Discovery 2 Some thoughts.......................

[2BACRUISER]

Did my review yesterday morning but to now 11.00 GMT its not up yet so cant post link.

Cosmopolitan Classics 14-21Sept

Our previous cruise was on Ex2 having loved that to bits we thought we would try one of the much recommended Discovery ships and although we had been to quite a few of the places on the D2 itinerary, it suited us time of year wise. 

Hmm well first of all i will say we enjoyed our cruise, with some unexpected delights in ports we didn't expect them, Livorno and Palamos to note two. The ship was immaculate and the staff smiling, friendly and pleasing. Cabin was fine, food was good and the shows amazing.

BUT we didn't love D2 like we did Ex2, it just had a totally different feel to it. There were probably only a dozen children on the whole ship it being term time so it wasnt that, D2 i know is marketed as a family ship  and there were quite a lot of family groups & groups of friends. Couples in minority which meant we always had to wait for a table for 2 in the evening at  both Gallery 47 and 47 itself but not a problem we just had a pager and another drink. Best G&T in Venue according to DH. 

The much vaunted atrium was underwhelming, red neon lights really?? and the service in there was very slow drinks taking 15-20mins to arrive at your table from ordering this was exacerbated by the fact that a lot of clientele chose to go queue as they do in AI hotels at the bar. Very repetative entertainment in the Atrium too although Paul ***** the accoustic guitar singer was very good by time you'd heard his repatoire 4x you were ready to go throw yourself overboard!

On Clientele there was a diverse spectrum of people of all ages but more tattoos than the Royal Navy and that was just the women! For the most part people did make an effort to smarten up of an evening.

We didn't like the 'flow' of the ship it felt very disjointed with the pay resteraunts on Deck 11, Buffet on 9, others on 4&5, Coffee port on 7 so it felt upstairs downstairs and in my ladies chamber! The coffee port which we used 2 or 3 times a day on Ex2 we only visited once on D2 where its squeezed in around the atrium void with the most uncomfortable seats ever! The Glass house felt a wasted space whilst very nice its not imo the place for food, move the Spa from forward deck to here and move the Tapas and bar to a separate venue forward.  It also meant that even after a week i never knew whether i was facing front or aft and often found myself on the wrong lifts. 

All in all as i said we liked out trip on D2 but didn't love it, had she been our first cruise i'm not sure we would have took a 2nd cruise but its back to the Explorers for us and maybe if the right itinerary came up on any of the Discovery's we might consider trying them again. 

 

 

 

[dronnygirl]

Thanks for the review, surprised you didn't like D2 as much as Explorer 2.  D1 is our favourite ship and we loved the entertainment in the atrium.  Going on E2 tomorrow so will see how we feel then.  Good job we all like different things!   

Could you please elaborate about Livorno as we have already done Pisa etc  and thought we would spend the day in Livorno itself, is there anything we should head for?

[Pensioncruiser]

Lots to do in Livorno suggest you do the canal trip its easy to do on your own and you see another side of the city. Shuttle off boat is €5 return. Have a good one. Can confirm some of 2BA observations but don't think ship is in good condition and prefer Discovery, coffee port is on deck 6 not 7. We unfortunately have had some overzealous! types onboard which have made evenings interesting😳

[2BACRUISER]

Sorry yes coffee port on 6 told you it muddled me lol. 😝

Livorno We booked canals on line b4 we went and ho ho bus too (it was driven by Lewis Hamiltons brother!!!) but its good place to wander and we filled a good two thirds of day. 

As said everyone is different and vive la difference! 😎🙂

[brian1]

6 hours ago, 2BACRUISER said:

Did my review yesterday morning but to now 11.00 GMT its not up yet so cant post link.

Cosmopolitan Classics 14-21Sept

Our previous cruise was on Ex2 having loved that to bits we thought we would try one of the much recommended Discovery ships and although we had been to quite a few of the places on the D2 itinerary, it suited us time of year wise. 

Hmm well first of all i will say we enjoyed our cruise, with some unexpected delights in ports we didn't expect them, Livorno and Palamos to note two. The ship was immaculate and the staff smiling, friendly and pleasing. Cabin was fine, food was good and the shows amazing.

BUT we didn't love D2 like we did Ex2, it just had a totally different feel to it. There were probably only a dozen children on the whole ship it being term time so it wasnt that, D2 i know is marketed as a family ship  and there were quite a lot of family groups & groups of friends. Couples in minority which meant we always had to wait for a table for 2 in the evening at  both Gallery 47 and 47 itself but not a problem we just had a pager and another drink. Best G&T in Venue according to DH. 

