We woke up late. That’s what happens when you stay up into the early hours drinking.
With the Suez Canal behind us we had a final full day at sea aboard Marella Discovery and it would be spent recovering from the hangover kneading its tiny hangover claws into our brains and seeing what manner of relaxation a gentle cruise down the Gulf of Suez, around the Sinai Peninsula, and up the Gulf of Aqaba might bring.
It’s traditional for us to emerge from our slumber when one or other receives an urgent message from the bladder department. With cabins on a cruise ship being very dark and with the pair of us being clumsy oafs this typically involves at least one stubbed toe and a clattering into something on the stagger across to the bathroom that will waken the other, and if that doesn’t do it then switching on the light usually does the trick. While the first person is engaged the second will then tend to open the curtains for a moment of blindness before the outside world reveals itself.
Open sea and the occasional oil platform was the order of the day from our balcony.
We’d actually woken early enough that after breakfast we were able to head down to the Broadway Show Lounge for a backstage tour. We’d never done one of these before on any ship so didn’t know what to expect. Upon arriving we saw a group of around two dozen passengers and two members of the entertainments team gathered at the foot of the stage. One of the staff mentioned they’d never had so many people turn up before so after a quick gathering on the stage to explain where the various bits of lighting and moving areas were, where the scenery was stored, that sort of thing, we were split into two groups to explore the backstage areas in sensible numbers.
There were two main areas behind the stage in the lounge: to the left were the audio and video monitors, electrical equipment, and some props storage, including some huge skeletons; to the right there was more prop storage and the dressing area with clothing and wigs for the shows that were put on.
It was small and cramped and our host explained that costume changes were swift, often involved help with one person pulling pieces off while things were being put on by someone else, there was no point being coy about nudity because it happened a lot out of necessity, and that storage was severely limited on a ship like Marella Discovery so there was plenty more equipment and clothing all over the vessel in various locations.
What we could easily tell from the tour was just how much the entertainers liked working on Discovery. Technically, they are contractors hired from an entertainments company so they can move from ship-to-ship and from line-to-line every season. Previously, we were told, they’d worked on P&O and while the P&O ship was bigger and the stage area was larger and the backstage area was nicer and more sensibly-arranged, as contracted entertainers they were considered not quite part of the crew and often mocked for doing less work whereas with Marella they were treated as part of the whole family and the hard work of rehearsing, looking after their own equipment, helping out where they could, etc. was respected. That general feeling of the staff enjoying working for Marella was a common theme during this cruise and speaks volumes about the company.
The tour wasn’t long because there wasn’t a huge amount to see but it was entertaining, there were plenty of anecdotes about mishaps, and all questions were answered. We enjoyed it and would do it again.
In an earlier travelogue covering this cruise to Jordan I’d taken a walk around the ship on arrival to get some first impressions of Marella Discovery with the aid of my camera. It’s what I do. My wife had accompanied me on that exploration of the ship because it made sense to but when I mentioned that I’d be taking advantage of the clear skies on this final sea day to head off for a second photographic tour of the vessel I already knew it was going to be a solo affair. I left her in the Live Lounge with her Kindle and went for a stroll to capture more shots of this vessel we’d very quickly found ourselves liking.
First stop was the atrium and it was a space that we’d come to appreciate a lot because of the light streaming in from the tall windows either side of its floors and from the skylight at the top. The two aspects that we weren’t quite so keen about were those steps at the bottom – very shiny, very reflective, very disconcerting when walking down them; although we never actually tripped or missed a step and didn’t see anyone else do so either – and the general lack of seating, particularly in the evening when events might be taking place in the area.
In front of the bank of elevators around midship on each floor is a perspex model of the ship indicating where things can be found. Marella Discovery isn’t huge so within a couple of days you likely won’t need to refer to this but it’s there in case you are incapable of remembering a few numbers.
Another thing I liked about Discovery was that it’s floors were – or seemed to be – slightly lower in height than those on other cruise ships on which we’d travelled. This was most noticeable (if indeed it’s true at all; I can’t be bothered to find out for certain because there are limits to my fact-finding and this is beyond them) on the stairwells which were generally quite easy to walk up. Compared to a Grand-class ship with Princess or P&O where we tend to be a “Well, we might walk up two floors but any more and we’ll take the lift” couple, we had no real trouble with walking up any number on Discovery. I traipsed right to the top of the ship and to our usual haunt at the end of each night, Bar Eleven.
Adjacent to the stylish nightclub venue and forward with a nice view out over the swimming pool on the ship’s top deck was the Kora La speciality dining restaurant in which we’d dined on our third night aboard.
The night before that we’d dined in the Surf & Turf Steakhouse which was also just off Bar Eleven and to the aft of Discovery.
The next destination for my short tour of Marella Discovery was the aft of the ship. Down a flight of stairs from Bar Eleven and before heading out there was a piece of abstract art that reminded me of the Sibelius Monument in Helsinki. I liked it.
