Marella Cruises Unveils Summer 2028 Programme with Six New Itineraries and Patras Port

(9:12 a.m. BST) — Marella Cruises has revealed its summer 2028 programme, which includes a new port of call for the line in Patras, Greece.

Summer 2028 sailings including six new itineraries, including the new seven-night 'Spanish Shores' voyage onboard Marella Explorer 2 from Malaga; an expanded cruise and stay programme with 119 hotels available in Mallorca, Corfu, Dubrovnik and Malaga and departures from 22 airports across the UK and and Ireland.

On sale from October 15, 2026, Marella Explorer will call at Patras as part of the new Grecian Gems itinerary, which will homeport in Corfu, Greece.

Adults-only Marella Explorer 2 will sail the new seven-night 'Spanish Shores' itinerary from Malaga, Spain, visiting Gibraltar; as well as several Spanish ports: Ibiza Town; Mahon, Menorca; Palma, Mallorca; Cartagena.

Four new repositioning cruises from April 2028 including 'Sail into Spring' aboard Marella Explorer with a 10-night sailing from Las Palmas, Gran Canaria to Corfu and an 11-night sailing from Santa Cruz, Tenerife to Corfu.

The five-night 'Flavours of the Mediterranean' on Marella Discovery 2 will sail from Palma to Dubrovnik; the 13-night 'Transatlantic Treasures' on Marella Explorer 2 goes from Barbados to Malaga and the 13-night 'Atlantic Horizons' on Marella Voyager will go from Barbados to Palma.

The line's repositioning cruises will include special guest speakers, additional shows and more tribute acts.

The rest of the fleet will homeport from a range of European ports, with Marella Discovery and Marella Voyager in Palma, Mallorca and Marella Discovery 2 in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Chris Hackney, CEO at Marella Cruises, said: "We're building on the continued popularity of our core homeports for Summer 2028. Demand for our Eastern Mediterranean Cruises remains strong, with Summer 2027 already ahead of last year. We're also returning to Malaga for another summer season following the success of previous sailings from the region.

We're always looking for opportunities to offer customers new destinations and Patras is an exciting addition to our programme. Alongside new itineraries and expanded cruise and stay options, Summer 2028 will give customers even more choice when planning their next cruise."

Marella Cruises has revealed its Cruise Month deals available throughout September with savings of up to £300 per booking.

Cruisers can get £200 off selected short and mid-haul sailings around the Canary Islands and Mediterranean or £300 off selected long-haul Caribbean sailings and repositional and transatlantic cruises.

The deals are available on selected ocean cruise holidays of seven nights or longer departing between 1 October 2026 and 31 December 2027.

Marella Cruises visits more than 100 destinations such as Barbados, St Lucia and Antigua and the Canary Islands.

Chris Hackney, CEO at Marella Cruises said: "Cruise Month is one of the best opportunities for customers to get creative and plan their dream holiday while taking advantage of fantastic savings across our all-inclusive ocean cruises.

"With discounts of up to £300 and regional flying from airports across the UK, we're offering customers a chance to book their perfect cruise."

Marella Cruises' five ships — Marella Discovery, Marella Discovery 2, Marella Explorer, Marella Explorer 2 and Marella Voyager — are all-inclusive of drinks, including alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.

The line has introduced 18 new alcohol-free cocktails to its onboard drinks offering including six 0% ABV spirits, four 0% wines, plus non-alcoholic beer and cider alternatives.

Marella is also inclusive of all tips, entertainment, food and drink, flights, cabin accommodation and service charges.

In June, the line revealed Marella Discovery 2 will move to adults-only from winter 2027, with the line turning the ship's existing kids spaces into a new speakeasy, an escape room, a karaoke room and an arts and crafts area.

The line announced this news as part of their winter 2027-2028 programme, which will see the fleet homeport across six European and Caribbean ports.

• Use code CRUISE200 on Canary Islands and Med sailings and code CRUISE300 on all other ocean sailings.

TUI's UK cruise line, Marella Cruises, is introducing 18 new cocktails to its onboard drinks offering — and they're all alcohol free. In addition, six 0% ABV spirits, four 0% wines, plus non-alcoholic beer and cider alternatives will be available from this month.

Marella Cruises' five ships — Marella Discovery, Marella Discovery 2, Marella Explorer, Marella Explorer 2 and Marella Voyager — are all-inclusive of drinks, including alcohol.

All of the new drinks will be made available fleetwide, with non-alcoholic wines, beer and cider included as part of the line's All Inclusive fares and cocktails and spirits available to those on the extra-fee Premium All Inclusive package.

Drinks include 0% red, white, rosé and sparkling wine, Heineken 0% and Somersby 0% cider. Marella Cruises will also introduce gluten-free Estrella beer to its All Inclusive drinks offering, providing greater choice for guests with dietary requirements.

Customers on the Premium All Inclusive package can enjoy six 0% ABV spirits, including Lyre's London Dry Gin, Lyre's American Malt Bourbon, Lyre's White Cane Rum, Lyre's Agave Blanco Tequila, Lyre's Coffee Originale and Lyre's Italian Spritz.

New alcohol-free cocktails include the Grapefruit Refresher, consisting of Lyre's London Dry with pink grapefruit and soda; Nojito, with Lyre's White Cane with mint, lime and soda; Summer Sour, which includes Lyre's London Dry with lemon, soda, mint and basil, as well as the Gentle Fashioned, with Lyre's American Malt with bitters and orange peel.

Luke Saunders, Food and Drink Development Manager at Marella Cruises, said: "We are pleased to be expanding our non-alcoholic drinks menus onboard across our ships.

"After listening to customer feedback and reviewing the gaps in our menu, we want to enhance a customer's experience onboard and cater to those who would prefer a non-alcoholic alternative. We are looking forward to our new and returning customers trying out 0% cocktails for when they are next onboard".

All cruise fares are inclusive of Marella's All Inclusive package, which covers some hot drinks, soft drinks, mocktails, beers, cider, house wines, Prosecco and a selection of cocktails.

More premium drinks, such as premium wines, Champagne and spirits, cost extra; though they're included as part of Marella's upgraded Premium All Inclusive package.

This includes brands such as Bombay Sapphire, Jack Daniel's and Absolut Vodka. Plus, a choice of more whiskies, brandies and Cognacs, soft drinks, as well as most drinks from The Coffee Port, made with Lavazza coffee.