NY Cruise on Discovery - a Memorable 10 days!

[Auntiejo]

My husband I have cruised 20+ times before, mostly with Princess, and were so excited to take our first post pandemic cruise – the 10 Day New Years cruise to Mexico on Discovery Princess! We’re late and early 50's respectively. We live in the LA area, so the thought of a 10 day cruise on a brand new ship with no flying required was a win-win-win in our book. We had a mini suite on Baja deck about midship. The balcony is awfully small for a mini suite, but we knew this going in. Just poor design. But with that said, even a small balcony is a balcony and we spent a lot of time out there and it was glorious! Lots of whale and baby dolphin sightings! The best part of a mini suite for us is having a full size shower vs. the time capsule shower. That itself is worth it – especially for a 10 day cruise. The room was really spacious and had tons of storage, Bed was comfy and the color scheme was lighter than previous ships and well done overall. Our room steward, Valent, was very attentive and kind.

 

With all the reviews and blogs I’ve read about post COVID cruising, we were both prepared to experience some bumps and disappointments along the way and just go with the flow and be thankful we were cruising again. I am happy to say that the cruise exceeded expectations in almost every way and was  honestly one of the best cruises we’ve taken. There were a few small issues here and there but they were minor. We chose to wear masks and avoided elevators and the buffet (hand washing was not enforced any time we observed the buffet and only about half the people were doing it) and we came home healthy. Lots of people hacking and sneezing without covering their face when doing so, or covering with their hand then proceeding to touch everything – this blows my mind that people are this ignorant or just don’t care, but of course it’s inevitable.

 

Embarkation and disembarkation were both the fastest, easiest and most efficient we ever experienced. We arrived at the port at around 10:45 AM and we were on the ship within 15 minutes of check in. Check in took about 2-3 minutes. A dream! What a great way to start a cruise. Disembark – we had  walk off and there really wasn’t even a line at immigration due to the speed of the face recognition machines. Overall service on the shipwas better than expected based on what we had read. Bars were a little slow at times but not terrible and the staff was so gracious in almost every case – they work so hard!

 

We only ate in the MDR twice for dinner (Skagway), and never for lunch or breakfast. The first time on night 3 we waited 20 min for a table even though we had a reservation and the service wasn’t great – the poor servers were overwhelmed and did the best they could. The 2^nd time was much better – we waltzed right in and the service was great. Food both nights was good with a few things that were great. Was really sad that my beloved fettucine alfredo was a mushy bowl of cold noodles – hoping this was a one off.

 

We ate at each of the 3 specialty dining venues twice and were impressed with them all.

Bistro Sur La Mer – This was our first time here – we really enjoyed our dinner both nights – the service was impeccable and the Mgr in particular was delightful. Many complain about the location of the venue and the fact that it doesn’t feel “special” enough being on the piazza – but we kind of enjoyed the people watching and goings on. We got the filet and the seabass both times and both were incredible. Dare I say the seabass was among the best I’ve ever had

Sabatini’s – My Favorite of all! Again incredible service both nights and we both got all different dishes each time and not one dish was anything less than amazing. Particular standouts were the osso bucco and veal marsala. I could eat here every night and be happy. Our first time w/ new menu and the more modern Sabatini’s décor and we loved both.

Crown Grill - Great service both nights – we enjoyed everything both times with the exception of the lobster cake (a little dry). The filet was good but not quite as good as Bistro Sur La Mer, and the seabass was epic just as it was at BSLM!

 

Other food notes:

Salty Dog Gastropub – we ate here on our last night and loved it. We were one of two tables there. It was always empty but I don’t know why. The SDG burger and short ribs in particular were insanely delicious. We are wine people, so we definitely missed Vines but SDG was great too – I guess you can’t have everything!

Gigi’s – always a favorite! We had lunch here twice and ordered pizza to the room one night for dinner. As good as we remember and always a nice vibe in the restaurant and great service. It was always packed but we somehow managed to get a table each time with little wait if at all.

Ocean Terrace Seafood Bar – we had lunch here once and the sushi was quite good and the servers and sushi chefs were really fun and nice! We intended to make it back but somehow never did. As the cruise went on it was more and more crowded and it’s a tiny venue – I think word got out!

Poolside food options: Slice was as good as it ever was! Salty Dog Grill – burgers were way better than they used to be – I never thought they were that great before. They upgraded the buns to a more brioche type bun vs. a standard plain sesame seed bun and the meat was thicker and much tastier than in the past. Swirl didn’t have the soft serve machine going which was a big disappointment. They were serving scooped ice cream and had one flavor available each day and they were often fruity flavors which aren’t our thing. Thank goodness for the gelato place in the Piazza! Amazing gelato every time, just as perfect as we remember.

Int'l Cafe: This was a big disappointment for us. We have always gone there 1-2 times a day and loved the selection of salads and snacks it is now just sandwiches and a few sweet treats - way scaled back from before. We went once at the start of the cruise and never went back. We really missed the former version of this previous little gem!

 

Entertainment – Rock Opera is the best show I’ve ever seen in a ship, period. I could watch it over and over again. Just incredible! Spotlight Bar was decent but not my favorite. There were 3 comedians – 2 were really funny, 1 was mildly funny. The Elton John performer is always a favorite show of ours and he didn’t disappoint. There was also a magician show that we didn’t see but I heard people saying he was good. A few nights they had what I call “filler” shows in the Princess Theater where one of the main performers did a solo show and those weren’t the greatest. We have found this to be typical of a 10 day cruise – it’s hard to bring "knock your socks off” entertainment for 10 nights straight and I get that. The house band was good – sometimes their music choices in the piazza were kind of ho hum but I’ve seen worse. We also enjoyed AJ Clarke in Crooners late in the evenings.

