Princess Discovery Feb. 16th 2023
Discovery Princess Cruise Review
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 45
4 Night West Coast Getaway With San Diego (Los Angeles Roundtrip)
Sail date: February 16, 2023
Ship: Discovery Princess
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: D704
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 1 year ago
Review summary
This is a beautiful ship, lots of room to hang out and be with the family. We did get turned around a few times because a floor didn’t go threw but we figured it out. We had a horrible time getting drinks, the app would say delivered or on the way but would never show up in the casino it took an hour to get a drink, and no waiters asking anyone if they wanted to order. Bars really full. The buffet was crowded the entire time, it was horrible but the salty dog and slice pizza was not busy the times we went and was really good. The MDR was just not our cup of tea, had a hard time finding things we liked and just did not luck out with good waiters- they just seemed rude. We did try Gigi’s pizza and had about a 20 minute wait to get in. I enjoyed it, the kids said it tasted like slice pizza on the lido deck. We did see the magic show and it was amazing, enjoyed karaoke, but wished it was longer- the kids signed up to sing but they ran out of time before they got their chance. The comedian was horrible. Overall we had a wonderful trip on a beautiful ship.Embarkation
Are arrival time was scheduled for 11:00-11:30, we arrived late around 12:30- parking was full so we used the overflow parking and was shuttled in. Porter took our luggage right away after getting off the bus.
With medallions on neck, passports in hand and the green lane on phone we headed inside… checking in to 3 cabins took all of about 10 minutes before we stepped on the boat- so easy!!! I love the enthusiasm when you first step on a ship- but no one was there to welcome you, kinda a let down but could not ask for a faster embarkation!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Could not get reservations at any of the specialty dinning venues, the buffet was so crowded we did not enjoy it. Breakfast in the MDR was a mess- they messed up our order every time and it was not complicated. Dinner at the MDR was okay, wish they had the up charge option for a steak dish.
Slice pizza and salty dog very good. Gigi’s also good.
Onboard Activities
This was advertised as an 80’s cruise, not much going on in the way of 80’s. The kids enjoyed the pools.
Entertainment
The magic show was amazing, the comedian was horrible. The music was happening all over the ship and you could always find something that matched your taste. The piano player was really good too.
Service and Staff
I was really surprised with staff, the waiters in the MDR just did not seem to have a good attitude, a couple of times I was put off by some of the comments they would say. I inquired about the menu on the first night to see if they had a steak option (on other cruise lines you could purchase this for an additional price and was told “This is the menu, you can view it by paper, app or your tv- what’s on it is what you get. The second night in the middle of taking our order are server stopped and went to greet the next table- he had served them the night before and was happy to see them (and that was fine but then he started taking the order and did not rerun until we called him). Our room steward was amazing and helpful.
Ship Quality
Amazing ship, it is nice and new and had lots of space to hang out around the ship. My husband is a smoker and enjoyed the smoking section on deck 17. Everything was clean and the staff seemed to keep up on everything.
Cabin / Stateroom
We had 3 cabins- D704, D706 and D710.
D704 and D706 are next to each other- so we had the room Stewart open the balcony dividers (this is not a connecting room) so we felt like it was connecting. The room itself is a decent size room, but I do enjoy having a couch (we are use to Carnival balcony’s) and this balcony does not. The TV is a nice size and had plenty of movies to watch. The bathroom is really small but I think if you have cruises before you just learn to deal with that.
The only disappointment with my stateroom was at one point my door stopped opening, it said unlocked with the medallion but it just would not open, the Stewart had this fixed in no time. We had great service and no complaints.
Ship tip
Book specialty restaurants as early as possible, we booked our cruise a month in advance and everything was sold out for 6, also tried as soon as we got on the ship but no luck.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Got off the boat around noon- took the round trip shuttle for $4.00 each to downtown. Just wanted to eat some tacos and do a little shopping but the town is so dirty, the restaurant we picked (did not get the name) was more worried about getting you in the door than actually feeding you, it was packed and they just kept them coming in. Took almost 2 hours to get our food that came out in sections- no refills on drinks or chips and the chicken in our fajitas was raw- we did tell the waiter who did not seem to care, they forgot tacos all together after reminding them twice we said just forget it, but yes they still tried to charge us for them. But on another note, I was very thankful to have not eaten- my entire party had stomach issues the entire night.
Took an Uber XL to the San Diego zoo $15.00 for the 6 of us, $71.00 dollars each for zoo tickets I think it was cheaper to buy them online so check that out, had a great time! We did the bus around the park to check everything g out first and then walked to the areas we wanted to check out closer.
Disembarkation
This was our first trip as a platinum member with Princess, we received the walk off tags on our bed the night before, our time was 7:40 but on the disembark paperwork it says Suite members and platinum and Elite members can meet in the Vista lounge starting at 7:00 so when we showed up- and I guess this is just a waiting spot for your time, it’s not a perk to get off early, they stated calling walk off numbers.
Once we actually got to get off it was very quick- no passports needed, no immigration. Just face recognition. Very easy!