TUI Cruises is a German cruise line that operates a variety of vacation experiences tailored for diverse customer preferences. The company specializes in offering premium cruise holidays, focusing on providing exceptional service and a wide range of onboard amenities. With a fleet of modern ships, TUI Cruises aims to deliver memorable travel experiences to individuals, couples, and families seeking leisure and adventure at sea.
Targeting both domestic and international travelers, TUI Cruises offers itineraries that cover popular destinations in Europe and beyond. The company's offerings include all-inclusive packages that encompass dining, entertainment, and excursions, ensuring a seamless travel experience for its customers. By prioritizing customer satisfaction and comfort, TUI Cruises positions itself as a reliable choice for those looking to explore the world from the deck of a cruise ship.
TUI Cruises receives a predominantly negative response from customers, with many expressing dissatisfaction regarding various aspects of their cruise experience. Reviewers frequently mention issues with the Marella ships, citing poor cabin conditions and unpleasant odors onboard.
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The quality of food is another common complaint, with many finding it subpar and lacking variety, particularly on themed cruises. Despite these criticisms, some customers do highlight the positive aspects of their trips, such as the hardworking and friendly staff, as well as the enjoyable food in certain dining options. A few reviewers also appreciate the overall cruise experience, noting that it can be better than traditional resort holidays.
Each source counts by its number of reviews. Only reviews written by people are scored.
Rating, volume, share of the score, six-month trend and fake-review risk for each source
Source
Rating
Reviews
Weight
6-mo
Fake risk
★
Trustpilot
Imported Trustpilot reviews
2.2
180
100%
-1.5
● Low
2.2 / 5 overall
=
180 reviews across 1 scored source
How fake risk works ⓘ
Reputation trend
Monthly average rating from reviews written by people · latest review Jul 2025.
Last 3 months
2.0▼ 1.5
12-month avg
2.6
All-time
2.2
Category avg
4.0
Monthly averageCategory average
Monthly average rating and review count
Month
Average
Reviews
Aug 24
2.8
5
Sep 24
2.3
10
Oct 24
2.5
8
Nov 24
3.0
2
Dec 24
1.8
5
Jan 25
3.0
14
Feb 25
2.8
5
Mar 25
4.7
6
Apr 25
2.8
6
May 25
1.6
8
Jun 25
2.1
9
Jul 25
2.3
7
What people praise & complain about
Share of positive (4–5★) and negative (1–2★) reviews mentioning each topic · based on the 180 most recent reviews.
Top praiseof 43 positive reviews
Friendly staff35%
15 mentions
Customer service35%
15 mentions
Selection16%
7 mentions
Helpful support14%
6 mentions
“Great vibe everyone so friendly”
On “Friendly staff” · Jul 2, 2025
Top complaintsof 122 negative reviews
Shipping39%
47 mentions
Customer service33%
40 mentions
Payment issues29%
35 mentions
Returns21%
26 mentions
“Absolutely terrible holiday but if you like not being able to get a sun bed at all, (all occupied ones crammed in tig...”
On “Shipping” · Jul 23, 2025
How it compares
Same method for every company: overall rating, legitimacy checks, the average rating of reviews mentioning each area and the 6-month trend · Cruise Lines.
Overall rating and review count for this company and similar companies
Our TUI Voyager cruise experience was disappointing compared to our previous six cruises on different vessels. Unlike our past experiences with self-served hot meals offering a variety of options, the Voyager required queuing for served meals. Unfortunately, the food quality fell short, with cold plates leading to lukewarm or cold dishes, breakfast items of subpar quality, language barriers with some staff, and an inability to accommodate simple requests like don't break the egg yokes or less tomato sauce on beans. The pizzas were a good highlight amidst curries tasting like they came from a can and consistently cold plates. Entertainment wise, solo singers lacked charm, and the showcase cabaret felt cheap and disorganised. Overall, both the food and entertainment experiences have significantly deteriorated over the years. While the drinks package is a saving grace, splurging on the premium package isn't worth it.
We're considering a Mediterranean cruise this summer, but not with tui voyager.
The overall experience was so disappointing due to penny pinching, cost cutting.
Nie wieder TUI.
