Marella Cruises Food – PHOTOS, Menus and Honest Review

If you’re taking a Marella cruise you might be wondering what the food is like.

I have just disembarked a cruise on the Marella Explorer 2 and in this post, we will look at all of the food that I ate during my cruise.

Please note: although these photos were taken on the Marella Explorer 2, Marella have the same restaurants on the majority of their cruise ships, so this post is relevant to all ships in the Marella Cruises fleet.

During our cruise, we ate in:

• Main Dining Room (Latitude 53)
• Vista
• Nonnas Pizzeria
• The Buffet
• Snack Shack
• Kora La (Speciality Restaurant, Extra Charge)
• Surf and Turf (Speciality Restaurant, Extra Charge)

Marella Cruises – Main Dining Room Food Review and Photos (Latitude 53)

The main dining room on the Marella Explorer 2 is called Latitude 53. We ate here multiple times during our cruise.

There’s no need to book restaurants on Marella cruises and there are no fixed dining times or tables, when you’re hungry you just arrive at the restaurant and are seated.

There was always lots of choices including multiple options for vegetarians.

Allergens were clearly marked on the menus.

The two photos above are of two starters that I had in the main dining room.

The photo below is of a pear salad which I had a starter one day, it was really yummy (and I don’t even really like pears).

The photo below might not look like much; it isn’t the most photogenic dinner – but it was really good.

I’m not sure I quite understand Marellas needs to put side salads with things, a pie and side salad does seem like an odd choice, but it was yummy and that’s the main thing to me.

The main dining room isn’t just open for dinner, it would often also be open for lunch.

Another very tasty but not very photogenic meal I had onboard is the one below. It was a lentil ragu with pitta bread—very yummy but not very beautiful.

Again, I couldn’t care less what my food looks – like, as long as it tastes good!

The dessert was brilliant.

Below is a photo of the food I had one lunchtime. The salad was great (yes, there is no salad dressing; I asked for it this way).

The veggie burger was the worst thing I had to eat during the entire week. It was dry and crumbly and I didn’t eat it.

It was made of beans and really didn’t live up to the meat alternatives available now.

Even a very simple and cheap veggie burger (made of peas, sweetcorn, etc) would have been a dramatic improvement.

I did order a ‘veggie’ burger again at the snack shack, but unfortunately, it was the same burger.

The great thing about being on a cruise, though, is that if you find food you don’t like, you can just order something different!

The staff were always helpful and friendly.

Marella Cruises – Vista Dining Room Food Review and Photos

In addition to the main dining room, there is also an Italian restaurant onboard.

This is usually still in the main dining room. It might just be on the top level or to the side. The menu here is different from that in the rest of the dining room, and the design is a little different, too.

The Italian restaurant is included in the cruise fare and the meal we had here was great.

I couldn’t fault anything about the food, and if you are cruising with Marella, I’d definitely recommend you visit at least once.

When we cruised, the service was fast and we rarely had to wait for anything. Our sailing was at reduced capacity though, so this may have had something to do with it.

To find out how the reduced capacity affected the rest of our cruise, and why we nearly got stranded in Spain. Check out this video:

Marella Cruises – Nonna’s Pizzeria Food Review and Photos

Many cruise lines will have some sort of poolside venue that serves pizza. In my opinion, Nonnas is a step above the rest.

When ordering the pizza, each one is freshly made and cooked on a wood-burning stove. This means that the pizza didn’t take very long to cook and was really good.

This is the pizza I ordered – yep that is pineapple on the pizza.

We visited early in the evening (around 6pm) and there were very few people in the restaurant. We had multiple crew members waiting on just us!

Below is a photo of Nonna’s pizzeria menu.

Marella Cruises – Buffet Food Review and Photos

On all Marella cruise ships, you’ll find a large buffet open most of the day.

We would often visit the buffet for a quick lunch or to grab a snack in the afternoon.

As Marella are an “All Inclusive” cruise line. You can find out what that means in this post here:

Marella Cruises, what does ‘all inclusive’ include?

Drinks were being served in the buffet. This included wine, beer and soda.

The buffet is smaller than you’ll find on mega ships because most Marella ships are mid-sized.

Despite this, though, we always found a good selection of food available, and everything was always hot and tasty.