 

Medallion – We chose not to get an internet package based on all the nightmares we heard about with service (or lack of) and felt we could use a tech detox anyway. It was SO NICE to unplug! Overall the Medallion worked well for us. Via the app we ordered lattes every morning to our room (we got the coffee card) and delivery was accurate and fairly quick every day but one day when the order got canceled. I called and they re-submitted the order – the lattes arrived about 1 hour after my original order. One other snafu was when I ordered a drink by the Retreat Pool and it showed delivered. My crew chat went unanswered so I had to go to the bar and get it myself and the bartender acted like he was annoyed. These 2 instances were the only issues we had and neither were the end of the world!

We didn’t get a drink package. We are wine lovers and have found the cruise ship wine selection to be meager other than at Vines, so knowing there was no vines we brought 6 bottles of our own wine and for whatever reason they didn’t even blink at it during check in and I saw no wine table set up (maybe because we were so early?), and never once were we charged corkage when we brought a bottle to dinner. SCORE! We had the smallest bar tab we’ve ever had! Side note: The Sandia en fuego in Good Spirits is the best cocktail I’ve ever had on a ship!

 

Spa – Didn’t get any treatments but we are big fans of the Thermal Suite on Royal class ships. We both got the package for 10 days as we always do – unfortunately they must have oversold the passes for this cruise. This was by far the most crowded I’d ever seen it and getting a heated bed was like the Hunger Games. I witnessed more than once people fighting over a stone lounge. People would walk in and put stuff down on their chair and leave it there for 45 min – 1 hour while they do the circuit. I’ve never seen that before. Typically when it’s crowded, you just lay on a chair when you want to, then vacate it when you do the circuit. If everyone does that, there’s always a lounger available. It was kind of a nightmare and our one big complaint of the cruise. We only went 4 times total in 10 days. We usually go every day and sometimes twice a day. I’m bitter that we spent $400 for 4 uses and in hindsight I wish I had asked for a refund after that first visit. Live and learn.

 

Ports – we’ve been to Mexico more times than we can count, so I won’t go deep into the ports here but will say that this was our 2^nd time to Loreto and we love it so much. It doesn’t get the love it deserves. Many people just go into the town which is nothing great and they’re disappointed. We repeated an excursion from years ago that we took w/ Sea & Land Tours to Coronados Island and it’s magnificent! Do this tour if you go to Loreto. It’s not fancy but it’s just a super fantastic day in every way. Cabo – always a great day chilling at Medano beach with your ship in view while sipping on margies and downing shrimp tacos. Mazatlan we stayed on ship which is always nice to be on an empty ship! PV we did a ship excursion with snorkeling in a beautiful bay & Yelapa which was a lot of fun!

Our ship was close to capacity but never felt overly jammed which surprised us. The one time we felt it was for the late show for Rock Opera. We got there 28 minutes before showtime and it was probably 70% full. Even at the main pool on sea days we never had trouble finding a lounge and we by no means got out there early! The Retreat Pool is a different story – very limited seating there and always full. The only day we got seats there was Mazatlan when so many were off the ship and it was glorious! I would have gone there every day if lounges were readily available.

 

One complaint – MUTS is SO SO loud! I’d like to see them lower the volume a bit during the day because if you’re not into the particular show being shown, you can’t just read a book or relax – it’s BLARING. There were several movies or football games we enjoyed but if you want to tune out and chill that’s not an option. If the MUTS was a reasonable sound level I believe it would be a better experience for the masses.

 

I think that about covers everything! It was a great trip and felt so good to be out on the high seas again! We are so happy that Discovery is based on the West Coast and know it won't be long before we sail her again.

Edited January 19, 2023 by Auntiejo

[californiagirl]

Thank you for your great review.  I really appreciate your positive attitude.

[cr8tiv1]

Thanks for taking the time to review your cruise.  I was a little confused by your title:  NY Cruise on Discovery.  I was wondering when the Discovery repositioned to New York.

 

As for “this blows my mind that people are this ignorant or just don’t care, but of course it’s inevitable.”….I think you hit the nail on the head.  People just don’t care.  I’m glad you returned healthy.  

 

 

[RNRcruisers]

I totally agree about MUTS during the day. It would be much nicer to hear soft music playing or something like that. You can't see the screen anyway. We look for loungers away from that area.

[Peasy24]

Fantastic, thorough, and thoughtful review.  Thank you so much for sharing your experiences!

[memoak]

2 hours ago, RNRcruisers said:

I totally agree about MUTS during the day. It would be much nicer to hear soft music playing or something like that. You can't see the screen anyway. We look for loungers away from that area.

It was so great having the World Cup games on MUTS during our Ruby cruise over Thanksgiving 

[Thrak]

On 1/19/2023 at 3:19 PM, Auntiejo said:

We are wine people, so we definitely missed Vines but SDG was great too – I guess you can’t have everything!

 

Can you tell me where to go in place of Vines? We're booked on Discovery (April 2024) and our son and his wife are sailing with us. It will be their first cruise and they are definitely wine people. With no Vines on the ship I'm really wondering where they (and we) will get a decent wine fix.

[Auntiejo]

Since we brought a lot of our own wine, we didn’t explore too much wine on the ship so I can’t provide feedback on that personally.
 

However, on a recent thread someone from our same voyage said Good Spirits had the best selection of wine by the glass. I believe Crown Grill has the best options by the bottle. I hope this helps!