Review of visit to M.V. Discovery 27 August 2006

[floridakeith]

This is not a ship that is reviewed very often so the information that I gathered on a tour of the ship may be helpful to anyone contemplating a cruise on her. Voyages of Discovery run a program of visits whenever the ship is in port. The visit is a one-hour self-guided tour of the ship, and then lunch and costs £20 ($38 at 1.90 to £1) but this will be credited against a future booking. We had to be at Harwich ready to board the ship at 10.45am. Lunch was called at 11.45am and all visitors had to leave the ship at 12.45 when boarding started for its next cruise. There were over 100 people on our visit but everyone soon spread out around the ship. Discovery had provided a deck plan, which was marked with the available show cabins.

We decided to tour from top to bottom and started by checking out the Sun Deck. This has the Yacht Club alternative (no charge) restaurant, the Lido with a retractable glass roof over the pool, and the Beauty Salon and Gym. The Yacht Club is a lovely setting with big windows overlooking the bow of the ship. My wife was very impressed by the reasonable prices in the beauty salon where hair dressing costs less than at home. Then we started our tour of cabins on Bridge Deck. The Category A and B suites were sumptuous and spacious but had views obstructed by the lifeboats. The suites on the Promenade Deck had unobstructed views. All the cabins on the Bridge and Promenade Decks have full baths and showers whereas on the other decks cabins only have showers.

Riviera Deck is where all the main public rooms are located plus the second swimming pool at the stern. At the bow of the ship is the Carousel Lounge, which has a stage and raked seating to give good views of the stage shows over the heads of those seated in front of you. It also has a dance floor. There is a small bar in this lounge. Heading towards the stern next is the Discovery Theatre used for films and lectures. Either side of this is the photo gallery on the port side and the very attractive Palm Court Lounge on the starboard side. Then comes the Bridge Club card room on the port side and the Explorer Bar on starboard. Finally the library occupies the starboard side and the Discover Lounge overlooking the swimming pool through ceiling height windows occupies the rest. This is a piano lounge with a dance floor. The overwhelming impression of these public rooms is how light and airy they feel. Huge picture windows run the entire length and the décor is typically Princess Cruises from where the ship originated in 1972 as the original Love Boat of the US TV Series. It sailed with Princess until 1999.

Apart from the shop on the top floor of a two-story atrium, the Pacific Deck is all cabins. The Bali Deck has the lower level of the atrium and the reception and excursions desk, plus cabins. Finally the Coral Deck has on it the Seven Continents Restaurant, the medical centre and more cabins. The restaurant being on the lowest passenger deck only has portholes to provide an exterior view, but is again really light and airy. This is where we enjoyed a four-course meal with wine and coffee, served very efficiently by the friendly Philippine staff. While our wine with lunch was free I took the opportunity to check out the wine list prices. Glasses of wine ranged from £2.10 to £2.70 ($3.99 to $5.13) and bottles started at £9.95 ($18.90), which is very reasonable. UK brochure prices on Discovery include gratuities to your cabin steward and wait staff.

As is very common on ships of this age and size (21,186 tons) most of the lower grade cabins are quite small, only 135 square feet and most are only twins that cannot be converted into a double bed. We saw a few, both insides and outsides with twin beds in an L shape where the cabin seemed extra small but we were assured that they were also 135 square feet. The brochure does not identify bed layouts or which cabins are doubles, so if this matters to you make sure what you are booking. If you want a larger cabin then you need to chose from Promenade or Bridge Decks where grades A to F start at 194 square feet and go up to suites of 430 square feet. The ship also has a few single cabins and a few cabins adapted for those in a wheelchair.

Would we go on it? Yes, for some of its unique itineraries like Antarctica and the Galapagos Islands where we would spend the extra for a bigger cabin. But probably not for routine itineraries where we could spend much less per day for a bigger cabin on a larger ship with even more facilities with P&O, Princess, Celebrity or Holland America. We certainly liked the ship a lot more than Saga Ruby that we tried earlier this year, which is a comparably sized ship.

[patlanta]

Thanks for posting your observations from your quick visit. We only learned of this cruiseline the other day when one of their itineraries caught our eye. However, we do remember the ship when it was the Island Princess and were chuckling over memories of how small the staterooms we booked were. Once, on a last minute booking, we opened the door and had to immediately unpack our luggage in order to gain a perception of a "breathing room," but shortly thereafter we didn't even notice the small size anymore.

[dougnewmanatsea]

We certainly liked the ship a lot more than Saga Ruby that we tried earlier this year, which is a comparably sized ship.

Did you write a review of SAGA RUBY?

 

I'm just curious what you didn't like about her. She's certainly not perfect, but to me she is about as close as you can get ;) .

 

Most complaints I hear about the Saga ships are more general objections to ships of that size/age - so I'm just curious, in what ways did you think DISCOVERY is superior to SAGA RUBY?

 

(I should point out that while I am familiar with RUBY as a ship, my Saga on-board experience extends only so far as having lunch aboard, since I'm not old enough to sail with them.)

[floridakeith]

Yes, I did a review of Saga Ruby in June. If you put Saga Ruby in the search facility you will find my full review. My review said "In summary we felt that Saga offer a quality premium product albeit in an older ship that involves many compromises compared to the accommodation offered on newer ones. We enjoyed the cruise but it reinforced the fact that we do prefer larger, newer ships and passengers from a wider age range."

 

Our reasons for favouring Discovery over Saga Ruby were that we preferred the decor and layout of the ship and it was much lighter and airier because of large windows in the public rooms. There also seemed to be more public rooms thus offering more choices to find a quiet corner. We also like a swimming pool area with a retractable glass roof so you can be "outdoors" even in cooler weather. While small items individually, they add up and left an immediate impression with us that it was more to our tastes.