Marella is a British cruise line, and this is definitely reflected in the food choices. You’ll find lots of British favourites on offer.

The bread was also pretty good, as you can tell from the photo above!

At the time of my Marella cruise, the buffet food was served to you by crew members. This has now returned to a traditional buffet, where you help yourself.

It’s important to remember that there is no ‘wrong’ way to have a meal in the buffet.

If you want to mix and match all food types and go back for second or thirds, DO IT! You’ve paid for the food – enjoy it.

Most days, Marella would offer afternoon tea in the buffet.

The photo above is a selection of food that I had one afternoon. It’s amazing how easily you can fit in another meal between lunch and dinner, if you try!

Afternoon tea wasn’t served like it is on most other cruise lines. Instead, the items were placed in the buffet as normal. There was a good collection of sandwiches, cakes, and, of course, scones!

Marella Cruises – Snack Shack Food Review and Photos

The Snack Shack is located by the pool. Here, you can find burgers, chicken wings, and hot dogs. They also have a selection of sandwiches, cakes, and cookies.

Apart from the veggie burger mentioned above, I always found the food to be good.

Below is a photo of a Tofu and Veg sandwich that I picked up one afternoon. Again there were plenty of Vegetarian options.

The Snack Shack was very popular, so sometimes there would be a wait but they would provide you with a little buzzer so you could go back to your seat and come back when your food was ready.

They also freshly made things like Panninis, which were very good. We would often sit on the pool deck and just pick up a bite to eat here.

Marella Cruises – Coffee Port Cookies Review and Photos

Whenever I cruise, I like to find the best cookies that I can.

There were included cookies at the Snack Shack and in the buffet but these were small and when I saw in the below in the Coffee Port, I knew I had to try one.

Each cookie below cost £2, and it was absolutely worth the extra cost.

After having one, I decided to buy one for my family to try too. They agreed that they were good.

Marella Cruises – Surf and Turf Restaurant Review and Photos

** Gifted Meal – Marella invited me to try this restaurant. All opinions are my own. **

The Surf and Turf restaurant is a speciality restaurant onboard Marella Cruises, meaning that it costs extra.

The prices do vary, but it usually costs around £30 per person. This includes all food.

Surf and Turf, as the name suggests, focuses on steak and seafood.

I was vegetarian, so I was a little apprehensive about going to the steak house, I usually just end up eating chips and onion rings but I was happy to see they had a vegetarian option on the menu.

It was a cauliflower steak made with orange, it was great.

We were very full from our meals but managed to fit in dessert. I’m glad we did…

Marella are an ‘All Inclusive’ cruise line, this meant that we didn’t have to pay anything extra for drinks. The drinks that are included in the cruise fare are still available even in speciality restaurants.

To find out more about which drinks are included in the Marella Cruises cruise fare, check out the drinks list here:

Marella Cruises All Inclusive Drinks List (and Menus)

Marella Cruises – Kora La Restaurant Review and Photos

** Gifted Meal – Marella invited me to try this restaurant. All opinions are my own. **

Kora La is my favourite restaurant on Marella cruise ships. I originally visited Kora La on the Marella Discovery in 2019.

Kora La serves Asian inspired dishes and we all decided to order curry. The below is the section of food that arrived for the four of us. We were STUFFED after this meal!

Kora La costs a little over £20 per person and that includes all the food that you can eat. We certainly ate enough to make back this cost, I hate to think how much this would cost on land.

The desserts were also brilliant!

I usually don’t eat in speciality restaurants when I cruise, but we did find both speciality meals to be of incredibly high quality.

If you are taking a Marella cruise though and don’t want to pay extra for any food, there is plenty included in the cruise fare.

Find out about the Marella cruise I took my friend on below. She hadn’t cruised since she was a child, and a Marella cruise fitted the bill perfectly – casual, all-inclusive and affordable.

Before You Go

You can often get additional discounts on Marella cruises when booking directly online. Find out how here:

How to Find Discounts on Marella and TUI Cruises (Coupon Codes, Always Available)

All Marella ships have had previous lives with other major cruise lines. Find out more about that here:

How Marella Cruises Transformed Ex-Celebrity and Royal Caribbean Ships