Comparing Dream vs Discovery2?

[postcardswansea]

We've been on only one Tui/Marella cruise before, on Discovery2, and really liked the ship.

 

We're now looking at an itinerary that sails on Dream, and are wondering if we're likely to be disappointed with this ship in comparison to Discovery2. What are your thoughts, please?

[davecttr]

Dream is smaller than and 9 years older than Discovery2 with less onboard facilities. the onboard décor will look older, especially in the cabins, the ship should however, be well looked after. Using the cabin safe is chargeable on Dream and free on Discovery2. The Discoveries and Explorer have a drinks package included in the fare. Dream may have free package if you booked early otherwise you can buy it or pay for drinks. From next summer all Marella ships will have the package included in the fare.

 

IMO the Discoveries and Explorer plus Explorer 2 from next year offer a much improved product as far as facilities and onboard choice is concerned. Many will say they find the crew friendlier on the older ships Dream and Celebration but I found the crew on Discovery were friendly to me.

 

I think you need to experience it yourself as everyone's idea of what is a good holiday differs

[postcardswansea]

Thank you for your opinion - it pretty much reflects what I had guessed from the info I've read, but it's good to hear someone else's take on it too. One concern is knowing that we enjoyed the larger, less formal set-up on Discovery2, and might not appreciate the more traditional, personal approach which seems to be why some people prefer the older ships.

 

I'm also having trouble getting a clear answer to whether or not there is still a Gala Evening on Dream, as I thought I had read they'd changed all ships to 'Dress to Impress', but can't seem to find it in black and white anywhere.

 

I think you need to experience it yourself as everyone's idea of what is a good holiday differs

 

Absolutely! How will we know unless we try it? ;)

[Pensioncruiser]

Totally agree with all that Dave say's, they all have good and bad points depending on your requirement's, we have four cruises booked the first on Celebration then Dream, which we love as most things on one deck and the waters edge is IMO fantastic finally we are on D2. As said you can only try it to see if it fits your requirements.

 

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[campolady]

I'm also having trouble getting a clear answer to whether or not there is still a Gala Evening on Dream, as I thought I had read they'd changed all ships to 'Dress to Impress', but can't seem to find it in black and white anywhere. ;)

 

Our last 2 cruises have been on Discovery 2 and Discovery. We have now booked Dream for December - have sailed on her 5 times before but not for the past 3 years. We too queried whether the 'formal' night still takes place on Dream and have been informed by Marella pre-travel services that it does; Dress To Impress seems to just be on the Discoveries and Explorer.

[Pensioncruiser]

Sailed on her last year and still had the Gala, but to be honest did not notice any difference to the dress to impress on Discovery other than on Dream they enforced no shorts in the MDR, same amount of DJs and evening dresses most cruisers dress smart anyway.

 

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[postcardswansea]

We too queried whether the 'formal' night still takes place on Dream and have been informed by Marella pre-travel services that it does; Dress To Impress seems to just be on the Discoveries and Explorer.

 

Sailed on her last year and still had the Gala, but to be honest did not notice any difference to the dress to impress on Discovery other than on Dream they enforced no shorts in the MDR, same amount of DJs and evening dresses most cruisers dress smart anyway.

 

Thanks, both :cool:

[Jim The Scot]

Hi postcardswansea

 

 

Came back from our 6 cruise on the Dream just over a month ago and below is our review...We were on Discovery last year( guessing its mirror image of discovery 2).Enjoy her and as pensioncruiser says the each have there good and bad points eg,if you happen to secure a drinks package Discovery trounces the Dream on whats on offer although enough for us on Dream to get by.Staff friendler on the Dream and atmosphere also much better...I,d happily cruise on either again but if i had to choose the Dream would be our choice even though its the older ship

It was a dress to impress night when we were on the Dream not a gala night

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Better late than never

 

Spanish Delights 22nd May-29th

Son Matias Hotel Palma Nova 29th-2nd June

 

Not the best of starts....Flight(Edinburgh) delayed by 1 and a half hours which we spent sitting on the plane on the tarmac due to French air traffic controllers strike( the french like a strike).Detour meant flight was just over 3 hrs...We were the lucky ones as flights from

Glasgow and some airports down South were delayed by 5 hrs

 

On arrival collected our luggage on the coach and off to the port.Took the driver not much more than 15 mins to get their.On arrival,into check in hall,deserted so it was a quick 5 minute register/ check in,through security,custumory photo then onto the ship.Having been on the Dream numerous times we made our own way to our cabin meeting our cabin steward Ady en route.What a top bloke he turned out to be.Our cases were outside our cabin when we got their,now thats what I call quick,excellent service.Quick look at our 4 berth outside plus cabin and it was just as we remembered it from 3 years ago,big,queen sized bed,sofa/sitting area,clean and tidy..Off for a bite to eat,drink and back to unpack and get ready for evening and sailaway party after lifeboat drill

 

We had a great time at the sailaway party,or maybe that should be the “not the sailaway party” as although we were due to sail at 11pm due to delayed flights we didnt sail until after 2-00 am and the party was finito long before then and we were tucked in bed

 

Pre sailaway we ate in the Lido and must say it was pretty poor and thought,I hope that wasn,t a sign of things to come.Glad to say that wasn,t the case as the food in Lido on our cruise was very good,hot and excellent choice and good quality every night.I say every night as thats where we ate our whole cruise.We did try the Orion twice but when we took lift down to the MDR we couldn,t get out the door due to the volume of passengers waiting/ queuing to get in so we gave it a miss and were more than happy to eat in Lido...Great stir fry station in Lido

 

Entertainment

 

Resident band were New Generation who I thought intially were good but after listening to them a numerous times that feeling waned a little.However must say that the band in the Waters Edge were brilliant.They also did a Bee Gees tribute in the Medusa and were very good..Enjoyed the cheesy game shows in Medusa which was busy most nights

 

We also went to a few shows ,in the Show Lounge ,Abba and an Oscars type show of best selling artists over the years.We enjoyed both shows.A couple New York and Africa we didnt go to see as had seen them before.Show team worked hard and generally good..Looked forward to the comedian as I do like a good comedian but sadly this one was not,thought she( Brenda???)was pretty poor.

