Recent review Discovery dress code

On FB Site this lady did infact post lots of live videos

Stevie:)

Last day tomorrow of our superb cruise. We have loved every minute.....For all of you worried about "dress to impress " don't worry the captain and crew all rocked up in black trousers and opened collar shirts . No tie,jacket etc . happy cruising. Xxxxx

another review 23 July

Stevie:)

----------------------------Ok so here are my thoughts on Tui Discovery and The Magic of Spain itinerary. If I forget to stop I'm sorry, you can always stop reading. Also this is only my thoughts and opinions ( of which I also am entitled ) you do not have to agree with me. First of all I love this ship and I will be more than happy to cruise on her again, soon hopefully. We had a junior suite on deck 8, Cabin 8050, I loved the space we had and the balcony was a great size. We had a kettle and also coffee maker, Clarins shampoo etc. And twice during the week we had little extras, one of them was foot balm. I would say that we did hear a bit of noise in the evening ( John of course heard nothing ) lol but it wasn't too bad and not all the time.

The food in The main resturant was lovely and the staff we great. We ate in Gallery 47^ ( upstairs Italian ) a couple of times and again food was good but I would say they need to vary the menu they only have 2 menus and they just alternate each day. Chefs special the Linguini was excellent although you do have to pay £4.95 extra but they prepare it at your table ( I posted photos before ). We also had breakfast in main resturant and there is always plenty of choice. Islands buffet for us for lunch and afternoon tea, always plenty to chose.

As far as drink is concerned, and this is the last time I'm going to mention it, we never had to wait long for a drink but however if we didn't see a waiter we went for it ourselves. After all there is no rule to say you cannot go to the bar. Also the have little pop up bars that they have on the pool deck and beside snack shack in the afternoons when it is busier.

Entertainment was very good with a couple of guest acts in as well. Although I enjoyed the shows I think they have done better in the past but different people have different ideas and we did still enjoy them. Some of the game shows in The Venue I thought were a bit similar but a laugh .

Ports

Gibraltar, we did Alameda gardens and cable car.

This was a bit of a disaster as they only had shuttle buses to take everyone so lots of waiting about. I'm not blaming Thomson this was down to the tour operator but they need to get it sorted. The excursion was ok the benefit being that you didn't need to wait in the ridiculously long queue for the cable car.

Lisbon

We did the Lisbon Panoramic tour which I would recommend however I did start to get fed up getting on and off the bus for photos.

Cadiz

No excursion today, you can easily walk into town from the ship, not a lot to see near the port but very pretty.

Malaga

Today we got the little shuttle €5 return it doesn't take you very far then you have to walk to the town centre. We decided to walk back and really it's not too far. Wish we had just walked both ways. Also you can walk to the beach from the ship.

Cartagena

This was our favourite port, it's very beautiful. I can recommend the Ports of Culture excursion we really enjoyed this and it finishes near the town centre then you can walk back to the ship.

Finally, ( if your still with me lol ) the staff in Tui Discovery were all fantastic nothing was too much trouble and they were all very friendly. A big thank you goes to Ronaldo who was our cabin Steward.

If you made it to the end well done you are amazing and thank you for taking the time to read. I'm happy to try and answer any questions but once again this is only my thoughts and opinions.

We had a fabulous week, hope you all to do.

Excellent review - thank you. Always good to hear other people's thoughts. We have always preferred the smaller ships but are slowly coming round to trying this one.

Thank you Stevie nice report, we don't go till next year and have also booked a JS so that's most informative, pleased you had a good time😀

the review I posted was not mine, pinched from FB page :)

we are not going until 29th Oct transatlantic Palma to Caribbean

Stevie

Well nice report anyway and thanks for the repost as I don't do FB

I notice that here the satisfaction rating for Discovery is down to 46% but there have only been 32 reviews. Of course the reviews are about the cruise not the ship and there are some interesting comments. One reviewer gave a good review and then only gave 1 star :confused: Another 1 star had 7 people in their party and there was a mix up over cabins. Everything went downhill from there. I must say reading between the lines if there are 7 of you you can't expect to find a suitable table in the buffet at busy times, ditto the main dining room and 7 seats in a row at the theatre might be a problem ;)

We returned from our Discovery cruise a couple of weeks ago, and I'm not surprised that the satisfaction rate is quite low, as this reflects the comments of some passengers on our cruise. We hadn't cruised with Thomson (or TUI, as this one is) before, but are fairly regular cruisers, but we were familiar with the ship from its RCI days as Splendour of the Seas.

