MS Marella Dream was a cruise ship built in 1986 at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, West Germany as Homeric for Home Lines, and their last newbuild to remain in active service.

[8] 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.

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.

[16][17] In February 2009, Costa Europa had engine trouble on an Indian Ocean cruise and passengers mutinied after scheduled stops were cancelled.

The incident tore a 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) wide hole in the hull, and the ship was listed to port to lift the damaged area clear of the water.

[19][20] 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.

In original Home Lines livery she had a white hull and superstructure, with a blue decorative riband separating them.

[1][8] On entering service with Holland America Line, the Westerdam received HAL's dark blue hull colours, with her funnel and radar mast painted white.

As Thomson Dream the ship retains an all-white livery, but with a blue funnel bearing the TUI/Thomson group logo.

[11] 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.

[4] The original theatre was built in with six balcony suites, and a new ballroom with a hardwood dance floor replaced an earlier lounge.

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.