 

So it was not a criticism of Saga Ruby, more an observation of preferences.

[mancunian]

I can also answer this Doug, having been on a 19 night cruise on Discovery and a 14 night one on Saga Rose which I assume is very similar to Saga Ruby. Discovery was a much lighter, brighter ship with we felt, a better ambience. Although the cabin was small - inside on main deck (I think it is called Pacific) it was light - light wood, nice sea green carpet, large mirror etc. On Saga Rose the outside (bottom grade) cabin was much roomier but somehow rather dull and dreary - brown. Again the public rooms on Discovery were very good with lots of large windows and a much lighter scheme - and dare I say it - mirrored celings in some places making it brighter. That is all of course a matter of taste but the strange thing about the two ships was that Discovery seemed much roomier in the public areas. This I think is probably to do with the one sitting dinner on Saga. In theory it sounds very good but the result is that everyone is doing the same things at the same time all evening. The advantage of two sittings is that from about 5.30 pm when first sitting start disappearing to get showered for dinner you only have half the passengers moving round. By the time second sitting are out of their show after dinner most of the first sitting people have retired to bed. We think the advantage of two sittings far outweigh the disadvantages. We also thought - for partly the same reason together with poor viewlines the setting for the shows on Saga was weak. Both have good lecture programmes - on the particular cruises we were on Discovery had the better lecturers for me but again a matter of taste. Saga had good visiting cabaret/instrumentalists but the onboard company was much, much better on Discovery.

 

The main advantage however is that Discovery has such good itineraries - in fact in the midline prices there is really only them, Orient, Spirit of Adventure (yes I know it is Saga) and of course Swan Hellenic. We went to the Canaries on Saga but the only other itinerary that has appealed is the Baltic and Norway which in practice we did on Orient and Artemis which were better value.

 

Discovery is actually a great ship. As you know we only had two complaints. The food and the organisation when embarking and disembarking. The second I could overcome by not getting involved in the scrum and just waiting until later, but until I get three reports in a row saying the food is now satisfactory we will not be going back. Unfortunately this has not yet happened. We get a report where the food sounds okay and then we get another bad one and indeed it seems to have alternated over the last three years. We are not overly fussy but I do expect to at least look forward to my meals.

[mancunian]

How very strange. When I started typing my comparison of Saga and Discovery Florida Keith's comments were not there - we must have been posting at the same time. What strikes me is that we have used the same terminology to describe Discovery - it clearly struck us in the same way.

[floridakeith]

Hello Mancunian yes I too was fascinated to see how we both focused on much the same areas. You had the benefit of a cruise to form your views whereas I only had two hours, but initial impressions obviously impress. Your point about single sitting dining versus two sittings is interesting. Reading Saga's brochure before going on my Saga Ruby cruise I got the impression that people can turn up anytime between 7pm and 9pm. Whether that is true or not, in practice everyone seemed to turn up at 7pm and it was indeed very crowded in the corridors at that time.

[mancunian]

Hi Floridakeith

I have to admit I have not studied a brochure for Saga Rose/Ruby in depth of late but when we went on Saga Rose something like four years ago everyone went to dinner at the same time. It was a bit early for us, but even worse to me was the fact that you were all trying to get a pre dinner drink at the same time and all trying to get seats for the show and a general melee everywhere.

[dougnewmanatsea]

My review said "In summary we felt that Saga offer a quality premium product albeit in an older ship that involves many compromises compared to the accommodation offered on newer ones. We enjoyed the cruise but it reinforced the fact that we do prefer larger, newer ships and passengers from a wider age range."

Ah yes, I remember that now.

 

The reason I am surprised, then, is that DISCOVERY is the same age as SAGA RUBY. When I read your RUBY review I mentally filed it in with the ones which did not care for her because of her age.

Our reasons for favouring Discovery over Saga Ruby were that we preferred the decor and layout of the ship and it was much lighter and airier because of large windows in the public rooms.

Ah, I see. A very valid point.

 

I must concede that while SAGA RUBY and DISCOVERY are about the same age, they are from different eras design-wise. SAGA RUBY belongs to the generation of the last traditional ocean liners while DISCOVERY belongs to the generation of the first modern cruise ships. So DISCOVERY is much more modern in her layout and design.

 

I think DISCOVERY looks like a nice ship (I have always thought she and her sister looked like very pleasant ships) but I will take an ocean liner over a cruise ship any day... Just my personal preference.

 

I can also answer this Doug, having been on a 19 night cruise on Discovery and a 14 night one on Saga Rose which I assume is very similar to Saga Ruby. Discovery was a much lighter, brighter ship with we felt, a better ambience.

I guess you are coming from the same point of view as Keith :) .

 

I must admit I'm rather surprised, as the Saga ships are quite similar in design to MARCO POLO which I know you like a lot. But the decor is totally different. DISCOVERY was of course decorated by the same people as MARCO POLO so it makes sense that you like both.

 

I've never been aboard ROSE but she is definitely a "darker" ship than RUBY. Neither of them fits into the "light and bright" category though. However, the intention was to make RUBY a lighter and more modern-looking ship than ROSE, presumably because some people, like you, felt ROSE too dark.

 

Personally, if I look at DISCOVERY's interiors, they are too light - they look "washed out". And of course there are those mirrors which I loathe ;) . But all in all I think she looks very nice. I would not compare her to the Saga ships though - for me there is still that liner/cruise ship barrier there and a liner will always take precedence :) . (Though in actuality, DISCOVERY is something of a quasi-liner as she was designed for what were essentially line voyages to Bermuda - but in design terms, she is most definitely a 1970s cruise ship, albeit one of the nicer ones.)