hobo1937

No magnifying mirror in a PH suite on the Discovery in April. A few years ago we were in a window suite on the Grand and there was one.

Thanks for the replies. Good idea to buy it from a crew member.

For anyone who purchased the package when boarding the ship on the first day did they charge you any local taxes on that purchase? I know if the ship is still in port, for example in LA, they charge the local sales tax on any drinks you may buy if you are not on the package.

Wouldn't be surprised if it is eliminated.

Well now you may to pay 5 bucks when you order room service with the new "Casual Dining" charges Princess will be implementing next month. The press release says Plus and Premier guests will have the charge waived, nothing said it would be waived for Suite Guests who are not on those packages.

Thanks for posting your experience. We are booked in a Window Suite on the Grand next year to Hawaii so we are especially interested in your comments about the room and the Suite experience on Grand class ships. Have a great time.

We have done several Hawaii Cruises from LA on both Princess and Holland America. Typically the first 2 days at sea can be a bit bouncy and cool but then it warms up as you get closer to the islands. The cruises in Nov-early March time frame can have more ship movement those first few days because of storms in the North Pacific that can cause swells farther south. We did a cruise on Princess once in late April and the Pacific was like a calm lake both going and coming but you never know what mother nature will do. Princess has some Hawaii cruises next year in Sept Oct out of LA on the Grand Princess, which is an older ship. We did a Hawaii cruise on her a few years ago and it was great. Actually, we are booked on the Sept 29, 2024 sailing. Never sailed to Hawaii in September and the only potential problem is that it still Hurricane season in the Pacific but hoping for the best. Princess does a great job on Hawaii cruises. They have Hawaiian Ambassadors onboard sailing over to the islands to get you in the spirit. They conduct lei making, hula and ukulele classes. They usually have some local hula dancers come onboard for a performance the evening the ship is docked in Honolulu, where they usually don't sail until 11 pm. Holland also does a good job and we enjoyed our cruises with them.

My husband used a folding electric wheelchair on our Discovery Cruise in April. He would fold the chair in the hall and carry it into the room. He only needs the chair when walking longer distances. We were in a suite so there was no problem storing it as it stands up when folded. The biggest issue was getting down the corridors because of the carts, which were there a good part of the day. The room attendants were great about moving them but we felt bad having them stop what they were doing to take care of this. People on the elevators were very accommodating.

We were on the Discovery Princess April 8 Coastal Cruise and scheduled to arrive in SF at 7AM.The day prior the Captain announced because of strong currents in the Bay near Pier 27 caused by tidal action he was going to dock around 1AM. We were out on the balcony at 12:15 AM taking photos going under the Golden Gate. Guess he didn't want to take any chances. Don't know if the Ruby situation was caused by the currents. The SF Bar Pilots have been around for about 170 years and even pilot ships going to Sacramento and Stockton.

If you are going to fly to LAX and use UberLyft, keep in mind if you use the regular Uber service you need to take a shuttle to the LAX-IT lot where the ride shares and taxis are. You can get curbside Uber pickup by using Uber black.

If you decide to fly into SNA, you might consider staying at the Ayers Hotel Costa Mesa/Newport Beach. They have a free shuttle from the airport to the hotel and a great restaurant on site, reasonably priced. Then take an uber/lyft to the port in the morning. We live in Las Vegas and drive down the day before any cruises we take out of San Pedro, staying at Ayers, having dinner and breakfast at the hotel and driving to San Pedro the morning of the cruise. Doing this for years. Always a good experience with the hotel, restaurant and drive.

In the fine print is says cannot be used for Casino, crew incentive or discretionary hotel and dining charges. So what can it be used for? Shore excursions and shopping in the stores?

