The Marella Explorer 2 recently completed 30 years of service after originally debuting on December 20, 1995.

Built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, the 70,000-ton vessel was originally ordered by Celebrity Cruises as the Century.

Following the 1990-built Horizon and the 1992-built Zenith, the ship was the third newbuild to enter service for the premium brand.

For its maiden season, the 1,750-guest vessel operated year-round out of Fort Lauderdale for an alternating schedule of weeklong cruises to the Eastern and Western Caribbean.

After nearly 20 years sailing for Celebrity Cruises, the Century was scheduled to be transferred to the fleet of another Royal Caribbean subsidiary, Croisières de France, in 2015.

The move, however, was later cancelled and the ship was purchased by Ctrip, a major online travel agency in China, which launched a new joint venture operation with Royal Caribbean.

Renamed the SkySea Golden Era, the former Century spent three years sailing for the new brand in China.

With Sky Sea ceasing operations in 2018, the ship returned to Europe ahead of joining the fleet of Marella Cruises.

Following a major refurbishment, the vessel was introduced by the company in early 2019 as the Marella Explorer 2.

Now serving the British market, the former Golden Era is offering Marella’s fly-cruise product in destinations in North America and Europe.

In 2026, the ship is scheduled to undergo a routine drydock before operating itineraries in the Canary Islands during the first months of the year.

After a spring season in the Western Mediterranean, the vessel kicks off a series of weeklong cruises to the Adriatic and the Greek Isles sailing from Dubrovnik, Croatia.

The Marella Explorer 2 is then set to reposition to the Caribbean in November for a series of cruises departing from Barbados.