Marella Discovery passed Stromboli on the morning of our first day at sea, something we’d been quite keen to see as we’re quite fond of a volcano on our travels. We hadn’t known what time of the morning it would take place, though, so we didn’t set an alarm (well, we were on holiday) and that decision as well as the one to stay late in Bar Eleven the night before put paid to that experience. I guess we’ll just have to try this trip again at some point.
The sea view from our balcony upon waking was lovely because it was a view of the sea and that’s one of the big draws of travelling by cruise ship. With us being on the port side of the vessel and with it heading roughly south this meant we had the sun in the morning. An unbroken view of the Mediterranean wasn’t possible, though, as we were hugging the coastline of Italy and were in the process of beginning the cruise through the Strait of Messina. This is the narrow stretch of water separating Italy from Sicily and has been the subject of proposed plans to build a bridge over it on several occasions in the past.
Breakfast was taken out by the pool area after we’d selected what we wanted in the buffet. For my wife this was a chance to do a little happy dance because she’d found hash browns. She likes hash browns. I like hash browns too but not to her level. I don’t think anyone likes them to her level.
The availability of hash browns has been a bone of contention on previous Princess cruises because, unlike Marella where the food we were able to select for breakfast barely changed at all throughout the trip (which was a good thing if you like hash browns like a certain someone I’ve just mentioned), Princess tend to vary dishes from day-to-day while keeping some staple items; those staple items typically have not included hash browns which could be overlooked if other food items such as curried fishy rice then are.
“Who the hell is eating curried fishy rice in the morning, every morning? What deviants are this cruise line catering for? Nobody eats curried fishy rice in the morning. They shouldn’t even be eating them at any other time either. They had hash browns yesterday. I bet we don’t even see them again on this cruise. Did they only load one packet of hash browns at the dock? I knew I should have taken the whole tray and just brought them back today to be reheated. We should write to the general manager and complain.”
We’ve never complained and with Marella we didn’t have to.
While my wife was smiling serenely and savouring her hash browns I spotted a couple of familiar faces from the internet emerging from the buffet.
I’ve just seen Paul and Carole over there.
Mmm.
I think I’ll pop over and introduce myself.
Mmm.
You want to stay here and enjoy your hash browns?
Mmm.
I could literally be saying anything right now.
Mmm.
What word repeated four times comprises the chorus and makes up the title for a 1993 hit by Canadian group Crash Test Dummies?
Mmm.
And so I walked over. After introducing myself and receiving a look in their eyes that indicated they were clearly wondering if I’d appeared beside the juice machine just in order to mug them and trying to calculate the shortest route for help I added Marie’s name to the mix and broke the spell of fear.
We spoke for about ten minutes before parting as Paul was quite keen to get a seat to watch the rugby world cup final. It was rugby union or the slower and duller type of rugby if you’re not sure which one that is so we decided to give it a pass. I also had to play rugby union at school and that’s the sort of thing that leaves a mark on you. We had the strangest feeling we’d probably bump into Paul and Carole again. You’ll have to stay tuned to this cruise travelogue series to see if we do.
Or I could just tell you now. We do.
We went for another wander around the ship and stumbled upon one venue we’d missed the day before in Naples, the Broadway Show Lounge, Marella Discovery’s theatre. It was obviously a lot smaller than theatres we’ve seen on other ships but understandably so. We rarely watch shows on cruises anyway.
Out onto the promenade deck we then saw the pilot boat approaching from the mainland to pick up the pilot at the conclusion of Discovery’s transit through the strait.
The afternoon was spent trying to get into the swing of relaxing. We’d chosen this Marella Discovery cruise for a number of reasons, with the chances to sail through the Suez Canal and visit Petra in Jordan being the main ones along with experiencing a new cruise line and ship, but we’d also been drawn by the consecutive number of days aboard without disembarking. It’s true that we prefer a mix of port days and sea days on a cruise with more port days giving the opportunity to see and learn new things but in 2021 we’re taking a cruise from Japan to Alaska which will mean an entire week crossing the Pacific – over twice the length of the most sea days in a row we’d had to this point – so we looked at this Marella cruise as giving us a dry run (wet run?) for that. You’ve got to ease yourself into these things.
Getting into the swing of relaxing for us means me grabbing a book, my wife grabbing her Kindle, the pair of us grabbing seats and attracting the eye of a bar steward, and if there is a quiz going on somewhere then grabbing the chance to test our brains against our fellow cruisers. We’re also occasionally sensible so we often have a light bite to eat at lunchtime and that’s how we discovered that the Snack Shack on the pool deck serves chips with the most succulent, lightly battered pieces of fish. The brightly-decorated Live Room, another venue we’d overlooked on the first day’s exploration of Discovery, had some signature cocktails served in mason jars. To be brutally honest we didn’t find one we truly liked as the volume of liquid made the drinks taste quite watery but it was nice to see some innovation there.
We watched a little bit more of the Italian landscape across the sea from our balcony in the afternoon and realised we could also see one of the colourful alpaca sculptures that Marella are famous for if we leaned out a little.
