We chose this cruise as we wanted to go to the Canaries and could fly their direct from our local airport. The Marella Dream had just spent 10 days in dry dock and has just had a big refurbishment, including the bars and dining areas which had new carpets and chairs. It was still obvious it was an old ship with some rust around windows in particular showing. Generally the service was efficient and friendly. The standard of meals served in Orion (the waiter service restaurant) was of a high quality and well-presented with the no fixed time to dine which gave us flexibility to eat when it suited us. The standard of entertainment with the production shows was to a very high standard in the theatre. There was some live music in the evening, a duo a trio and party band. We paid extra to upgrade our all –inclusive drinks package and the choice of wine was very limited on the standard all-inclusive package (just a somewhat inferior house wine). The standard of meals in the buffet restaurants (Sirens and Lido) was quite acceptable although not outstanding and there were long queues at busy times which is often a problem with buffet restaurants. There was a shortage of drinks menus and no maps of the ship available at all. The staff were generally very friendly and helpful. We had a reasonable amount of time in the ports (although it was the Canaries and most of the islands are not very far from each other). We went with low expectations as I had understood the ship was quite run down but I saw little evidence of this now (apart from in a few places where it was showing its age).
Our inside cabin was a reasonable size but underneath the nightclub which made it quite difficult to sleep at times. The décor was let down by the chips in the basin. It was difficult to get the temperature comfortable in the shower as the temperature kept changing dramatically and quickly several times within each shower taken.