I just had the pleasure of sailing on Princess Cruises' inaugural 15-day cruise through the Hawaiian Islands aboard the Discovery Princess. Although billed as Hawaii-Tahiti online, the journey was originally to sail through three islands in Hawaii and spend the last day in Ensenada, Mexico before returning to the starting port at The World Cruise Center in San Pedro, CA.
Unfortunately, due to the fires in Maui, that stop was removed. While flights have resumed to Maui, the L'ani port suffered too much damage to resume accommodating the large ships as of yet. I was disappointed at the loss because of the three islands, that was the one I haven't been to and was looking forward to exploring someplace new. But, one thing I've learned from all of my solo travels and other trips, is that you have to expect the unexpected and roll with the punches. The best way to ruin any experience is to sweat the changes. Remain flexible, and look at it as a reason (aka, excuse) to go again.
So, we spent an extra day in Kona instead, which was cool because I got the chance to visit my favorite Indian restaurant again. My beau and I first found Kamana in 2017 and we STILL talk about how delicious it was. This time I got to share it with dad.
The Ship
The Discovery is a newer ship in the Princess Cruises fleet, with its first voyage in March, 2022. It can accommodate 3,660 guests in 1,830 guest cabins, plus 1,346 crew. The 19 decks host a variety of accommodations, entertainment, food and beverage, and sport/fitness venues - great gym, BTW!
Discovery is the third vessel designed from the ground up with Princess MedallionClass® and the final Royal-class ship. The Medallion is a nifty piece of tech that arrives at your home prior to departure if you filled out the paperwork before the deadline, which is roughly as late as two weeks prior to departure. It’s essentially the key to your stateroom, unlocking the door hands-free as you approach. You can also use it at the digital displays to receive customized information. The displays can be used without tapping the medallion for general tasks like wayfinding and entertainment schedules.
In addition to the Medallion, there’s a mobile app on which you can schedule your dining preferences, locate and navigate to your travel companions (if you each enable the feature), and get the full daily schedule. Since the whole ship is Medallion, and the same info and features are available on the app and stateroom TV, I was surprised that they still provided a daily paper schedule. I’m sure they have a reason for it, but it seems wasteful and a bit against their sustainability efforts. Perhaps it would be a better idea to request a guest opt-in for paper if they’re set up and comfortable with the digital options.
The Food
Yeah, this is what you’ve been waiting for - oh the gluttony! I was impressed to discover that they have 8-9 galleys (kitchens) for food prep. Each with a specific purpose such as the beef galley, chicken galley, vegetable galley. This really made me feel good about reducing potential cross-contamination with meat products.
Stainless steel from top to bottom, each is said to exceed the health standards of the average land-based kitchen. While we're talking veggies, as a vegan (or travel vegetarian), I was really impressed with the availability and variety of veg-based meals. I preferred the buffet over the restaurant's limited vegan menus, although I am pleased they at least had a vegan menu in the regular dining rooms (after waiting for it to be printed).
But the buffet featured more variety with veg-friendly soups and sandwiches, to sufficient main selections like curries, dahls (lentils), quinoa fritters, seasoned and roasted veggies, and more. I never felt like the veg servings were an afterthought or repurposed side dishes, and was happy not to rely solely on the salad bar. If gluten is a concern for you, they also had a smaller variety of gluten-free options, including bread.
Carnivores will be spoiled for choice and will enjoy the various theme nights, which included Greek, Asian, Seafood, Mexican etc. Over the course of this 15-day cruise I walked past many counters of beef roast, pork ribs, roasted chicken, lamb chops and much more. My meat eating companions enjoyed most of these options. The morning breakfast bacon looked like it was cooked to perfection, dark and crisp, none of that floppy fat-laden stuff you often see at land buffets. Plus English bacon and tons of fruit, yogurt, cereal, lox, and eggs of various preparation, including custom omelets. The coffee was good and always hot. I appreciated the usual non-dairy cream/milk options. If they add in oat, even better, especially for the handcrafted coffees.
Desserts were a bit lackluster and didn't ignite my sweet tooth (fortunately), the vegan desserts even less so. This made it quite easy for me to avoid them and kept me from returning too often. Even my treat-loving dad didn't indulge in the treats much. If sweets are your go-to, this may not be the reason you cruise on this ship.
The Staff
The majority of food & bev staff were quite attentive but special mention for Deepak (pool deck and buffet dining server) who's on his first contract. Absolutely sweet young man who always sought me out to assist and chat. And also special mention for my cabin steward Elvin who was always available and eager to help. He truly lived up to the joke of leaving your room for 5 minutes and coming back to find your bed made up :-). After one request around day 3 for ice, each subsequent night found a bucket of ice waiting on the table.
