nacht

Great review.  We are doing back to back on the Discovery on April 8th, and would like to know if the cabin walls are metal, as we like to bring magnetic hooks for the walls.  We recently sailed on one of Holland America’s ship, and walls were not metal.  Thanks.

Bill

On 10/26/2022 at 4:16 PM, Bemidji Ty said:

We just returned from the CA Coastal cruise Oct 15-22 on the Discovery Princess. A bit of background. We've been on about 64 cruises since the early 80's. We mostly travel on Princess but have also cruised on Royal Caribbean, Holland, Celebrity, Viking, Norwegian, Carnival and a couple of lines that are no longer in business. This was our first cruise since late Jan 2020. We are a retired couple who cruise to be at sea and enjoy the sounds, smell and feel of the ocean while we visit new and familiar ports, eat good food, see a show or two, dance a bit and chat with folks from around the world.

 

Embarkation and Disembarkation: Quick, easy and efficient. We were quickly processed and were welcomed on board by a happy, friendly and professional staff. Disembarkation was similarly run.

 

Ship: This is a very big, new, clean, beautiful ship. We did miss the promenade that wraps around ships like the Sapphire and Ruby that allows you to walk all around the ship or quietly lounge in a deck chair and enjoy the sea. The Discovery has a greatly shortened promenade with tenders blocking a significant portion of the view. There is a walking/running track near the top that we used daily. I don't know if the walls are thinner than other ships but you should know that the sounds you make in your cabin can be heard by someone with a hearing impairment in the adjoining cabin. I'm pretty sure the young newlyweds next to us were unaware of this. We both missed the gentle rocking movements of a ship at sea. It just wasn't there. We didn't use the internet but used the interactive in-room TV. It worked for making dining reservations, checking the weather, the day's activities and such. If you wished to view tonight's dinner menu, you had to wait 3 minutes or more for it to download.

 

Dining: We are not food snobs but enjoy good food and felt the offerings were very inconsistent and somewhat bland. The quality ranged from very good to poor. One night, after we were seated and chatting with the couple next to us, they both recommended the beef. We ordered it. My wife's was “ok”. She said it was like diner food. Mine was full of gristle. The soups were very good. The first day's salmon lunch was also very good. Gigi's had excellent pizza, pasta and salad. The taco shells and chips in the buffet early on were very stale. One night, we ordered the surf and turf. Both shrimp and filet were undercooked. I ordered my steak medium rare. The middle was cold and purple. We each had a bite of shrimp and left the rest. The service was mostly good.

 

Drinks: There seemed to be a gin and wine variety shortage. The ship's bars had Gordon's and Beefeaters. I hadn't had Gordon's since college. Not bad, but I prefer Hendrick's or Bombay Sapphire.

 

Music and Shows: After our first day's lunch, we went out on deck to see the harbor, enjoy the view and soak in the reality that we were back on a ship. That is where we encountered their DJ. He looked at a group of vacationers who where overwhelmingly Medicare eligible and decided, “What they need is bass-heavy, techno 'music' played at a volume that makes their ears bleed.” While I didn't appreciate the 'tunes' or the volume, I was impressed that he continued to perform his duties while dealing with several spiders that had gotten under his shirt. My appreciation disappeared when my wife informed me that he was 'dancing'. In San Diego, we left the ship for a walk to Little Italy. The 'thump-thump' of his sounds were still audible a few blocks from the ship.

 

We did not see any production shows but did enjoy a duo called VOP and made a point of finding them when they played. The jazz trio was mostly good but had too many rambling bass and drum solos for my taste. As a side point, one of our table mates told us how much he enjoyed one of the production shows. His credibility was called into question when he began telling us about the advantages of boxed wine. We heard the comedian was good and went to see him about 15 minutes prior to show time. We couldn't get in.

 

Glad we went but this is first time I recall thinking, “This may be my last Princess cruise.” Probably not, but the thought was there.

 

Cheers.