Discovery - Glad To Be Off

[Myrtle Ave. Mayhem]

Hello everyone. Have you ever come home from a cruise & not missed it AT ALL? 

 

I've been sailing with Princess 30 years & have seen the changes from being a distinctly upscale British & Italian experience under P & O to the watered down version under Carnival. Princess always held a warm spot in my heart, having sailed aboard the original Pacific Princess & former Sitmar Fairwind as Dawn Princess. The truth is today's Princess is a mass market line & within thier price point offer a good value for the money. 

 

In disclosure I'll admit I'm on the persnickity side & definitely old school in my cruising preferences. My last six cruises were on Viking Ocean. I haven't sailed Princess since 2018. This summary is based on my experience of the April 10 Discovery Princess cruise. My views & preferences are mine, filtered through my perceptions & expectations. Others may have been aboard the same cruise & may disagree with me on some things or completely. Knowing that it would be unfair to compare Princess to Viking because they are different products at different price points, I boarded Discovery with an open mind & optimistic attitude.

 

Personally the ship feels way to big & high density. It felt like vacationing in an urban mall. There seemed to be lots of people everywhere all the time. So many of the small details that make Crown class ships enjoyable are missing from Discovery Princess. Why & how Princess would build ships without fully encircling wrap around promenade decks & observation lounges with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out to the sea is a mystery. The upper deck above the bridge with the bridge wings for forward & side views on the Crown class is absent. It's a shame there is no open forward deck on Discovery. The Vista Lounge is one example of a few lost opportunities from a design & passenger experience factor. With the stage facing aft, there is no wake view. Imagine how stunning that lounge would be with wraparound & aft floor-to-ceiling windows a la the original Pacific Princess! Most of the lounges & bars seemed too small for the number of passengers. The Princess Theater, MDR's, & Market Place/Horizon Court were just kinda there decor wise, a little plain. I know Princess doesn't do the over the top decor like Carnival or Royal Caribbean, but they could have punched it up just a little & taken the visual to the next level. While I loved the blues used in Princess Live, Vista Lounge, & Crown Grill Bar, rest of the ship done up in brown, taupe, & silver looked bland & not a color scheme I associate with cruise ships. The passageway, stairwell, & cabin decor looked like something from the discount bin at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. I tried to spend time in Take Five, but the seating was brutal. 

 

My biggest disappointment was the pool situation. On every cruise I'm a pool guy. Not possible on Discovery Princess. The Wake View & Retreat pools were too small & shallow. Thier adjacent deck space completely uninviting & lacking in atmosphere. Why do cruise lines think adults only want a shallow pool? Just please give us a full sized, full depth pool. The two main pools were stunning to look at with their teal mosaic & appropriately large & deep. The problem was the constant MUTS & pop/latin/reggeton/rock music played at obnoxious decibels. Really Princess, you need to go the QuietVox route used aboard Viking. I tried going to the Elite/Platinum Happy Hour in the Vista Lounge on embarkation day but the music was auto tune pop playing way to loud. For all the years Princess has been in the business shame on them for not matching appropriate music to the setting. The room was empty. On a positive note, the live performances of the production team, individual singers & musicians was exceptional. I didn't like the two comedians with body function bathroom humor. Can't we keep the comedy classy? 

 

The best service on the ship was in the MDR's. I enjoyed the menus, variety, & plated presentation. The servers were uniformly attentive & gracious. The dining room managers really only sat passengers at the table. Gone are the days when they placed your napkin on your lap. I know that may seem outdated for some, but coming from a hospitality background I notice those little details. Our cabin steward made it clear that the room was serviced once daily, unless requested otherwise. Again it may not matter to some, but a detail in the product presentation I felt lacking. Bar & drink service were the other weak link of service. I don't use my phone on vacation except for taking pictures. For all my years of cruising I never had an issue ordering drinks. It seemed clear that they really expect people to order drinks through the app. Usually I'd have to flag down a server to take my order. Often a server would pass my table, see I didn't have a drink & just pass by, not proactively taking my order. Usually once my order was taken, then it would be delivered by a different server. Then that would be it, no checking back later for refills, ect. This new system seems impersonal. 

 

The whole experience in general felt like staying at a corporate chain hotel, not a cruise line I used to love & cherish. Princess Cruises as a product sermed annoyingly anonymous & impersonal on this cruise.

