We have sailed on the Discovery many times and have loved it mainly because it goes to different destinations. We sailed from Istanbul on the Treasures of the Black Sea. At the airport we heard a number of conversations about the Discovery and how the standards had dropped, poor staff service and very poor food at times. We were under the assumption when we booked the cruise that the ship was on lease to MV but it still belonged to Discovery,. We took the comments we heard 'with a pinch of salt' truly expecting the ship to be of the same standard as we had experienced before and we had picked the cruise for the destinations.

On boarding the ship we found the staff were not the same nationality as we had had before and that some of their attitudes to passengers was not friendly or helpful and quite off hand at times. Our waiter from Burma was fantastic and nothing was too much trouble. Our cabin stewardess was also friendly and made us feel welcome but these members of staff were the exception.

Generally the standards have dropped dramatically. We were not introduced to the show members until the last night. A few of the shows were excellent but many of them were lack lustre and boring. The shows were also let down by the state of the costumes which were ripped, bits missing, held together by safety pins and not very inspiring at times. Read more