Quick Review of Discovery Princess, Hawaii Roundtrip, March 16-31, 2024.

[TAW1963]

This is a short, and quick, review of our experience on the Discovery Princess.  We sailed on this ship roundtrip to Hawaii from March 16, 2024 to March 31, 2024. 

 

First of all, we had a great cruise and we loved being on the Discovery Princess.  Almost all aspects were extremely positive, with just a few minor negatives.  

 

Here are the positives:

 

1.  Ship:  The Discovery Princess is a beautiful ship.  Public areas can get a bit crowded on sea days, but this is to be expected.  We love the decor and always marvel at the beauty of the Piazza area.  We would not hesitate to book another cruise on the Discovery Princess.

 

2. Cabin:  Our cabin was a forward-facing, regular Mini-Suite.  The cabin was lovely; the storage was more than adequate; the bathroom was very functional with plenty of hot water and water pressure; and the balcony was quite large.   We enjoyed our cabin very much.  For most of our booked cruises, all on Royal class ships, we are in one of the four forward-facing, Reserve Collection, mini-suites.  We cannot wait to enjoy those large cabin and balconies.   We are not bothered by extra wind and we rather enjoy the motion of the ship.  We found that there may be more low-frequency motion on the front of the ship, but not as much high-frequency motion, or vibrations, as the center of the ship or aft (we also love aft-facing cabins). 

 

3. Bed:  I separated out the bed on purpose.  We are relatively new to cruising and have only been on 3 Princess cruises and 2 Holland America cruises.  On our past two Princess cruises, on the Sky and Ruby Princess, the beds were just as most describe: extremely comfortable.  However, as has been mentioned a few times on Cruise Critic, the beds on the Discovery Princess are not the same.  They are not as comfortable.  The first night was difficult and I was worried that the bed would keep us from getting good rest for the next 14 days.  However, we asked our room steward for an extra pad on the bed, which was promptly put on when he cleaned our room the next day.  This helped quite a bit and, although still not as comfortable as the beds on other Princess ships, we slept quite well for the 14 remaining nights on the ship.

 

4. Food:  We ate all evening dinners in the MDR, except one, which we had the Ultimate Balcony Dinner on.  We consider the food to be very good to excellent and the service was top-notch.   We always found something on the menu that was very satisfying, even though my wife is typically a fussy eater (not on quality, but on variety of food which she likes).  We ate a few lunches in the MDR, several lunches at the Salty Dog Cafe, and a couple of lunches at GiGis.  All our lunches were good with no real complaints.   We at a few breakfast in the MDR and the rest in the buffet.  We do not like the crowded atmosphere of the buffet at lunchtime and later morning, so we go to breakfast at about 6:15 am when going there.  The variety was good and we always enjoyed our meals, with some foods being better than others.  We love the crispy bacon on Princess ships and I really enjoy the fresh fruit.  We had the Ultimate Balcony Dinner on the first evening of our stop in Kona.  It could not have been better.  The sunset was absolutely breathtaking during our meal.  Our surf-and-turf meal was great and was served hot.  Our steaks were cooked exactly to our liking.   The service was absolutely wonderful.  Well worth the money.

 

5. Entertainment:  The entertainment on the ship was good overall.  We loved the two production shows, Spotlight Bar and Rock Opera (show twice),  and think that the quality of talent was extremely good.  Since the Discovery is mainly geared toward shorter 7-day cruises, they only have two production shows. They did perform Rock Opera on two evenings, but it would have been nice to have a third production show (which there were three on the Sky Princess cruise).  We felt the guest entertainment was lacking a little bit compared to our 15-day cruise on the Sky Princess last fall.   We enjoyed the Elton John impersonator, but were not interested in the comedians or illusionists.  There was a Jerry Lewis impersonator that, although quite entertaining, had a lot of energy to so much so, to the point of fault for us.  

 

6. Service:  I would be remiss if I didn't mention the great service.  Our cabin steward was fantastic and all the other stewards in our area were friendly and always greeted us as we walked past.  Our MDR waiter and assistant waiter could not have been better.  They were prompt when necessary and went at our speed.  Our food was always served hot.  The assistant Maitre D in our area was very good and always checked on us to see if we were doing okay.  We had a few miss-charges on our folio, but they were promptly taken care of using the Crew Chat function on the app.

