Marella Cruises Rolls Out Reusable Coffee Cups Across Fleet

Marella Cruises is rolling out reusable coffee cups across its five-ship fleet in partnership with Apollo Group, with a 2026 target of eliminating more than 1.4 million single-use cups, lids and sleeves. The program follows a three-month trial at The Coffee Port, where reusable cups and lids were used for about 3,500 takeaway drinks a week.

The initiative extends a tested onboard process to Marella Discovery, Marella Discovery 2, Marella Explorer, Marella Explorer 2 and Marella Voyager. Cups will be placed in cabins before guests arrive, exchanged for clean ones at The Coffee Port during the voyage and left onboard at the end of the cruise.

Trial saved 180,000 disposable items

Marella said the trial prevented the use of 180,000 disposable items, including paper cups, plastic lids and cardboard sleeves.

“Following a successful trial, this rollout represents an important step in reducing single-use waste across Marella Cruises’ fleet,” said Olivia Wells, sustainability manager at Marella Cruises. “By introducing practical, reusable alternatives, we are making it easier for both our customers and our operations to reduce plastic waste.”

Apollo Group, a cruise hospitality-services company, is supporting the rollout with Marella. The companies did not announce a ship-by-ship installation schedule. The program is being introduced as a fleetwide onboard service change.

Part of TUI’s tourism plastics commitment

The reusable-cup program supports TUI’s commitment to the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative. Led by UNEP and UN Tourism with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the initiative asks tourism businesses to eliminate unnecessary plastic items, shift from single-use products to reuse models where possible and report progress annually.

For passengers, the change is designed to keep the takeaway coffee process largely unchanged while replacing disposable serviceware with a ship-managed reuse cycle.