I’ve been an avid fan of Marella cruises since I was in my early 20s (i’m nearly 40 now!) and have loved (nearly) every cruise that I have been on. They are a much more relaxed line, and are renowned for their excellent entertainment and a more personable experience due to the smaller ship size. I honestly never thought I would move away from Marella, however their itineraries have become very limited (mostly the Med or the Caribbean) and the once affordable prices have began to rise. I’m going to tackle this in sections (almost like an awards ceremony, it is the closest I will get to being a glamorous award presenter!). The ship we travelled on was the bolette, with approximately 1300 passengers.

FOOD – WINNER FRED OLSEN

If I went back 15 years to my first Marella cruises, the outcome of this may be different. Unfortunately the quality of the food with Marella has began to decrease over the years, and its never more obvious than when you try a different cruise line. On my most recent cruise with Marella this year we had even got to the point where we were served tinned veg, and when we asked if we could have a soup and a starter on formal night we were told it wasn’t possible!

In comparison the food with Fred was amazing. We didn’t have a bad meal throughout the entire cruise. They have an ample always available menu which includes steak (this is a premium on Marella). Every evening they have a destination dish, this included venison, pheasant, Norwegian meatballs and lots of other interesting dishes. On our last day I found an amazing seafood buffet which had lobster, various shellfish and whole tiger prawns (unless you pay for the surf and turf on Marella you won’t see a lobster!).

If you like the snack shack on Marella (a pool side fast food restaurant) you will struggle on Fred. The closet you have is the poolside café which is table service but does serve fish and chips and the best burger I have had at sea.

We did try one of the premium restaurants (colours and tastes) which was an extra cost of 10 pounds (if booked prior to cruising, 15 on board). This was lovely and made a nice change however I don’t think I would book again as the food was so good anyway in the restaurant. In comparison the premium restaurants on Marella are worth the extra cost (around 35 pounds extra), and we have had many fabulous meals in the surf and turf restaurant on board. Below is a comparison of Marella formal night menus and then Fred’s.

CABIN – TIE

The cabins we have had on Fred and Marella are very similar, always kept clean by our lovely cabin staff with ample room. If this review was on noise levels Fred would win, the boat was much quieter and we heard nothing from our neighbours. Unfortunately the prices to upgrade with Fred are much higher (but I’ll discuss cost later). You could have a balcony cabin with Marella for the same price as Freds outside cabins. This is largely due to the larger ships however so maybe not a fair comparison.

ITINERARIES – WINNER FRED OLSEN

This is the main reason I have swapped from Marella, so its no surprise that Fred wins this one. there was a time when Marella offered exciting destinations such as Central America, USA, Asia and Northern Europe however this is no longer the case. There are various excuses as to why Marella no longer sail to these destinations however I’m not sure I believe all of them. The top and tail of it is cost cutting. The hefty mooring fees in some of these destinations has meant Marella don’t want to pay the expensive fees to try and keep costs down.

Fred Olsen have an excellent offering, (you can essentially travel anywhere in the world and they offer excellent world cruise itineraries). Unfortunately if you aren’t a fan of sea days these probably aren’t for you. Marella’s fly cruise options are based around the Med and the Caribbean and have many less sea days (normally one on a weeks cruise) but you do have to offset this with days lost travelling. I have heard a rumour that Fred are starting fly cruise itineraries so I’ll be interested to see these!

DRINKS – WINNER MARELLA

Marella are famous for their all inclusive cruising. This includes a good range of cocktails, spirits, and soft drinks. With Fred you have to pay a premium (25 pounds per day) for their package. This includes only house spirits, one cocktail (cocktail of the day) and basic soft drinks. You do get 50% off the other drinks on the menu (which makes a cocktail around 3.50) and when I did order a Mojito from the menu it was one of the best Mojitos I have tasted so well worth the cost.

Marella also offer a very reasonable premium all inclusive upgrade (the last time I did this it was around 70 pounds per week). This allows you to order basically anything off the menu, including from their gin and whisky bars.

THE SHIP – TIE

I had to think long and hard about this one. It was very nearly a Marella win (I prefer the modern decor of Marella ships) however the Bolette was so well kept and had a charm all of its own. Its much more traditionally decorated with wooden panelling traditional pictures and lifts which seem to have come from the 1920s (I know this isn’t possible :)). On the sea days i found myself spending large chunks of time looking at the art work around the ship (something which i didnt do with Marella!).