 

7. Ports:  We had an overnight stop in Honolulu and an overnight stop in Kona.  We are not much in to big excursions and enjoy either walking around near the ports or spending time on the ship when most others are off.  We have no complaints with our port stops.

 

Here are a few minor negatives:

 

1.  This might be a bit controversial.  We truly respect service dogs and firmly believe they should be allowed on the ships for those that need them.  However, there was a service dog on the cruise that we believe was not a true service dog.  There was a notice on our TV that alerted us of the fact a service dog was onboard.  It warned people not to pet the service dogs for they were working to serve whatever need the passenger that owned them had. Yet when we saw the dog, usually in the Piazza area, it was constantly being held (cuddles) by the two owners, passed around to other passengers at times, and allowed to be petted by other passengers constantly.  It was a small toy poodle.  The owner even put it on his shoulders at one time and carried it around piggy-back style.  It even barked a few times in the Piazza.  To us, this was not a true service dog and should not have been allowed on the ship.  We love dogs, but do not believe cruise ships are the place for them unless they are true working service dogs.   This dog surely seemed like just a pet and, if so, Princess should do a better job of screening them.

 

2.  Smoking in the Piazza on port days.  We do not like cigarette smoke, but respect that it is allowed in certain areas on the ship for those that do smoke.  Princess clearly states, on the cabin TV, where the smoking areas are.  It states that smoking is only allowed in the casino as long as the passenger is actively gambling.   Since the casino is closed on port days, there should be no smoking on these days.  The port days can be good days for clearing out the smoke from the casino.  After a few days at sea, the smoke from the casino can trickle into the Piazza and is quite noticeable.  Since we stayed on the ship a fair amount of time during port days, we noticed several people sitting in the casino smoking.  We mentioned it to guest services and they agreed that it is prohibited when the casino is closed.  However, nothing changed.

 

3.  My last negative may not be a fault of Princess, but we noticed a lot of dirty dishes outside many cabin doors at all hours of the day.  We did not enjoyed seeing this as much as we did.  We were on the Lido deck and only a few steps from the public pool area and buffet.  In our cabin are, people were even leaving their dirty coffee cups, used towels,  and dirty drink glasses outside the doors.  This starts to look trashy after a while. I know many cruise lines tell people to leave the dirty dishes in the cabin and call room service to pick them up (it is not the cabin steward job by the way).  We do not participate in room service, nor order from Oceannow, so we are not familiar with Princess's policy regarding dirty dishes from room service.  Our neighbor had piles and piles of dirty dishes every morning, at lunchtime, and during the evenings and they spilled over to being in front of our cabin door.  We got sick of seeing them.

 

All in all we had a wonderful time and will continue cruise with Princess.  In fact, we have several Princess cruises booked over the next couple of years.  I have attached a few photo to show the wonderful time we had.

Edited April 2 by TAW1963

[TAW1963]

Please forgive the few typos I made writing this.  I came back to edit, but was too late.

[Bemidji Ty]

Thanks for taking the time to write your review.  I'm trying to talk my DW into this cruise.  She is afraid that she will not like that many sea days.  We've done close to 70 cruises but never had more than 3 sea days in a row.  Any thoughts are appreciated.  Cheers.  

[TAW1963]

1 minute ago, Bemidji Ty said:

Thanks for taking the time to write your review.  I'm trying to talk my DW into this cruise.  She is afraid that she will not like that many sea days.  We've done close to 70 cruises but never had more than 3 sea days in a row.  Any thoughts are appreciated.  Cheers.  

Cheers to you as well and thank you!   We like sea days in general.  We are not nearly as experience of cruisers as you and your DW are, but we discovered that we may like port days better for the fact that we can enjoy the ship without the crowds of people on. However, to fill up the sea days, my DW joined the pop choir, which they seem to have for longer cruises.   I went along for support.  This actually helped break up the monotony of the long hours at sea (not that the monotony of seas days is a bad thing).  The Hawaiian Ambassadors on the ship added variety as well with hula lessons and ukulele lessons and lei making classes.  The standard Princess activities were also available.  Expanding on my earlier comment, my biggest complaint about sea days is the extra-crowded public spaces, especially the Piazza and main pool area.  Even so, we fully enjoyed the entirety of the cruise, including the sea days.  It helped having a nice cabin with a balcony to retreat to at times.

