MS ''Marella Dream'' was a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

built in 1986 at the

Meyer Werft Meyer Werft (; ) is a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Papenburg at the river Ems. It was founded in 1795, as a builder of small wooden vessels. It has been owned and managed by the Meyer family for seven generations. Since ...

shipyard in

Papenburg Papenburg (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Papenbörg'') is a city in the district of Emsland, Lower Saxony, Germany, situated at the river Ems. It is known for its large shipyard, the Meyer-Werft, which specializes in building cruise liners. Ge ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

as ''Homeric'' for

Home Lines Home Lines was an Italian passenger shipping company that operated both ocean liners and cruise ships. The company was founded in 1946, and it ceased operations in 1988 when merged into Holland America Line. Although based in Genoa, Home Lines was ...

, and their last newbuild to remain in active service. In 1988 she was sold to

Holland America Line Holland America Line N.V. (HAL) is an American cruise line operating as a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Founded in 1873 in Rotterdam, Netherlands as the Netherlands-America Steamship Company (NASM), the company operated regular trans ...

, renamed ''Westerdam'', and in 1990 lengthened by at Meyer Werft. In 2002 she was transferred to the fleet of

Costa Cruises Società per Azioni, S.p.A. (), operating as Costa Cruises, is an Italian cruise line founded in 1948 and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc since 2000. Based in Genoa, Italy, the cruise line primarily caters to ...

and renamed ''Costa Europa''. In April 2010 she was taken on a ten-year charter by

Thomson Cruises Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson Cruises) is a British cruise line operated by TUI UK, offering cruise holidays around Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia. History The company had initially entered the cruise market in 1973, but due to rising fue ...

, under the name ''Thomson Dream''. Following the 2017 renaming of Thomson Cruises to

Marella Cruises Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson Cruises) is a British cruise line operated by TUI UK, offering cruise holidays around Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia. History The company had initially entered the cruise market in 1973, but due to rising fu ...

TUI Group TUI AG (trading as TUI Group) is a German multinational leisure, travel and tourism company; it is the largest such company in the world. TUI is an acronym for ''Touristik Union International'' ("Tourism Union International"). TUI AG was known a ...

also changed the ship's name to ''Marella Dream''. She was retired from Marella Cruises in November 2020 and was sold, then broken up in 2022.

Concept and construction

planned ''Homeric'' during the first half of the 1980s as a replacement for their aging .

was chosen as the shipyard to build her. The ship was named in honour of the company's earlier , a popular ship that had been destroyed by a fire in 1973. The new ''Homeric'' was launched on 28 September 1985, and was the largest cruise liner to be launched sideways from a slipway. She performed her sea trials between 26 and 30 December 1985, but was not delivered to Home Lines until 6 May 1986. Following the sale of the ship to

(and the sale of HAL itself to the

Carnival Corporation Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

), the ship was renamed ''Westerdam'', and returned to Meyer Werft on 30 October 1989 for a $84 million refit. The ship was lengthened by and many of her interiors were rebuilt. The refit, one of the most extensive ever performed on a passenger ship, was completed on 12 March 1990. In 2002, prior to entering service as ''Costa Europa'' for

, the ship received a £5 million refit, with some of the public rooms redecorated and six balcony suites added.

Service history

1986–1988: ''Homeric''

During her service with Home Lines the ''Homeric'' was used for cruises from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

during the

northern hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

summer season and cruises in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

during the rest of the year. While popular, especially with Home Lines' loyal base of repeat passengers, the ultimate success of the ''Homeric'' in service with the historic company has been questioned. One author described her in summation as the "giant

swan song The swan song (; ) is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful song just before their death while they have been ...

" of the company. Certainly, times were changing and the end of the company reflected trends in the quickly evolving cruise market. Home Lines was finally purchased by the

in 1988.

1988–2002: ''Westerdam''

In November 1988 the ''Homeric'' joined the fleet of

and was renamed ''Westerdam'' (different sites state different dates for her transfer to the HAL fleet). In service with her new owners, the ''Westerdam'' cruised to

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

during the summer season, returning to the Caribbean for the winter. Soon after Home Lines had been purchased by Holland America, HAL itself was purchased by the

. HAL's new owners decided to invest heavily in the fairly new ''Westerdam'', and between October 1989 and March 1990 she was extensively rebuilt and enlarged at Meyer Werft. When the ''Westerdam'' entered service for HAL, she was registered in

The Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

, but in 1996 she was re-registered to the Netherlands. In 2002, following the delivery of several newbuilds for Holland America Line, the ''Westerdam'' was transferred to the fleet of Costa Cruises.

