Marella vs MSC vs P&O - The Battle of the Budgets !
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- Опубліковано 26 лип 2024
- In this video, we're comparing Marella, MSC, and P&O cruise lines to help you choose the best budget-friendly option for your next vacation at sea!
We’ve been lucky enough to experience 3 cruise holidays in the 1st half of 2024. We sailed with Marella, MSC and P&O.
Our 2023 cruise comparison videos between Marella and P&O both ended up with Marella narrowly coming out on top .
This video compares our more recent experiences on Marella Discovery 2, MSC Armonia and P&O Iona .
Which cruise line offers the best experience? Which ship gave us a more fun cruise holiday ? Watch this video to find out !
We’ll score different aspects of our experiences to ensure fairness and balance and we’ll exclude all aspects relating to the cruise itineraries. Just the Cruise Line and the Cruise Ship.
Hope this helps you choose between these two firm favourites with British Cruise Passengers .
Please subscribe to see more content like this - / @cooksexplore
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
00:55 The Ships
01:50 Pre Cruise Planning
04:03 Embarkation & Disembarkation
09:08 Cabins
10:30 Facilities
12:13 Ships Atmosphere
17:58 Food & Drink
24:52 Entertainment
31:12 Customer Services
32:56 Cost
37:28 Overall Winner
Marella Discovery isn't adults only, Explorer 2 is the only adults only ship in their fleet.
Thank you for clarifying this. There were no children aboard on our far east cruise.
Hi, thanks for taking the trouble to do this, however, you were not comparing like for like even though you say this, it is still not a fair comparison, if you had compared MSC Virtuosa the review would have been different, we used it in May, no problems with food, speciality restaurants, entertainment, cabin was great and disembarkation was like your P&O experience with self disembarkation off the ship and in the car by 07:06 and passing under the M4 going north by 08:00.
Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to share your thoughts on this. And we are so pleased you had a great cruise on Virtuosa. We know loads of people who have said the same as you about Virtuosa. MSC don’t get to become one of the biggest cruise lines in the world by consistently giving their customers terrible experiences. However in our case we can of course only compare our own experiences. The big ship vs little ship issue can be a factor as you point out and we did as you say point this out at the beginning of the video. We have tried to use and rate categories that try and give each cruise ship/line the opportunity to shine. We do think that if MSC had provided web sites that work, passenger safety equipment (muster scanners) that worked, clean cabins, edible food, polite correspondence, polite staff and better coordination of entertainment and disembarkation then they would have scored much more favourably. Marella here are the interesting cruise line. The smallest and oldest ship. And what is fascinating is the consistency of the experience they provide. Each Marella cruise that we have scored this way comes out with near identical scores. Whereas P&O and MSC haven’t. And the P&O Iona score shows that a combination of getting the cruise basics right and a larger and newer ship ticked the boxes for us and gave us a brilliant experience at a good price point too. Marella is also a good option for us as we have found their consistency to be reassuring and having certainty that you’ll have an enjoyable cruise experience is often worth paying a bit extra for. MSC can be brilliant but in our case it wasn’t. It does seem a bit of a lottery with MSC at the moment. If you search UA-cam you’ll quickly run into very seasoned cruisers having issues with MSC. Even the brilliant FraseratSea recently ran into problems on Virtuosa’s sister ship, MSC Meriviglia. Big ship but issues with cabins, customer service and getting on/off the ship. So hopefully these videos showcase our experiences in a fair and consistent way. We have no bias or axe to grind. We just love a good cruise holiday. Thanks again for watching and continuing this debate. These are great challenges and issues to debate and we really appreciate people taking the time to share their views.
@@CooksExplore Thanks for your reply, I agree MSC is not perfect, but for us the good out weighed the bad. It was our first cruise and we could have been lucky. We are going on another cruise next May on the Sky Princess to get another perspective, a friend said as were are starting out we should try different companies and ships, we are following his advice, and watching videos like yours, which despite my comments are helpful. I have to admit that we did not like the MDR allocated, the staff were excellent but the food was not the best, we only used it once, fortunately for us we were happy with the buffet, it was just a matter of picking your time, and going further aft as it appeared to be to far for most people to walk. Another good thing was the button on the table where you could get a waiter to come and take your drinks order, I thought that was a good touch. We had three speciality restaurants, two were excellent and one not so good, probably more to with our tastes rather than the quality. We had no problems with the staff or the cabin, we took advantage of the self assist disembarkation, we left our cabin at 06:45 and we were in our car at 07:06. It is all first world problems which we should all stop and remember and be thankful that our life choices and circumstances have allowed us to go on cruises. Don't get me wrong I am not saying that you don't know that. Keep up the good work!!!.
