First impressions of TUI Discovery

Wow ! are we really on a Thompson ship. After sailing on four other Thomson ships we were amazed at the step forward.

We had an inside cabin on deck six which was comfortable and spacious. We were close to the atrium which gave us good access to the lifts which were plentiful for reaching the eating and entertainment areas

All public areas are light and airy. The main show lounge affords good seating without obstructed views.

The 47° and 47° Gallery MDRs tend to be rather cramped in busy times, and the service painfully slow. Gone are the wine waiters, putting a heavier load on the table waiters. Maybe we were unlucky in there being lots of new staff being trained up.

For regular cruisers, gone is the traditional captains evening, replaced by a dress to impress evening. Also gone is the baked Alaska tradition.

All in all the food is of a good standard.

Discovery Showtime takes on a different style of show which we enjoyed, but which had mixed reviews amongst a lot of the guests.

Up on the decks Sun beds are easy to find even on sea days and there is rockclimbing and minigolf.

Are we seeing the TUI effect, hope we do not lose the Thomson friendliness

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Thanks for your review! We'll be on Discovery2 in June, so it's interesting to hear your thoughts :-)

Hi 11057, pleased you enjoyed your holiday and thanks for the info - very useful. We will be on in 4 weeks - could you please advise how dressy the 'dress to impress' night is? Really not sure whether my hubby should bother with a suit or not.

I would say that about 50% wore DJs and another 15% wore lounge suits. Certainly non jackets were in the minority in the MDR. Although we dressed up for the second week we did not wait for the captains address as the previous week we had to wait about an hour with a pager to get in to the MDR. Hope this helps, i'm happy to answer any other queries.

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Was on the Discovery a couple of weeks ago and loved most things about it. The dress to impress night was a bit of a damp squib, even the captain seemed to have little heart for it. DJs well in the minority, dated suits well to the fore. Did notice big queue that night when we came out from dinner, we go early and have never had to wait for a table. Service is much quicker then and reckon we get out in an hour, not too bad with the rest of the evening before you. Wonder how it will work when Discovery goes all inclusive without wine waiters?

Wow ! are we really on a Thompson ship. After sailing on four other Thomson ships we were amazed at the step forward.

We had an inside cabin on deck six which was comfortable and spacious. We were close to the atrium which gave us good access to the lifts which were plentiful for reaching the eating and entertainment areas

All public areas are light and airy. The main show lounge affords good seating without obstructed views.

The 47° and 47° Gallery MDRs tend to be rather cramped in busy times, and the service painfully slow. Gone are the wine waiters, putting a heavier load on the table waiters. Maybe we were unlucky in there being lots of new staff being trained up.

For regular cruisers, gone is the traditional captains evening, replaced by a dress to impress evening. Also gone is the baked Alaska tradition.

All in all the food is of a good standard.

Discovery Showtime takes on a different style of show which we enjoyed, but which had mixed reviews amongst a lot of the guests.

Up on the decks Sun beds are easy to find even on sea days and there is rockclimbing and minigolf.

Are we seeing the TUI effect, hope we do not lose the Thomson friendliness

 

 

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Thanks for your review, we are on Tui 2 in November, cant wait

I was on TUI Discovery in September, and I'll be honest we only booked because we had booked to go to the Dom Republic and didn't want to risk Zika and didn't want to lose our deposit...we loved every minute on board! food wasn't as good as the others but the rest was great! would 100% go back on her again...the price surprised me tho, same price as the others.

Hello, we will be joining the Discovery next Sunday, 26 February.

Apart from cruising on some very small boats in the Indian ocean, this will be our first experience.

One or two queries - we have an inside cabin. Will bathrobes be provided? I gather toiletries are limited to shampoo and shower gel. We are used to holidays in the Maldives where apart from dinner in the evening, it is quite acceptable to have lunch in a (dry) swimsuit covered by a sarong or similar. Will this be OK ? I am wondering how many swimsuits to pack.

I am looking forward to this trip with a certain amount of trepidation, it was a last minute impulse buy!

I believe someone has asked about bathrobes previously and the answer was suites only😉 Thomson like you to cover up in the food area, but unfortunately not everyone respects it😥 have a great time I am certain you will.