At the aft of Discovery is a climbing wall. Before we’d taken this cruise I’d said to my wife that if I got the chance then I would definitely have a go on the wall. Well, I had the chance and didn’t but in my defence it’s because I always assume that everyone around me is a thieving toerag and there was no way I was going to put down my camera around strangers while I scaled a rough surface that looked like it had been shot at by a blunderbuss loaded with Skittles. That’s right: I’m blaming my wife and her not being around to guard my camera equipment for me not experiencing the thrill of ascending a wall at sea and the humiliating trauma of being lowered gently by a team of staff when my grip inevitably failed or my knee popped out because my legs can’t do that any longer a third of the way up.
I stood and watched one passenger ascend and descend the wall, though, and enjoyed the sun beating down on me in this quite sheltered spot on the ship.
I didn’t really enjoy the sun beating down on me in that quite sheltered spot; it was baking hot and neither of us cope well with hot. Other people seemed to enjoy lounging out near the view of the wake but while I find the wake attractive (who doesn’t?) I don’t like being cooked so a few photos of the area sufficed before I continued on my way.
Directly in front of the climbing wall was the miniature golf course. It was a good size and a good layout for a cruise ship and a few people were making use of it.
The rest of the top deck afforded some pleasing views along the ship’s length and around the swimming pool area which always make for decent photos when promoting cruises unless you don’t like crowds of semi-naked, overweight people on loungers everywhere.
Our biggest disappointment with Marella Discovery was probably the pool space. We like to swim and had expected we’d be doing so most days on this cruise but it wasn’t to be. Remember that thing about me always assuming people are thieving toerags and not wanting to let things out of my sight? Well, it applies to the pair of us and we don’t feel comfortable in pools if we can’t see where our bags and towels are, and when you’ve got a pool area with every single lounger in a fifty metre radius occupied from first light then that pretty much rules us out from using it.
Now, you’re possibly thinking “Well, couldn’t you have used the indoor pool?” and the answer to that is yes, we could, if it hadn’t been for one tiny probem: we forgot it was there. I’m going to blame our familiarity with other ships here and the location of the buffet and gym as being the issue. On other ships we’ve cruised on the buffet has tended to be beyond the indoor pool relative to our cabin so we pass through it on the way while the gym has tended to be right where we couldn’t care less about going. That wasn’t the case on Discovery. Beyond the indoor pool was the gym and the only thing we can say about gyms on cruise ships is that we’re aware they exist. The buffet was in the opposite direction. The result was that we possibly only ventured into the indoor pool area and the Glass House venue sharing the space on two occasions together, both late at night after we’d been drinking. In fact, when I got back from my Discovery trek I did remind my wife that the indoor pool was an actual thing and that it looked reasonably quiet but this late into the cruise we’d both gotten quite used to doing stuff all so decided not to bother.
Outside the inside pool (I think that makes sense) and surrounding the main pool was a bar which I don’t think we used at all and the Snack Shack which we used almost every day. I’ve said it before and I’ll likely say it again but Marella’s battered fish pieces in this location are to die for. Possibly even to kill for.
Back into the ship I next found myself in Gallery 47° overlooking Restaurant 47°. The restaurant provides another place you can grab lunch on a sea day on Marella Discovery if the Snack Shack or the Islands buffet aren’t your thing and there were people doing exactly that when I visited.
As I passed back through the atrium on the way to the lounges at the other end of the ship I discovered that a choir practice was taking place. This seems to be a fairly common activity on cruises with passengers invited to come along, learn a few songs, and belt them out in a performance towards the end of the holiday but you probably won’t be surprised to learn that it’s not the sort of thing that appeals to us. I mimed along to hymns and songs at school or church when I was young and I’m going to assume that’s why my ability to hold a note now is listed in The Big Book of Things That Simply Aren’t. It’s for everyone’s benefit that I don’t join in now.
To complete my self-guided excursion of Marella Discovery’s highlights I passed through the shopping arcade and briefly entered the Squid & Anchor where a close-up magic demonstration was taking place before returning to the Live Lounge where my wife was busy reading.
The afternoon saw us failing miserably in the trivia games with Paul and Carole once again and enjoying some views of the Sinai Peninsula from our balcony as evening approached and we were getting ready for dinner.
Dinner was once again in the gallery part of the main dining room and its Italian menu. We had a central view over the restaurant and even got to look down on our quizzing and drinking and blogging companions who were seated directly below us.
Dinner was as lovely as it had been every other night of the cruise.
The evening of this last sea day for us on Marella Discovery included some activities in the atrium featuring the Captain’s Dance (a Mayfair Quickstep) and the Crew Flag Parade, bits of both of which you can see in the following video. We were quite pleased to be able to find some seats for this and were joined by Paul and Carole once again for some drinks and entertainment from the crew.
We all decided not to have a late night in Bar Eleven like the night before because the following day – our last full one on Marella Discovery – would find us in the Jordanian port of Aqaba where we all had early excursions to set off for. The next post in this travelogue series will feature the first part of our visit to the ancient city of Petra.