Live From Discovery New Year's Cruise 12/28 - 1/7/22 10 day Sea of Cortez and Mexican Riviera

[spingal]

1 hour ago, iamaqt2 said:

I hope you feel better soon.  I have a feeling quite a few might be going home with an unwanted souvenir.  Heard on another board someone asking for cough syrup.  I don't think there's a cruise going these days that escapes unscathed.

Thank you!  Just got my Paxlovid.  Symptoms are like a sinus infection so mild.  Same with my sister.  My nephew has no symptoms.

[spingal]

2 hours ago, Drea2Go said:

Thanks for the heads up. We feel fine but plan on testing so this is a good reminder. I hope your symptoms stay mild.

 

Andrea 

Thank you!  I think it is smart to test.  Fingers crossed you are OK!

Edited January 8, 2023 by spingal

[spingal]

2 hours ago, elycelynne said:

@spingal I hope you feel better soon!  I board the Discovery on the 14th and purposely chose the 7-day itinerary in the hope of lessening my chances of getting it.  

Thanks!  Hope you stay safe on your cruise.

[sirclean]

"Rented a cabana in the Sanctuary and did the Ultimate Balcony Dinner for 2"

Did you have to get the Sanctuary 'subscription' for the full week to be able to rent a cabana or can you do it for just one day?  What extra benefits come with the Cabana rental?  Any advice or suggestions about that?  (What was the rental fee)?

 

For the Ultimate Balcony Dinner, what was the cost of that and where do you order it? (Is it something that can be ordered on the ap in the room's TV?)

[iamaqt2]

2 hours ago, sirclean said:

"Rented a cabana in the Sanctuary and did the Ultimate Balcony Dinner for 2"

Did you have to get the Sanctuary 'subscription' for the full week to be able to rent a cabana or can you do it for just one day?  What extra benefits come with the Cabana rental?  Any advice or suggestions about that?  (What was the rental fee)?

 

For the Ultimate Balcony Dinner, what was the cost of that and where do you order it? (Is it something that can be ordered on the ap in the room's TV?)

You do not have to rent the cabana for the full week.  It can be done for just one day.  I booked on a port day, and it wasn't terribly busy, but sea days are very busy, so as soon as you board head directly there if it's a high priority.  The cost was 240 for the full day, and I got 2 bottles of wine, and a mini fridge with water and soda.  Or I could have had my choice of a bottle of spirits and mixers. The Sanctuary also has a dedicated food menu that you can order from.

 

The Ultimate Balcony Dinner can be booked and paid for in advance in your Cruise Personalizer.  It costs 100 for 2 people.  But call Room Service to make arrangements as soon as you board as they are the department who will handle it.  I believe you can also book it with them once you board.

[Princess Cruiser27]

15 hours ago, spingal said:

Hi everyone.  I am back home from the wonderful cruise!  BUT 3 of the 5 of us tested positive for Covid once we got home.  I didn’t sleep well on Thursday night and attributed not feeling great yesterday to a lack of sleep. I was so exhausted on Friday night that I went to bed at 8:15. So I decided once I got home I better test myself.  Lo and behold; positive.  Luckily our symptoms are mild; headaches, bit of coughing and tired.

 

I wanted to warn everyone because we definitely contracted it on the ship.

Feel Better Soon Jamie.

[Want2Cruise 701]

Loving your review. Thank you. Have they locked your balcony door at all during the voyage. We have a forward facing booked for our Alaska cruise. 

[spingal]

3 hours ago, Princess Cruiser27 said:

Feel Better Soon Jamie.

Thanks Barb!

[iamaqt2]

1 hour ago, Want2Cruise 701 said:

Loving your review. Thank you. Have they locked your balcony door at all during the voyage. We have a forward facing booked for our Alaska cruise. 

No, it was open and fully usable the whole cruise except the last day and night when we encountered fairly rough seas. It was very nice out there.

[hobo1937]

14 hours ago, iamaqt2 said:

You do not have to rent the cabana for the full week.  It can be done for just one day.  I booked on a port day, and it wasn't terribly busy, but sea days are very busy, so as soon as you board head directly there if it's a high priority.  The cost was 240 for the full day, and I got 2 bottles of wine, and a mini fridge with water and soda.  Or I could have had my choice of a bottle of spirits and mixers. The Sanctuary also has a dedicated food menu that you can order from.

