The British cruise company Marella Cruises chose Port Malaga to name its new ship Marella Explorer 2 on Saturday, March 30.
The executive sous chef with the cruise company since 2015, Mary Moreno, and the cabin manager with 15 years at TUI Cruises, Paula Clark, served as godmothers of the vessel.
The ship spent the night in the port until 11:00 p.m. when it departed to Cartagena for an inaugural cruise along the Mediterranean coast.
Marella Explorer 2 underwent a transformation at Navantia Shipyard (Cadiz Spain). The former SkySea Golden Era ship was launched in 1995 as "Celebrity Century". It is one of the Century-class vessels, with sisterships Mein Schiff 1 (former Celebrity Galaxy, since 2018 Marella Explorer 1) and Celebrity Mercury (former Mein Schiff 2, now Mein Schiff Herz). The vessel was sold to "Marella Cruises" (TUI's UK brand) in 2018.