HaveDogWillTravel

What a lovely evening read. Thank you to all who contributed to this thread. A month or so ago I booked 7127 on Vista for an early 2024 sailing. Everything I’ve read here makes me quite happy I did. Seriously looking forward to it.

thanks @scooter6139for the correction on Discovery’s sushi bar. I completely missed it on my sailing! So much to do and so little time. Lol. The Diamond will have the Lido deck pizza by the pools. I have found the sit down indoor pizzerias to be better but food is subjective. There is nothing on Diamond that takes the place the IC. The Izumi baths do require an up charge. I’ll be using them myself for the first time in January 2023. The Diamond is just coming back into service September 1. Hopefully there will be a live from that can inform us about how things are now. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjmp9DLnvL4AhU-JEQIHXUfBT0QtwJ6BAgMEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Du4tWzBRzLks&usg=AOvVaw1P3hS1TaRfn2OQUIKQrs1Z hopefully this link to a pre Covid video of the baths work.

R.I.P. Loved that program. It was discontinued long before Covid though for reasons unknown.

Medallion technology is the same on all ships. Food is subjective but yes both main dining rooms would be expected to be similar. I do not use the buffet but some on CC have reported the Royal Class ships like Discovery are better. ‘Look at the deck plans and read about the specialty dining venues as they are somewhat different. The up-charge steak house on both ships should be similar though. The casual dining choices outside of Main dining room and buffet will be fewer on the Diamond. No Alfredo’s (called Gigi’s on Discovery) and no International Cafe (IC) and no gelato shop. The pizza, calzones, pasta and salads at Gigi’s on Discovery are excellent. I don’t have any good pictures though from my April sailing. Here are some pictures of Discovery’s gelato shop and the IC from the Ruby taken April thru May of this year. The IC on Discovery should be very similar. IC IC breakfast

The Diamond has the Izumi Japanese baths and a sushi restaurant. Discovery does not. Discovery has Alfredo’s, International Cafe, Salty Dog Gastro Pub restaurant and a beautiful Gelato shop. Diamond does not ( the gelato shop and Salty Dog have an extra charge but it is quite reasonable) The kiddos would probably prefer the Discovery.

The retreat areas vary a bit from the grand to the Royal class but essentially they are an adult only area with a pool and hot tub or two. On the Discovery there was a bar but on the Grand and Ruby there is not. The loungers are nice and do have padding. The sanctuary loungers are a definite upgrade though. There’s no special menu, no special dedicated attendants, no afternoon tea …… it’s just a (most of the time) quieter space. I have at times experienced loud party type adults there. In the sanctuary it is ALWAYS quiet and peaceful and calm. $20 is a pretty cheap buy in for an afternoon sea day to see if you like the sanctuary or not. You can use OBC. The cabanas are shaded. There are fewer shaded loungers on the Royal class than the grand class (Island has an aft sanctuary that I really love).

I spent a week in the sanctuary on the Discovery this April. The cabanas are very nice and cost $220 per full day and $140 per half day. This covers 2 people in the cabana. No discount for solo. No discount for booking the entire cruise. Loungers are $40 per full day and $20 per half day and are discounted to $30 per full day if booked the entire cruise. Prices are the same on sea days as port days. On Alaska sailings the price of loungers will be increased on scenic cruising days such as Glacier Bay day but the cabanas will stay the same price. Half days are from 8 am to noon and 1 pm to 5 pm. On the Discovery they served afternoon tea on sea and port days. Some other ships have only served tea on sea days. In addition to what you see stocked in the fridge of our cabana we were given a 375 ml bottle of alcohol of our choice (Bombay/absolut vodka/Jim Beam) per half day, so 2 for each full day. Alternatively we could choose a bottle of red or white wine per half day. The menu I posted a picture of is available to all but the soft drinks/booze/bowls of fruit are given only to those in cabanas. Afternoon tea is served to all sanctuary guests. The sanctuary crew will bring drinks from the retreat bar for any sanctuary guest but you will either use your drink package or charge them to your folio. The hot tub is the cleanest on the ship and is for all sanctuary guests. As to whether the sanctuary is worth doing on an Alaskan cruise or not that simply depends on what the weather happens to be like and your personal tolerance for it. I have done the sanctuary for an entire 10 day Alaskan sailing RT out of SF and loved it. I posted one picture from that cruise. Pretty sure you will be able to pick it out.

Welcome to CC and to cruising. I’m pretty new to cruising but I’ve got a couple of hundred days under my belt since 2015. Mostly Princess with a bit on other lines too. I think my value add is I’ve sailed 81 days since the restart… July 25 2021 thru June 9, 2022. Majestic, Discovery and Ruby. Room stewards appreciate passengers who are friendly, pleasant, smile (with their eyes), are basically tidy, state clearly any extra needs, and are understanding of any shortfalls due to supply chain issues and don’t complain about trivial problems. These are some of the hardest working crew on the ship and should always be treated with the utmost respect. I simply can not stress enough how important it is to be nice to the crew. It is important to let your steward know you will always push the “service my room now” button so they don’t come in to clean your room if you’ve just slipped out for a quick promenade, cup of coffee, or whatever……if you are the type to do such a thing. Please understand that even though it may take only 15 minutes or so to do your room that 15 minutes may or may not happen the second you push the service button. I always give my steward at least an hour to get my room done and that seems to work. And if I want my private bathroom available after a short promenade I don’t want my steward in the room. So always using that button and letting them know you will is super useful for both of you. I also designate a particular place for things (glasses, plates etc.) that I want the steward to take. This way my half empty water bottle or glass of wine that I’d like to finish later doesn’t get “cleaned”. Every sailing and every ship will be different so expect some variation in your experiences from what anyone posts especially post Covid. I will only refer to my experiences post Covid. On all but one my sailings a request for evening service was met with an enthusiastic desire to please. On every sailing upon meeting my steward I ask for the same extras….. 6 hypoallergenic pillows, 6 washcloths, 4 cocktail glasses, an ice bucket replenished twice daily and extra boxes of tissues for the nightstands. I know when I began sailing I wondered what were these “special” requests I kept reading about. So just in case you were wondering too what an example looked like. On every last one of my sailings across all ships stewards are always out in the evenings from about 5pm to 9 pm in addition to their morning routine. I’ve never experienced an evening where stewards were not visible in the evening. You raised a great question about how does the steward meet all their new guests on embarkation. It is amazing that they do it and even more amazing that they do it with such joy. Once you’ve done a few back to backs and personally witnessed what they go through to get the ship turned you will have a new appreciation for the insane amount of hard work it takes to accomplish that task. In all my 200 plus days of sailing I’ve gone about my business of starting my vacation and my steward has always just shown up shortly after I land in my cabin. It’s vacation magic! Hope you enjoy your cruise!

My friend (mid 50’s) and her 80 yo dad did a land cruise tour on HAL mid May. Cruise first. Both vaccinated and boostered. They shared a cabin and hotel rooms, went on the same tours, sat next to each other on the bus. He rarely masked, she did (KN95) whenever near others, shows, busses, tours etc…. Very few others ever masked. She got Covid he did not. Getting sick or not has a lot to do with your own physiological make up. Of course viral load in the air matters the most. But some people have systems that are more successful in fighting it off. Masks work when everyone wears them because they keep the viral load low allowing people with varying degrees of immunity response systems to stay healthy.