 

The Ultimate Balcony Dinner can be booked and paid for in advance in your Cruise Personalizer.  It costs 100 for 2 people.  But call Room Service to make arrangements as soon as you board as they are the department who will handle it.  I believe you can also book it with them once you board.

Was the balcony dinner served in courses by a waiter as in the past? Reason I ask is on some of the ships some people said the dinner courses were  "dropped off" all at one one time to your cabin by a waiter and then he was gone. 

[iamaqt2]

3 hours ago, hobo1937 said:

Was the balcony dinner served in courses by a waiter as in the past? Reason I ask is on some of the ships some people said the dinner courses were  "dropped off" all at one one time to your cabin by a waiter and then he was gone. 

Mine were served one course at a time.  Timed out almost perfectly between plates, but I would have enjoyed a little more lingering. 

[CruiseRookieSteve]

9 hours ago, Want2Cruise 701 said:

Loving your review. Thank you. Have they locked your balcony door at all during the voyage. We have a forward facing booked for our Alaska cruise. 

I didn't know they could lock or ever did lock the balcony door. I usually like to leave my balcony door open, at least a crack, and turn the heat/cool to the neutral position (or off on older cruise ships). I like listening to the sound of the ocean and having fresh ocean air at night. It is one of the major reasons I like cruising. So, no, they never locked our balcony door on this cruise.

[iamaqt2]

Day 10
Final Sea Day and

Overall Impressions

 

Today the seas were pretty rough.  I don't get seasick, but I'm sure there were some people who weren't feeling so hot due to the motion.

Spent a lazy morning in the cabin after buffet breakfast, which was absolute chaos,
then began the dreaded packing process.  Skipped lunch and had a very small snack at IC as we had dinner reservations at Sabatinis.

Grabbed some pre-dinner drinks at Good Spirits and played a few hands of cards. 

Didn't grab any pics of menu or food at Sabatinis as it was very dark in the restaurant.
But our server told us the menu had changed within the last month and there were some new items. 
Overall the food and service were good.  The Ossobucco over risotto was a standout and the lobster tortolloni was a dud.  Overcooked lobster, undercooked pasta and served lukewarm.
The panna cotta would be better without the blueberry jelly on top.
Returned to room to finish packing and called it a night.  Seas finally calmed down sometime overnight as it wasn't rocking anymore at 4 am.

Had one final breakfast in the MDR which was very busy, but was ironically the tastiest breakfast the whole cruise.

Had late disembarkation and it was very quick and easy with facial recognition and no passport needed unless pulled aside.

Overall impression was this was a pretty good cruise.  Main entertainment and food were good, the ship is clean and new, and really liked our stateroom.

The not so great were the buffet layout at breakfast and the horribly long line to get a specialty coffee.  Also the app was clunky at times to get food and drinks delivered.

The really bad was how overwhelmed the staff was.  There were simply too many passengers for the staffing on this voyage.  I gave up waiting for a beverage server in the lounges and stood at the bar to order because it took so long to get a drink.  Then once seated with the drink, if a server even came by immediately ordered another knowing it wouldn't come until after I'd already finished.

Service in the MDR was bad to downright awful.  It was some of the worst I've ever encountered.
Many nights it took 2+ hours to get through service for a table for 2.

Also, much of the entertainment outside of the theater was extremely repetitive.  Trivias, game shows, and the same songs repeated by the musicians over and over. It was very hard to find anything new after day 4.

We still had a fabulous cruise and 2 more on the books, but Princess needs to up their game in the service and entertainment department.

[iamaqt2]

3 minutes ago, CruiseRookieSteve said:

I didn't know they could lock or ever did lock the balcony door. I usually like to leave my balcony door open, at least a crack, and turn the heat/cool to the neutral position (or off on older cruise ships). I like listening to the sound of the ocean and having fresh ocean air at night. It is one of the major reasons I like cruising. So, no, they never locked our balcony door on this cruise.

