Cruise Raider

We just disembarked from the discovery and she had some tables and chairs midship on deck 7 and also had some loungers all the way aft. I believe one side may be for smokers. We did see someone smoking out there but like I said, only on one side.

I tend to think this is probably 100% true. Even though we’ve really not experienced that situation in the past, we now tend to get the premier package and don’t even go to the MDR, except for lunch on rare occasion. I love the new lunch menus with the small plates.

Oh yes .. if you bought it with non refundable OBC, it will be given back as non refundable OBC. Thank you for that correction.

I think you will find it is much simpler now. We recently cruised on another line and I couldn’t believe how much I really missed having the medallion and the app.

You will definitely be refunded for your excursion as refundable OBC. None of the Alaska cruise offered by Princess for next August have any tender ports. Each one of the ports have plenty of docking space, so I don’t think that should be much of a concern. Even in Skagway, where they had a big rock slide, are back to docking all the ships vs running tenders. If you have a real concern, you can always cancel your excursion while on the cruise and get a full refund, especially due to a medical / physical exemption.

All of this has been so surprising to me. We’ve cruised on the Ruby so many times and we always had quick and excellent service in the MDR. After the first night, we had reservations at 6:20, were assigned to a table and were told that table would be ours every night for the entire cruise. We could just check in and on head on in to our table. We did tell the hostess if we weren’t going to be attending dinner so they could give it to someone else. I wonder what changed??? We were pretty much on full capacity cruises at that time.

Alfredo’s or GiGi’s is open all day. If the ship has an Ocean Terrace, they also serve sushi earlier in the day. We had it for lunch a few times. The Salty Dog GatsroPub was only open after 5 PM.

I just checked them earlier this afternoon.

Every one of mine has gone up. But, it always pays to check.

We try to show up at the pier around 10:30 AM to 11:00 AM. Boarding, provided there are no delays and you are going out from a port without other specific boarding times, will begin sometime around that time frame. If you have already received your medallion and have filled out all your necessary documentation, either online or in the app, you will check in under the green lane. Otherwise, go to the blue lane. Oftentimes, they are the same length so don’t worry if you have the blue lane. You can carry on any luggage you choose that fits through the scanner. We’ve recently lost several wheels on different pieces of our luggage when checked, both on airlines and when checked with the porter, so we just travel light and carry our own luggage on now. Don’t worry about a boarding pass .. you can always print out your travel summary or take screen shots of it if your device allows you to do so. What you will really need is your passport (or whatever alternative documentation that is allowed for your sailing). Also, as noted, take your medallion if you have it. Sometimes, the chat line or the regular customer service line is decent but sometimes, it can be very frustrating. I cam assure you, the cruise will be much more fun that what you are experiencing!

You are correct .. it’s actually referred to as a sided by side, not a B2B.

Something of note .. We never changed set our clocks forward while in Mazatlan. I seem to remember doing that on previous sailings. So, I had to look it up. We were there just before Daylight Savings Time ended. Lo and behold, DST ended in a good portion of Mexico back in the fall last year.

We actually go on cruises because of many crew members, that we regularly keep in touch even now, years after meeting them. We find out where they will be working and if feasible, we book on that ship. Many know they are welcome at our home. Regardless, we would never ask them how much money they make. Several had told us that they make a salary and if we give them a gratuity, they can keep it. I know this change happened on the return to service, post CoVid. The crew appreciation helps to cover the entire fleet, not just the ship you are on at the current time. This covered the staff and crew when one ship had a low capacity while other ships may have had a higher capacity at the time. They felt it was fair, at least the ones that told us. If enough people removed the CA, they will be raised for others to subsidize those removals. Just of note, we’d never even think of removing our CA. It’s part of our culture in the US. We just factor it into the price of the cruise from the get go!

I keep putting it in my post cruise survey! I now only cruise from the West Coast, as we no longer like to fly on long flights. So, that really limits our options. I really loved having the Royal at our home port while it lasted. At least I took advantage of that quite often.

I just miss a Royal class ship being home ported in San Francisco that I just booked one more cruise, right this moment, on the Discovery again for January. I asked my DH and he gave me two 👍! We really need to stay home and visit with family for the holidays this year.

We have been under the Marina deck right under the skywalk and was never bothered by none looking down onto our balcony.

As for the premier wines, they had some great options. These were our favs that were included n the package. Champagne: Cattier Blush: Whispering Angel Red: Seghesio Zin, Parodoux Cab, Grirgch Hills Merlot White: Hartford Chardonnay (they may be out now as this was my favorite 😂 ), Staggs Leap Chardonnay, Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc They had some wines only by the bottle such as Rombauer. We had it by the glass included in the premier package just as recently as July. There was a glass of Caymus cab my DH had that was about $9 over the premier package limit. A bottle of it with the 25% discount was $120. One of our friends splurged on it for our Crown Grill meal. I am partial to California wines but I’m sure there are many more international wines that were very good. Just one note is that the Discovery is the only Princess ship that we’ve been on that uses all nice stemware for their wines. A good wine deserves a good glass. It does t have to be a Reidel, although many were, but something with thin rim and the right shape makes the wine so much better. Our favorite bar to get great wines was at the Salty Dog bar on deck 5.

Although they are still wrapped in seaweed, they had a maki vegetable roll with what I think was avocado, cucumber and asparagus. They were delish! I asked for spicy. There are also edamame beans and a seaweed salad. We tried the nigiri and neither of us really cared for it. I liked the maki rolls much better, especially the California rolls and the vegetable rolls.

You’re off to a great start! Thank you .. I will be following along!

So, just a follow up on erroneous charges from while we were on the Majestic in early October, as mentioned earlier in this thread. I reported the extra charges we found on our folio via the Princess website under Post Cruise Questions/ Concerns and Onboard Folio Statement. We received a check in the mail today from Bottomline Technologies to cover all the erroneous charges we found on our final statement. That was a quick turnaround! Nice job Princess! I don’t know if it is normal if they charge for specialty coffees on the disembarkation morning of the cruise as we found charges for those for this cruise on the Discovery, so I’ve also reported that. Personally, that charge was only for $10, but it would be nice to know exactly when the package ends.

I heard the Salty Dog may change to O’Malleys sometime next year and the signs for the Bistro Sur La Mer have already been changed to The Catch by Rudi. Their soft opening is on Nov 11th and their full opening will be Nov 18th. The menu is absolutely superb so I look forward to booking there next year. While I really love the Salty Dog, I look forward to tryin O’Malley’s menu one day. And yes, I did also hear from an upper officer that Churchill’s smoking bar will be replaced by an arcade as on the Royal.

Oh my goodness .. this thread is awesome! Enjoy the premier package! I know we just love it!

We missed the pub lunch 😞 but they were trying out the new lunch menus with small plates and wow, it was quite excellent! I also loved the fresh salsa that I got through room service. The lettuce was always nice and fresh and I thought the toppings were top notch. Real food! BTW, the breakfast toasts they had in the IC were wonderful. I’d switch off between the beets, egg and avocado and grilled vegetable. All were so yummy!

They changed the signage to “Gigi's by Alfredo”. It was nicely done and I have probably not have even noticed it if my DH had not pointed it out. They also changed the dividers within GiGi’s with colorful glass triangles. While I don’t care for the style, others may appreciate it. The food tasted just as good! 👍

Thank you and Bon Voyage! I know you are going to have the best time. We sure did! If they are taking reservations, try The Catch by Rudi. It’s so yummy!