Discovery Cruise Line, Miami

I am a bahamian and travelled on it before and promised never to do it again.... But I did because it was a group decision. The only thing positive honestly was the waiters in the dinning room and other staff on board who treated us well. The food was not the best in my opinion. The cabins were small but what more do you expect in comparison to the price you pay for a real cruise. The final straw for me was when the group left with all their camping supplies they paid no overweight/oversize and when we returned with the same size bags they charged me alone for three of the bags $15, then $25, then $45 and we were not forewarned. This hypcrosy by the travel industry is killing travel and to further complicate matters, we collected our baggage and due to the number of bags in the group of about 10 travellers we missed one but they checked the ticketed bags at the exit and had they checked properly we would have known then one bag was missing. We unfortunately live on another island so had to arrange to have it flown by charter which was an additional cost. The other issue was the length of time it takes to get off the ship and I really dont understand what is the theory behind allowing one day cruise passengers to leave first when we get into Florida, I dont agree with that because it is insane. It seems to me to be nothing short of discrimination against the blacks going into florida.... Perhaps they are trying to dissuade us from using their ship.... Anyway they wont have to worry about us anymore because we wont be using it No More...

i won a one day trip for two on a radio station. i wish i would have ripped the tickets up and thrown them away so no one would have to endure such a horrible experience. it didnt turn out to be free for me. they charge a resevation fee of $78 and $10 per person when you board. this ship is tiny and very old. i dont even know from what era the decor is from. breakfast, lunch, and dinner are buffet style. thinking the food at least had to be good, i was decieved again. we sailed for hours and hours to arrive in the bahamas and wonder for a couple of hours and then sailed hours and hours back to wait in at the port in ft lauderdale some more hours before finally everyone was let off the ship.

I give it no stars (or minus 10 stars). Left late from Port Everglades. Arrived late in the Bahamas. Left late in the Bahamas. The "rust bucket" was supposed to be back at Port Everglades by 10:00 P.M. It was as if we were held hostage, as we didn't dock until 11:30 PM - and they didn't let us off the bucket until 12:30 AM. There were people out on the deck waiting as well, and they had their "guards" at the doors who wouldn't let them in (I couldn't understand that one). Also, they loaded an extra 200 people in the Bahamas. If this was US based, our laws wouldn't allow this, as it was very unsafe. This is all about greed and money for these people. The cells (or cabins, as they refer to them), were awful. What a waste of money to use this so called "Cruise Ship". It's worth the money to fly there, as you can't put a price on your safety.

We where schedules to leave out of Fort Lauderdale on April 18th. We are now scheduled to leave on May 2nd. My birthday was on April 19th, now I am an adult and realize that problems happen.... what concerns me is what seems to be a lack of determination by this cmpany to show those of us that where inconvenienced any kind of offer to make it up to us. People have to put in for vacations at work for some time ahead, Discoveries problems with the engine seem to me probably come from a lack of care for the mechanics of the boat. When a problem occurs do to the company any company tries to make up for the inconvenience it has caused people. My suggestion to this company is if you do not want to be thought of as a dump company you need to step up and mak it up to those people that got stranded and to those that hadtheir trips vacations ruined. A free trip toeach of these would be appropriate!!!! Lets face it this company plainly says that if you do not show up for your cruise "there is no refund" therefore if they ruin a cruise a free cruise should be an equal retribution. You don't show up you lose your cruise, we can't provide te cruise you get another one free. The quesion is, is this company honest enough to do that? Eric House

Me and my new husband booked this suppose to be romantic trip of our lives but turned out to be disappointing. We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale to go to port to Discovery Cruise to have a champagne breakfast to take us to the Bahamas. We find out Discovery is down due to mechanical problems. And to come to find out this hasppens all the time. Great begining to our new life. So we try to call discovery and all they give us is a run around. Saying they'll refund us. Couldn't belive it. They wouldn't even find another way to get us to the hotel in the Bahamas. Also my new husband is being shipped off to the army, so we couldn't turn around. So we had to dig deep to book last minute flights. Now I'm fighting to get a refund. We did make it to the hotel which was great. Except maybe food but what do you expect from an all inclusive. I advise no one takes this route to distruction. I always read reveiws and throw them aside saying people expect to much but this was insane. DONT' DO DISCOVERY CRUISE LINES!!!! Even the hotel we stayed in Bahamas and Ft. Lauderdale said this always happens.