I believe they may have asked because I had a forward facing balcony on the Lido Deck.  While underway most days opening it was not an issue.  But the final day with rough seas it created a huge sucking wind tunnel that sounded like banshees were trying to enter the room.  No way would we have been able to have the door open.  In fact it was very difficult to open as it had a vacuum effect holding it closed.

[CruiseRookieSteve]

5 minutes ago, iamaqt2 said:

I believe they may have asked because I had a forward facing balcony on the Lido Deck.  While underway most days opening it was not an issue.  But the final day with rough seas it created a huge sucking wind tunnel that sounded like banshees were trying to enter the room.  No way would we have been able to have the door open.  In fact it was very difficult to open as it had a vacuum effect holding it closed.

On older ships the only air vent in the room used to be near the bottom of the cabin door into the hallway. I'd put sheets of paper over that to prevent creating a wind tunnel out into the hallway. That has gotten a little more complicated on newer ships as they now seem to have vents in the bathroom and in the ceiling of the main room. Also very important to remember to close the balcony door before opening the door to the hallway to avoid a windstorm in the room.

[elycelynne]

@iamaqt2 Which MDR were you in where the dinner service took so long?  And did you try any of the other MDRs to see if they were any better?

[CruiseRookieSteve]

Now that I have some great internet at home, I've finished uploading my photos, videos, and comments from the cruise at:

http://www.cruiserookies.com/2022l28a.html

I've even uploaded the full image resolution, about 8mb, of each photo. You can view those by just clicking on any photo on each web page.

 

My wife and I are booked on the Majestic Princess for a 28 Day Cruise Round Australia starting March 7 this year. It appears the Majestic Princess is a sister ship of the Discovery Princess but some of the venues are different. I'm definitely going to welcome the Vines Wine Bar rather than the Salty Dog but am going to miss the Take Five jazz lounge and Crooner's. The Majestic Princess doesn't have either one of those. It appears they just have more casino instead of Take Five and a bigger photography area instead of Crooner's. Hopefully they'll use some of the other venues more and won't have less live music. They have a Chinese restaurant in the same place Sabatini was located on our ship. Good Spirits is located where Ocean Sushi was located on our ship. Much of the rest of the ship is laid out fairly similar to the Discovery Princess.

 

[iamaqt2]

8 minutes ago, elycelynne said:

@iamaqt2 Which MDR were you in where the dinner service took so long?  And did you try any of the other MDRs to see if they were any better?

We were in Skagway.  We did find an amazing team of servers in there one night and requested them, but unfortunately their section was booked.  I made it a point to drop off a comment card at guest services complimenting them.

But no, we didn't try any of the other dining rooms as we had already made all of our reservations for Skagway pre-cruise. 

[CruiseRookieSteve]

On 1/7/2023 at 6:57 AM, LACruiser88 said:

To all those on the cruise, wish you safe travels home.  We had a great time!

 

Until the next one (March 5th, Sapphire, 32 days, Buenos Aires to LA).

Enjoy that cruise! We are doing that one on the Sapphire Princess starting March 4, 2024, a year after you.

[nini]

5 hours ago, CruiseRookieSteve said:

I didn't know they could lock or ever did lock the balcony door. I usually like to leave my balcony door open, at least a crack, and turn the heat/cool to the neutral position (or off on older cruise ships). I like listening to the sound of the ocean and having fresh ocean air at night. It is one of the major reasons I like cruising. So, no, they never locked our balcony door on this cruise.

I think the original person was referring to the forward cabins. The balconies are ENORMOUS. We had one on the Regal and nobody ever even inferred that they would lock our balcony door. We only needed to keep the drapes closed at night so our lights would not interfere with the Bridge.

[fpsphil]

The balcony dinner looks amazing. We are in m107 in 2 weeks on the discovery and have our balcony dinner our evening in Cabo. Super excited!

[iamaqt2]

8 hours ago, fpsphil said:

The balcony dinner looks amazing. We are in m107 in 2 weeks on the discovery and have our balcony dinner our evening in Cabo. Super excited!

Be sure to call room service right away to set up you preferred day and time!  

[fpsphil]

12 minutes ago, iamaqt2 said:

Be sure to call room service right away to set up you preferred day and time!  

First thing I was planning on doing after we board

[Scores11]

When does princess send out the cruise survey?

[that]

Not rec’d yet 🥴