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, TAW1963 said:

This dog surely seemed like just a pet and, if so, Princess should do a better job of screening them

I felt the same as you when I saw a woman had dressed her miniature dog up in matching outfits and a hair bow, pushing her dog in a umbrella stroller.  Really?

I asked her what type of service dog her baby was.  She said it could smell when her husband’s blood sugar dropped to a dangerous level.  IDK 

 

I would hope a physician would document the need for a service dog.

 

BTW, thank you for the informative and great review.

 

[TAW1963]

11 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

I felt the same as you when I saw a woman had dressed her miniature dog up in matching outfits and a hair bow, pushing her dog in a umbrella stroller.  Really?

I asked her what type of service dog her baby was.  She said it could smell when her husband’s blood sugar dropped to a dangerous level.  IDK 

 

I would hope a physician would document the need for a service dog.

 

BTW, thank you for the informative and great review.

 

I certainly believe that a diabetic service dog can be helpful and needed for some, but hair bows and strollers just seem a bit over the top to be a service dog.  In my humble opinion, a real service dog will almost always quietly blend in with the surroundings and often times they even go unnoticed.  We have been a cruise with a real service dog, which may have even been a diabetic service dog, but it was absolutely no problem at all.  The owner was also quite considerate of others and asked when entering an elevator if the dog would be a problem (I assume he was asking because of potential allergy problems).  

 

I don't know how Princess screens for service dogs, but I too would hope that a physician would document the need.

Edited April 2 by TAW1963

[karatemom2]

Thank you for your review. We considered booking this cruise as it’s been a long while since we did an LA to Hawaii cruise and we really enjoyed the ones we have taken in the past.  Unfortunately the timing just didn’t align with some work demands. 
 

Sounds like you had a great cruise. Agree about the beds - we noted the same thing on our recent Discovery cruise over New Year’s. We also don’t leave plates outside our cabin or enjoy seeing them cluttering the hall, but it has been reported that room service is instructing people to employ that practice. Still not something I would choose to do and I certainly sympathize when you have a neighbor leaving a lot of dishes. We had a similar experience, in addition to mounds of wet towels that were creeping over into our doorway. I nicely mentioned to our room steward that it nearly caused me to trip upon leaving our room and the problem was resolved immediately - no more towels and dishes!

 

In regards to the service dog, it was likely a diabetic dog. Poodles are a very common breed for that type of service animal and despite their cute and cuddly appearance, do perform an important service. We have been on a number of cruises with service dogs - a couple that perhaps raised eyebrows due to their toy nature. But I have learned these toy dogs are often employed as service dogs for people with diabetes, heart, or seizure issues. If the ship allows it and the person has a medical need, I figure that it is not for me to judge. It has never detracted from my cruise experience. 

[TREVORSILL]

Can you tell me what Tim the major shows are scheduled on the discovery princess

[TAW1963]

32 minutes ago, TREVORSILL said:

Can you tell me what Tim the major shows are scheduled on the discovery princess

Yes, they are at 7:30 pm and 9:30 pm.  

[cr8tiv1]

Thank you for a compact review.  I was waiting for someone to start this thread.  Maybe others on this voyage will also chime in (if you don't mind).

 

With very few ports, it is difficult for Princess to provide an array of entertainers since they could only board in Honolulu (a little more difficult for them to tender them out to the ship in Kona).  I agree with you that they should have had more production shows or at least repeat them each week so that more passengers could count on attending them.

[TAW1963]

12 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Thank you for a compact review.  I was waiting for someone to start this thread.  Maybe others on this voyage will also chime in (if you don't mind).

 

With very few ports, it is difficult for Princess to provide an array of entertainers since they could only board in Honolulu (a little more difficult for them to tender them out to the ship in Kona).  I agree with you that they should have had more production shows or at least repeat them each week so that more passengers could count on attending them.

I don’t mind others chiming in.  The more that chime in, the better in my opinion.  
 

