Disaster strikes onboard Marella Discovery 2. Amy goes missing. Somewhere between the kids’ club and our cabin. My six-year-old daughter has a lonely night without her.
The next morning, we retrace our steps from the night before – which is practically the length of the ship – and find Amy, a much-loved cuddly, safe and well, propped up on the housekeeping trolley of cabin attendant Lubaib, who had scooped her off the corridor floor a few hours earlier.
“To me this is just a cuddly, but I knew for a child, it would be everything,” he explains with a smile, returning Amy to her relieved owner.
Turns out it’s not the first time Lubaib has reunited cuddlies with their children. He once searched through dozens of bags of laundry to find a lost teddy, he tells us.
This encounter says all you need to know about the spirit of Marella Cruises. Before our voyage, I’d heard about the warm and friendly nature of the crew, and they certainly live up to expectations.
New friends
Over the course of our week-long ex-Limassol roundtrip Mediterranean cruise, we meet a cast of characters who help make our holiday – Emily, Ellie and the other girls in the M Club kids’ club; Steve and Millie, the activity hosts at the climbing wall; Benjie, our waiter in Restaurant 47; and Lucky, who gives my daughter her first proper manicure, in the Ocean Spa.
My two children can be pretty shy when they want to be – but on Marella Discovery 2, they unfurl their wings like social butterflies, high-fiving crew members all over the ship, busting out their dance moves in public, and shimmying up the climbing wall on the top deck with uncharacteristic amounts of bravado.
It’s our first cruise holiday as a family – and my children had no idea what to expect. But they quickly cotton on to the excitement of pulling back the curtains to find a different view there every morning. “Greece is amazing,” exclaims my daughter as we gaze upon the sunny island of Patmos, the quietest of all our port calls.
This is day four, and the first day we will go ashore. Day two was a sea day, and day three we skipped seeing the Roman ruins of Ephesus from Izmir in favour of more time onboard – arts and crafts in the M Club, a couple of rounds of mini golf, and braving the unheated waters of the main pool on deck.
It takes us more than an hour to get ashore in Patmos. There is a well-managed numbering system to join a tender; early birds catch the first tenders and all that.
Port discoveries
Once ashore, the port town of Skala is ideal for independent wandering. We have time for an unhurried lunch in a taverna by the waterside and a stroll around the cobbled streets, dipping in and out of souvenir shops and giving into the temptation of an ice cream parlour even though we are still full from lunch. The next day, Rhodes Old Town is equally convenient for going it alone, but does feel much more touristy.
In Marmaris, we sign up for one of the shore excursions – Dalyan River and Turtle Beach – which involves a one hour 20-minute coach ride to Dalyan, via a quick stop at some thermal mud baths. The children are quite happy to get dirty; less enamoured with the cold shower after.
Then it’s a leisurely boat ride down Dalyan River, past the impressive Lycian rock tombs of ancient kings, carved into the rock face, to spend an hour on a protected beach where loggerhead turtles nest. We do see turtles, but only because they cluster round the sightseeing boats where tourists feed them (despite signs telling people not to do so), so I’m not sure it really counts.
Our final port is the Turkish Riviera city of Alanya, which has a storied past thanks to its ancient fortifications and association with Cleopatra. It also has a party vibe, best summed up by a fleet of pirate schooners offering booze cruises.
That’s not our scene, so we zig zag up the hillside and, in a quiet street, stumble across an open-sided café with a stunning view of the city wrapped around the bay, mountains rising dramatically behind, and Marella Discovery 2 docked in the foreground. We don’t just have the best seats in the café – it feels like we have the best seats in Turkey as we sip our drinks.
Food, glorious food
Back on Marella Discovery 2, a strong contender for best seat in the house is fine dining venue Kora La. My husband and I head here after dropping the children in kids’ club for movie night. Surf & Turf steakhouse and the pan-Asian Kora La (which includes a Sushi Bar) are located on Deck 11, one of the highest points of the ship. These are speciality restaurants, requiring reservations and incurring an additional charge, but absolutely worth it.
The appetisers and curries in Kora La are very tasty and the staff extremely attentive. Reassured by the fact our offspring are happy in the kids’ club, this becomes a date night my husband and I so rarely get to do. The skies are slightly moody as Marella Discovery 2 sails away from Izmir, but a rainbow appears for romantic effect.
After this, my next favourite restaurant is the main dining room, 47, where we quickly build a rapport with our friendly servers, and the a la carte menu changes daily. There’s a children’s menu and colouring sheets, so it feels family-friendly despite the white linen table cloths and wine list.
