1160451 Posted January 30, 2017 #1 Share Posted January 30, 2017 Just back from 14 days in Carribean on Discovery. Back to Thomson after 6 years. Cruised in Carribean before with Fred Olsen, P and O and HAL. Also cruised on this ship when it was with RCI. We cruise with friends and have had a great time. our opinion the Pros....... Clean and tidy ship. Fantastic AI Package Entertainment Acts very good. Guest comediennes were ok. Superb atrium bar with dancing in the evening. Service in that bar very good. All Staff very helpful. Inside cabin on deck 7. All good. our opinion the cons........... Terrible evening dining experience in MDR. Most cruise lines with fixed times give you 5 to 6 courses in a couple of hours. Thomson struggle to get you three courses in under 2 hours. One night on a table for 10 the 3 courses took 2 1/2 hours. Food was so so. The ship is very noisy with music on deck and often in the evening nowhere to just have a chat. Service in bars very so so as there are not enough waiters. No loungers on sea days due to people putting towels on and hardley using them. Compared to P&O the sailway and deck parties were low key. All in all enjoyed the cruise, are on the Dream in March, but will not cruise with Thomson again in Caribbean on Discovery. Mainly because of the very poor dining experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
so,ton saint Posted January 30, 2017 #2 Share Posted January 30, 2017 Just back from 14 days in Carribean on Discovery.Back to Thomson after 6 years. Cruised in Carribean before with Fred Olsen, P and O and HAL. Also cruised on this ship when it was with RCI. We cruise with friends and have had a great time. our opinion the Pros....... Clean and tidy ship. Fantastic AI Package Entertainment Acts very good. Guest comediennes were ok. Superb atrium bar with dancing in the evening. Service in that bar very good. All Staff very helpful. Inside cabin on deck 7. All good. our opinion the cons........... Terrible evening dining experience in MDR. Most cruise lines with fixed times give you 5 to 6 courses in a couple of hours. Thomson struggle to get you three courses in under 2 hours. One night on a table for 10 the 3 courses took 2 1/2 hours. Food was so so. The ship is very noisy with music on deck and often in the evening nowhere to just have a chat. Service in bars very so so as there are not enough waiters. No loungers on sea days due to people putting towels on and hardley using them. Compared to P&O the sailway and deck parties were low key. All in all enjoyed the cruise, are on the Dream in March, but will not cruise with Thomson again in Caribbean on Discovery. Mainly because of the very poor dining experience. Hi 1160451 thank you for your thought,s on Discovery very interesting, very much the same as dream so no change, we are joining her on the 19th march after a stay in Barbados first, it will be our 7th cruise in the Caribbean two with Carnival but once again returning to thomson, so it speak,s for it,s self i hope i enjoy her, it,s our 50th anniversary and managed to get a stern balcony you will enjoy dream slightly older but very traditional and a good weather ship with a proper prom deck for walk,s ex H.A.L we alway,s choose o/s plus deck nine on Dream right on the prom deck and very convenient for all your facility,s on deck eight, perhaps Pension Cruiser can give you a better outlook on DREAM and what to look for ,have a good cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jake 26 Posted January 30, 2017 #3 Share Posted January 30, 2017 It's a shame you didn't enjoy the Discovery as much as your other cruises. I think most lines expect dinner in the MDR to take around 2 hours, certainly P&O take about that, although, as you say, there may be an extra course plus coffee. We enjoy lingering over dinner particularly with convivial fellow passengers and wine, so for us it's an enjoyable part of the cruise, but everyone is different. I do think Discovery's dining rooms are very attractive. Sadly the plethora of sun bathing books and magazines are a factor on most ships, look on the P&O forum for sunbed wars. We found on Discovery that as long as you didn't need to be round the main pool there were often available beds. I was reading a review recently where people were complaining that there wasn't enough music on deck, particularly during the evening while they were in the Caribbean, so I suppose it's difficult to suit everyone. Perhaps Thomson need a quiet lounge instead of the Live room. We found the Glass House was a very pleasant quiet area for a drink and a chat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1160451 Posted January 30, 2017 Author #4 Share Posted January 30, 2017 (edited) Hi jake ...surprisingly the Discovery cruises was one of the overall best we have enjoyed in the Caribbean, despite the Dining issues. As you say everybody is different about the issue of music on the ship. It was the open dining with no possible fixed