2002 – April 2010: ''Costa Europa''

Following the transfer to

in April 2002, the ''Westerdam'' was renamed ''Costa Europa'' and re-registered in Italy. On 27 April 2002 she started on her first cruise for her new owners from

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, subsequently being used for cruises around Europe.

April 2010 – October 2017

''Costa Europa'' left the fleet of Costa Cruises in April 2010, being

bareboat charter A bareboat charter, or demise charter, is an arrangement for the chartering or hiring of a ship or boat for which no crew or provisions are included as part of the agreement. Instead, the renter of the vessel from the owner is responsible for ...

ed to the United Kingdom-based

for ten years. The charter agreement also included an option for Thomson Cruises to buy the ship after five years. The ship was renamed ''Thomson Dream'' for her service with Thomson. ''Thomson Dream'' received a refurbishment at the end of 2012 and introduced into the Platinum collection of cruises.

October 2017 – 2022

The ship served as ''Marella Dream'' for cruises with the newly rebranded

, previously known as Thomson Cruises, until 1 October 2020, when Marella announced that she would be retired and all her summer sailings would be transferred to '' Marella Discovery''. Afterwards, the ship was sold to Turkish shipbreakers and laid up at

Perama Perama () is a coastal town and a suburb of Piraeus and belongs to the Piraeus regional unit and is the southwestern limit of Athens urban area. It lies on the southwest edge of the Aegaleo mountains, on the Saronic Gulf coast. It is 8 km ...

, Greece, along with other cruise ships and drillships, awaiting capacity at the Turkish yard. In 2021 the ship was renamed ''Ella'' and on 18 June 2022 arrived in tow at Aliaga for demolition.

Incidents

2009 passenger mutiny

In February 2009, ''Costa Europa'' had engine trouble on an Indian Ocean cruise and passengers mutinied after scheduled stops were cancelled.

2010 dock collision

On 26 February 2010, ''Costa Europa'' collided with a dock at Sharm al-Sheikh in Egypt, after attempting to dock in bad weather. The collision killed three crew members and injured at least four other people, three of them passengers. The incident tore a wide hole in the hull, and the ship was listed to port to lift the damaged area clear of the water. The report into the incident, to be handled by the Italian maritime authorities based in Genoa, had still not been handed to the IMO in January 2012.

Coronavirus pandemic

On 2020.03.27, a 48-year-old Indonesian crew member of MS ''Marella Dream'' died on board the ship with symptoms consistent with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

while the ship was anchored near

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. A spokesperson for owner

stated that " e crew member had underlying health issues and had not tested positive for Covid-19 and there are no positive cases of Covid-19 on board the ship", leading sources to conclude that either he had not been tested, or that he had died of the virus. Gibraltar officials refused permission for the disembarkation of the body, asked the ship to leave

British Gibraltar Territorial Waters The Gibraltar Port Authority develops and manages the Port of Gibraltar. History On 19 February 1706, Anne, Queen of Great Britain, granted free-port status to Gibraltar. In the early 18th century, Gibraltar was principally a garrison where ...

,Archived a
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and stated that any inquiry into the death of the crew member was the responsibility of

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

, the ship's

flag state The flag state of a merchant vessel is the jurisdiction under whose laws the vessel is Ship registration, registered or licensed, and is deemed the nationality of the vessel. A merchant vessel must be registered and can only be registered in one j ...

. ''Marella Dream'' later docked in

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

, Spain, on 28 March 2020, to disembark the deceased crew member.

Design

Exterior design

The ''Homeric'' was built with a terraced forward and rear

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

, with lifeboats placed fairly high. She had a relatively large funnel, with a large arch behind it to deflect some soot away from the rear decks. In original

livery she had a white hull and superstructure, with a blue decorative riband separating them. Her funnel and radar mast, the structures immediately below them and the cranes on her forward deck were painted yellow. The ship's name was painted in tall letters on the side of the superstructure below the radar mast. On entering service with

, the ''Westerdam'' received HAL's dark blue hull colours, with her funnel and radar mast painted white. The 1989–90 lengthening altered her exterior appearance somewhat. The windows of the added section are larger than those forward and aft. As ''Costa Europa'', the ship was painted all-white, with a yellow funnel and a small flag of the EU painted on the side of the superstructure. As ''Thomson Dream'' the ship retains an all-white livery, but with a blue funnel bearing the TUI/Thomson group logo.