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

1 hour ago, Myrtle Ave. Mayhem said:

Hello everyone. Have you ever come home from a cruise & not missed it AT ALL? 

 

I've been sailing with Princess 30 years & have seen the changes from being a distinctly upscale British & Italian experience under P & O to the watered down version under Carnival. Princess always held a warm spot in my heart, having sailed aboard the original Pacific Princess & former Sitmar Fairwind as Dawn Princess. The truth is today's Princess is a mass market line & within thier price point offer a good value for the money. 

 

In disclosure I'll admit I'm on the persnickity side & definitely old school in my cruising preferences. My last six cruises were on Viking Ocean. I haven't sailed Princess since 2018. This summary is based on my experience of the April 10 Discovery Princess cruise. My views & preferences are mine, filtered through my perceptions & expectations. Others may have been aboard the same cruise & may disagree with me on some things or completely. Knowing that it would be unfair to compare Princess to Viking because they are different products at different price points, I boarded Discovery with an open mind & optimistic attitude.

 

Personally the ship feels way to big & high density. It felt like vacationing in an urban mall. There seemed to be lots of people everywhere all the time. So many of the small details that make Crown class ships enjoyable are missing from Discovery Princess. Why & how Princess would build ships without fully encircling wrap around promenade decks & observation lounges with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out to the sea is a mystery. The upper deck above the bridge with the bridge wings for forward & side views on the Crown class is absent. It's a shame there is no open forward deck on Discovery. The Vista Lounge is one example of a few lost opportunities from a design & passenger experience factor. With the stage facing aft, there is no wake view. Imagine how stunning that lounge would be with wraparound & aft floor-to-ceiling windows a la the original Pacific Princess! Most of the lounges & bars seemed too small for the number of passengers. The Princess Theater, MDR's, & Market Place/Horizon Court were just kinda there decor wise, a little plain. I know Princess doesn't do the over the top decor like Carnival or Royal Caribbean, but they could have punched it up just a little & taken the visual to the next level. While I loved the blues used in Princess Live, Vista Lounge, & Crown Grill Bar, rest of the ship done up in brown, taupe, & silver looked bland & not a color scheme I associate with cruise ships. The passageway, stairwell, & cabin decor looked like something from the discount bin at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. I tried to spend time in Take Five, but the seating was brutal. 

 

My biggest disappointment was the pool situation. On every cruise I'm a pool guy. Not possible on Discovery Princess. The Wake View & Retreat pools were too small & shallow. Thier adjacent deck space completely uninviting & lacking in atmosphere. Why do cruise lines think adults only want a shallow pool? Just please give us a full sized, full depth pool. The two main pools were stunning to look at with their teal mosaic & appropriately large & deep. The problem was the constant MUTS & pop/latin/reggeton/rock music played at obnoxious decibels. Really Princess, you need to go the QuietVox route used aboard Viking. I tried going to the Elite/Platinum Happy Hour in the Vista Lounge on embarkation day but the music was auto tune pop playing way to loud. For all the years Princess has been in the business shame on them for not matching appropriate music to the setting. The room was empty. On a positive note, the live performances of the production team, individual singers & musicians was exceptional. I didn't like the two comedians with body function bathroom humor. Can't we keep the comedy classy? 

 

The best service on the ship was in the MDR's. I enjoyed the menus, variety, & plated presentation. The servers were uniformly attentive & gracious. The dining room managers really only sat passengers at the table. Gone are the days when they placed your napkin on your lap. I know that may seem outdated for some, but coming from a hospitality background I notice those little details. Our cabin steward made it clear that the room was serviced once daily, unless requested otherwise. Again it may not matter to some, but a detail in the product presentation I felt lacking. Bar & drink service were the other weak link of service. I don't use my phone on vacation except for taking pictures. For all my years of cruising I never had an issue ordering drinks. It seemed clear that they really expect people to order drinks through the app. Usually I'd have to flag down a server to take my order. Often a server would pass my table, see I didn't have a drink & just pass by, not proactively taking my order. Usually once my order was taken, then it would be delivered by a different server. Then that would be it, no checking back later for refills, ect. This new system seems impersonal. 

 

The whole experience in general felt like staying at a corporate chain hotel, not a cruise line I used to love & cherish. Princess Cruises as a product sermed annoyingly anonymous & impersonal on this cruise.

Thanks for the report.

[VibeGuy]

Thank you for letting people know they should get off your lawn and stay off.
 

