Jeter02

He's currently on the Discovery which I'm on at this very moment. He was just on the Caribbean for a quick few days to help out with the '80s themed cruise and the film a couple of things for the company.

DO NOT push the "Quote" button. It creates a copy that the next person cannot properly update. DO select and copy ALL of the text (including the instructions and the list) up to COPY TO THIS LINE . . . from the most up-to-date list (the most recent reply with the list).  Go to the bottom of the latest post, to the "Reply to this Topic..." box to create a new post. Paste your copied text into that box. Make your modifications to the list. Add change notes at the bottom. Click the "Submit Reply" button just below the list you are modifying. Confirm that everything is correct! You can edit for up to 20 minutes. Ship Captain Cruise Director Entertainment Director Director Restaurant Ops CARIBBEAN Vincenzo Lubrano Jody Miles DuVaul Gamble Robert Boyd Oscar Perego CORAL Gavin Pears Aaron Hawkins Sara Romera Joachim Rothe CROWN Christopher Lye Kristoff Greyling Michael Kujawski Mariusz Czemarmazowicz DIAMOND Stefano Ravera Natalie Costa & Mikiko Ikemoto Samantha McDonough DISCOVERY Tony Ruggiero Duval Gamble Neil Rose Silvio Zampieri EMERALD Martin Stenzel Fernando Duran Geof O'Rourke Carlos Marques ENCHANTED Mario Ciruzzi Jayson Douglass Ron Goodman Francisco Patricio GRAND Michele Bartolomei Callie Smit Giuseppe Franchina ISLAND Paul Slight Karen Rogers Sue Rawlings Daniele Rosafio MAJESTIC John Foster Kevin Tugwell Marissa Wurms Douw Steyl REGAL Tim Stringer Sophie Gideon Martyn Moss ROYAL Andrea Spinardi Corinne Steel Caitlin Messerschmidt Claudio Giuliani RUBY Mario Tani Cole Bockman Lauren Meyer Jacques Ghennai SAPPHIRE Todd McBain Fernando Cunha Matthew Joseph Mario Propato SKY Marco Fortezze Dan France Matt Barnard Ciprian Hoidreag <COPY TO THIS LINE SO THERE IS SPACE TO TYPE "CHANGE NOTES" AFTER THE CHART> Discovery Captain - Tony Ruggero, CD - Duval Gamble

