Following the announcement on 9 October 2017 that Thomson Cruises would be renamed Marella Cruises, TUI Group also announced that TUI Discovery would adopt the name Marella Discovery at the end of October 2017, and also that she would become the first ship in the Thomson fleet to be based in Asia, home porting Malaysia in Autumn 2018, following the end of her UK debut season.

[2] Marella Discovery was built for Royal Caribbean International as Splendour of the Seas by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at their shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France.

[5][6] On 22 October 2015 whilst sailing on a cruise in the Mediterranean, Splendour of the Seas suffered an engine-room fire, which was extinguished after 2 hours by the crew.

[7] Splendour of the Seas spent her last season with Royal Caribbean International by sailing from Dubai on 7-8 night cruises, visiting destinations such as Muscat, Oman and Abu Dhabi throughout November 2015 - March 2016.

The propulsion system consists of five Wärtsilä Vasa 12V46B engines, which supply 11,700 kilowatts (15,700 hp) each to the ship's two, 5.8-metre (19 ft) diameter, fixed pitch propellers.