Interior design

Unusually for a cruise ship of her time, the ''Homeric'' was built with a somewhat

ocean liner An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). The ...

-like layout, with her dining room in particular reflecting liner-like design, being located on a lower deck. She was also built with a sizeable promenade deck and a one-deck-high theatre. She was built with two swimming pools, one to the rear of the ship and another amidship which was covered with a

magrodome A magrodome is a sliding glass roof found aboard passenger ships. Typically positioned over a swimming pool, it can be opened and closed automatically depending on the weather . History The first magrodome was fitted on the , launched in 1963. ove ...

. During the 1989–90 refit, two lounges in the forward section of the ship were combined to create a large two-level theatre, with the original theatre retained as a cinema. In HAL service, she was decorated with artworks drawing on the history of the

Dutch Empire The Dutch colonial empire () comprised overseas territories and trading posts under some form of Dutch control from the early 17th to late 20th centuries, including those initially administered by Dutch chartered companies—primarily the Du ...

. On entering service with Costa Cruises, the ship was refurbished, with some of the interior decorations changed to brighter and more southern / Pan-European style. The original theatre was built in with six balcony suites, and a new ballroom with a hardwood dance floor replaced an earlier lounge. Despite the refit, most of the ship's decorations have been retained from the HAL days, resulting in the ''Costa Europa'' having somewhat different interior decorations from her "Italian-style" fleetmates.

Decks and facilities

# ''Tank Top'' – Laundry, engine room # ''C'' – Crew cabins, engine room, stores # ''B'' – Crew cabins, hospital, tender embarkation area, engine room, garbage area, stores # ''Orion deck'' – Orion restaurant (main dining room), inside and outside cabins, main galley, crew messrooms # ''Pegasus deck'' – Inside and outside cabins # ''Perseus deck'' – Inside and outside cabins # ''Auriga deck'' – Suites, inside and outside cabins # ''Hercules deck'' – Theatre (lower level), Medusa

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called ''balls''. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially histori ...

, Ocean bar, Argo lounge, lecture room, card room, library, shops, games arcade, beauty salon, casino, discothèque, Kidzone # ''Andromeda deck'' – Theatre (upper level), buffet restaurant, outside cabins, sun deck, swimming pool. The two muster stations (A and B) are located on this deck. # ''Cassiopea deck'' –

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

, fitness center, outside cabins, officers' cabins, sun deck # ''Sirens deck'' – A la carte and buffet restaurants, sun deck, magrodome covered swimming pool, suites # ''Centaurus deck'' –

Tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...

s, crew sunbathing deck, funnel, pool deck, upper level open top sun deck

Media appearances

MS ''Westerdam'' was featured in the 1997 comedy film ''

Out to Sea ''Out to Sea'' is a 1997 American romantic comedy film directed by Martha Coolidge and written by Robert Nelson Jacobs. It is the final film role of Donald O'Connor, Gloria DeHaven and Edward Mulhare, and the penultimate film of Jack Lemmon ...

'' with

Jack Lemmon John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, he was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in comedy-drama films. He received num ...

and

Walter Matthau Walter John Matthau ( Matthow; ; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, known for his "hangdog face" and for playing world-weary characters. He starred in 10 films alongside his real-life friend Jack Lemmon, including '' The Od ...

. The ship appeared on BBC One's ''

Watchdog Watchdog or watch dog may refer to: Animals *Guard dog, a dog that barks to alert its owners of an intruder's presence * Portuguese Watchdog, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a dog breed * Moscow Watchdog, a breed of dog that was bred in the Soviet U ...

'' during an investigation into customer complaints. The report found broken air conditioning units and sewage and plumbing problems during the first few voyages with Thomson. The company were also criticised for broadcasting "misleading" advertisements, claiming the ship was "luxury, brand new and 5*" when in fact it was over 24 years old.

Notes

References

External links

Picture of the ship launch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marella Dream 1985 ships Cruise ships Maritime incidents in 2010 Ships built in Papenburg Ships of the Holland America Line