Yesterday was a great first day to kick off the cruise. I took the Seattle Express (which I made the executive decision The night before last second to book them round trip as my shuttle service) and all I have to say is, best decision I ever made! They came promptly at my schedule time of 9:00 a.m. and it actually was there about 5 count to 10 minutes earlier. For round trip service going to the port and then bringing you back to the airport What's $50. It really is the cheapest way to get from point A to point b and honestly the convenience of having no more than 12 passengers on a shuttle versus a big coach bus made of a world of a difference for me personally. And as mentioned in an earlier post the prices for Uber or Lyft have to skyrocketed, making this a million times more of a fabulous option for me. I honestly cannot recommend them enough. Seattle Express does do pickups from select hotels as well as the airports and at the end of your cruise you have the option of being brought to the airport or to one of their selected hotels that they service. I arrived to the pier about 9:30. Only had to wait about 5 or 10 minutes before they open the doors to let us in to get all checked in. That was probably the quickest checking process I have ever experienced and my cruising life. Picking up the medallions was a Sanchez always like I said two added seconds of your life will not kill you better than paying the $10 be to have it shipped. We were able to board the ship around 10:30. Please be advised and I noticed the last time I was on the Discovery Princess The cabins were not ready till about 1pm. Like I always do I always walk on with my own luggage and then I'll just stop by my cabin to drop my things off and then go back on the cabin is ready, to unpack. Lunch on embarkation day in the main dining room started at 11:30 a.m. Some other options you do have is you do have for a bite to eat is Gigi's which opens at 11am, as well as international cafe and the buffet on the widow which is always readily available once on board. On embarkation day I always prefer to eat in the MDR where I had a lovely lunch. I had the amazing beef tenderloin which simply melted in your mouth and was so well to seasoned. Then I topped off with some delicious espresso gelato. Not going to lie I did a mess debate international Cafe as I always like to test out the oatmeal cookies to see if they're up to par, aka: quality control 😂. The cookies were fantastic! But one thing that caught my eye that I've not seen before that I had to try and I had simply ask for a very small little of the smoked Alaskan salmon chowder. I have to say that chowder did not disappoint That was phenomenal. Definitely helps get into that Alaskan spirit. The sail away celebration on the pool deck was packed, which I can find as a good thing in a sense of watching everyone genuinely having a great time knowing they're kicking off their vacation so that's always nice and refreshing to see. Lots of large groups and when I say large groups I'm talking groups that are 20 and more. Lots of families on board which is to be expected on any Alaskan sailing as this is a great family itinerary. I inquired about the number of children on board just out of curiosity and there are about 500 kids and 500 teens, rounding it to 1,000 altogether. For those who've not sailed in Alaskan sailing The nice thing that they do in the dining room is they do have a lot of great fish which is imported in it from Alaska so it's always a must to try some of those great fish options. For dinner tonight I started with the marinated goat cheese antipasto which is one of my favorites I love the goat cheese that they use and it just marries so well with the vegetables. For my entree I created my own dish where I got the beautifully and well done sockeye salmon lying on top of a bed of Caesar salad I completed my dining experience with the blueberry marsapone dessert which is so nice and light but yet so delicious. The theater showtimes in the evening are at 7:30 and 9:00 p.m., and the entertainment stops game shows take place at 8:30 p.m. at Princess Live. Tonight shows included comedian Phil Tag, with a game show of Strikeout (a music related game). I unfortunately did not catch the Canadian as I know for me comedians are very hit and miss but he is performing later this week if not tonight, as I will catch him then. Today was more just of a settling in and relaxing type of day for me. Today is day two and he had a beautiful relaxing sea day filled with lots of great activities on board. So far the energy on board is fantastic The crew or phenomenal as always and I'm looking forward to an exceptional cruise as always. Those have followed me on my last voyage no I'm very easy to please and get excited on the simplest things in life.

Is it bad that I kind of want to stay a third week on the Discovery to watch the implementation of these new standards? I really just want to sit back watch the show and have some popcorn because I have a feeling it may be rather interesting as well as bumpy.

I will give you my review on them later. I made the executive decision 11:00 p.m. last night before I fell asleep and went ahead and booked Seattle Express round trip. Economically you really can't beat it and I do like that if I had to take a Shuttle, I'm glad it's one of the smaller sized ones like the hotel courtesy shuttles. After taxes and all it's $50 round trip which beats princesses shuttle transfer from the airport at $60. And I looked up the prices for Uber and I know inflation is all over but I swear every time I come to Seattle the prices keep jumping up higher and higher. It was estimating about $68 just one way and when I looked on the left are slightly cheaper but I would still be paying well over $100 for the ride shares. So thank you for the tip and for easing me letting me know that they were excellent when you used them. I've known about them for a long time through the forum boards, but never have bitten the bullet.

Have you personally used them before? I know a lot of people on the boards have mentioned this from what I did research over the years. I'm actually highly considering this especially since my hotel is on the list.

With Princess I've done the glacier track on the actual glacier you get a helicopter right out there that was such a magical experience of a lifetime.

Great tip! Thank you for sharing! My Kevin I can see on that side so I'll be enjoying the game for my balcony.

Lucky for me I don't go to any of those three. Like I said I thought it was really odd when I was on there but I know it's because they're packed to the brim like I said but I've never seen so many people on that trip. And it's Alaska so I already know the baby lots of families on board with lots of kids. It will be a nice dark difference from my Norway trip.

Honestly I totally did a double take on that the other day when I saw that I'm like wait a second am I being jipped on another thing. And then I reread it, In realized we're all good. 🤣

It was actually really packed when I did that 4-day '80s cruise back in April. I have never seen crowds like this on any princesses ship. With long lines so I think that's more of an issue with this particular ship. People I know who work on board always tell me usually How many passengers are sailing on a lot of the cruises and this one is like overpacked to the brim.