 For the record, *I’ve* been sailing with Princess since well before either the Italians or the British got involved.   You know, back when breakfast had fixed seating and dashing young officers strode smartly down the deck with a break-action .410 for skeet.   

Let’s start with “too big and high density”.  The published GWRT and double-berth occupancy of the ship are freely available.  Divide the former by the latter and you get a “space ratio”.  It’s widely known that space ratios have been on the decline for years after swelling with the arrival of 100,000 ton ships.   Viking Ocean ships are like a 52.    The gems of the Princess fleet (Sapphire and Diamond) are a comparatively decent 43.4. 
 

Kicker:  Pacific as operated by Princess was a snug 32.25.   Fairsky?  36.5.  
 

So on the numbers, Discovery Princess at 38.5 is smack in the middle between your preferred upmarket line and the historical standard-bearers.  I happen to like balconies and atriums so I’m not going to hope for a return of old-time space ratios.  But if you want a 50-something space ratio, you’re going to pay for it, and you’re not finding it at HAL, Celebrity or other peers of Princess. 

 

I will not disagree that Princess has moved away from a connection to the sea over time - the loss of Skywalkers is palpable.  I’m just a little mystified as to which Princess ships built since 1990 have excellent aft sight lines from anywhere on Promenade or lower.   I’ve been racking my brain and none have come to mind. 
I certainly don’t think the Panorama lounge on Pacific *ever* had enough seating. 

On to the service experience. Some of us find the convenience of ordering by mobile device, without interruptions during, say, quiet conversations a deux, or without having to attract the attention of a server rather pleasant.  We also don’t like handling sticky menus.  I personally love that my bartender is focused on making the drinks, not ringing the transactions.  

 

You’re accustomed to being waited on.   Your mark of high-quality service isn’t having everything at your fingertips so much as having it set directly under your fingertips.  That’s awesome and I’m glad you can still find that on other lines.   I don’t actually like the assumption that I don’t know how or when to lay my own napery, for example.  I do love that a plate of chilled sliced fruit arrives at my pool lounger faster than it does at any Intercontinental, Ritz-Carlton, St Regis, Four Seasons or Waldorf-Astoria.  Click.  Tap.  Done.  Magic or sufficiently indistinguishable from it.  It’s also like a single click to reorder it.  So I get what I want without anyone bothering me to ask if I might need something. He who asks, digitally, gets. 
 

I have to say that Princess hits more personalization, whether organic or app-aided, than almost any hospitality brand - and I say that as someone with deep experience across mass and boutique brands.   Four Seasons does better at recalling that I prefer grits, polenta or sautéed spinach at breakfast, but at their rates, it’s understandable.     Princess people address me by my preferred greeting, recall what I like to drink, remember that I appreciate a fish knife and seem genuinely happy to see me onboard when they’ve met me on other ships.  No land-based hospitality provider has as much cross-pollination that enables that.  I think Princess does that particularly admirably. I’m sure frequency matters.  If you don’t sail for years, there’s simply fewer long-term staff to remember you. 
 

I can’t speak to the comedians or onboard production shows - I’d sooner have a root canal without anesthesia than ever see _Colors of the World_ again, but I can watch all three showings of _Magic To Do_ without a second thought - so I’m not sure how as comedian not being to your particular comedic taste is a failure of the line in general.  I, for one, never need to hear another joke about cruise ship shower curtains, speaking of bathroom topics in comedy. 
 

As to the work of the dining room managers nee headwaiters, you get what you give off.  Over the last 70 nights we’ve been onboard, they’ve been invaluable and made some amazing things happen.  If there has been something amiss, they’ve proactively addressed it, if there’s something that has tickled my fancy, they’ve made it happen.  I haven’t found them hands-off *at all*, but we’ll see what happens with our sailing in two weeks - different ship, different managers, different style.  I don’t think it’s a role issue though. 
 

So I’m not sure what to say to sum up - Princess has changed over fifty years, and while I strongly disagree it was ever an upmarket/luxury line, I do see that the product offer has changed towards what the middle market segment values most out of a vacation.  The information to evaluate whether a ship will feel crowded is certainly available. The deck plans and renderings of public spaces, as well as the photos of the previous builds in the class going back ten years were certainly published.   I’m sorry you feel left behind, Mrs Claypool. 
 

 

[caribill]

2 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

Some of us find the convenience of ordering by mobile device, without interruptions during, say, quiet conversations a deux, or without having to attract the attention of a server rather pleasant.  We also don’t like handling sticky menus.

