Marella Cruises, a European cruise line that sailed out of Port Canaveral during 2023, is not coming back this year, port officials say.
The cruise line was unique for the port. It sailed the Marella Discovery out of Port Canaveral for six months in 2023. But U.S. residents could not book a sailing on the ship. The sailings were just for people who booked a flight from Europe to Melbourne Orlando International Airport on an affiliated airline, TUI Airways. Both Marella and TUI Airways are part of the TUI Group, a major international travel company.
Port Canaveral CEO John Murray said the Marella Discovery was scheduled to sail only during 2023 out of Port Canaveral before switching to other itineraries. He said there were no issues between the port and the cruise line that triggered Marella to not sail from Port Canaveral this year.
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The Marella Discovery had a total of 28 sailings out of Port Canaveral from May to November 2023, with a total of 85,533 passengers getting on or off the ship. Most of the sailings were seven nights in duration.
There were various itineraries from Port Canaveral. A typical one was called “American Dream,” with stops in Charleston, South Carolina; New York City; and Freeport, Bahamas.
TUI’s business model is to sell full-scale travel packages. So the cruise was part of a package that includes a flight from a United Kingdom airport to Melbourne Orlando International Airport. Some packages had an option to add a hotel stay in Florida.
The Marella Discovery currently is sailing seven-night “Ottoman Odyssey” cruises in the Eastern Mediterranean, sailing out of Marmaris, Turkey.
Marella Cruises is a relatively small cruise line, with five ships in operation.
The Marella Discovery also is relatively small, compared with some of the megaships based at Port Canaveral. The Discovery has 915 cabins; a double-occupancy capacity of 1,830 passengers; and a full capacity of 2,076 passengers. It is 866 feet long and has a gross tonnage of 69,130 tons.
It has sailed under various names over the years. It initially sailed for Royal Caribbean International as the Splendour of the Seas, starting in 1996. The ship was refurbished in 2016, after being acquired by TUI.
Port’s cruise business booming
Despite not having a Marella ship in port this year, Port Canaveral’s cruise business is going gangbusters.
For the first seven months of the current budget year (October 2023 through April 2024), the port’s total cruise revenue, including from cruise passenger parking, is $92.43 million, which is $2.12 million above budget. During that time, there have been 553 cruise ship calls and 4.52 million multiday passengers getting on or off those ships.
Port Canaveral is the world’s second-busiest cruise port. Five cruise lines base ships at Port Canaveral — Carnival, Disney, MSC, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean. Celebrity and Princess will add ships to the Port Canaveral lineup later this year.
A total of 21 multiday cruise ships will be based at Port Canaveral during at least part of this year.
TUI continues to fly to Melbourne
Despite not having a Marella ship at Port Canaveral, TUI is continuing its flights into and out of Melbourne Orlando International Airport for a third straight year in 2024.
The airport reported that a total of 242,542 passengers got on or off international flights in Melbourne in 2022, and 231,472 did so in 2023. The airport does not report passenger totals by airline, but airport officials said the vast majority of those were TUI passengers.
TUI’s Melbourne service originates from English cities of Birmingham, London (London-Gatwick airport), Manchester and Newcastle, along with Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Glasgow, Scotland. This year’s TUI flights started March 18, and will run through Oct. 26.
In 2025, TUI will add a new departure city for its flights to Melbourne — Dublin, Ireland.
The international travel giant flies U.K. travelers to U.S. destinations aboard Boeing 787 Dreamliners via vacation packages. The airline does not offer tickets for Melbourne passengers to fly to Europe.
Rick Neale contributed to this story.
Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com, on X at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54