Schiffsreise im Wert von über 50.000 Euro vor zwei Jahren bei TUI-Reisebüro gebucht mit Flug nach Hongkong. Gewollt war Business, gebucht hat TUI Economy. Beim Wunsch nach Upgrade wurde erstmal Geld verlangt für die Bearbeitungzur vorzeitigen Erstellung eines File-Keys, danach passierte aber nichts mehr. Auf meine Reklamation hin wurde mir mitgeteilt, das müsse das Reisebüro machen. Das Reisebüro sagte mir, das ginge nur über TUI. Heute nun hat TUI als Leistung den File Key für das Upgrade bei Lufthansa ersatzlos gestrichen, Economy bleibt nach wie vor, aber das Geld hat TUI einkassiert, Leistung ist keine erbracht worden.
Das nenne ich Hilfsbereitschaft und Kundenfreundlichkeit.
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Just returned from two weeks on the Morella Voyager around the Caribbean.
This cruise to me was a bit like picking a land holiday in Benidorm. If you like that type of environment and bargain culture which many do, I dare, say you would love this type of cruise. my opinion though are Marella cruises are just not for me. I am not a snob but I don’t like hussle and bussle environment of the ship. Cheap entertainment activities like a holiday club and generally just trying to be something it just isn’t. Marella appears to have its identity mixed up trying to be partly the traditional cruise ship whilst also being a booze cruise. For me I think the later will win and as it gets cheaper it’s standards will slip further. For that reason, I won’t be using them again. I don’t think I would like the upper-class cruise experience either so maybe cruising just isn’t my cup of tea.
I went on 3 Marella cruises last year and the same food was served on all ships. The vegetarian food was the worst I have ever had in over 50 years. Tasteless, texture less and really boring. The problem is there is usually only 1 choice for vegetarians and this often vegan and Gluen free too, which means that everything has been taken out. It seams that every other day it was butternut squash of tofu, both which i love, but not unflavoured and mashed. I spoke to various members of staff and basically they dont care, never get any feed back. My Christmas Dinner was awful it would have been laughable if I had not been near to tears.
I enjoyed every other part of the ship, staff, locations visited but don't think I would use them again because of the food. Non vegetarians have a wonderful selection, I'm sad that I'm not properly catered for.
App doesn’t work, customer service no help, complaints department keeps sending back same email, saying my booking ref name and date of cruise can’t be found. Although cruise shows up on App.
Chat line useless.
Speaking on phone no help what so ever.
Very disappointed as I go on cruise tomorrow without boarding passes, been going on for 2 weeks now, will go to ABTA when I get back.
Having recently cruised with Marella my family were looking forward to booking a new trip however we were very disappointed that during the booking process which only took a few minutes the confirmed price suddenly went up by over £1,500 as we went to pay by card. A message appeared saying "unfortunately the price has increased during the on line booking process". We entered the exact details again and the lower price was displayed on the website and summary then guess what, as we went to pay it shot up again by over £1,500!!! At this point we contacted TUI who said the prices do go up and down during the booking process, this seems like false representation especially at such short notice (minutes) and by over 30%. We checked again to see if the lower price was still on their website and it was so yet again received a price breakdown confirmation only for it to rise by £1,500 at the point of payment. We are going to inform Trading Standards as we kept date stamped screen shots however hope in the mean time this acts as a warning to other potential TUI Marella Cruise customers. At best TUI are time wasters though potentially illegal!!
As a more mature passenger I was very impressed by my recent experience with Marella on Explorer 2.
The crew and staff members were excellent, the ship was good, cleanliness first class, all inclusive drinks were good, food was very good and plentiful. The itinerary was not totally to my liking, but that's my personal taste. Overall a super cruise and would recommend the Company.
Gave a 1star as can’t give any less! Cruise on Marella Explorer last October the absolute pits! Customer services couldn’t be less interested avoid at all costs
My sister, who has a disability, initially booked the cruise six months in advance, she was not offered an assisted cabin at the time of booking, despite the assisted travel team being aware of her disability.
Thirteen weeks before our trip, we contacted TUI to confirm airport assistance for my sister, ask questions and discuss our expectations for the cruise, it was then that we told she hadn’t been allocated an assisted cabin and there were none available.
Frustrated by having to speak to different agents explaining the situation over and over, we eventually complained about not being provided with an assisted cabin for my sister and were told our only option was that we would have to pay an additional £200 per person to upgrade to a larger cabin. After discussing this between us we reluctantly decided to pay the extra for an upgrade but when we called back the next day, we were told they don’t have any larger cabins available for this cruise, which not only wasted our time but lifted our hopes and expectations just to be disappointed, again.
Due to time constraints and penalties for cancellation 12 weeks before the holiday, we decided to proceed with the holiday as it were.