Thank you for sharing your experience on Virtuosa … lots of positives from the sounds of things.. It’s good to share these. It will be interesting to see how Sky Princess compares? Please do share this…Make a video maybe ? We run our channel to help others make great holiday plans and the more engagement from people such as yourself who share your thoughts and experiences the more helpful these videos can be. The advice about trying different lines is good. We’d concur but our primary focus is itineraries with the cruise line experience being secondary. A great itinerary can easy offset a mediocre onboard experience in our view. And despite any criticisms of a particular cruise line….well we just count ourselves lucky to be able to make these trips at all. We our very fortunate and grateful we can do this. We are back on P&O next and have NCL, Royal Caribbean and Princess in the pipeline with some bucket list destinations in the mix too. Thank you again for sharing your experience with us and others who r3ad this thread. It really is appreciated.
Hey both, settling down to watch this with a glass of wine. First off though, love the t-shirt Si 😂. Interesting that you gave P&O a 5 for the online portal. We found it quite buggy and different info depending which of us logged in. Sounds rubbish about the muster station scanners!! We loved the P&O self check out. Out of all our cabins so far, P&O rates top for us and the bed was the comfiest we’ve been on. Interesting you say about the senior leadership being visible on your cruise, we hardly saw anyone. We have no idea who the cruise director was. We saw everyone on Marella and Costa. In our case Marella and Costa drinks packages were by far better than P&O’s. Fried carrots? Must be an Italian thing as we had sprouts in the breakfast buffet 😂. We’re finding this video really interesting guys!! We’re rating our last 3 cruises along with yours. We loved the Quays but didn’t take that advantage of it as much as we’d have liked. Interested to see your entertainment thoughts. All the casts on our last 3 were great but I think for us, Marella first, Costa second and P&O 3rd. Costa also had live sport on the big screens. Wow £259 per person for the MSC. Yes, you had the add ons, but great price. All of these prices are actually really great value. Interesting result!!! That was fab. Watched in full and enjoyed every minute x
Thank you Guys for sticking through this marathon video and Si’s cruise psychotherapy 😹… Sprouts for breakfast sounds like a wicked prank … Where do these menus come from. Interesting about your experiences of Crew visibility.. Something Si is in tune with .. He needs to work less obviously 🙄.. Hope your Costa cruise was good.. Pictures looked amazing ! Looking forward to watching the videos .. Thx again for all your support
We just sailed on Iona it was a great experience
Thanks for watching and taking time to leave a comment too. So glad you had a great experience on Iona .. Great ship and superb itineraries too .
I’ve just had my first ever cruise and I chose the Norwegian Fjords on Iona. I completely agree with your assessment, I couldn’t fault it. It seems I chose well and will definitely cruise with P&O again.
So glad you had an amazing 1st Cruise - hopefully the 1st of many - Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to comment and feedback too .. We made a video of our Iona cruise which can be viewed at the link below … Thanks again
ua-cam.com/video/mMTOXrvrKCA/v-deo.htmlsi=uDp1VYjHF1kvhCYZ
Wow! That was an interesting deep dive. This will be very useful for people making a choice between these lines. It was interesting to see how P&O scored for you. You had a great experience on Iona. Keep up the good work 👏
Thank you Guys ! Sometimes the cruise experience just seems right and Iona gave us that. Appreciate you taking time to watch and feedback.. Thx again
We cruised the Fjords on April this year on Iona. Mit was a wonderful holiday on a gorgeous ship. We booked 4 more cruises with P and O whilst on board.
Oh Wow ! Thats amazing! Where are you heading? Iona is a beautiful ship and Norway is stunning! Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment too .
Went to fyords on iona in may loved it ,first ever cruise ,next year going on britania, hopefully love that too 😊
Really pleased that your 1st ever cruise was so brilliant… Iona is a superb ship and Norway 🇳🇴 really is so beautiful.. We are yet to try Britannia but are looking at sailing on her in 25 and we’ve heard so many good things about her too .. Safe and happy travels
Well that was really interesting. We have always been team Marella, but a few weeks ago we sailed with P&O for the first time to the Norwegian Fyords on Iona. Unfortunately Marella having older ships can no longer offer that itinerary, which is a pity but understandably. Iona is a beautiful ship, obviously shes new compared to marella ships, but for us the atmosphere wasn't there. For us there was just too many passengers, everywhere was busy, getting on and off the ship took ages. We always make friends on Marella ships, we did get talking to passengers on Iona, but then never saw them again. I feel alot of it is personal choice, we all get different things out of a cruise. I'm afraid though we remain team Marella, they might work out slightly dearer but somethings you cant put a price on 😊😊
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment.. We love Marella and agree with you about how Marella make it fun and inclusive.. And yes you make friends too. Marella came out top on our two previous cruise companion videos and deservedly so…But we had a great time on Iona .. We really did… It was a pleasant surprise… Thx again for watching.
Disagree with your assessment of embarkation and disembarkation, they looked after my needs perfectly, taking me to cabin and myself and luggage to the car. Didn't find it crowded, lots of space, short waiting times for food and drink, fantastic entertainment and staff, can't fault anything.