The much vaunted atrium was underwhelming, red neon lights really?? and the service in there was very slow drinks taking 15-20mins to arrive at your table from ordering this was exacerbated by the fact that a lot of clientele chose to go queue as they do in AI hotels at the bar. Very repetative entertainment in the Atrium too although Paul ***** the accoustic guitar singer was very good by time you'd heard his repatoire 4x you were ready to go throw yourself overboard!

On Clientele there was a diverse spectrum of people of all ages but more tattoos than the Royal Navy and that was just the women! For the most part people did make an effort to smarten up of an evening.

We didn't like the 'flow' of the ship it felt very disjointed with the pay resteraunts on Deck 11, Buffet on 9, others on 4&5, Coffee port on 7 so it felt upstairs downstairs and in my ladies chamber! The coffee port which we used 2 or 3 times a day on Ex2 we only visited once on D2 where its squeezed in around the atrium void with the most uncomfortable seats ever! The Glass house felt a wasted space whilst very nice its not imo the place for food, move the Spa from forward deck to here and move the Tapas and bar to a separate venue forward.  It also meant that even after a week i never knew whether i was facing front or aft and often found myself on the wrong lifts. 

All in all as i said we liked out trip on D2 but didn't love it, had she been our first cruise i'm not sure we would have took a 2nd cruise but its back to the Explorers for us and maybe if the right itinerary came up on any of the Discovery's we might consider trying them again. 

 

 

 

We prefer E1 to D2 also.It has more non fee dining options being the main reason.The only downside is that we used the pager ploy on D2 with the signal reaching up to the bar on deck 11.On E1 we were told the range was only to the bar next door to the MDR,Whether that was BS to keep us local,I don't know but didn't take a chance and that bar was rammed every night.

[Jayneykul]

We sail on D2 on Sat 🤗can’t wait. we really liked E2 in May far better than E1 maybe because it was adult only but did miss the glasshouse and pizza place from E1. Nonnas was nowhere near as good. We did really like E1 and wouldn’t hesitate sailing on her again but there were a lot of issues on it, probably because it was only the second week of sailing. People we met on E2 were raving about D2 and the atrium. Every ship has its pros and cons . Hope you really enjoy Dronnygirl, let us all know,

[edinburgher]

 

 

We sailed D2, E1 and E2.

 

Have to agree that there are pros and cons for each.

 

There were elements on each which we liked, others not so much, whether it was cabins, dining, bars or entertainment.

 

Would sail again on any of them, but if we could take "this" from one of them, "that" from another, and mix in "something else" from yet another, we could end up with the "perfect for us" ship!

[anniversary cruiser]

We were on Discovery 2 for Secrets if the Mediterranean at the beginning of September, we didn’t enjoy the itinerary too much (3 ports were industrial which wasn’t apparent when we booked) We really loved the ship, the staff were so eager to please. Understand what was said about Atrium bar, very slow service but it seemed to improve as the week wore on.  We were on Explorer last year and think that Discovery 2 had the edge over Explorer, we liked the layout better, we found the entertainment much better too. Having said that we have booked the Explorer again next year so we shall see if the entertainment has improved

[Vitalsign]

Maybe not as the entertainment on the Explorer ships is provided by a different company to Peel Entertainment who provide for the other Marella ships including the Cruise Directors and have not had the same good votes on Cruise critic for entertainment as the other ships

[Tayscot]

On 9/24/2019 at 2:31 PM, Pensioncruiser said:

Lots to do in Livorno suggest you do the canal trip its easy to do on your own and you see another side of the city. Shuttle off boat is €5 return. Have a good one. Can confirm some of 2BA observations but don't think ship is in good condition and prefer Discovery, coffee port is on deck 6 not 7. We unfortunately have had some overzealous! types onboard which have made evenings interesting😳

Just back from back to back D2 cruises and did exactly as you reported in Livorno plus visited the 2 forts and had a good day. Agree about the overzealous types (both weeks). We were a bit disappointed re the dress code on the 'Formal Night' or whatever it is called now. 

[Pensioncruiser]

Pleased it worked out OK for you, don't know how many cruises you have done with this line, we have never cruised with anyone else, but in all our years with them, fourteen, with four each year this one had the evenings spoilt by a minority of cruisers who's behaviour was atrocious. Think its the closest we have been to a booze cruise. Hopefully it was a one off. 

I will give a full report when later.