 

 

 

That would be great for everyone if the mobile devices supported by the use of an app pre-cruise and during the cruise were not limited to the most recent technology.

 

If I have any of our 5 mobile digital devices with us on a cruise, they are not devices that the app can work on.

 

So I will have to continue trying to attract the attention of a bar server when wanting a beverage on deck or in the Piazza or any other indoor venue. Also will have to continue using those sticky menus.

[VibeGuy]

Again, feel free to chuck a wooden shoe in a loom.   The alternative to someone soliciting your drink order, for those who choose not to use the app, remains to be “approach a bar” or “go to Helen Waite”. 

 

I’m not an apologist for Accenture.  I think the developers sold the execs a bill of goods about what is compatible via what is actually in hands, but at least in the iOS world, the app runs down to an iPhone 6s, which is six and a half years old, a lifetime in smartphones. The batteries in anything that old are likely toast.  I can’t comment on the Android space but I honestly think going back five years is *plenty*.    
 

yes, they screwed up not doing a web interface for unsupported devices.  Yes, the app has performance problems.  Yes, it’s nice to be asked if you want a Manhattan.  But requiring something released within the last 6.5 years is hardly requiring the “latest technology”. 
 

 

 

 

[dog]

Lost me at persnickety.

I sail on Discovery May 4th. Did my homework. Know size of ship. Going with an open mind. 

[FlaMariner]

Interesting because we just got off our first Princess cruise last month and we've quickly decided that Princess is not for us. 

 

Very similar to your experience.

 

We did enjoy the MDR food and service also.  The only difficulty (and it's a major reason why no more Princess for us) is that we enjoy traditional dining (same time, same table, same waiters) and although same time was no issue, we had to fight, beg and plead to be seated at a specific table (loved our waiters but the cruise line seemed to not want us to enjoy one of the best things about cruising).

 

The lido pool area is lost on us.  Movies during the day and no re-tractable roof for when it rains or is cold so that area is of no use on several days.  

 

You said suburban mall....We were thinking Marriott lobby.  But not a cruise ship feel, for sure.  Missed the wrap around promenade deck for strolls. 

 

The reliance on the non-working (at least for us) medallion app is a big turn off for us. And the pre-boarding challenges with the app are something we choose not to do again by not sailing Princess.

 

We enjoyed the price we paid, the room steward service, the MDR, the gym the ports and the price we paid...but it's not worth it for us.  And it's not for us. 

 

Glad we have choices when we cruise but we are heading back to Holland America Line where we fit much better!

 

 

Smooth sailing to all.............

 

[PrincessLuver]

9 hours ago, Myrtle Ave. Mayhem said:

 

In disclosure I'll admit I'm on the persnickity side & definitely old school in my cruising preferences. My last six cruises were on Viking Ocean. I haven't sailed Princess since 2018. This summary is based on my experience of the April 10 Discovery Princess cruise. My views & preferences are mine, filtered through my perceptions & expectations. 

 

The whole experience in general felt like staying at a corporate chain hotel, not a cruise line I used to love & cherish. Princess Cruises as a product sermed annoyingly anonymous & impersonal on this cruise.

 

We were on the cruise before you and found the Discovery to be one of our new favorite Princess' ships We loved the modern vibe and they seemed to have learned from each build of a Royal Class ship. You mentioned your last 6 cruises were on a Viking ship and I would suspect that could be altering your judgment about this cruise experience.  

 

Our friends cruise Viking and have asked us to join but we would be bored out of our minds on that type of cruise ship experience.  What's great about life is that their are different ships for different folks!!

[MJSailors]

    We haven’t cruised on any ship since Covid. 

However, we have sailed on these Princess ships,beginning in 2004- Sapphire,Caribbean, Crown, Royal and Regal. We had a cruise booked on the Sky which was  dashed due to the pandemic.

    The Crown has been our favorite ship. We sailed on her in the inaugural year and took several more cruises aboard the ship.

We always enjoyed a wraparound promenade deck and missed it on the Royal and Regal. We thought the Piazza’s decor was lovely and it was a a comfortable indoor area on the ship. We also enjoyed the Sanctuary with the nearby Lotus pool and hot tubs. The design of the Sanctuary on the Sky did not seem as appealing,but we were going by artist renderings at the time.