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Don't forget you are not in the Maldives, The restaurants like you to cover up, but there are several places where you can be more casual for lunch in the daytime. The snack shack is a place where you can grab and go,with sandwiches fish and chips, burgers etc. Everybody takes something different from a cruise holiday and pack clothes accordingly.

I'm sure you will have a wonderful time what ever you do.[emoji41]

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Thanks for your help. So a capacious sarong would probably be frowned on except in the casual areas and I should be taking proper dresses for lunch as well as smarter ones for evening? Not a problem, I am just glad I asked. I will also take our thin-fabric dressng gown. Forums like this are such a godsend.

In the Islands buffet restaurant for lunch most people wear shorts,T-shirts/Strappy tops

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Thanks for your help. So a capacious sarong would probably be frowned on except in the casual areas and I should be taking proper dresses for lunch as well as smarter ones for evening? Not a problem, I am just glad I asked. I will also take our thin-fabric dressng gown. Forums like this are such a godsend.

Marks and Spencer currently have some lovely t-shirt material dresses in their swimwear section which I find are ideal to put on over a swimsuit at lunchtime.

Don't know if you have been to Barbados before but on arrival you will just go straight onto the coach, no customs or luggage collection 😁 we always take a change of summer clothes in our hand luggage, don't forget you get a 7kg allowance, as it's nice to get into the holiday thing asap and not have to wait for your luggage 😎. Very envious.

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Thank you. Yes, we have been to Barbados before but have not enjoyed the slick Thomsn baggage procedure. Looking forward to not lugging the cases around.

I think that I can cover the casual outfits, but have looked at the M&S site and might have to go in search of one of those long jersey dresses on Monday! Thank you for drawing attention to it.

11057 thanks for your views on the Discovery, very helpful as we are on board in 3 weeks time. I have a couple of questions; what are the opening times of the MDR and on dress to impress night what time is the captains address also can you have your photo taken with the captain?

The MDR opens hrs in evening 6-9pm, all hours are published in the daily bulletin.

The captain makes his address at 8 PM in the atrium after photos for those who wish to have them.Prepare for a long wait to get in MDR unless you eat before the address. Enjoy.

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Thanks for your quick reply. Really looking forward to our cruise, just got to decide what to take, and then it's the packing!:cool:

Quite honestly the captain's speech evening on the Discovery seemed to us a bit half-hearted. When we were on the Celebration the chefs etc marched around the dining room and got a big cheer from the guests. Here the senior staff were called down the steps one by one and seemed a little embarrassed. And there is not a lot of obvious room to do anything in the restaurant. We had dinner before this event and still emerged in time for a free glass of champagne. The atrium ground floor is also quite a small area and I suppose it is difficult to arrange anything at all spectacular.

Lots of questions swimming round my newbie head! What is the nature of the Sail Away party please and do people dress up? Is the Captain's speech event in the middle of the week, presumably it won't be on the Sailaway evening? When you leave to come home, are the luggage arrangements the same as for arrival, are your bags transported from your cabin to the airport and you reunite with them there to check them in?

Was on the Discovery a couple of weeks ago..Everything fine except the service in the MDR was terrible..sometimes the meal took over 2 hours for just 3 courses

As I said in my initial review, service was painfully slow in MDR. This seemed to be a common complaint among many of the cruisers, probably due to staff shortages.

Every other aspect of the ship seemed to be very good. Would not put me off cruising on Discovery again.

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we just got back on Monday there +1day and thought the ship was great(only been on the dream) we ate in the mdr x3 and found the service great and fast and no problems getting wine the last night was a bit hetic but I think that maybe was to do with the parade of staff(instead of baked Alaska night)but it was by far no means slow ps we always asked for a table for two and got a buzzer but waited no longer than 20 mins

Can you tell me if the Pools are sea water or fresh water.

Are they covered or not (I don't like covered ones - rain is better than a cover)

Thanks

LIT

the pools and are seawater and one is indoor and one outdoor, the one indoor can get busy at times depending on the weather and has a very relaxing feeling...