Astro Flyer

We discovered the big difference between PCL & O on Regatta…including the big size differences. Here is a photo I took in Genoa showing the size difference between PCL’s Royal-class ship Sky and their former Renaissance ship Pacific Princess (now with Azamara). In the Navy one of the ways they described the difference between a “ship” & a “boat” was that a “boat” could fit on a “ship”. ☺️ Using that definition R-class ships could nearly be considered to be a “boat”.

Here are photos from Sky & Royal which should be the same on Discovery which is our favorite Princess ship. Baja deck aft cabins appear to be partial covered.

Greatly appreciate sharing your experiences…with about 90% of our cruises on Princess we’re still learning more about O & we greatly enjoy their cruising experience. Wish they’d reinstate Standard fares which for our style of cruising works best. We use everything in the Standard fares however we do not use the SM options & thus we’re not sure if after our November cruise we’ll book another O cruise.

That might be the reason…mine isn’t until March 2025 when we’re eagerly anticipating our cruise around Australia. 😃

All of mine are still there & have not read about anyone’s MDR reservations being canceled yet.

Thanks…appreciate sharing your experiences.

We booked a standard fare before Simply More began & when searching for excursions it shows there’s a “Simply More Shore Excursion Package” with a 25% discount when purchasing a minimum of 5 excursions. When checking excursions it shows the full price & also the SMSEP discounted price. We have a combined $800 of SBC that can be used for any type of payments but don’t know if we are eligible for the 25% discount because it’s called Simply More. This is only our 2nd O cruise & on our CA Coastal first cruise we didn’t book any excursions so this is a new experience for us. If anyone has any insights to share would greatly appreciate any of them. 🙂

YIKES!!! 😳😱

Good idea…thankfully we didn’t have that light to deal with on Discovery.

Here are a few photos of our Catch dinner on Discovery…yum!!! 😋 We were surprised to get a glass of bubbly with a slice of strawberry when seated. 🥂

And soon you’ll be in our HST…3 hours behind PDT ⏰ Will Majestic be in any Hawaiian ports?

‘bellebaby’…you’re correct: swap between Sabatini’s & Catch were scheduled on 4/22 based on what restaurant staff said; the date of the change from Salty Dog to O’Malley’s Irish Pub was unknown to me. Based on recent posts from Discovery the change from SDG to OIP is in progress & will also use the underutilized Gelato’s location. On the current Live from Majestic that change was thought to be happening during the ship’s Spring 2025 shipyard maintenance in Palermo, Sicily. Hopefully @LACruiser88 can confirm Majestic’s planned future changes while on his transpacific cruise.

Kona is also great for scuba diving…few sandy beaches & lots of old lava flows that ended at the ocean resulting in great clarity. If I was there overnight would do the nighttime Manta Ray dive again…my most amazing underwater experience ever. 😃

Maybe they’ll blame the delay on the total solar eclipse affecting their folio accounting system. 😉 I don’t recall if they were still providing the cards in cabin for gifts, etc on our previous Discovery cruise in Spring 2022 or not. As I recall they said that by not providing a final folio it was a way to conserve resources. However with the number of passengers (including my son & DIL in February on Discovery…their first PCL cruise) reporting incorrect last minute charges by not providing a checkout folio that results in Princess receiving more income due to improper charges.

No emailed folio for us either & no charge yet for our small amount due. As I recall on disembarkation morning could not view our folio on their app but do have a printed copy from the last evening which is accurate. However until receiving the final folio or seeing a charge on our c/c won’t know about the accuracy of our final bill.

Sad…too many longtime local businesses have closed. 😢

You might want to check your Military Credit to see if it still shows as refundable. For my just completed cruise booked 20 months in advance which included MOBC it was now non-refundable. Within the past year Princess changed MOBC to non-refundable even though it originally showed as refundable. That policy change didn’t bother me because I am very thankful to Princess for providing this way of thanks to military & veterans that is combinable with other types of complimentary OBCs…the best industrywide way to say thanks that I am aware about.

While you’re boarding Enchanted tomorrow morning, we’ll be boarding a flight back to Maui without all of the benefits of your cruise. ☺️

Carolyn…looking forward to reading about your experiences on Enchanted which is the only Royal-class ship we have not sailed on…yet. We greatly enjoyed The Catch by Rudi on our recently completed Discovery cruise. For me it was the best Princess specialty restaurant & hopefully you’ll have a similar experience…great service & food! 😋

I have read that the majority of destroyed Lahaina residences did not have fire insurance which will be a major obstacle to rebuilding those homes unless FEMA finances the rebuilding. The state & county certainly don’t have deep enough pockets to fund the rebuild. Based on what I’ve read on local news sites, many of those destroyed homes had longtime multi generational residents & were mostly lower paid hardworking residents. As bad as losing Front Street is it’s much worse for the residents of Lahaina. And things move slowly there & are even slower as the legalities & considering the desires of locals are addressed about the future of Lahaina. This is not the first time that the close together wooden structures with narrow streets in Lahaina have burned. Over 100 years ago on New Years 1919 more than 30 Front Street wooden buildings were destroyed. After 1919 the fire issues were not addressed but would expect governments to not repeat that mistake resulting in a major renovation of Lahaina with more strict building & fire codes to prevent another devastating firestorm disaster. https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/the-great-lahaina-fire-of-1919/

That’s very disappointing…Maui needs the visitor industry’s help to financially recover. There are so many businesses that are struggling to survive & too many that have closed. The only valid reason I can think about is a scheduling conflict with the interisland NCL Pride of America cruises. If possible it would be helpful if Princess were able to rearrange HI ports of call to avoid the day of the week when NCL is docked at what I think is the only pier available in Kahului for cruise ships.

If you’re asking about the Lahaina Cannery Mall Safeway…it is open. The mall was not damaged nor was the Lahaina Gateway center. Businesses makai of LCM also survived including the Old Lahaina Luau which has reopened. The Feast at Lele (505 Front Street) owned by the same company was destroyed by the firestorm.

Discussions are ongoing about how Lahaina will be rebuilt. I agree with ‘teechur’ that Lahaina won’t be ready for ships for 5-10 years…and any tourism might take just as long. Whatever is built it might be impossible to recreate the charm of historical Old Lahaina Town. Maybe it’ll be a facade of Old Lahaina Town but in my opinion it will never be the same for me & my ohana…memories that will never be forgotten & are impossible to replace. 😢 As others have written there are other good places to visit in South Maui, Upcountry and along the windward coast. The closest I can think about that is somewhat similar to Old Lahaina Town might be Paia or Makawao…but neither are Lahaina. In my opinion, Lahaina will be rebuilt however it will never be the same as historical Old Lahaina Town…the one time capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the whaling capital of the world.

The roundtrip shuttle is included with their park & stay cruise package. We took the first shuttle to the ship & after the cruise I walked the short distance to the CP & returned in our car to pickup my wife & our luggage. For us that was better than waiting for the shuttle to load bags & go to the hotel.

It was an amazing cruise & agree with all of the comments made by others about the things we experienced. Captain Tony was great & under his leadership there was a happy crew that provided great service. We sailed Discovery’s inaugural & second cruises in Spring 2022 & the ship was good as new. We dined at Sabatini’s on the last night & asked the restaurant manager (headwaiter) about the swap of locations that the Catch chef told us was planned but not when. The Sabatini’s RM said that the swap in venues would happen in 10 days which would be on 4/22 if everything goes as planned.