The cruise was awful ,it was a shuttle service to Bahamas of the locals, no entertainment , people were sleeping everywhere , then going to customs on return took 2 hours. I did not spend any money on the casino entertainment was playing bingo and movie trivia with the staff `,the one thing was food buffet in am and PM was very good they got tips

With regret, Discovery Cruise Line experienced unforseen mechanical failure on Saturday April 4th, 2009. This will take several days to repair and in the meantime, despite most flights to and from Grand Bahama being sold out and difficulties finding alternatives, we were able to charter limited flights to return visitors from Grand Bahama to Fort Lauderdale and residents of the Bahamas home. In addition our call center was somewhat overwhelmed with calls and we sincerely apologize for any inconveniences that were experienced. Having carried over 4 million guests to Grand Bahama Island during our 20 year history, we have always endeavored to provide a quality experince for all. We ask that any guests with concerns kindly contact us at customerservice@discoverycruise.com so that we may attempt to reslove these issues on an indivcidual basis. Sincerely Discovery Management

I'm trying to plan my 40th birthday and was trying to plan an innovative vacation....Now, it's surely a NO go for Discovery Cruises..I knew something was wrong when it did not have a big picture of the ship.I'm so grateful that i'm doing all the research to make my Bday special. Thanks to all that spared me the pain..LOL

Let me start by saying this was the worste experience traveling I have ever had. The best way to sum this up is it is water taxi. The smell, food and overall atmosphere of the boat was disgusting. You are literally on a water taxi to the Bahamas for 5 hours. There is absolutely nothing to do but sit. The breakfast buffet was horrible. When you get off the boat, you have no choice but to take a cab to the hotel area they recommend. We watched drug deals and had the most expensive lunch for hamburgers and hot dogs. The location they take you to is deplorable. The shopping is overrated and you only have about 2 hours to go to the beach and shop. You then have to take another taxi back to the boat and good luck with that -- the taxi drivers fight over who is taking you and the cabs have no air conditioning. Once you get back on the boat, it is torture riding back for five hours. To add insult to injury, once the boat docked in Ft. Lauderdale, it took us an hour and a half to get off the boat. Customs clearance is horrible and they put you in one area to wait without air circulation. We found out this happens all the time, because they catch people going to the Bahamas buying drugs and you have to wait for them to take them off first. The dinner was a half grade better than breakfast, but don't order anything but water, because sodas are an extra charge. We had kids with us and they were miserable -- there was absolutely nothing for them to do. I would not waste your money or your time. Drinks are expensive, the snack bar is expensive and the entertainment--a joke. There is so much to do in Ft. Lauderdale, I would recommend spending your money in the US and skip the taxi ride all together. I cannot even sum up how miserable this was for us. It was 14 hours of misery.

If you don't fly - this is a great way to get to Grand Bahamas if you don't mind a 6+ hour ordeal. 1+ to embark, 4 on the water, 1 to disembark. Why it takes so long to get off this boat is a mystery. On other cruises with thousands of passengers you get off in 30 minutes. This – you wait around forever if you bring luggage. If you gamble, like to drink rum drinks at 8 am and pass out by noon - this is a great trip. Otherwise - bring a book. The ship is ancient but was well maintained. The food is edible. Overall the Service and wait staff were very nice and responsive. We had some rain – once everyone went inside – there was nowhere to go and not be on top of someone. When it cleared up – there is no towel boy to wipe things down. For the money – the Discovery Cruise is a fair value. You can make this a fun trip or be bored to death. Its up to you.