That makes sense regarding the few ports and ability to bring guest entertainers onboard.  

[LauraS]

Also wanted to thank you for sharing your review with everyone at Cruise Critic. Please consider submitting it to the site for publication as well: Click: <a href=https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/collect/>Write a Review</a>

[akeasley]

It's a shame about the dirty dishes being left outside. I discovered on the princess app last week that you can request your room service dishes be removed from your room. I used the feature and the dishes were removed from inside my room within an hour. 

[TAW1963]

5 minutes ago, akeasley said:

It's a shame about the dirty dishes being left outside. I discovered on the princess app last week that you can request your room service dishes be removed from your room. I used the feature and the dishes were removed from inside my room within an hour. 

Thanks!  I am glad to hear this.  I sure wish others would use that feature

[memoak]

1 hour ago, TAW1963 said:

Thanks!  I am glad to hear this.  I sure wish others would use that feature

Unfortunately some people are Juliet too lazy.  Always see tons of dishes outside doors late evenings

[cheetosrevil]

I was on this cruise and while anyone who asks me if I had a great cruise, I will say yes (plainly because of sunny sea days and gorgeous port days and adventures), but after four cruises on Discovery I will not actively cruise her again.

 

1. WORST cabin steward. As an example, I threw my used bathroom towels in a pile on the shower floor. He pushed my hanging clothes aside in the closet and hung them up on hangars to ostensibly dry.There were other issues as well. So much so that I spoke with Guest Services.

2. While waiting at various bars and the International Cafe I was ignored. Couples would walk up and be greeted immediately.

3. I saw the "service dog" late in the cruise, but in no way did I think it was service,

4. I was central balcony on the Caribe level and taking stairs every time and I saw dishes outside cabins once or twice but more in the actual stairways.

5. I paid for dining at The Catch and when I arrived the "restaurant" (really an area--old Le Mer) was not full and requested a table by the window. Was told not possible as they were reserved for larger parties. Think "Jugdish" if you know or want to Google the movie Animal House. Three solo travelers were banished to this area.

6. When I asked for a table by the window at the SDG I was met with pushback but in the end at this particular place I did get the table I wanted (BTW it's not a pub so I hope they change it to O'Malley's).

7. Not a Princess issue, but large man in a large scooter ran over one of my feet and it became an issue. His response when I confronted him was that I "could at least walk." *****? Not acceptable at all.

 

There's more, but meh too much negative is too much. My experience was obviously different than most, but it was my experience.

 

 

Edited April 6 by cheetosrevil

[JordanF]

Thanks for the review.  We are taking a similar itinerary in late February-early March 2026.  While the dates don't line up perfectly, I am curious as to how warm it was on the sea days.  Warm enough to lay out?  Comfortable on the balcony? Thanks!

[TAW1963]

On 4/5/2024 at 8:12 PM, cheetosrevil said:

I was on this cruise and while anyone who asks me if I had a great cruise, I will say yes (plainly because of sunny sea days and gorgeous port days and adventures), but after four cruises on Discovery I will not actively cruise her again.

 

1. WORST cabin steward. As an example, I threw my used bathroom towels in a pile on the shower floor. He pushed my hanging clothes aside in the closet and hung them up on hangars to ostensibly dry.There were other issues as well. So much so that I spoke with Guest Services.

2. While waiting at various bars and the International Cafe I was ignored. Couples would walk up and be greeted immediately.

3. I saw the "service dog" late in the cruise, but in no way did I think it was service,

4. I was central balcony on the Caribe level and taking stairs every time and I saw dishes outside cabins once or twice but more in the actual stairways.

5. I paid for dining at The Catch and when I arrived the "restaurant" (really an area--old Le Mer) was not full and requested a table by the window. Was told not possible as they were reserved for larger parties. Think "Jugdish" if you know or want to Google the movie Animal House. Three solo travelers were banished to this area.

6. When I asked for a table by the window at the SDG I was met with pushback but in the end at this particular place I did get the table I wanted (BTW it's not a pub so I hope they change it to O'Malley's).

7. Not a Princess issue, but large man in a large scooter ran over one of my feet and it became an issue. His response when I confronted him was that I "could at least walk." *****? Not acceptable at all.