No this new plan does not start until 3 weeks from tomorrow at least on the Discovery Princess so you guys are fine. And the pizza restaurant Gigi's / Alfredo's is still considered complimentary while you guys are onboard. Highly recommend to go for a bite to eat there It is so absolutely delicious. They do have options that are not strictly just pizza as well as dessert.

The Discovery Princess is a beautiful ship!

I usually always walk on with my own luggage. My system has always been doing that going straight to my cabin to drop off my luggage quickly unpack do my safety drill visit and then grab some lunch. This way I know my vacation has officially started versus getting luggage later in the day and dreading the unpacking. 🤣

Thank you for sharing! I am very excited to be back onboard a ship. I know Captain Tony regaro was doing hand over this week and is supposed to be taking over fully starting tomorrow so I'm excited about that. I have also heard great things about John Smith who is leaving and is a great captain.

That's so exciting I love it when it becomes a family event. Where are you all traveling from? I'm pretty sure you will all have a fabulous time. I'll see you onboard.

Love it! Yes I'm usually really good about posting pictures on here. I've got you covered.

As I always say.... Treat yourself! Glad to see you enjoying life to the fullest 😊

I'm right there with you. I love cruising for the simple aspect of starring at the ocean and waking up to new scenery /destinations every morning, and meeting new people along the way. Oh don't forget the people watching, cruising is great for that. That's really why I cruise, it's for that simplicity and relaxation.

The biggest thing I'll be most upset about is that thing that starts with the letter "L" and I do not want to say it out loud. That's my most favorite perk as an elite guest. I would be really upset if that ever got dismissed.

Really the best way it should have been handled is to have honored all of those passengers with the current system prior to this upcoming change. And for those who have yet to pay their final payment they would be the ones unfortunately who would incur the new changes and direction the company is going towards. At least he gives people that time to cancel if they feel the need to so. This will provide them time to decide whether or not those products and amenities are really going to affect their trip and or if they financially want to be bothered with now the new extra add-ons or cost of things that day may now want included on their cruise that they originally thought they were getting when they booked the trip.

It was simply just an aloud observation in my thought process. That's all.

I feel like in this case if an order is delayed, canceled, magically disappears, or marked as delivered whenever it was, then I would go down to get services and demand a refund. And then ask for them to try to redeliver that drink free of cost for the inconvenience. If it was your first time using the app and you had to pay the $14.99 I would also ask them to reverse that charge and say I don't even want to try This app again as clearly it's not an adequate service.

No you will not inquire the $14.99 activation fee because you're not using an app You're using a beautiful wonderful warm body to place your order. And honestly you'll probably get the drink much quicker than those who order on the app or through RS

Today is travel day!!!! I'm back, by popular demand for another LIVE thread after many have followed me recently along my adventures through Norway. This cruise I will be cruising my 9th season to Alaska, in a B2B 7-day sailing (identical itinerary) onboard the Discovery Princess. The cruise will be starting tomorrow, Sunday July 30th, RT from Seattle. I will be flying out later today from Fort Lauderdale to Seattle. With my evening arrival time, I opted to book at the Hilton Garden Inn by the airport. After sitting on a plane for 6 hours, the last thing I want to do is sit in a car for an additional 30 minutes to get to downtown. This way I'll just catch an Uber first thing in the morning to take me to the pier. (The economical way, would have been for me to take the hotel shuttle back to the airport the next morning to take the princess shuttle bus for a much cheaper rate. However, I am not one who likes to sit and wait for buses to load up with 50-60 of my closest friends if I don't have to.) As this will be my 9th season exploring Alaska, I plan on using this cruise more for relaxation and enjoying the amenities of the ship. I've seen and done most things excursion wise within these ports so calls. In my beginning visits to Alaska, I made sure I did all of those big, glamorous excursions that one could only dream of, thinking that this was going to be a one and done deal type of cruise. Obviously I've continued to come back annually, as I enjoy the cooler temperatures (Always trying to beat that Florida heat) and surrounding myself with such beautiful scenery. If anyone has any questions about the ship, or itinerary please don't hesitate to ask, as I'll do my best to help answer them. I will also try to update you with all the fun that's going on on the ship, as well as the port of calls. So pack your imaginary bags, as I hope you enjoy coming aboard this cruise wi th me!