Understaffed and poorly managed

Item: Discovery Princess
Rating: 3.2
Author: Yukishino

Discovery Princess Cruise Review to Coastal - West Coast

Yukishino

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 21

Overall rating:

3.2 out of 5

4 Night West Coast Getaway With San Diego (Los Angeles Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 16, 2023

Ship: Discovery Princess

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

The service and food are where we were extremely disappointed. On the first evening, we waited in line standing for over 1.5 hours to get a table even with a reservation. Not exaggerated. The hostess Frances was very nice but she had nothing to do with it except sending my dad in their 80’s having leg pains to a nearby seating area for him to take a seat after standing over one hour. They started bringing complimentary glass of wine and told us it was exactly the same issue they always have on the first evening. If it was a recurring issue well-known among the crew, they should come up with the solution but apparently they haven’t.

Embarkation

1 out of 5

Very disorganized with a long line

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

On the first evening, we waited in line standing for over 1.5 hours to get a table even with a reservation. Not exaggerated. The hostess Frances was very nice but she had nothing to do with it except sending my dad in their 80’s having leg pains to a nearby seating area for him to take a seat after standing over one hour. They started bringing complimentary glass of wine and told us it was exactly the same issue they always have on the first evening. If it was a recurring issue well-known among the crew, they should come up with the solution but apparently they haven’t. During the dinner, the servers kept bumping into the back of my chair and no one apologized. On our 2nd evening, we still needed to wait for 10 minutes to be seated for our reservation at 6 pm. After a server assistant brought us water, no server came to take our order for a long time. We were told that our server were coming soon but no server showed up until 6:25 pm. We ended up missing the half of the show.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

There were a couple of very nice staff members - Especially Ivan our stateroom attendant - professional, friendly and attentive. However, I must say more than 90% of the staff seemed grouchy, confused or absent minded compared to my all other cruise experiences with Celebrity, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Carnival.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

Do not sign up for Princess Cruises if you don't want to have a bad experience

Thumbs up

Ports of call

San Diego, California

5 out of 5

Ensenada, Mexico

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

Getting off of the ship was a nightmare with full elevators for over 30 minutes. I ended up carrying three suitcases including my parents’ ones from the 14th floor off of the ship.

Traveler Photos

6 Comments

cdinsler 1 year ago

I just had a similar experience on Discovery Princess. I even heard one of the bartenders say he hated his life. I felt for them, as the bars and other venues were understaffed. May 2023 Alaska

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YeniG 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm sorry it turned out that way.

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AuntPinkie 1 year ago

Appreciate your detailed feedback. Sorry this cruise didn’t meet your expectations.

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javawoody 1 year ago

Appreciate the feedback

Thumbs Up 1

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Gwbigdog 1 year ago

First night blues, oops, thanks

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karlgrgurich 1 year ago

I’m sorry about the issues you faced. We are not a fan of the changed dining arrangements. Much preferred the old way. We book for 5:20….then we are not waiting for people to finish their meals before we are seated, and many haven’t come yet, so, the dining room is not packed. So far it has worked…but ..I agree..why is the first night an issue??? Have found that for years. Makes no sense….

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