Our balcony was a pretty reasonable size although the chairs were disappointingly basic. Sitting upright is the only option. We’re also not fans of obscured glass partitions between balconies, much preferring a solid sheet of metal that prevents you from being distracted by movement or the presence of neighbours adjacent to you when you’re reading or relaxing. And not because it reduces opportunities to stand out in the nude on the balcony. What sort of pervert do you think I am? I’m just saying that if the wind is in the wrong direction then it could cause your robe to come undone and accidental windmilling might occur. I’m not saying that has happened or that that’s a ready excuse to cover such an eventuality. This is just basic risk assessment here.
Marella have a far more relaxed attitude to dress codes than other cruise lines with whom we’ve sailed. Their formal night isn’t even called a formal night – dress to impress! – and the guidelines encourage a little more effort but probably only to the level of smart casual with other ships. What you’ll find, however, is that some people will treat it like a proper formal night anyway and the good thing on Marella is that casual and formal intermix and nobody cares one way or the other.
This first night at sea was one of these dress-up-if-you-want nights so after hanging around the atrium area long enough in the late afternoon/early evening to spot a couple of tuxedo-wearing men wandering around with their swish dress-sporting partners we decided we’d go the full formal route too, showered, flooded the bathroom again, then got into the fanciest gear we’d brought with us on the cruise. As I stepped out of our room another couple were emerging from theirs down the corridor, the gentleman also decorated in this season’s sleekest penguin look. “Oh, thank God!” he said loudly. “I thought I’d be the only one.”
In fact, we were quite impressed with just how many really did make an effort to get dressed up. We made our way to the atrium initially to do a little bit of people-watching, enjoy the background music, and have a little bit of fizz to start the evening.
Then we headed up to Bar Eleven because we had speciality dining booked in one of the spots just off it. There was still some time before our sitting so we ordered some pre-dinner drinks. With this being a sort-of-formal night and with us dressed up and with this being something of a tradition for us on cruises, I ordered a vodka martini. I was not expecting this to present a problem but it turned out that vodka martinis were not on the menu. There then followed a discussion between the steward and barman as to how to overcome this and eventually both of them came across with the drinks we’d ordered.
Okay, we have worked out a way to put it onto the system. Please don’t tell anyone you’ve had this drink, though.
Mum’s the word. I’ll only write about it on my website. That’s very nearly the same thing as not telling anyone at all.
Oh! I’ve just realised why you want a vodka martini! James Bond!
She wasn’t wrong.
And so to the first of our Marella Discovery speciality dining nights: the Surf & Turf Steakhouse.
We were seated and attended to throughout the night by Siegfried. We obviously made an impression because we were singled out for special attention throughout the rest of the cruise by him, our name being used in the wine-tasting he ran later in the week, him making sure to go out of his way and say hello whenever he spotted us around the ship, that sort of thing; that sort of service is something we’ve come to expect on Princess, something we’ve never had on any other ship, and something we weren’t anticipating with Marella. It was great.
The reason we made an impression might have been because we appeared to be practically the only people in the restaurant who bought a bottle of wine to go with their meal rather than simply take advantage of the inclusive drinks packages and individual glasses. The bottle price was ridiculously good, easily under half what you’d pay on Princess or Celebrity. I also had a small chat with Siegfried about the wine – “Yes, we’re after something heavy, lots of fruit flavours. Oh dear God, no, not French! Don’t start me on telling you all the things that are wrong with French wine. This one please.” – and that might have stuck in his memory too.
We were happy to see flavoured salts making an appearance with the arrival of bread and our bottle. It’s surprising just what a difference those salts make. We keep saying we should order some flavoured salts to keep at home but we keep saying a lot of things we’re probably never going to get around to.
No surprises with our selection of starters; my wife likes seafood and I most certainly do not so she went for the Crayfish and Prawn Cocktail while my choice was the Beef Carpaccio. We both had no complaints at all about these.
Side dishes of creamed spinach (for me), mushrooms (for my wife), and steak fries (for both us) accompanied our main course. We both went for the 8oz Angus Fillet Steak. Unfortunately, this wasn’t quite as rare as we like; not enough to send them back because we’re not those sorts of diners but they were definitely lacking the sort of juice we want to see when we cut into a steak. The meat was a little drier than we expected and had an odd, almost papery texture to it. I can’t fault the taste and with the sauce and side dishes it was all still quite delicious but a disappointment nonetheless.
Dessert was lovely, though, and light enough to not leave us feeling bloated. We also had to have some after dinner drinks and I’m a sucker for a Cardenal Mendoza when I hit fancy restaurants at home so it was nice to see its availability on board the ship too.
Our summing-up review of the Surf & Turf restaurant on Marella Discovery would be that the location was good, the decor was very attractive (just the right amount of dark for some fine dining), and the service was superb. When comparing it to other similar speciality dining offerings on other cruise lines we’d have to say that the additional cost was a little higher than normal, more noticeable in light of the not-quite-right steaks we had, but the wine bottle prices – and we always buy a bottle of wine when we’re having a fancy meal – more than offset that cost. We would definitely dine at the Surf & Turf again because every time is slightly different and we might have an absolute perfect meal.
Following our meal we caught a little bit of Jayson Keeler belting out some operatic tunes in the atrium.
The rest of the night included a little bit more drinking, sitting in on but not competing in a quiz, and a short visit to Bar Eleven to listen to the music and watch people strut their stuff on the dance floor.
In the next post in this Marella Discovery cruise travelogue series there’s another sea day to survive and another speciality dining experience in the evening at the Asian-style restaurant on the ship. We also get to touch a piece of another world! I know!