In 2015 we did back to back Panama Canal/Bermuda cruises from San Diego to Boston on the Veendam and sorry that itinerary is no more. I am from NJ and sailed from NYC to Bermuda with some friends in 1971 on a 7 day cruise, also docking in Hamilton. Actually, I had just met the guy who would become my husband a few months prior and he drove me to the pier and was able to come aboard prior to sailing. Those days are long gone too! Through the years I always told him how much I enjoyed Bermuda so when we had the chance to do the Veendam Cruise we jumped on it. He loved his visit there too. One evening we took a cab to Tom Moore's Tavern for dinner, which was a wonderful experience. It is the oldest restaurant in Bermuda, built in 1652. Bermuda is so unique, not anything like the Caribbean Islands.

We were on the Discovery Princess in April and our Monterey stop was changed to Santa Barbara a month prior to sailing. The city of Monterey voted to stop servicing the ship calls there. There have not been any ships going there this year so I doubt you will either.

Interesting. The deck plan for the Enchanted, the first ship to get Catch, shows it on deck 5 and Sabatini on deck 7. The press release from Princess in April indicated it would be the same for Sky, Majestic and Discovery. It will be interesting to see what happens on the Majestic and Discovery

We were in a suite for an April Coastal Cruise and really enjoyed the breakfast in Sabatini's. Carlos, the Restaurant Manger and all the staff took great care of their guests. Princess recently announced they are opening a new restaurant called Catch which will replace Bistro Sur Le Mer on several ships. But that same announcement indicated Sabatini is moving to the Bistro location and Catch will take Sabatini's place on deck 5. This is supposed to happen this fall on the Discovery.

Here is a link to a recent article in a local Carmel newspaper regarding this topic https://thesandpiper.org/montereys-policy-to-stop-servicing-cruise-ships-met-with-differing-responses/

Totally agree with you

I cannot find anything to indicate Monterey changed their rule about cruise ships. We were also on a coastal cruise in April that cancelled Monterey for Santa Barbara only a few weeks prior to sailing. In addition they changed the itinerary so that we went to Ensenada prior to San Diego, thereby requiring immigration to be done in San Diego. They also took 5 hours away from the San Diego stop. This was done onboard and it was a mess. You were given a time to appear but no one was following the rules resulting in long lines, which started at 8 am and ended around 11. We have some mobility issues as did quite a few others, and it was only when a nice passenger happened to mention there was a crew member expediting those people that we found out this was the case. This was after we had been in line 30 minutes. I also saw the fall itineraries and I would not book one of those based on our experience.

We did a similar cruise on Princess in 2010. LA to Ft Lauderdale and back to LA. It was great. It was also booked as a back to back. Worked out really well as DH got up early to take pictures going thru the canal on the 1st leg and later found out the Camera SD card was bad. So he had a second shot at it on the way back.

So sorry for your loss. It sounds like the Insurance company may be part of the problem. If so, you can contact the Division of Insurance for the state where your grandfather lived. They regulate all insurance sold in that state and may be able to help if the insurance company is not providing the coverage paid for.

Interesting. Ours was totally different, no envelopes just written information that we were invited and to either wait for a call or call a toll free number. It may be because this is something new and our cruise is in 2 weeks so they included it with the entertainment info the cruise. Sometimes I don't look real close at some of the emails Princess sends and I am glad I scrolled down and saw it. Would have been easy to miss.

We are sailing 4/8 (suite) and received an email on Friday. The email was regarding entertainment to expect on our sailing and not just related to the 360. Actually the information and phone number to call about 360 was about the 4th item listed. So don't expect the email to be just about the 360 invite, at least it wasn't in our case.

I have really been enjoying your review and photos. Since Gen Z loves whales you may want to get her a book called "Humphrey the Lost Whale". It's available on Amazon in kindle and paperback. We lived in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1980's, when this took place, and he captured the interest and hearts of a lot of residents. Amazing what what done to make sure there was a happy ending.

On the Royal, club class was port side. Just past the podium at the entrance you turned right off the aisle and entered the club class area. All the tables in that area were club class. In contrast, on the Star Princess club class was also on the port side but you walked right into the club class area if you entered on that side. In addition some of tables were set up right next to the the regular diners. The only way you could tell the table was club class was the table cloth was a different color.