 

Service

 

One afternoon/ night service in the Medusa was bordering on ridiculous waitng to be served a drink...There were a number of tables that had been served twice whilst many others hadnt seen a drink.Eventually noticed one fellow passengers who,d had enough storm to the bar and complain and eventually we ,along with others were served.Service didnt improve much that night but the following night/s service was swift,in fact waiter was bringing another drink to our table without us ordering and before we had finished the one we had :D..

Drinks in Medusa were a hit or a miss in terms of quality eg flat pint,warm pint,weak spirits,cocktails...No issue with this at the Waters Edge,Pool bar or bar on smoking deck 10 where drinks were excellent.Not saying staff in Medusa were unfriendly but staff at Tides,swimming pool bar and especially Waters Edge bar were great and up a notch on the Medusa

 

Our ports were

Cadiz,Portimao,Gibraltar,Cartagena,Valencia

 

We didnt get off at Portimao as it was a 30 rond trip tender and shuttle bus

 

The Dream is clean, tidy and wearing well and generally in good nick.They have made a great job of Waters Edge and Coffee Port which have been done since we were last on her.Staff,overall all excellent especially in certain bars and our cabin steward Ady.Food I though eas very good from breakfast,burgers from Terrace Grill to Lido at night...Fellow passengers,great and contributed to a great atmosphere on board

 

All in all we really enjoyed our cruise and met many new friends

 

If anyone has any questions fire away and i,ll attempt to answef them.If not i,ll ask Mrs Jim The Scot :D

 

Waffling over

[postcardswansea]

Thanks, Mr Jim - Lots of great info in your review, thanks!

 

... eg,if you happen to secure a drinks package Discovery trounces the Dream on whats on offer although enough for us on Dream to get by...

 

Do you mean the AI offerings on Dream are not as good as on Discovery? We thought the Discovery2 AI selection was excellent, and hadn't really thought about the possibility that it might not be the same on other ships.

[Jim The Scot]

Yeah the AI offerings on the Dream are not as good as they are on Discovery although enough for us.Was actually surprised by the offerings on Discovery on quality and selections of drinks,which were excellent.I would imagine the AI package on both Discovery ships will be the same but there is a difference between the other shipsI.If you have time,look back the threads,the Dream drinks package has been posted up on one of threads.I have the drinks menu but wouldn,t know how to upload to here

[campolady]

Thanks, Mr Jim - Lots of great info in your review, thanks!

 

 

 

Do you mean the AI offerings on Dream are not as good as on Discovery? We thought the Discovery2 AI selection was excellent, and hadn't really thought about the possibility that it might not be the same on other ships.

 

The ordnary AI drinks package on Dream is nowhere near as good as on Discovery 2 e.g. no choice of wine (just house Red, White and Rose plus Prosecco), far fewer cocktails and bottled beers (e.g. Dry Martini has a supplement whereas it is included on D2), and less branded spirits. Cick on this thread and scroll down for photos of the menu https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2584084&highlight=Dream+drinks+package

Edited July 1, 2018 by campolady

[postcardswansea]

The ordnary AI drinks package on Dream is nowhere near as good as on Discovery 2 e.g. no choice of wine (just house Red, White and Rose plus Prosecco), far fewer cocktails and bottled beers (e.g. Dry Martini has a supplement whereas it is included on D2), and less branded spirits. Cick on this thread and scroll down for photos of the menu https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2584084&highlight=Dream+drinks+package

 

That's disappointing to hear; one of the things that impressed us on Discovery2 was the choice of AI wines.

[davecttr]

Hopefully when Marella standardise on a 'free' drinks package on all ships next year they will adopt the superior package available on the Discoveries and and Explorer and not take the opportunity to cheapen the offering.

 

Maybe the drinks provision on the ships is handled by different contractors and they need time to get their ducks in a row. I did notice that Becks beer is not available on Explorer but is what I drink on Discovery. I am not a big drinker anymore, a beer and captain morgans rum with an occasional G&T plus some wine at dinner does me just fine.

[Ska man]

Sometimes I drink becks non alcoholic and you have to pay a supplement ,£3.75 on board,£2.00 in my local .

[Jim The Scot]

Hopefully when Marella standardise on a 'free' drinks package on all ships next year they will adopt the superior package available on the Discoveries and and Explorer and not take the opportunity to cheapen the offering.

 

Maybe the drinks provision on the ships is handled by different contractors and they need time to get their ducks in a row. I did notice that Becks beer is not available on Explorer but is what I drink on Discovery. I am not a big drinker anymore, a beer and captain morgans rum with an occasional G&T plus some wine at dinner does me just fine.

 

dave,I remember when Thomson took on the Dream the drinks package was excellent for our first two cruises then after was heavily diluted.Wouldn,t surprise if TUI/Marella do the same , maybe not on the same scale otherwise expect it to refelect in their pricing