It didn't really come up to our hopes and expectations, and that's fine as we weren't sure that it would, but what surprised me most was that some of the people we spoke to, who had sailed with Thomsons many times and loved the Thomson brand, didn't seem to think it was as good as any of their other cruises either. It's like it hasn't really found its market, I think.

I'm pleased to hear that the staffing issues seem to be improving. A step in the right direction!

We returned from our Discovery cruise a couple of weeks ago, and I'm not surprised that the satisfaction rate is quite low, as this reflects the comments of some passengers on our cruise. We hadn't cruised with Thomson (or TUI, as this one is) before, but are fairly regular cruisers, but we were familiar with the ship from its RCI days as Splendour of the Seas.

 

It didn't really come up to our hopes and expectations, and that's fine as we weren't sure that it would, but what surprised me most was that some of the people we spoke to, who had sailed with Thomsons many times and loved the Thomson brand, didn't seem to think it was as good as any of their other cruises either. It's like it hasn't really found its market, I think.

 

I'm pleased to hear that the staffing issues seem to be improving. A step in the right direction!

Don't forget that the TUI Discovery is not meant to be the Thomson brand and they are trying a new approach on this its first season. I can see that they are trying to get away from the 'kiss me quick' experience, probably in an attempt to distance the product from the boring old P&O/Fred Olsen experience. So the people went on Discovery and because it was not Thomson they did not like it. I am sure TUI won't care a dot as long as they can fill the ship with passengers who spend money.

I gave it 4 stars because I really enjoyed it but I have never liked baked Alaska parades and singing waiters. The food was better than P&O as well, in some cases much better :)

ps - apart from the sausages but who cares if you eat cereal or continental.

Don't forget that the TUI Discovery is not meant to be the Thomson brand and they are trying a new approach on this its first season. I can see that they are trying to get away from the 'kiss me quick' experience, probably in an attempt to distance the product from the boring old P&O/Fred Olsen experience. So the people went on Discovery and because it was not Thomson they did not like it. I am sure TUI won't care a dot as long as they can fill the ship with passengers who spend money.

 

I gave it 4 stars because I really enjoyed it but I have never liked baked Alaska parades and singing waiters. The food was better than P&O as well, in some cases much better :)

 

ps - apart from the sausages but who cares if you eat cereal or continental.

I hadn't been with Thomson or TUI before, so really couldn't say whether it was totally different from their other offerings. We had never heard of such a thing as a Baked Alaska parade before, so it wasn't something we were going to miss.

We all like different things, which is a good thing. It was OK, and it let us see what TUI offer, but it just didn't come close to what we're used to in terms of service and quality. I'm glad we tried it though. There is no such thing as a bad cruise, and some bits were enjoyable. The itinerary in particular, which was what drew us to it mainly.

Is it possible to book into any of the speciality restaurants before we cruise?

On some of the Discovery cruise reviews it advises to book before you board the ship as they book up very quickly. We are on Discovery in 4 weeks time

Not certain about the Discovery but on all the others you can only book when onboard. Suggest you book as soon as you arrive, we have never had a problem😁😁 enjoy

you can only book the speciality restaurants when you board

advice seems to be head to deck 5 to book via the touch screens

Stevie

It has been mentioned elsewhere that passengers staying aboard for 2 weeks can essentially fully book the speciality restaurants for the second week leaving no chance for new cruisers.

Any simple solutions?

It has been mentioned elsewhere that passengers staying aboard for 2 weeks can essentially fully book the speciality restaurants for the second week leaving no chance for new cruisers.

 

Any simple solutions?

If they made a rule that restaurant bookings could not be made any more than 5 days in advance it might help? :confused:

Loads of info on your review thanks. We go on this itinerary on 10th Sept with a tad concern over the plethora of negative reviews.

However we will take it as it comes...did you happen to notice if their is a TT onboard ?

Loads of info on your review thanks. We go on this itinerary on 10th Sept with a tad concern over the plethora of negative reviews.

However we will take it as it comes...did you happen to notice if their is a TT onboard ?

Whats a TT:confused:

Whats a TT:confused:

Tabletennis Table perhaps :D:D

OH! yes there is on deck 9 port side ;)