I must give a special shoutout to Chef Viorel in the World Marketplace buffet who saw me on the hunt one night for a non-animal based soup. Most nights they had broccoli-lemon, potato or other soup on offer but one night they were all meat-based. As I was perusing the counters, the chef overheard me mention I was looking for a veg soup and after joking that the chickens in the chicken noodle soup were vegan, he immediately offered to make me a custom vegan soup, "à la minute." I didn't want him to go through the trouble for just one person but he literally insisted, even asking what I might like in it. "Anything except carrots," I said. "And I love mushrooms," I added before he disappeared around the corner into the kitchen.
In about 15-20 minutes, he found me in the dining room and presented me with a lovely veg broth brimming with zucchini and mushrooms. I have to say, I was really surprised he managed to get that much flavor in such a short period of time in a simple veg-based broth. The next day, I couldn't help but notice there was a veg broth available and next to it an array of other ingredients with which to customize your bowl. He walked me over to it and pointed out the selection, noting, "you don't like carrots but there's mushrooms." How in the world he remembered that from amongst thousands of passengers I do not know, but it definitely made me feel special and valued as a passenger.
The Entertainment
I personally am not a big fan of production shows or musicals but I did take in a few. My favorite was Dan Middleditch, an Elvis and 50s/60s performer. I won't say impersonator, as he doesn't necessarily try to imitate them so much as he merely performs their music with amazingly high energy, he must own stock in Red Bull! My father and I also had the unexpected pleasure of speaking with him for at least 30 minutes one night. He's an absolutely cool kid with a good head on his shoulders. It’s evident he has a passion for what he does and truly likes talking to people and sharing his story.
The Princess entertainment staff was a hoot with special mentions to Cole, Dave, and Lucy. They also put on some fun game shows. My jam is trivia, and there were plenty of opportunities to play various topics and versions. They just need to do a better job of checking the cheaters, which towards the end they did start having teams swap papers to check answers, but they should probably confiscate cell phones upon entry to circumvent the Googlers with an internet package.
I also enjoyed hours of dancing and music, from the instructional line dancing in The Piazza, to jazz in Take 5 and other acts throughout the ship. This journey also had the one and only Princess Cruises Mariachi band onboard. When I wasn't dancing, I enjoyed watching the many others do so. Who knew you could dance ballroom style to a Mariachi band? Well, I guess Dancing With the Stars has shown us you can do it to any style of music.
Movies Under the Stars featured both current and some more pop-classic movies, many of which are also available in the stateroom if you prefer not to bundle up on the breezy deck or just want to watch in the privacy of your own cabin..
The Summary
Oh, how I loved the little bit of brand personality from the “Love Boat Theme” that played on the ship’s horn daily at 12:00 pm and upon port departures. Funny how it can be the simple things that add to one’s enjoyment (or not) of an experience.
All of the tech worked without any glitches with the exception of the chat feature on the app. There’s no notifications even when you have the setting toggled on so you have to keep checking to see if anyone in your party messaged you - or use that as your excuse for not being reachable. You decide. 🙂 Other than that, I’m impressed with the implementation of technology and its ability to simplify cruise life.
The only other disappointing aspect of the whole Discovery Princess cruise experience is that the adults-only pool was closed. This wasn’t a cruise heavy with children anyway so it wasn’t a big deal for me on this sailing, but it would have been nice. Besides, I heard that pool is heated and the others were quite cold. On that note, a few guests also mentioned that the hot tubs were too tepid and did not appear to be at the recommended temperature range of 100℉ - 104℉ but plenty of folks were in them regardless.
I can’t vouch for that as I’m not into lounging in human soup pots.
This is a beautiful and easy-to-navigate ship with great staff, entertainment, and amenities. Just note that 15 nights may be a bit long for some, for others it was just right, and still others are sailing off on other cruises immediately. It’s really a personal preference and the only way to know if it works for you is to try it, then adjust length accordingly for future cruises.
I definitely recommend it and will do it again. The next sailing is March 16, 2024 and has been renamed 15-Night South Pacific Cruise. Get in touch and let’s book your next uncommon travel experience on Princess Cruises.
Good for: vegan, vegetarian, senior, solo.
Similar routes available: Yes
**This is an honest, personal review for a trip I paid for with my own funds. I did not receive any compensation for this review or any special consideration during the voyage.
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