alternative that we didn't like. On our other lines we always have second sitting and enjoy the experience. On the Discovery it was a toil of a pleasure. One night the service was so slow there was talk of leaving and going up to the Buffett. We switched to Thomson expecting more entertainment on deck in the evening. Over 14 nights only three sessions on deck at night. Seemed to recall lots more on Azura. Forgot to mention as Dancers that we were not expecting any Ballroom or Latin Dancing but were surprised to find two sessions per night in the Atrium. Edited January 30, 2017 by 1160451 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecttr Posted January 30, 2017 #5 Share Posted January 30, 2017 It's a shame you didn't enjoy the Discovery as much as your other cruises. I think most lines expect dinner in the MDR to take around 2 hours, certainly P&O take about that, although, as you say, there may be an extra course plus coffee. We enjoy lingering over dinner particularly with convivial fellow passengers and wine, so for us it's an enjoyable part of the cruise, but everyone is different. I do think Discovery's dining rooms are very attractive. Sadly the plethora of sun bathing books and magazines are a factor on most ships, look on the P&O forum for sunbed wars. We found on Discovery that as long as you didn't need to be round the main pool there were often available beds. I was reading a review recently where people were complaining that there wasn't enough music on deck, particularly during the evening while they were in the Caribbean, so I suppose it's difficult to suit everyone. Perhaps Thomson need a quiet lounge instead of the Live room. We found the Glass House was a very pleasant quiet area for a drink and a chat. Aargh! now everyone knows. I do think that there is a lack of a quieter area for a relaxing drink in the evening. The glass house is pleasant enough but would benefit from some proper seating deployed in the evening. the live room is the main bar so they are not going to change that. It was rather loud at times though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakanne1 Posted January 30, 2017 #6 Share Posted January 30, 2017 Just back from 14 days in Carribean on Discovery.Back to Thomson after 6 years. Cruised in Carribean before with Fred Olsen, P and O and HAL. Also cruised on this ship when it was with RCI. We cruise with friends and have had a great time. our opinion the Pros....... Clean and tidy ship. Fantastic AI Package Entertainment Acts very good. Guest comediennes were ok. Superb atrium bar with dancing in the evening. Service in that bar very good. All Staff very helpful. Inside cabin on deck 7. All good. our opinion the cons........... Terrible evening dining experience in MDR. Most cruise lines with fixed times give you 5 to 6 courses in a couple of hours. Thomson struggle to get you three courses in under 2 hours. One night on a table for 10 the 3 courses took 2 1/2 hours. Food was so so. The ship is very noisy with music on deck and often in the evening nowhere to just have a chat. Service in bars very so so as there are not enough waiters. No loungers on sea days due to people putting towels on and hardley using them. Compared to P&O the sailway and deck parties were low key. All in all enjoyed the cruise, are on the Dream in March, but will not cruise with Thomson again in Caribbean on Discovery. Mainly because of the very poor dining experience. I've cruised with both Thomson and Fred Olsen and found the main differences are that the Entertainment is much better on Thomson (but not sure if there will be Ballroom on Dream) but that the food and dining experience is far better on Fred. Hope you enjoy Dream in March, we are on the first two weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vitalsign Posted January 31, 2017 #7 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Ballroom early evening in Tides on Dream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jake 26 Posted January 31, 2017 #8 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Hi jake ...surprisingly the Discovery cruises was one of the overall best we have enjoyed in the Caribbean, despite the Dining issues.As you say everybody is different about the issue of music on the ship. It was the open dining with no possible fixed alternative that we didn't like. On our other lines we always have second sitting and enjoy the experience. I understand completely. We always enjoyed second sitting and the same waiters every night, who got to know you. We met some waiters several years later and chatted like old friends. We then tried freedom dining on P&O and initially didn't like it, but eventually found the flexibility of times and meeting more people did suit us. I do like the airiness of the Vision ships dining rooms, particularly at breakfast. Not so claustrophobic as Azura/Ventura. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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