@@CooksExploreIona for me, booked Arvia Med cruise, PO by far the best value and experience, happy sailing to all x
@@grahamhagan4264 - have a fab Med cruise … we sail again soon and in the Med too
Interesting analysis thanks. We recently did our first MSC cruise, a transatlantic, and found the food to be as good as our Princess, Holland America and Celebrity cruises. We are foodies and were as surprised as we were impressed. Disembarkation however was a shocker!
Wow - thanks for sharing this…MSC do seem such a lottery right now . Can we enquire about your Disembarkation? What happened? Be good to share this ..MSC got something’s right for us but a lot wrong too. Thanks for watching and sharing your experience.
Been on P&O and Marella and found the entertainment on Marella outshines P&O by a big margin this includes the cruise on Arvia I have just been on P&O have less interaction and less fun than the entertainment teams on Marella cruise ships.
Thanks for watching and taking time to
Comment too! We agree - Marella entertainment takes some beating and the access to the performers is a real plus for Marella .. Hope you had a great cruise on Arvia
Interesting.
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment - Appreciated
You donlt take into account the size of the ships...P&O and MSC both sail much much bigger ships. Now if you want a giant ship fine, but Marella ships being smaller are really cozy and welcoming, you don't ever feel like you're just another passenger
Thank you Paul - We love a Marella ship. And Marella topped bigger and newer P&O ships in our previous two comparison videos (check em out).. We did point out that ship size can be a factor right at the beginning of this video too. We are glad you raise the point about Marella in your comment .. They get a lot right but also importantly are consistent .. This time for us though P&O got pretty much everything right for us..And they haven’t on previous comparison videos .. Really appreciate you taking time to comment and share your thoughts
Not a fair comparison.
Compare like with like, A Meraviglia class ship on MSC has many speciality dining restaurants, better and more entertainment options and would easily stand up to P&O. Your cruise was on one of the oldest and cheapest MSC ships still sailing. We hated having to reserve a table on the app on P&O whilst on MSC we could turn up at one of the main dining rooms (3 on the larger ships) and be seated within a few minutes and always at the table size we requested. The speciality restaurants on MSC were great value if you bought the 3 restaurant package and the quality of food in all 3 we visited compared well with upmarket cruise lines.
Expecting the same range of facilities on a ship carrying less than 2000 as one carrying 5200 is unreasonable. If you want a small ship with top class facilities try Regent, Seabourn, Azamara, Viking or Oceania.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to feedback your thoughts. It’s great these issues are debated. You do point out as we did at the beginning of the video that age and size of the ship can be a factor in your cruise experience. However these issues are not the whole story here as demonstrated by Marella whose ship was older and smaller than MSC Armonia and delivered a far better experience albeit for a higher cost. And of course if MSC had provided us with websites that work, cabins that were clean, food that was edible, staff that were polite and happier, better coordinated entertainment and more typical disembarkation arrangements this comparison would look very different. We know there are better experiences on MSC to be had out there but we can only reflect what we experienced. And MSC do seem to be such a lottery at the moment.
Thank you again for pointing out the issues about ship size and age. We hope you have many more happy cruises planned.
@cooksexplore - my wife and I disembarked Iona yesterday from the wonderful Norwegian fjords cruise, it was a fantastic first ever cruise for us.
Just wondering is it fair to compare different sized and different aged ships against each other? Is there potentially a bias for newer bigger ships for both passengers and crew, bigger ships having more facilities and potentially less rust and broken parts?
Great in depth analysis here, we appreciate it.
Think we were blessed with Iona and the beauty of the fjords.
Thank you so much for watching and taking time to comment .. So glad you enjoyed your first cruise - Iona is a a great ship to experience that new to cruise experience and Norway is just gorgeous…You do make a valid point. The big ship vs little ship debate is an interesting one. Bigger isn’t always better we’ve found over the years. Age could be a factor with fewer maintenance issues manifesting on newer ships. We try and compare different aspects of the cruise experiences from printing boarding passes to food and drink. We hope this doesn’t penalise smaller ships that get it right… Our previous comparisons have seen the smaller and older Marella ships come out on top. There’s a lot to debate and it’s of course our own experiences vs expectations too. We hope now you’ve done your first cruise it will be the 1st of many. Happy and safe travels and thx again for watching ..
@@CooksExplore this is a very good video, it is balanced and does like you say go through the various aspects of a cruise, this is why we like this video. 😊
Thinking about it, state of repair really in theory should be equal across all ships, I mean if something breaks or needs repainting (which I did see the maintenance/engineering team repainting the ship during the week - both the big P&O Cruise blue wording on the aft and smaller bits and pieces across the ship) then it should be repaired quickly regardless of the age of the ship. There should be equal care of each cabin and other aspects of the ship and items noted by staff or passengers to the engineering teams for remedy. There really is no excuse for a broken drawer, that could happen on a new or old ship.
Overall fantastic video. Keep up the good work
@@alexjones4497 Thank you - you are 100% right .. Maintenance does really vary across the cruise lines we’ve found .. really appreciate your kind comments..