Marella ships are bigger, more impressive and with a beautiful central atrium (on the Discovery ships). There are more places to dine, and a bigger pool area however it just depends on what you are looking for in your cruise (I certainly wasn’t looking for sunbathing opportunities in Norway!). Some photos (Fred first)

EXCURSIONS – WINNER MARELLA

We found the excursions to be VERY expensive with Fred Olsen. I’m not sure if this is just because it is Norway or in general (please let me know if I’m not doing Fred justice here!). We wanted to do a bird watching tour which included a boat ride around a Norwegian island however this cost nearly 200 pounds per person! We did do two excursions, a troll car up a glacier and a panoramic coach tour. Both were over priced in my opinion. Fred did offer rib tours for free but there were only 60 places so unfortunately I missed out here. I’ve heard from other passengers that it was an incredible experience.

With Marella we have done 4×4 excursions, boat trips, submarine rides, even a sky tram in Saint Lucia and we have never paid over 100 pounds each for an excursion. They are always well organised and you normally come back feeling like you have had good value for your money. A photo from the Briksdal glacier troll car trip, and our trip to the Kennedy space centre with Marella.

STAFF – TIE

As always the staff are the heart and soul of any cruise. We found the staff to be just as attentive on both cruise lines and we enjoyed chatting to many of them. I did get the impression that Freds staff were happier, they seemed to have more free time ashore and couldn’t say enough good things about the company. I really feel like nothing more needs to be said here other than thank you to all of the amazing staff that make our cruises so incredible.

OTHER PASSENGERS – WINNER FRED

This is a contentious one, and I almost didn’t include it but I think its such an important part of your cruise. I must add before i continue that I have met lovely people on both cruise lines so I am talking about the minority here.

Fred Olsens passengers are generally more of an older generation (however there were plenty of younger people on board). We loved chatting to many of them and some had more go in them than us! We found everyone to be polite, courteous, and very happy to chat. I’d imagine if I was a solo traveller I would make friends and feel at ease very quickly. The decks were much quieter, we always found places to sit, even on a sea day.

Marella on the other hand are very different. Maybe its the all inclusive element, or the cheaper price point but Marella boats are more rowdy and cramped. If you aren’t on deck before 10am you have no chance of getting a sunbed or a seat around the pool. We witnessed so many rude passengers clicking their fingers at staff, pushing in queues, swearing, vaping on deck, and the very contentious one lots of children. I must also add here, I am a teacher so I am used to kids. The issue is the fact they are not supervised by parents. We saw kids on Marella running on the stage mid performance tugging at the leads on the mics, to the point where the performance had to be stopped so the host could address the poor behaviour (the parents were in the audience laughing). As a comparison, on our easter cruise there were 340 children on board Marella, just 40 with Fred (and apparently that was a big number). The children we witnessed on Fred were always supervised, well behaved and polite. Again this is a bit of a generalisation, there are many lovely kids on board Marella too.

ENTERTAINMENT – WINNER MARELLA

Admittedly this was close. The band Funky Blue on board were amazing on Fred, and the lovely Howard and his Freddie Mercury impression hilarious. However I absolutely love Dem Boyz (Marellas equivalent), and Fred lacked the hilarious game shows such as Mr and Mrs that you get on Marella. We aren’t one for shows so I cant comment here, please let me know what your thoughts are!

THE EXTRA BITS

No winner here, just a place to discuss some of the additional things to consider when picking your next cruise. We felt like Fred was a much better quality cruise. We were served hot chocolate when arriving back from excursions, we received a little summary booklet of our cruise at the end of the stay, the captain came to say goodbye to each and everyone of us on departing and more. The little touches really worse noticeable (however that being said we did miss our towel animals which were absent with Fred!). Marella has a much more fun and lively atmosphere, cheaper price point and better drinks package. It really does depend on what you want from your cruise. We would be more than happy to cruise with both lines however I think Fred Olsen has really taken me by surprise, I didn’t expect to enjoy the holiday as much as I did. In fact we booked on board to do Iceland and Greenland next summer we enjoyed it that much. See you next year!