Marella adds 70 Caribbean tours. The St Maarten zip line is already mostly sold.
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Marella put 70 new Caribbean shore excursions on sale for winter 2026. The TUI Group release is dated 29 Oct 2026. Seatrade Cruise News, Holly Payne, carried it on 30 Oct. Five of the 70 have prices. The rest are not listed.
The photo is the lead image on the Seatrade story, credited to Marella Cruises. The caption calls it the Flying Dutchman zip line in St Maarten. It does not say when the photo was taken.
Who can buy them
The release puts the new tours on three ships.
| Ship | Where it sails from |
|---|---|
| Marella Discovery | La Romana, Dominican Republic |
| Marella Explorer 2 | Bridgetown, Barbados |
| Marella Voyager | Bridgetown, Barbados |
You buy them on Cruise Control before you board, or at the Destination Services desk once you are on the ship. That sentence is in the TUI release. Seatrade does not print it. The prices below are pre-booked prices. The release does not say the tours are included in the fare.
The five tours that have a price
| Tour | Port | Pre-booked price |
|---|---|---|
| Flying Dutchman | St Maarten | £98 per adult. No child price printed. |
| Sugar City Trolley Train | St Kitts | £38 per adult and £38 per child. |
| Sounds of Ponce and Salsa Experience | Puerto Rico | £79 per adult and £69 per child. |
| The Home of Steelpan | Scarborough, Tobago | £59 per adult. No child price printed. |
| Expedition to the Window Cave | Puerto Rico | £88 per adult and £79 per child. |
Flying Dutchman starts at Rockland Estate, takes the Sky Explorer chairlift to Sentry Hill, then a zip line the release says reaches 56 mph. A slower zip line follows, then a ride called the Schooner Ride, on an inflatable ring, back down. Chris Hackney, Marella’s CEO, says more than 60 percent of places on that tour are already sold. Seatrade prints the same figure.
The trolley runs through Basseterre and stops at National Heroes Park, the Cenotaph, the old sugar factory, and the grounds of Government House. The Ponce tour is a drive plus a beginner music and dance workshop. The Tobago tour includes a try on the steelpan, rum punch, a live band, and Fort King George. Window Cave is Cueva Ventana, above the Arecibo River Valley, with a guide who starts in San Juan.
The opening of the release also names a wind-powered land yacht in Bonaire. It does not price that tour, and it is not in Seatrade’s list of five. Treat it as one of the 70 until a Marella page shows a fare.
One cruise they use as the example
Both pages describe a seven-night Tropical Isles cruise on Marella Discovery. It is all-inclusive, with TUI Airways from London Gatwick to La Romana, and it leaves 12 Jan 2027. Ports named are San Juan, Ponce, Charlotte Amalie, Frederiksted, and Isla Catalina. The from-price is £1,541 per person. TUI prints a star after that figure and does not explain the star in the article text. Seatrade prints £1,541 with no star. Check the fare on the booking page before you treat £1,541 as the amount you pay.
If you are already on Discovery, Explorer 2, or Voyager this winter, open Cruise Control and look for these names. The zip line is the one Hackney says is filling up. A tour you book outside Marella is not in this price list.
Facts above follow the TUI release on 29 Oct 2026 and Seatrade Cruise News on 30 Oct 2026.
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Questions
- Which ships get the new tours?
- The 29 Oct 2026 TUI release names three ships for this winter. Marella Discovery sails from La Romana. Marella Explorer 2 and Marella Voyager sail from Bridgetown. Seatrade Cruise News on 30 Oct prints the same three. The release's company note lists five Marella ships in the fleet. It does not put Discovery 2 or Explorer on this excursion list.
- What do the priced tours cost?
- Pre-booked adult prices in the release are £98 for Flying Dutchman in St Maarten, £38 for the Sugar City Trolley Train in St Kitts, £79 for Sounds of Ponce and Salsa in Puerto Rico, £59 for The Home of Steelpan in Tobago, and £88 for the Window Cave in Puerto Rico. Child prices are printed for three of them: £38 on the trolley, £69 on the salsa tour, and £79 at the cave. The zip line and the steelpan tour do not print a child price.
