when ordering food or drinks, and spoke to me rather than the person I was with. While this like a sound like a simple request, people often talk to others about what I want or need. It was a refreshing change to not experience this for a whole week!

We had an accessible cabin with a porthole. I was pleasantly surprised by the size and the bathroom had grab rails with a fold down seat in the shower. It suited my access needs well. 

Magical Mediterranean itinerary 

Our itinerary was:

• Day 1: Palma, Majorca 
• Day 2: At sea
• Day 3: Ajaccio, Corsica 
• Day 4: Civitavecchia (for Rome), Italy
• Day 5: Salerno, Italy
• Day 6: Messina (for Mount Etna), Sicily
• Day 7: Argostoli, Kefalona
• Day 8: Corfu Town, Corfu 

We chose this itinerary due to it covering multiple places in Italy. We’d never been to most of the ports, so it felt like a great chance to get sample a variety of countries too. 

Initially we would have preferred our ‘at sea’ day to be in the middle or near the end of the trip. We thought it would have been a great chance for me to relax and recuperate after some very busy days. However, by the time we’d settled in, the day at sea was a perfect chance to unwind after a long travel day and learn our way around the ship. 

Excursions

We booked our excursions through the TUI app a few months before we went on the trip. This allowed us to spread out the cost, but also to ensure we got on the trips we wanted. 

While we had the best time on all of our excursions, it was a lot! Physically, I really struggled to keep up the pace in the last few days. We had expected this to happen, so on day 6 we chose Taormina on our own. This meant we got a coach there and back, but were not escorted round by a tour guide. We could take our time and do less. While we loved running around cities, this chilled day eating food and slowly browsing shops was actually one of our favourites. 

Read more: The accessibility of museums and galleries in Liverpool

If we were to do a cruise again, I don’t think we’d have an excursion every day. That being said, I don’t regret it. We saw so much and it felt like we had been on holiday for way over 8 days. 

It was also great to have excursions options that required less walking and would have been more accessible. Even if the excursion itself wasn’t considered ‘less walking’ the crew were still able to reserve us front row seats on the coach which made it easier and allowed us to board before other passengers. This small adjustment really helped. 

Food

The cruise is all inclusive for food and drinks, with certain drinks and restaurants needing you to have a premium package or pay a small amount. That said, we never used the paid options as it really wasn’t needed. We had access to house spirits, including some cocktails, and some of the included restaurants were three course fine dining.

It was great to see the food clearly labelled when it came to allergies and the staff seemed very helpful and knowledgeable about the dishes.

I can promise you one thing, you will not go hungry! A wide selection of food was almost always available. Our favourite place on an evening was Latitude 53. Here you had a daily menu of a three course meal to choose from. 

I really liked how menus for that day could be looked at using the cruise control app while onboard the ship… even if the choice of where to eat was a tough one!

Where to next?

I have a feeling this won’t be out last cruise. We’d love to explore more of Italy and we have looked into a river cruise. So if you have any recommendations, let me know!

~ Chloe x