29/10/22 Transatlantic Discoveries Cruise, 17 nights, Palma to Jamaica. Having cruised for nearly 20 years (& done several similar transatlantic cruises on both Thomson & P & O), sadly this was not the best cruise experience because of the 10 sea days, 6 days being consecutive. In the past we’ve found the sea days very relaxing but not this time because we experienced the worst daily sunbed scramble we've ever known; this happened every single sea day & it really spoiled our cruise. We don’t go on holiday to set our alarms or to get up early in order to get a sunbed, but if you didn’t join in with this unfair activity, then you were left with nowhere to sit outside, you had no alternative but to sit inside. Passengers were known to be out on deck trying to unstack beds as early as 5.30am & once staff put beds out on the top pool deck at 7am, they were pounced on immediately. Once you got a sunbed you were reluctant to leave it (even for the permitted hour) because you never knew what people would do while you were away & if your sunbed would still be available on your return. We saw passengers removing other people's belongings & also cramming other people's sunbeds closer together, (to give themselves more room) leaving no room to access the beds except to climb on the bottom & crawl up. There were rules but people ignored them & when approached by staff, became abusive & aggressive. We knew the rules about sunbeds & stuck to them ourselves but found our sunbed taken by someone else when we returned from a quiz. It transpired that the Passenger Relations Officer had removed our towels by mistake. Despite my protestations, she did not agree with us about the embarrassment & upset this caused, that we were left with nowhere to sit & it really did spoil our day (we had an inside cabin & the last thing we wanted to do was spend our days inside too). Consequently, we were reluctant to leave our beds on the other sea days in case it happened again. The Discovery 2 is not a tall ship & therein lies the problem, there is very little deck space so there were insufficient sunbeds & that resulted in the sunbed scramble. It didn’t help that some people who not only reserved beds (in the sun) but also reserved tables & chairs (in the shade) at the same time too.

FOOD: Choice was not as good as previous cruises but there was always something which appealed; depending on what you ordered, some portion sizes were very small although you could ask for more. Please be aware (gentlemen) that you “might” be turned away from the restaurant at breakfast time for wearing flip flops! A young woman requested my OH change his footwear so he obliged even though he had worn them everyday! When others were not turned away, I questioned this & was greeted with a blank expression. It transpired that staff approached some passengers but received short shrift so they allowed these passengers to do as they wished regardless of rules. We didn’t do any of the specialty dining. We were happy with the service at the 47, the Gallery 47 & The Glass House (which had huge portions)

ENTERTAINMENT: Very hit and miss. The Blues Brothers were amazing as was Brian Connelly jr. Dem Boyz were fantastic (the lead singer was phenomenal & probably the best frontman we’ve ever seen on a cruise). Vili was good too. The Band Jam was great & we enjoyed the farewell show in the Atrium. Unfortunately some of the other guest artists (magician) were poor - the show team worked incredibly hard & we found the shows to be ok but not as good as previous Marella/Thomson cruises. We took part in the quizzes but people were obviously cheating which amused us as the prizes weren’t brill, a metal straw or one size fits all flip flops