Marella CruisesEuropean cruise lines Port Canaveral Fishing boats scheduled to return through 2023 will not return this year, port officials said.
The cruise line was a rarity in the port: It had the Marella Discovery sailing from Port Canaveral for six months in 2023. But U.S. residents couldn’t book cruises on the ship; cruises were only available to people who booked flights from Europe to Melbourne-Orlando International Airport with its airline, TUI Airways. Both Marella and TUI Airways are part of the large international travel company TUI Group.
Port Canaveral CEO John Murray said the Marella Discovery will only sail from Port Canaveral in 2023 and then switch to other routes. He said there are no issues between the port and the cruise line that would cause the Marella not to sail from Port Canaveral this year.
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Marella Discovery will operate a total of 28 sailings from Port Canaveral from May to November 2023, carrying a total of 85,533 passengers on board or disembark. Most of the voyages were seven-night voyages.
Itineraries from Port Canaveral varied: a typical itinerary was called the “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 included a flight from a UK airport to Melbourne Orlando International Airport. Some packages had the option to add a hotel stay in Florida.
The Marella Discovery is currently sailing from Marmaris, Turkey on a seven-night “Ottoman Odyssey” cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Marella Cruises is a relatively small cruise line, operating five ships.
The Marella Discovery is also relatively small compared to other large ships based at Port Canaveral. Discovery has 915 staterooms and can accommodate 1,830 guests double occupancy and 2,076 guests fully loaded. It is 866 feet long and has a gross tonnage of 69,130 tons.
The ship has sailed under various names over the years, beginning as the Splendor of the Seas for Royal Caribbean International in 1996. The ship was refurbished in 2016 after being acquired by TUI.
Port cruise business booms
Cruise business at Port Canaveral is booming, even though no Marella ships have been in port this year.
The port’s total cruise revenue, including cruise passenger parking revenue, for the first seven months of the current budget year (October 2023 to April 2024) is $92.43 million, $2.12 million above budget. During this period, 553 cruise ships called and 4.52 million multi-day passengers boarded and disembarked from those ships.
Port Canaveral is the second busiest cruise port in the world. Five cruise lines dock at Port Canaveral: Carnival, Disney, MSC, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean. Celebrity and Princess are expected to add ships to the Port Canaveral lineup later this year.
A total of 21 multi-day cruise ships are scheduled to dock at Port Canaveral for at least part of this year.
TUI continues flying to Melbourne
Despite the absence of Marella ships at Port Canaveral, TUI will continue flying to Melbourne-Orlando International Airport for the third consecutive year in 2024.
The airport reported that a total of 242,542 passengers boarded or disembarked on international flights at Melbourne in 2022, and 231,472 in 2023. The airport does not report passenger numbers by airline, but airport officials said the majority of passengers were TUI passengers.
TUI’s Melbourne service departs from Birmingham, London (Gatwick), Manchester and Newcastle in the UK, as well as Belfast in Northern Ireland and Glasgow in Scotland. This year’s TUI service began on March 18 and will run until October 26.
In 2025, TUI plans to add Dublin, Ireland as a new departure point for flights to Melbourne.
The international travel giant flies British tourists to various parts of the US on its Boeing 787 Dreamliners through holiday packages. The airline does not offer flights to Europe for Melbourne passengers.
Rick Neal contributed to this story.
Dave Berman: Florida Today. Contact Berman dberman@floridatoday.comX’s translator on facebook www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54
