Port of call

In some places, we put on a Town Transfer to whisk you to the town or city centre from the port area. The Marella Cruises-operated shuttle bus will cost no more than £5 per adult and children under 12 go free.

It's possible to do your own thing in most ports. You might need to do a bit of research first to find out what the must-dos are and what sort of prices you can expect to pay for buses, taxis and trains. Due to varying docking locations, it may be necessary to take a shuttle bus from the ship to the port entrance. Otherwise, a shuttle service may be provided to a designated central drop-off point in the town/city.

Our on-board Destination Services Team are the local experts so they'll help you in any way they can. Just so you know, though, we can't wait for you if you're not back on board at the time advertised at the gangway. If our organised tours are delayed, however, the ship will wait until everyone is accounted for.

It's not always possible to tie a ship up at a dock, so sometimes we anchor a little way out from the shore, and use tender boats to get you to the shore.

Where possible, tender ports are marked on itineraries with an asterisk. You'll still get plenty of time in the port, plus you can use the tender services to go back and forth from the ship as much as you like.

You’ll need to be mobile enough to step in and out of the tender boat with minimal assistance. Unfortunately, our crew aren't allowed to lift you.

Some of our ports are a little way out from the main destination of interest - for example, for Bangkok, we dock in Laem Chabang, and for Seville, we dock in the coastal city of Cadiz - both are around an hour and a half's drive from port to city. When this is the case, the best way to explore is via our shore excursions. You can book our excursions and 'on your own' transfers before your cruise. They're subject to availability.

If we're not able to dock close to the port entrance, it might be a short walk or bus ride to the port gates. In some places, there'll be a shuttle bus to take you from the ship to the port gates. This will either be provided by Marella Cruises or the local port authority.
If it's operated by us, it'll be free, but there might be a small fee for buses run by the local port authority. It'll depend on what berth we're docked at and is only confirmed during the cruise.

The departure time at each port varies. You'll be able to find the departure times in the onboard app Navigate. And there will always be a sign at the gangway indicating the timings.