 

There's more, but meh too much negative is too much. My experience was obviously different than most, but it was my experience.

 

 

I understand that we can all have a different experience when cruising on a given ship and I am sorry your cruise didn't turn out too great.  That is too bad that you were ignored.  

 

That dog certainly could not have been a service dog for it was passed around between the two owners and even other passengers.  I would not expect to see that with a real service dog.  I too saw the dirty dishes in the stairways.  In fact, I saw a pile of dishes and a wadded up towel on the inside corner of the bottom of the first set a stairs for one of the decks.  Not only was this disgusting, but it was dangerous for I almost tripped on it.   

 

I understand the unacceptable behavior by some of the passengers and we saw our share of bad behavior.

 

Fortunately, we had a very nice cabin steward.  

 

Good luck on your next cruise.  I hope your experience is better.

[TAW1963]

2 hours ago, JordanF said:

Thanks for the review.  We are taking a similar itinerary in late February-early March 2026.  While the dates don't line up perfectly, I am curious as to how warm it was on the sea days.  Warm enough to lay out?  Comfortable on the balcony? Thanks!

We had quite good weather throughout the cruise, but it can be a bit chilly, especially the first 2-3 days going over and the last 2-3 days coming back.  There were plenty of days that people were laying out on loungers by the pool, but there were also a few days where this may not be the most comfortable.  That is not our thing, but it was possible at least part of the time.  We actually used our balcony quite a bit and we were facing forward to the bow of the ship.  I would say we could use our balcony comfortably 60-70 percent of the time.

 

I hope you have a great cruise in 2026!  We are certainly glad we were fortunate enough to be on this one.  

[Cruise Raider]

We are currently on the Discovery and while I sure your complaints are valid, we could say the same things as the OP has noted except for the dishes in the hallways.  I can’t stand that so, very happy we haven’t seen that even once so far on this cruise.  
I am also pretty amazed that people bring their pets onboard.  Perhaps it was a dog that could sense blood sugar levels but I highly doubt it .. just my assumption but it probably doesn’t stray too far from reality! 
And as much as I love everything about this ship, the smoke from this casino is the worst I’ve experienced.  I can’t even sit in Crooners and enjoy a cocktail and the music with that smoke pouring out of the casino.  It’s just awful.  
The beds on the Discovery are definitely not the ones we’ve found on other Princess ships but we ask for an extra duvet and that does the trick for us.  
 

[TAW1963]

7 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

We are currently on the Discovery and while I sure your complaints are valid, we could say the same things as the OP has noted except for the dishes in the hallways.  I can’t stand that so, very happy we haven’t seen that even once so far on this cruise.  
I am also pretty amazed that people bring their pets onboard.  Perhaps it was a dog that could sense blood sugar levels but I highly doubt it .. just my assumption but it probably doesn’t stray too far from reality! 
And as much as I love everything about this ship, the smoke from this casino is the worst I’ve experienced.  I can’t even sit in Crooners and enjoy a cocktail and the music with that smoke pouring out of the casino.  It’s just awful.  
The beds on the Discovery are definitely not the ones we’ve found on other Princess ships but we ask for an extra duvet and that does the trick for us.  
 

I remember your (Live) review of the Discovery Princess a while back.  Thanks so much for doing it.  I am so glad that our experience followed fairly close to your experience.  We had a great cruise.

Edited April 9 by TAW1963

[dweeb]

58 minutes ago, TAW1963 said:

I understand that we can all have a different experience when cruising on a given ship and I am sorry your cruise didn't turn out too great.  That is too bad that you were ignored.  

 

That dog certainly could not have been a service dog for it was passed around between the two owners and even other passengers.  I would not expect to see that with a real service dog.  I too saw the dirty dishes in the stairways.  In fact, I saw a pile of dishes and a wadded up towel on the inside corner of the bottom of the first set a stairs for one of the decks.  Not only was this disgusting, but it was dangerous for I almost tripped on it.   

 

I understand the unacceptable behavior by some of the passengers and we saw our share of bad behavior.

 

Fortunately, we had a very nice cabin steward.  