      Ship design across the board has been altered for most cruiselines. It seems there is a direction of design to increase the size and passenger load of the new ships. Views of the sea have become limited as the designs do not consider them or the views are given over to certain accommodations on the ships ie: Celebrity’s Enclave ( I believe that is the term they use for certain high end cabins/suites).

Change always occurs in products to keep consumers’ interests. However, sometimes these changes are not always appreciated by long standing customers.

I would suggest to the OP and others, to try to book a Princess Cruise on one of the older,smaller ships.  They may find such a cruise to be more to their liking.

I would also suggest to wait until Covid subsides to a minimal level - hopefully,that will happen- when ships are more fully staffed and the cruising experience returns to a more comfortable level.

MJ

 

 

 

 

 

[*Miss G*]

We were also disappointed with Princess.  The Medallion app never worked during the cruise so we have no idea whether we would have enjoyed “the convenience” or not.  Probably not, since none of us tends to carry anything but the ship card/medallion when onboard.

 

The MDR reservations were a fiasco (internet/intranet did not work) which resulted in chaos at the door and in the dining room.  The lack of traditional dining, without even an attempt to provide one, is a huge fail for us.

 

The missing prom and lack of observation lounge were a huge letdown.  The small venues for large crowds was puzzling and effectively prevented a great many people from participating in trivia challenges.

 

The beds were awesome.  I did enjoy the piazza concept with a fantastic string duet for entertainment.

 

This was our first cruise with Princess and it was the consensus that we would not be back.

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by *Miss G*

[HaveDogWillTravel]

I have a newer iPhone 11 Pro Max. Over the course of my April 10-17 sailing on Discovery I could not rely on using the ap for drinks or anything really. It worked sporadically.  I just got tired of staring at that stupid circle instead of the ocean. I went old school and got to know my bartenders and servers. By talking to them. 

[Steelers36]

10 hours ago, Myrtle Ave. Mayhem said:

Hello everyone. Have you ever come home from a cruise & not missed it AT ALL? 

 

I think something like the napkin complaint may be due to Covid - less handling of something the guest is going to be using.  Not that I care if they do it, but I recall this being done pre-Covid.  I can handle myself, but it they are there to take it and hand it to me, okay - NBD. 

 

I do agree that blasting music on the open deck all day long is both annoying and unpleasant for wanting to hang around.

[*Miss G*]

9 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

I do agree that blasting music on the open deck all day long is both annoying and unpleasant for wanting to hang around.

 

 

I had a good laugh when I arrived at the Lido pool area to a DJ blasting rap music to an audience of elderly white people.  The looks on their faces was priceless.  😂

[Sea Hag]

10 hours ago, Myrtle Ave. Mayhem said:

Personally the ship feels way to big & high density. It felt like vacationing in an urban mall. There seemed to be lots of people everywhere all the time. So many of the small details that make Crown class ships enjoyable are missing from Discovery Princess. Why & how Princess would build ships without fully encircling wrap around promenade decks & observation lounges with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out to the sea is a mystery. The upper deck above the bridge with the bridge wings for forward & side views on the Crown class is absent. 

 

 

I also miss the full Promenade deck, but I've found the upper deck walking/jogging track to be a reasonable substitute.

 

As for the upper deck above the bridge wings, that's still there - as the enormous private deck for the M6 minis on Marina deck. Doesn't help the general passengers, but it's a wonderful thing if you have one of those cabins.

[milolii]

Details about complaints weigh with me more than just “  it was horrible.” Ty OP.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

9 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I think something like the napkin complaint may be due to Covid - less handling of something the guest is going to be using.  Not that I care if they do it, but I recall this being done pre-Covid.  I can handle myself, but it they are there to take it and hand it to me, okay - NBD. 

 

I do agree that blasting music on the open deck all day long is both annoying and unpleasant for wanting to hang around.

After viewing the sky suite location and balconies on the Discovery I simply couldn’t  believe it. We never saw any one on the aft facing balconies. It’s hard to believe the interior didn’t suffer from noise issues. The forward facing ones were private but only separated by an opaque glass wall. One day I saw a guy standing on tip toe looking over the wall!  The noise from the hot tubs and people in those loungers would be unavoidable on the sky suite forward balcony. 
 

Count me in as one who loved having my napkin placed on my lap. Embarkation day lunch in MDR when the napkin went down I’d get a visceral sense that the vacation has begun and any stress melted away. 

