gramwold

hi Rod, we left the ship at Marmaris  2 weeks ago after a repositioning  cruise. we were taken to the Airport at 9.30 AM i cant see why you cant get on the ship then but maybe the staff who would check you in are busy elsewhere at that time. The cabin would only be  available early afternoon.

I agree its bad management, i was not aware of Discovery   being up for sail is it the rumour mill getting out of control or is it a fact.  we are very sad if true, we love the Discovery Ships and rate them both well above  any of the others in the fleet.

HI all.

Does anyone know what  is  happening  with Discovery 2  this coming winter.  According to the web page nothing is planned  after the end of October, are they still planning where its going ?.

Does anyone know if  Discovery 2 has passengers onboard now  while it is sailing to Mauritius, or have they  been offloaded in Colombo.

Yes the 25 night is still there and that has come down in price a lot. i think the one cancelled was a 14 or 16 night  cruise at almost the same date  as ours, so it would have been easier for people to transfer to that if people have work/holiday time to juggle. Maybe someone who is affected by this cancellation can comment when they receive the options from tui.

I have thought for a while now that the cruise on discovery 2 through the Red Sea  would be cancelled. we are booked on the 18 night discovery repo cruise Barbados to Turkey  on the 18th of April and i see that it has been removed from Tui web page for sale. It leads me to think that it may be being held back for people who may want to transfer to it from the Suez Canal cruise.  i will watch the Discovery 2 ship to see if it will sail all the way around Southern Africa without any passengers.

No problem,  enjoy the cruise.

hi, we  were on discovery  Christmas and new year  2022/23 deck 7  balcony cabin  and it was  a lovely glass door shower cubicle.   

Hi.   Yes they can be unlocked, we have not  done it ourselves but have seen them open when they do a weekly hose down of the balconies so ime sure  they will open them for you.

ok thanks  and will do, its been a long time coming.

I am reading on Malaysian web page that now their arrival card  is from 1st January 24 a couple of days ago it said it was live  from  early December, i wonder if they have had issues with it or was not advertised enough so caused huge  backlog. we will find out soon we fly  in the morning.

Hi all up date. my phone is a few years old so wont support  E simm.  I have just submitted my Singapore arrival card  as we fly out Thursday and land Singapore Friday morning. you are aloud to fill it in a little early as Singapore is 8 hours ahead. I did it on my phone for us both as a group.  I scanned our passports rather than fill it all in. i got confirmation e mail right away with a D E  number for each person. i screenshotted  these and wrote the numbers down and obviously will keep the  e mail. It took me longer than most because i am a tech dinosaur. As above has said TUI is not down as Airline  so put   cargo/other and you can type in TUI  and TOM number. its a massive scroll down to put in previous airport  ie  Manchester   and a more massive scroll down to get to  Manchester England  for where you live, we dont live there but it was the nearest on the list, you will see.  When it came to  address/ hotel in Singapore  i put  other and i put day trip as opposed to transit as we will leave the port that night, sorry dont know which was right but it has been accepted. Next destination i put Phuket which was on the list.  When in  Penang or KL i will have to do it again when in shopping mall   to re enter Singapore and again the following week when i can get internet.  It looks the same  for  the 3 visits in  Malaysia, why cant cruise ships do it  as a block. oh and  3  yes or no health questions to tick. 

    If i missed anything  give us a nudge.  

                good luck all 

           Graham

when we get back in early January i will put it on here so everyone will know what to do.

Update.

  i have just watched  a you tube video and it says the  Malay arrival card was introduced  1st December 23  but there is a grace period until  31st December where you can fill in the form  on the day of arrival, after which you have to submit it  3 days before.

If we all have to fill in the Malaysian arrival card   3 days before we dock in  Langkawi which will be CHRISTMAS DAY, we will have to fill it in on Saturday  23rd  December (sea day).   no one will have internet  so Tui will have to do that.   will we have to do the same  for Penang and Port Klang. It looks like we have to do the Singapore  card  3 times also,   sounds a complete nightmare to me. 

I have downloaded the app and next week i will be filling this out also.   I thought Marella would have outlined how we go about filling this thing in, me thinks were on our own  and lots of wrong  answers.  there are some   frequently asked questions on the website but they dont answer the   questions we have. Someone may have a clue  hopefully.

hi,  we went at Christmas and new year last year on Marella Discovery in  the Caribbean, it was fantastic. We watched from deck 5 of the atrium looking down to the stage on deck 4 as Father Christmas and his Elves gave out presents to the kids and sang carols, there was a service in the theatre also.  I would say maybe 100 kids or so, nowhere near as many as you get in the med in summer months.  The  children were not a problem.  The ship was decked out in all areas with decorations and a huge tree in the atrium, everyone looked to be having a wonderful time. we had such a magical experience we are doing it again on Discovery 2 IN the Far East.

    Enjoy.

Hi Kirsty,  I have looked on the government web page for travel to Singapore and it does look like we will need  a SG arrival card.  it must be same as Barbados one we had to do online 3 days before and if so Tui  will prompt you to do it, however i will ring my local Tui shop to confirm and ask about the return to Singapore  a week later.

happy cruising.

       Graham.

Hi

There is a Canadian couple who have  U tube vids of how to do it for North  American people.

cruising canucks Marella  Discovery, this takes you to the blogs they did everyday also they have a blog when they got back home and it explains what to do in detail. As has been said above it is possible to book cruise only from Barbados or Jamaica and get your flights separate.

There is the pool bar on deck 9 as said above, there is also on deck 10 directly above the pool bar  another little bar  with seating area in the open air.  we use it a lot as we dont lie on the sun loungers. it does tend to be busy at times. We will be living there this Christmas.😁

Yes they do, also the passengers dont go through the terminal you just walk down the steps of the aircraft and onto waiting buses  to the ship, its around a 40 min journey.  Enjoy.

Thats good news RR  maybe we will get a refurbed cabin.  thanks for the info.

Hi 

 Has anyone any info if/when  Discovery 2  will or has had its balcony cabins refurbished yet.  we had a deluxe balcony on Discovery  in March with a lovely glass door shower  and hope its the same on D2 at Christmas and not the shower curtain.

Yes we did book with TUI  and it is a TUI Dreamliner flight, all the people on board will be on the ship. Were not worried about it, its just the timings dont add up.

HIya  Daveoc

we  have been to the far east before with Marella Discovery  in 2019 and we will be going again  on Discovery 2 at  Christmas/ New Year.   Excursions come in from  £32pp  to £118pp.  so for instance in Port Klang for Kuala Lumpur   is £32pp  for the transfer coach (1.5 hours each way) to Kuala Lumpur to explore on your own thats 8 hours .  there are 10 excursions in all with the most  expensive being the best of KL at £61.  when you book the cruise you will be able to go to Cruise Control and  see all the trips to book  i think around 3 months before you go.   Phang  Nga Discovery from Penang  at £118pp being the most expensive, we have been there before (James Bond Island from The Man With The Golden Gun )  and thats 8hours. Ive not looked at all the trips  so some could be more  expensive   ie if there are helicopter  trips to book   for instance. hope this helps and if you book enjoy the cruise, we loved it back in 2019 and we cant wait to go again this Christmas.