 

Good luck on your next cruise.  I hope your experience is better.

We did see that dog, and would agree that it didn't act like it was a service dog.  But it didn't bite me, so I'm ok with it I guess.

 

We were just down the hallway from you guys on Lido.  I agree that there were many times that dishes were outside cabin doors. (not from us!!) It think the most that I have seen in a while. 

 

If the guy in the scooter is the same one that I think it was, He sure was a miserable individual.  He seemed grumpy every time I had seen him.  I kind of felt sorry for him.  On a cruise and appearing not to be having a good time.

 

If your room steward was Jay, then agreed, that he was one of the best ones we have had for a while.

[karatemom2]

On 4/5/2024 at 7:12 PM, cheetosrevil said:

I was on this cruise and while anyone who asks me if I had a great cruise, I will say yes (plainly because of sunny sea days and gorgeous port days and adventures), but after four cruises on Discovery I will not actively cruise her again.

 

1. WORST cabin steward. As an example, I threw my used bathroom towels in a pile on the shower floor. He pushed my hanging clothes aside in the closet and hung them up on hangars to ostensibly dry.There were other issues as well. So much so that I spoke with Guest Services.

 

 

So sorry to hear about some of the issues you encountered, but glad you were able to make the best of it thanks to your beautiful days and destinations. Hawaii is a little slice of paradise!

 

But, I have to say this just jumped out at me and I was truly shocked. I don't blame you for being upset. I would be hopping mad if someone picked up wet, dirty, towels off of the floor where you are instructed to leave them as an indication you want them removed and replaced with fresh towels, and then hung them in my closet next to my clean clothes.

 

Never in all of our cruises have we ever heard of or experienced such a thing. I'm wondering if your steward was very new and still not fully trained? I hope Guest Services responded appropriately and that issue was fixed immediately. Can you share what happened with the GS response and if things improved?

 

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[TAW1963]

1 hour ago, dweeb said:

We did see that dog, and would agree that it didn't act like it was a service dog.  But it didn't bite me, so I'm ok with it I guess.

 

We were just down the hallway from you guys on Lido.  I agree that there were many times that dishes were outside cabin doors. (not from us!!) It think the most that I have seen in a while. 

 

If the guy in the scooter is the same one that I think it was, He sure was a miserable individual.  He seemed grumpy every time I had seen him.  I kind of felt sorry for him.  On a cruise and appearing not to be having a good time.

 

If your room steward was Jay, then agreed, that he was one of the best ones we have had for a while.

Hello past neighbor!  Jay, was our steward and he was a great.  All of the other stewards up there on the front Lido cabins seemed to be very nice.  We enjoyed them all.  

[AVCruzers]

We were also on that same cruise-our 10th on Discovery Princess; needless to say, she is our favorite ship.  It was fun celebrating her 2nd birthday as we were on the first cruise.  From your comments, I wondered if you spent any time in Princess Live? We practically had our own tables there since we attended often aside from the art auctions.  We have enjoyed the production shows several times so did not attend on this cruise.   We just passed 35 cruises with Princess so we have seen our share of captains and cruise directors.  Captain Tony Ruggero is such a gentleman and so friendly.  He even stopped to chat with our group as we were playing a card game.  Cole Bochman was the outstanding cruise director and he brought out the best in the rest of his team.  His programs "Meet the Captain" and "Life at Sea" were informative.  Cole has so much energy and teamed well with Kyler Chappell who was the entertainment director. Cole's Elvis show and show with American music were fun and enjoyable.  We are now part of Cole's "secret society" and if you are too, you know the greeting.   

 

I definitely agree that the beds need to be replaced. Perhaps that can happen when the ship goes into drydock in 2025.    I did not actually see the dog poop in the hall on deck 9 but our friends did and reported it to Guest Services--how disgusting and a reflection on the dog owners!  I also dealt with that grumpy guy in the scooter; he was hard to miss.

 

Our only real concern is that most of our group of six managed to catch the famous "cruise crud" so now dealing with respiratory infection.  Today was the first day I left home for a walk.  I am aware that others have reported same problem on roll call here on CC.  In spite of concerns, we truly enjoyed this cruise as we basically spent time with our group of friends.

Doris