[PescadoAmarillo]

14 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

 

Count me in as one who loved having my napkin placed on my lap. Embarkation day lunch in MDR when the napkin went down I’d get a visceral sense that the vacation has begun and any stress melted away. 

1000 times this. I loved it. 

[cruzsnooze]

You can't contradict an opinion and the OP took the time to write out his opinion/experience. Some points I agree with and some not so much BUT he's entitled to his opinion. 

[Blondilu]

I have only sailed on Princess, though no cruises at all since 2019.  I am getting a little nervous I won't like Princess going forward.  The ships are getting too big, too removed from the "ocean experience" and this whole Medallion app thing is so unappealing.  The whole idea of having to rely on my phone for service is a huge turn-off.  I'm just too old I guess and really feel that the best place for my phone while on vacation is in the safe. 

 

I personally don't think that "new" is necessarily better in anything, more so when it comes to technology.  Give me face-to-face any day. 

[Ombud]

2 hours ago, FlaMariner said:

we just got off our first Princess cruise last month and we've quickly decided that Princess is not for us. 

So are you here because you're giving Princess another shot and have you found a line more to your liking  .... maybe Viking Ocean?

 

My 2c: I will miss Skywalkers Lounge on the Enchanted but not how it's done on the Crown class. My preference is the Grand class (just not on the Grand)

 

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by Ombud
Typo due to fat fingers

[caribill]

7 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

 But requiring something released within the last 6.5 years is hardly requiring the “latest technology”.

 

 

Our tablets are more recent, but do not have the operating systems that the app can run on.

[wowzz]

29 minutes ago, Blondilu said:

The whole idea of having to rely on my phone for service is a huge turn-off.  I'm just too old I guess and really feel that the best place for my phone while on vacation is in the safe. 

You do not need your phone for anything, if you don't want to. 

It is just as easy to order your drinks from the bar,  or from a waiter, and for the MDR, just turn up when you are hungry

[donaldsc]

11 hours ago, Myrtle Ave. Mayhem said:

Hello everyone. Have you ever come home from a cruise & not missed it AT ALL? 

 

I Gone are the days when they placed your napkin on your lap. I know that may seem outdated for some, but coming from a hospitality background I notice those little details.

 

While some but not all of your complaints may be valid, complaining about the fact that they don't put your napkin on your lap is a bit much.  When you think about it, the whole idea of putting a napkin on your lap is a bit silly.  Just think, after you use your napkin to wipe the spaghetti sauce off your face and then you put the napkin back on your lap, what do you get - dirty pants.  What you should have is 2 napkins - one to sit unused on your lap and one to actually be used and left on the table.

 

DON

[RNRcruisers]

OP, thank you for the review. While Princess is my favorite line (I have only been on RCCL, NCL and Princess) I agree with a lot of your points. The current way of new ships being built with less connection to the seas, and the mall atmosphere, are the main reasons we no longer sail on RCCL. The lack of lounge space for the number of passengers is the reason we will never again sail on NCL Encore. These may not matter to some people but they do matter to us.

 

Overall we enjoyed our cruise on the Regal but I totally agree with you about the loud MUTS. Not the relaxing pool atmosphere we like. We spent our sea days at the Retreat pool, but unfortunately on the last day it was too crowded for 4 of us to get loungers together - and this was when the ship was half empty. And the lack of a promenade deck is a deal breaker for me. We really enjoy our quiet afternoons and evening walk on the promenade. It was sadly lacking on the Regal.

 

We will avoid the large new builds going forward and the many reviews just reinforce that decision.

 

[cruising deacon]

We got off of the Discovery on April 10

We were never in our lives so happy to get off a ship

As far as we are concerned nothing went right:

FOOD     MDR - poor choices, food was dry and no taste, did not return after 4 nights

Crown Grill - Meat (filet) was as dry as a bone - NOT WORTH $58

last 2 nights had pizza and hamburgers (even Princess didn't mess them up)

Entertainment was the poorest of all:

Only one production show - Rock Opera   -we walked out

others were impressionist, piano player, male vocalist, female vocalist - walked out on all of them

Most of them were performers in the lounges   BEST ONE OF ALL was a magician who also sang

OTHER GUESTS       We were virtually the only ones EVER wearing a mask

the other guests actually gave us strange looks, one guest even challenged us about wearing them saying how stupid we were

CREW    -    98% were happy to see us and cordial        store workers were as crabby as ever

OVERALL         HAPPY TO GET OFF THGE SHIP