- How do you book one?
- The TUI release says the new excursions can be bought on Cruise Control before you board, or onboard at the Destination Services desk. It does not say they are included in the cruise fare. Seatrade does not print the booking path.
- Is the Bonaire land yacht one of the priced five?
- No. The opening of the release names a wind-powered land yacht in Bonaire as one of the 70. It does not give that tour a price, a duration, or a ship. The five tours with prices are the ones in the table below.
Sources
Tier 1 = the cruise line’s own published material · Tier 2 = an established cruise-news outlet- TIER 1TUI Group newsroom, 29 Oct 2026: Marella Cruises, TUI's UK cruise line, is adding 70 new excursions to its Caribbean programme for winter 2026 sailings, bookable from now. The opening names a zip line in St Maarten described as one of the world's steepest, a wind-powered land yacht in Bonaire, and steelpan lessons in Tobago. The tours are on three ships this winter: Marella Discovery from La Romana, and Marella Explorer 2 and Marella Voyager from Bridgetown. Chris Hackney, CEO, says itineraries are designed to make the most of time in port, that early demand is strong, and that more than 60 percent of places on the Flying Dutchman zip line in St Maarten are already sold. He also names salsa in Ponce and steelpan with local musicians in Tobago. Priced examples: Flying Dutchman, St Maarten, starts at Rockland Estate, uses the Sky Explorer chairlift to Sentry Hill, then a zip line at up to 56 mph, a gentler ridge zip line, and a Schooner Ride on an inflatable ring, £98 per adult pre-booked. Sugar City Trolley Train, St Kitts, through Basseterre, with National Heroes Park, the Cenotaph, the historic sugar factory, and the grounds of Government House, £38 per adult and £38 per child. Sounds of Ponce and Salsa Experience, Puerto Rico, a drive plus a beginner music and dance workshop, £79 per adult and £69 per child. The Home of Steelpan, Scarborough, Tobago, includes how pans are made, a try with local musicians, rum punch, a live band, and Fort King George, £59 per adult. Expedition to the Window Cave, Cueva Ventana above the Arecibo River Valley, a guide from San Juan, rock carvings, £88 per adult and £79 per child. A seven-night Tropical Isles round trip on Marella Discovery, all-inclusive with TUI Airways from London Gatwick to La Romana, calls San Juan, Ponce, Charlotte Amalie, Frederiksted, and Isla Catalina, from £1,541 per person with a star, departing 12 January 2027. The star is not explained in the article text. New excursions are sold onboard at the Destination Services desk or on Cruise Control before boarding. The company note says the fleet is five ships, names Discovery 2 and Explorer as well, says all-inclusive covers tips, flights, food, drinks, accommodation, and service charges, and says the line is supported by TUI Airways airports in the UK and Ireland. The land yacht has no price. The page image is a photograph. The page does not print a photographer credit in the article text.
TUI Group, checked 29 Oct 2026 · Read 30 Oct 2026. Load-bearing source for the 70, the ships, the five prices, the booking path, the 60 percent line, and the 12 Jan 2027 example. The hero is not this page's file. - TIER 2Seatrade Cruise News, Holly Payne, 30 Oct 2026: Marella added 70 new Caribbean excursions on Discovery from La Romana and on Explorer 2 and Voyager from Bridgetown. The article repeats the five tours, the same adult and child prices, the 56 mph zip line, and Hackney's line that more than 60 percent of Flying Dutchman places are sold. The caption on the lead photo says the Flying Dutchman zip line in St Maarten is particularly popular, with over 60 percent of places already sold, and credits the photo to Marella Cruises. The article also repeats the seven-night Tropical Isles example from Gatwick on 12 January 2027, from £1,541 per person, with the same port list. It does not print a star on that fare, a land-yacht price, the Cruise Control booking path, or a child price for the zip line or the steelpan tour.
Seatrade Cruise News, checked 30 Oct 2026 · Read 30 Oct 2026. Agrees with the release on the five prices and the three ships. The hero is this article's lead photo. The caption does not date the frame.
Prices and policies move. This page was last checked on Oct 30, 2026, 9:04 AM ET.