Understaffed cruise with the worst food ever

Discovery Princess Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage

morganlark

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 19

Overall rating:

2.5 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Alaska Inside Passage (Seattle Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 07, 2022

Ship: Discovery Princess

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: B208

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

The ship was beautiful and clean, and the waitstaff was lovely. The takeaway for me is that the food was inedible. We tried for weeks to get specialty dining reservations which were all sold out, so we were relegated to main dining and it was terrible. It was a joke to the vegans and vegetarians, in fact. Outside of VOP and Dan Austin who worked their butts off and were amazing, the entertainment and choice of activities was sub-par. the stand up comedians were amateur and lousy and had not prepared a full set. There was one fully produced show (and it was good, called Rock Opera) but I expected shows every night. the best things to do on the ship--spa, sanctuary, specialty dining--all carried extra charges. it's a shame.

Embarkation

1 out of 5

the embarkation took 4 hours even though we had completed everything in advance

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

drinks were fine. food was HORRIBLE. we were told we would have ample vegetarian and vegan choices and there were not. It was so stale and overcooked and awful.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

everything cool and worth doing had an extra charge

Entertainment

1 out of 5

VOP and Dan Austin were AMAZING. And we listened to them everyday. the comedians were both sub-par and there was only one actually fully produced and rehearsed show in 7 days.

Children's Programs

1 out of 5

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

the waitstaff was wonderful. the guest services and customer service team was weak and basically did nothing to amend our bad experience

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Ship tip

do not sail on this ship if you're a vegetarian or vegan. also, you MUST eat at the specialty dining, and those reservations will be sold out by the time you get on the ship so reserve In advance.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Seattle, Washington

1 out of 5

didn't visit

Thumbs Up 0

Ketchikan, Alaska

2 out of 5

CRUISE ENDICOTT ARM & DAWES GLACIER

5 out of 5

this was not a stop, but the drive through was lovely

Thumbs Up 1

Juneau, Alaska

2 out of 5

Sitka, Alaska

2 out of 5

we did a whale and otter watching excursion that was very overpriced and crowded

Thumbs Up 0

Victoria, British Columbia

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

princess lost my bags in the port valet program

6 Comments

Bear1 2 years ago

Was this a first cruise? Would also like to know if you went into the app I think they have a spot with dietary restrictions, also you can still call Princess and they can also help, I have been on 36 cruises, 25 with princess and have never had a 4 hour wait for embarkation. It can happen that sometimes they have some drills the government requires. On a cruise it can be as good or as bad as you make it,

Thumbs Up 2

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javawoody 2 years ago

Appreciate your view

Thumbs Up 0

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GSpringer 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing!

Thumbs Up 0

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Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

Thumbs Up 0

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dcshadel 2 years ago

Sorry you missed the specialty dining. We just got off the Discovery, 7/24 - 7/31, and didn’t have a problem getting a reservation at the Crown Grill (probably not your first choice). We had problems trying to schedule using their app before the trip, so we just stopped by when we got on board.

Thumbs Up 0

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AuntPinkie 2 years ago

Sorry this cruise didn’t meet your expectations!

Thumbs Up 0

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