Marella Sending Discovery 2 to Med and Canaries for Winter 2024-25

Starting November 7, Marella Cruises will homeport the Marella Discovery 2 in Malaga, Spain for a series of winter sailings before heading to Tenerife and Gran Canaria in December 2024.

The ship was previously slated to sail in Asia.

These itineraries go on sale on May 23.

Chris Hackney, managing director of Cruise for TUI UK & I said: “We are delighted to offer these itineraries out of two of our well-established homeports for this winter. We know guests love the beautiful Canaries and Madeira and as Marella Cruises is part of TUI, we can offer incredible experiences ashore with our destination teams as well as a great onboard experience too. All of these itineraries offer cruise and stay options too, with great flying options across various UK airports.”

 “We do appreciate how disappointing it was to those customers who were impacted by the cancellation of our Asia program on Marella Discovery 2, but we are confident with the breadth of the program we have to offer something different to our customers.”

 From Malaga, Spain, Marella will offer two itineraries:

  • Spanish Flavours, departing from November 7, 2024, with visits to Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona, Valencia, Cartegena, Gibraltar and porting in Malaga.
  • Sights and Delights, departing from November 14, 2024, visiting Malaga, Lisbon, Portugal, Cadiz, Casablanca, Cartagena, Motril and Malaga, Spain.

From Tenerife, the Marella Discovery 2 will also offer two new itineraries:

  • Winter Escape, departing November 28, 2024, with visits to Malaga, Gibraltar, Cadiz, Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
  • Sail into Spring, departing on March 24,  2025, visiting Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Cartagena, Malta and Limassol, Cyprus.

Cruises Cancelled as Carnival Pride Heads to Drydock in 2026

Carnival Cruise Line has cancelled three cruises onboard the Carnival Pride to accommodate a drydock in early 2026.

According to a statement sent to booked guests, the impacted sailings were set to depart from Baltimore between March 29 and April 12, 2026.

“In our continuous effort to enhance our product, Carnival Pride has now been scheduled for drydock and we’re sorry to inform you that your cruise has been cancelled,” Carnival Cruise Line said.

The cancelled cruises were set to sail to different ports of call in the Bahamas. Sailing for seven nights, the itineraries featured visits to Half Moon Cay, Nassau, Celebration Key and Princess Cays.

Carnival is offering passengers a series of alternatives, including the option to rebook another voyage.

Guests who choose to transfer their reservations will have their cruise rate protected when sailing on a comparable sailing in similar accommodations, the company said.

Carnival is also offering a $50 per person onboard credit (limited to $100 per stateroom) for passengers who choose to rebook their cruises.

For passengers who do not wish to reschedule, the company is offering a full refund of the paid cruise fare and any pre-purchased items.

According to Carnival, the amounts will be automatically returned to the guests’ original form of payment after May 28, 2024.

Following a winter program in Tampa, the Carnival Pride recently repositioned to the East Coast. Currently sailing from Norfolk, the 2001-built cruise ship offers seven- to 14-night cruises to the Bahamas, the Caribbean and Greenland.

Regal Princess Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Regal Princess arrives in the World Famous Port City of Liverpool on the 29th June 2023 and Spacejunkie2 took some great photos of the arrival.

Regal Princess in the Famous city of Liverpool, Photo credit  Spacejunkie2 Flickr -29/062023

The Regal Princess is completing its 10th year of service this month. Built for Princess Cruises at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy, the vessel officially debuted on May 20, 2014.

A sister to the 2013-built Royal Princess, the ship is the second in a series of six Royal-class ships for Princess Cruises.

For its maiden voyage, the Regal Princess offered a seven-night cruise to Italy, Turkey and Greece. Built at Fincantieri’s Monfalcone shipyard, the vessel departed from Venice on an open-jaw cruise to Athens.

Sailing through the Eastern Mediterranean, the itinerary featured visits to Corfu and Mykonos, in addition to a two-day stop in Istanbul.

Throughout the summer of 2014, the Regal Princess offered Princess Cruises’ signature Grand Mediterranean cruises, with different seven- to 12-night itinerary choices.

In October 2014, the 3,600-guest ship crossed the Atlantic for the first time ahead of a winter season in the Caribbean.

Sailing from Port Everglades on Sundays, the Regal offered week-long cruises to St. Thomas, St. Maarten and the Bahamas during its inaugural program in the region.

The Princess ship is spending another summer in Europe in 2024.

Sailing from Southampton, the vessel is offering a series of 12-night cruises to the British Isles that feature visits to Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England. Some itineraries also include stops in Wales, France and the Shetland Isles.

In early October the Regal Princess is scheduled to return to North America for a winter season in the Caribbean.

Now sailing from Galveston, the ship will offer six- to 11-night cruises to the Western Caribbean, featuring calls to ports in Mexico, Honduras, Jamaica, Belize and Grand Cayman.