First day on board the ship, we had to wait until midnight to receive our luggage as TUI didn’t label customers checked baggage before leaving the UK. Then we noticed a strong, unpleasant mouldy odour in the main communal area’s as well as in our cabin. The cabin had rust in many places especially in and around the shower. There were issues with the water in the shower as we noticed that our brand-new white washcloth had become discoloured. When we reported this to the cabin maintenance team, the plumber came and removed the showerhead and turned on the tap, only to reveal dark rusty water flowing from it. When asked what we could do about this, we were told to wash using cold water, as the discoloration was coming from the hot water source. We expressed our reluctance to take cold showers, so he advised us to call reception, but the phone in the cabin didn’t work either. This meant us having to walk to the busy reception desk MID ship and wait in the long queues whenever we needed assistance. After requesting to move cabins we were informed that they could not move us as there were no other cabin available, they also refused to give us bottled water to brush out teeth as we had not purchased the premier drink package, however, they provided us with tap water in glass jugs.
After waiting two days and further complaints, we were moved to another cabin but again, Tui staff failed to pay attention to detail because although there were 3 of us, they offered us (3 adults) a cabin with a double bed. This is after we had spent a whole morning struggled with repacking our clothes & suitcases. Eventually they found a cabin at the front of the ship, but this cabin was also unsuitable for my disabled sister as its location caused excessive motion, making it difficult for her to maintain her balance while using her walking stick. This was especially challenging during the storm that evening and watching her being thrown from side to side (which also contributed to her motion sickness). Throughout the night, there was constant loud crashing and banging of deck furniture, preventing us from getting a full night's sleep and as you can imagine this was quiet frightening. The toilet in the cabin did not flush properly either, necessitating maintenance calls each time it was used.
The air-conditioning in the cabin was problematic, stick on the coldest setting making the cabin excessively cold, so we had to request additional blankets and pillows to keep warm during the night.
After lodging repeated complaints with the senior officers at this stage, we waited an additional three days before being moved to a third cabin. Although an upgrade, this cabin was even smaller than the last two designed for two people, leaving one of us to sleep on a sofa for the entire week. This cabin also had brown rusty water coming from the showerhead when you turned it on, the cabin only had two main plug points causing a lot of inconvenience but at this stage we were exhausted and unhappy half way through the 2 weeks’ vacation.
Having to unpack three times in one week, constantly moving our belongings and carrying clothes up and down in the lifts alongside other guests, was not only embarrassing but also incredibly stressful when wanted to get peace and rest. Despite our efforts to make the best of a difficult situation, we still felt as though we had been ripped off as we paid a significant amount of money for a substandard holiday.
Strongly advise anyone booking with TUI, especially for cruises, to thoroughly research and be prepared for potential challenges
Still. Taking money out of our account 4 days after leaving the cruise
Suspected the system was loose re giving card. Details WHEN ASKING FOR FINAL RECEIPT STRESSED THE OBVIOUS1!! DO NOT AGREE TO ANY FURTHER DIPS INTO OUR ACCOUNT
THE REPLY WA NOT CONVINCING
BEWARE THIS NOT GOO ENOUGH WE WERE FOIRCED TO GIVE THEM OPEN ACCESS WILL NOT. DO THAT AGAIN!
Terrible, 3 cabins, 2 itinerary changes, 1 damaged suit case. Before we embarked we were informed by a passenger that the itinerary had changed, no notification from the company. Received one good case then later in the day Received one damaged case. We came for relaxation and recuperation. First cabin had rust all over the ceiling we were told no other cabins were available. Slept in masks for 3 nights because my wife was recovering from 2 breast cancer operations and I have been diagnosed with a heart problem
These points were made to reception but they didn't care. Amazingly 3 days later another cabin became available later that evening the cabin flooded from the toilet. Again no cabins available and we had to sleep in masks with blankets on the floor and a fowl smell. Amazingly Again after a meeting with a manager another cabin became available, I asked why this cabin became available and was told the family had left the cruise for personal reasons. I later found out that this was incorrect. The cabin was located at the very rear of the ship. Up to 11.30pm you could hear the noise from the theatre 2 decks below and on a shore day from between 3&5am while docking the cabin would shake as if a earthquake had hit. We accepted defeat and accepted our lot we slept during the day and because we didn't complain Marella have reduced the compensation they have offered us which amounts to £8 per day which we have not accepted. I would urge any passenger no matter how small the problem report it immediately. We have returned from this cruise exhausted and very disappointed.
