Having travelled on "Discovery" several times before under the prvious management - Voyages of Discovery, we decided the itinerary to the Black sea was for us.However now the vessel is Chartered to CMV standards have dropped, it is no longer the same happy crew or ship as previously. It started with our flight being put back by 12 hours, meaning we arrived on board in the early hours of the following morning,and therefore missed trips to Corinth/Athens, a lost day spent sitting in Piraeus.Likewise our return flight from Istanbul was put back 3 hours and notified to us by note under door, although some passengers had written notice prior to leaving Uk, consequently missed a dinner engagement and had to re arrange transport at short notice,In the main CMV personnel had very little idea of what was going on, and their reception staff were particularly unhelpful, and at times quite rude. Ships officers kept low profile, hardly saw Captain,none of the officers appeared in the Dining room, ships windows were filthy.Toilets out of action one morning due to ship running aground, no explanation or apology from ships personnel.
Trips generally good with the exception of the panoramic tour of Istanbul, which consisted of sitting in traffic jams, bazaar closed, ended up in a water front hotel for tea which cost us £64.CMV must have known of the 4 day public holiday, and should have rearranged the stop over on our inward passage, consider taken for a ride quite literally!
All in all would never take another trip on "Discovery" or deal with CMV again, as stated by many other passengers, it is sad that such a lovely ship should end its days this way.