Marella Cruises has expanded its non-alcoholic range across the fleet from this month: 18 new alcohol-free cocktails, six 0% ABV spirits from Lyre’s, four 0% wines, plus alcohol-free beer and cider.
Luke Saunders, Marella’s food and drink development manager, said the line had been “listening to customer feedback and reviewing the gaps in our menu”.
It’s a welcome move on a line where drinks come as standard. But the announcement and the drinks menu don’t quite line up, and the difference costs money.
It applies across the fleet from this month, so it doesn’t matter which ship you’ve booked.
What you get without paying anything
Marella is All Inclusive as standard, so the new arrivals that land in the base fare are the ones worth knowing about.
Those are the 0% red, white, rosé and sparkling wines, Heineken 0% and Somersby 0% cider.
There’s a separate win here for coeliac cruisers, tucked into the same announcement: gluten-free Estrella joins the standard All Inclusive list. That one has nothing to do with 0% and everything to do with a group Marella has not served well until now.
The standard package already covered mocktails and fountain soft drinks, so nobody was going thirsty before.
What sits behind the upgrade
The 18 cocktails are the headline, and they need Premium All Inclusive.
So do the six Lyre’s spirits: London Dry Gin, American Malt Bourbon, White Cane Rum, Agave Blanco Tequila, Coffee Originale and Italian Spritz.
The cocktails are built on them, which is why they travel together. A Nojito is Lyre’s White Cane with mint, lime and soda. The Gentle Fashioned is Lyre’s American Malt with bitters and orange peel.
That means the passenger with the strongest reason to want an alcohol-free bar list, the one who isn’t drinking at all, has to buy the drinks package designed for people who are.
Marella doesn’t publish what Premium costs. It isn’t in the press release and it isn’t on TUI’s own pages, which describe it as a supplement and leave it there. You’ll see the number when you book.
The bit nobody mentions
Neither package pours before 10am or after 2am. Anything you order outside those hours goes on your onboard account, and that applies to the 0% drinks exactly as it applies to a gin and tonic.
There is one exception, and it’s on the paid side: Premium passengers can use Coffee Port from 7am.
So the alcohol-free spritz you fancied with an early sea-day breakfast is a chargeable extra whichever package you’re on.
The bottom line
Judge this on what actually changes in your fare, not on the number 18.
If you don’t drink and you were happy with mocktails and fountain soda, you now also get 0% beer, cider and four wines for nothing. That’s a real improvement.
If you want the Lyre’s-based cocktails, you’re buying an upgrade whose price Marella won’t state until you’re at the booking page. It’s the same gap between a headline benefit and its real value that runs through most of what lines put in a press release. Ask what it costs before you decide the 0% range is the reason to say yes.
