Marella's 30th birthday celebrations
Marella (not under that name originally...) launched in 1996, so have now celebrated 30 years of cruising. Our itinerary, ports aside, included plenty of birthday celebrations - our 'dress to impress' night was replaced with a gorgeous birthday gala, and we also had a 90s night! There were party hats, 90s themed quizzes, music from the decade, Lemar on board and much more. The vibe was one big party and so much fun.
Marella Explorer 2 - 30th Birthday itinerary
But onto the most important thing: the actual itinerary. This is very similar to the 'Adriatic Affair' itinerary, and it's safe to say we really enjoyed it. We boarded in Dubrovnik, which was an incredibly smooth process and the views from the ship were simply stunning...
Day 2 - at sea
I flipping love a sea day, getting to explore and get to know the ship, relaxing on the balcony and pool deck, eating my weight in food and trying all the different mocktails. And the Explorer 2 is a lovely ship - it was my first time on this particular ship, and she didn't disappoint. Our favourite spots were the new Piccadilly's restaurant, deck 6 as the sun was going down, the Squid & Anchor and the pool deck. We also had the birthday gala on our sea day, so we got to get dressed up, meet Captain Richard in Flutes, had a gorgeous dinner in Latitude complete with baked Alaska parade... the dream!
Day 3 - Trieste, Italy
Our first port was Trieste, and we didn't have an excursion booked so we got off the ship early and headed out to explore. We stopped by the Roman amphitheatre, which was unfortunately covered in tarp and scaffolding, and then headed waaaay uphill to see the old castle walls and cathedral. It was picturesque with great views, but not necessarily worth what turned out to be a bit of a hike. From here we weaved back down to the Grand Canale area for a fresh lemonade, and there is so much beautiful architecture in Trieste too. There was also a big craft market on while we were there, which was fun to walk through. All in all a very relaxed port for us and not somewhere I'd go back to, but nice to see nevertheless before we hopped back on board for trivia, swimming and cake.
Day 4 - Koper, Slovenia
One of the main reasons we chose this itinerary was to visit Slovenia, as we both really wanted to see the gorgeous Lake Bled. We had booked an excursion which was incredible; we got up, had breakfast, then disembarked to meet our coach. It was around a 90 minute drive to Bled, and our guide gave us plenty of information about the area throughout the journey. Once we got there, we got on a wooden pletna (which is a traditional local boat) across to the island where we climbed the stairs to see the view, visited the church to ring the wishing bell, and just generally soaked up being in such a bucket list spot. After the island, we had some free time to explore the other side of the lake where we ate gelato and had a nice walk through a (very random) accordion festival! Then it was time to head back to Explorer 2, with a cheeky nap on the coach... The excursion honestly ran like clockwork and we had the best day!
Day 5 - Ancona, Italy
Ancona was another very relaxed port for us with no excursion, and again we disembarked really early after breakfast in the marketplace. We just started mooching towards town, following our noses as they say, and stumbled upon a tourist train - it was the first ride of the day, and cost 10 euros per person (cash only!) for about a 40 minute experience. This took us to all the hotspots including the Cathedral of Saint Cyriacus, and there was the opportunity to get off and take photos at the best bits. Ancona is a really peaceful city and was beautiful to see in the sunshine before another relaxing afternoon on deck.
Day 6 - Split, Croatia
Our second excursion was on day 6, when we docked in Split and went to visit Krka National Park and the sensational waterfalls here. This was honestly amazing, and so smoothly run again; another informative coach ride (with nap time) before we arrived at the park, where we set off on a really relaxed walk with our tour guide who was both knowledgable and hilarious. The falls were simply stunning and it was interesting to learn about the history of the park as well as the flora and fauna - there were plenty of photo opps and there is toilets, ice cream, souvenirs etc. We were back within plenty of time to get back on board and relax before sail away and dinner!
Day 7 - Kotor, Montenegro
Our last port of the trip was Kotor in Montenegro and WOW. We got up early and headed up to deck 12 to watch us sail in, which really was beautiful but also incredibly cold; if you have a balcony cabin it's amazing to see from there too, but sailing away was perfect as the sun was at that perfect low point and it was just dreamy. We tendered in to Kotor and priority for getting off was (rightly) given to those with excursions booked, so we ended up getting into town for around 11am - again here we just followed our noses and wandered around the really quaint old town, with its maze of streets and cafés and incredible architecture. This is somewhere we 100% want to revisit so we can have more time to explore and do things like the blue caves, the Lady of the Rocks and cable car. As it was, we just soaked it all up and made sure we were back before the last tender at 4pm! I also had a delightful traditional chocolate cake here which I'm still thinking about to this day...
Day 8 - Dubrovnik, Croatia
We disembarked in Dubrovnik, where we spent a further 3 days relaxing and exploring this gorgeous city so steeped in history. I'll have a separate blog post all about our time here, coming soon! Our disembarkation and transfer process was again really smooth and easy, which is a big theme of the cruise overall: everything was so straightforward and relaxed.
So, the itinerary - did we love it? I think for us it was a great itinerary, especially for my wife's first ever cruise. Trieste and Ancona were great for stretching our legs, seeing a few highlights and then spending time on the ship while it was quiet; our excursions from Koper and Split were incredible, so it was great to hit those ports which allowed us to tick locations off our bucket list really easily. And Kotor is breathtakingly beautiful, and has given us somewhere we definitely want to head back to in the future. I'd absolutely recommend this itinerary, and in May the weather was good - not too hot, but certainly not cold and we only had rain once during our cruise.
Happy 30th birthday Marella, we loved every part of celebrating with you!
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