Cost cutting made blatant to clients
Complaint every day 11 cruise with them
Explorer twice very upset how things have declined
Think they are now just a cheap way of travel if you are looking for 2 star service shoddy beds and rooms
They think they made me happy just got tired of complaining
Got another booked next year may be my last with them
I have just returned from a cruise on the Marella Explorer on the 1st of November. After travelling before, several times, on the Destiny, Spirit, Celebration and Dream, I was and I am very disappointed with the standards on the Marella Explorer. The food was very good in the restaurants, cabin was cleaned, the group on the Broadway show lounge was very good. That’s it all the rest was a bit flat, starting from the embarkation point. The welcoming on board, the friendliness, everything else was missing. Even the so called dress to impress night, was nothing to impress. The all routine was very flat from the start. I have to say the waiters in the restaurants were very willing to help and friendly. Please TUI , bring back the atmosphere and the standards of the older ships.
My first time on the Explorer. Did it made me want to go back on it? NO
If I want to go to Butlins or Benidorm I do not go on a cruise
Wir haben am 5. November 2023 eine Reise von Heraklion nach Dubai gebucht.
Auf Grund des Krieges in Israel und der daraus resultierenden Gefahrenlage versuchen wir seit 2 Wochen ergebnislos TUI zu kontaktieren um eine Auskunft zur Reise und den geplanten Landausflügen in Ägypten und Jordanien zu bekommen.
Das Auswärtige Amt hat schon mehrfache Reisewarnungen ausgesprochen aber TUI ignoriert im Moment alle Kontaktversuche.
Die An- und Abreise haben wir selbst gebucht und wir befürchten, dass wir unter Umständen auf unseren Flügen sitzen bleiben.
Dieses ignorante Verhalten ist schäbig und unprofessionell und wir werden diese Schiffe nicht mehr betreten.
sailed on Marella Voyager cosmopolitan classics very friendly staff and lovely ship even though full still didnt feel over crowded, Cabin 10034 executive suite was simply suberb and far exceeded our expectations (just be aware you do hear sunbeds being dragged on deck 11). food was fine, Kitchens was good but as the menu doesnt change could become boring but vista and latitudes were very good . Special shout out to Andri our cabin steward on deck 10 who went above and beyond. Did a couple of trips and were well organised but was not keen on Naples at all. Steve the captain kept us all well informed every step of the way without being intrusive. would definitely go again, nothing pretentious at all just a really good trip.
On Merella Voyager 2 from Dubrovnik. Tired ship. We purchased premium drinks package, not worth it. First three days they not no premium wine and the bars where all running out of drinks. Complained the day they were restocking doh! Took 2 days for the bars to restock,
Don't buy premium drinks it is definitely not worth it.
We have just returned from our cruise on the Morella Voyager. It was our first cruise and we were very excited and unsure what to expect. The staff on board and all the arranged transfers from TUI were second to none, everything was timed to perfection and were kept well informed. The cabin was clean and every day were offered clean towels and left fresh bottles of water. The evening we were left our towel animals and chocolate on the pillow which was a really nice touch. Also our daily cruise news which let you know what was happening the following day. There was a good variety of food and we really enjoyed the latitude 53 restaurant where the food was good and service exceptional.
Shows were really good but some of the singers in the bars were a bit monotonous. There was a bad smell of sewerage in Appertif which was a real shame because it was a lovely bar and had a good choice of gins and whiskey's. Enjoyed all of the tours and being in a new port every day. Didn't have time to use the spa or the pool as we're busy off ship. Wanted to try and fit as much in as we could. Met some lovely people on board and only saw a couple of children with families so that was good to be 95% adults only which suited us. Overall we were really happy and would definitely do another cruise with Morella without hesitation.
TUI Cruises is a German cruise line that operates a variety of vacation experiences tailored for diverse customer preferences. The company specializes in offering premium cruise holidays, focusing on providing exceptional service and a wide range of onboard amenities. With a fleet of modern ships, TUI Cruises aims to deliver memorable travel experiences to individuals, couples, and families seeking leisure and adventure at sea.
Targeting both domestic and international travelers, TUI Cruises offers itineraries that cover popular destinations in Europe and beyond. The company's offerings include all-inclusive packages that encompass dining, entertainment, and excursions, ensuring a seamless travel experience for its customers. By prioritizing customer satisfaction and comfort, TUI Cruises positions itself as a reliable choice for those looking to explore the world from the deck of a cruise ship.
