Emerald Versus Discovery 15 Night Hawaii Cruise

[Solara]

Trying to decide between the Emerald & the Discovery for a 15 night Hawaii cruise. Have been on both ships before & have done the Hawaii cruise numerous times.  Discovery overnights in Honolulu & goes 2 other Hawaii ports & the Emerald goes to 4 Hawaii ports.  Which ship do you think would be less crowded with more places to go & be better with all the sea days. Thanks! 

[skynight]

Personally I enjoy the older grand class ships. I like the wrap around promenade, extra lounges, larger standard balconies and 500 less passengers. In all cases I don't think there will be port stops at Lahaina any time soon. Ships scheduled for Maui may stop at Kahului. The Discovery is too large for Hilo. If the volcano is important then you will miss the easier access from Hilo. Trips to the volcano take longer from Kona. Kona will be a tender port. 

[LACruiser88]

Our personal preference is the Emerald.  Have a great cruise!

[memoak]

I would go for the Emerald. When we were on the Discovery in June the ship was packed and the noise level in the Piazza was very loud and hard to avoid

[Solara]

Any preference for a dining room on the Emerald?

[LawDog61]

In my view, it’s about a toss up, but depends on what’s important to you.   I was on Emerald Ibeen on it a few times a) and am booked for discovery Hawaii in December (which I have been on several times)

 

Plus for Emerald:   Less passengers ( although it is one of those Grand Plus” ships with an extra deck.) It goes to Nawilliwilli which is a plus for me (I like the beach there) rather than overnight in Honolulu (which will be a plus for some people). It has a proper Wheelhouse, which is a plus for me.

Edited August 29, 2023 by LawDog61
Incomplete

[LawDog61]

Plus for Discovery:   Great buffet. Great mini-suites.   Lots of room in atrium where most entertainment takes place (this is a negative for some as atrium is loud) Great Gigis

[Treasure Hunter]

Took the Emerald to Hawaii. Great cruise. Love the ship.

[mtnesterz]

We got back from Hawaii on the Emerald a week ago.

We will not do this one again though, like you, have done Hawaii before.

You ask about crowds and that was our #1 issue. The ship has 3080 lower berths and went out over 3200 passengers. There is no game room for passengers to play, so passengers crowd the Marketplace tables and play dominoes and cards so buffet diners have no place to sit.  Nothing is done about it. Most every place is crowded and noisy.

Both ships will be sailing full these days. You are right about sea days. On port days, you can off the ship, but the crowding, noise and kids increasingly grind on the sea days. On the Emerald, quiet spots are found in the Adagio bar and Skywalker's. 

[cr8tiv1]

One full day in Honolulu would be enough for most passengers.  Skipping Hilo would be a no go for me.  The Discovery (and any Royal Class ship) is too big a ship for a Hawaii cruise.  

 

There are, at least, 10 sea days,.  That's a lot of passengers STUCK on a ship.  The Discovery would be crowded with no where to go.  I like the Grand Class ships for this reason.  Still very crowded.  In addition, the Royal Class ships have no promenade nor enough public spaces to accommodate everyone on a sea day.

 

I wonder where they would hold ukulele and hula classes since the Royal Class ships don't have a Club Fusion or Wheelhouse????

Edited August 29, 2023 by cr8tiv1

[memoak]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

One full day in Honolulu would be enough for most passengers.  Skipping Hilo would be a no go for me.  The Discovery (and any Royal Class ship) is too big a ship for a Hawaii cruise.  

 

There are, at least, 10 sea days,.  That's a lot of passengers STUCK on a ship.  The Discovery would be crowded with no where to go.  I like the Grand Class ships for this reason.  Still very crowded.  In addition, the Royal Class ships have no promenade nor enough public spaces to accommodate everyone on a sea day.

 

I wonder where they would hold ukulele and hula classes since the Royal Class ships don't have a Club Fusion or Wheelhouse????

My guess would be the Vista or Princess Live

[memoak]

2 hours ago, mtnesterz said:

We got back from Hawaii on the Emerald a week ago.

We will not do this one again though, like you, have done Hawaii before.

You ask about crowds and that was our #1 issue. The ship has 3080 lower berths and went out over 3200 passengers. There is no game room for passengers to play, so passengers crowd the Marketplace tables and play dominoes and cards so buffet diners have no place to sit.  Nothing is done about it. Most every place is crowded and noisy.

Both ships will be sailing full these days. You are right about sea days. On port days, you can off the ship, but the crowding, noise and kids increasingly grind on the sea days. On the Emerald, quiet spots are found in the Adagio bar and Skywalker's. 

Love all the sea days on Grand Class ships but on the Discovery just too loud and most venues that are open in the daytime are around the Piazza where the noise volume is out of bounds  At least on the Emerald you have the Wheelhouse, Adagio and Skywalkers away from the noise

[reedprincess]

2 hours ago, mtnesterz said:

We got back from Hawaii on the Emerald a week ago.

We will not do this one again though, like you, have done Hawaii before.

You ask about crowds and that was our #1 issue. The ship has 3080 lower berths and went out over 3200 passengers. There is no game room for passengers to play, so passengers crowd the Marketplace tables and play dominoes and cards so buffet diners have no place to sit.  Nothing is done about it. Most every place is crowded and noisy.

Both ships will be sailing full these days. You are right about sea days. On port days, you can off the ship, but the crowding, noise and kids increasingly grind on the sea days. On the Emerald, quiet spots are found in the Adagio bar and Skywalker's. 

It's unfortunate that most Emerald or Ruby guests don't know about or find Adagio. Beautiful quiet lounge during the day, easy access to buffet and Outrigger for drinks, lots of tables and seating for games or reading, etc.   We've always used that or Explorer's for our game playing.. much better than the buffet.. 

[rj59]

Having done a one-way to Hawaii on HAL, I would have gone insane without being able to walk laps around an outside promenade. I'd think Skywalkers would also be lovely, day or night, on Emerald. Discovery is beautiful, but I found it way too stressful when full last summer in Alaska, where even the late productions shows were completely full (likely where I picked up Covid, showing up half an hour early to get a seat). With Alfredo's no longer being free, or being limited in the times you can visit, that removes a big plus for Discovery. If you want a real low-occupancy Hawaii trip, I'd look at a one-way as it's going to or from Australia--Royal was about 30% occupancy coming over from Australia last Spring, and the ridiculously cheap price for the September Royal sailing to Honolulu shows it has to have very low occupancy. 

[zonacruiser25]

We just did Emerald and the class of ship in great.  We ate in Bonicelli on deck 6 and really hit a home run with Table 119 and outstanding staff!  Love having Tiki Dave (Elua) on board for their Hawaii program.  We have sailed on Discovery as well (not Hawaii).  Emerald would get our vote.  The current Capitan is outstanding.  We were not impressed with the entertainment staff and some if the entertainers were so-so.  As said earlier, Adagio is a great spot to gather for games or quiet.