cigar connoisseur

Does anyone know about the policies for the New England and Canada cruise? The map looks like this cruise is only in international waters on the last day. So will taxes be charged the entire time for the first 5 days? I also remember the Princess and Celebrity Alaska cruise shut the bars down when we stopped in Canada. Does NCL shut the bars down when in port on this cruise while in Canada too?

This is a link with pictures of the damage above the waterline. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10969307/amp/Damage-Norwegian-cruise-ship-crashed-iceberg-Alaska-seen-time.html

Thanks for the information. This is very helpful.

Does anyone know if we can get a table for 8 or 10 on the NCL Breakaway?

Just got off the Discovery Princess yesterday. No masks were required anywhere on the ship or any of the ports we visited. That included Victoria. Of course things like that could change in the future but last week they were not.

I actually never heard the horn on our trip last week.

Regarding Bingo, it there was a lot of Bingo on the ship. Every time I walked to the aft elevators on deck 7 there was a table set up selling Bingo cards. Plus they have a Deal or no deal game too. It looked like you bought an entry card in the casino and then the game was played in the main theater. I didn't participate in that but they announced it several times.

I don't have the patters, the medallion app has the activities listed on it about a week before boarding. ArriveCan is a phone app. They check that during check-in, don't know what happens if it hasn't been completed as we had done that. Once in Canada we carried our passports, but were never asked for them. Only asked to Scan our medallion to get back into the port terminal.

They had one Chef's table on our cruise last week. We didn't get in. Boo. The message said it was 1st come 1st serve. We were on board for about 2 hours before inquiring so if you're interested in the Chef's table it would be good to get on as early as possible and make that request as soon as you get onboard.

Your kids are going to have a blast. We got the chance to tour all the kid areas after boarding and it is amazing. For the 3 to 7 year olds they have all sorts of toys and even have a secure playground out on the deck that can only be accessed through the treehouse kids area and is only for 3 to 7 year olds. The main dining rooms have a kid specific menu with Mac & Cheese, hot dogs... if your kids are into Beef Wellington and Lobster just yet.

Yes my child was vaccinated, but is 12 years old. All I can say is that when we checked in at the front desk they asked to see copies of our vaccine cards and negative tests. They didn't require paper for the test validation as I showed my negative test information on my phone. Only other information I could give is that there were young children onboard, many below the 5 year old threshold for vaccination. Hope that helps a little, sorry I don't have more information on that.

They were in Skagway dining room. We talked with the restaurant manager in the area, I believe his name was Vitalli (he's from Italy) and he helped us out. We did have to be a little flexible in our dining times to secure a table, but it was worth it. Roland was what I appreciate about a lead server. He would make recommendations and bring out dishes for the whole table. He knew all the dishes on the menu and could answer all of our questions. Michael Angelo would help with drink selections. I would tell him what I was eating and he would help pick out a good wine by the glass to pair with it.

The other place the Discovery Princess has juices is at the International Cafe' on deck 5. That is also where the specialty coffees are made.

Just got off the Discovery and yes, this was offered. It was on Deck 16 around 3 PM in Skagway.

That's what I was going for. I'm really more of a behind the camera kind of person. 🙂

Discovery Princess B739 Cabin Video Aft BalconyWe just got back from a 7-day Alaskan cruise on the Discovery Princess. We departed and returned to Seattle, WA. A couple of notes about the itinerary. This is your standard 7-day round trip Alaskan cruise that most every cruise line offers, and it stops in 4 ports (Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Victoria Canada) along with a 1/2 day sailing around Endicott Arm or the Dawes Glacier. There are lots of reviews about these ports of call so I won't spend time on that. We did pay the ransom, I mean fee, to take the little aluminum boat all the way up to Dawes Glacier. It was beautiful and we saw a little wildlife including a Bald Eagle, Seals, Sea Lions and even a couple of whales on the way back to Juneau. Unfortunately, we didn't get any large calving of the glacier and we didn't see any bears, but those things can't be planned. They either do, or do not, happen. We took the White Pass Train in Skagway. Another beautiful day in Alaska with some interesting history. If you've got nothing else to do during your trip it's relatively affordable and only takes a couple of hours. One cool thing is after the train departs town the passengers can actually stand on the platforms outside the train cars to get unobstructed views of the scenery. The train drops you right downtown for shopping, eating, drinking... Now to the two things I most look forward to when reading about a cruise ship I'm about to travel on. The room and the cigar smoking options. We had an Aft Balcony, B739, on the Discovery Princess. Nice room that was a little smaller than most aft balconies we've stayed in. I have posted a video to show the room and balcony. A couple of the highlights. The Bathroom is a normal stateroom bathroom. The hanging closet is wide and has no doors, but does have a top shelf. There is one floor to ceiling cabinet that is about 18" wide and 7' tall with one shelf taken up by a safe. The rest of the storage includes 2 night stands, each has a USB charging outlet, and a small desk with 4 drawers. There is also a minifridge in the room. Here's a little secret, the balcony on deck 11 aft units is twice the size of the other aft balconies. I estimated the deck 11 aft balcony is 10' X 12' while the other units are around 5' X 12'. This makes a world of difference, plus there is a 5' overhang so you may have a chance to tuck away in the shade. If you want to try and get an even larger balcony space there is a weird empty balcony next to room B739 that isn't tied to a room and maybe you could get the Stateroom attendant to open the balcony door so you could access that space too. Now the really BIG drawback to the Aft Balcony rooms on deck 11 of Discovery Princess. When the hide-a-bed is pulled out for a child, as was our case, you cannot access your balcony w/o claiming on-top of the hide-a-bed opening the door and jumping out onto the balcony (pictured). I have no reason to believe the other aft balconies are any different, but we were on deck 11 so I cannot 100% validate the set up on other floors. We did travel with some friends who also stayed in aft balcony on deck 11 and their cabin had the same issue with the bed. If you don't want to jump over the bed, then you can just move your child into the big bed and lift up the hide-a-bed to access the deck, but if you have child that isn't a heavy sleeper, trying to access the balcony is going to wake them up. Cool idea we tried this trip and it worked really well. We purchased a shower curtain and magnetic hooks to create a little separation between us and the kid. Stuck the magnets to the ceiling, hung up the shower curtain and boom, instant separate space. I'd suggest a blackout curtain if you want maximum separation. Churchills Cigar Bar. I know that many of the people reading this review will stop reading here, but often it is hard to find out information about cigar smoking prior to getting onto a ship. Churchills was great. There is a humidor with a nice variety of sticks if you didn't pack your own. I don't know what they cost as I packed my own cigars for this trip. The lounge is beautiful with classic wood paneling. There are NOT enough chairs in the lounge when it gets busy. No one could tell me why the seating is so sparse but that was the one drawback. The room has good ventilation and some windows to look out at the sea. Drinks mostly have to be ordered through the medallion app unless you can catch a server in the room helping someone else, and there is a speaker system but no live entertainment. If the weather cooperates there is a very nice covered smoking section, Aft Deck 17. There are servers who regularly wonder this area, but the App in many cases was the best way to get a drink order in. Please note that if you want a glass and not an acrylic cup, you'll have to bring your own because the drinks for deck 17 are served from a pool bar. If you are not a smoker and don't want to be inundated with smoke I would steer clear of Aft 17 as there were always a handful of people having a cigarette or a cigar. Final thought: We ended up asking to make our servers on Wednesday night our permanent servers for the trip. If you get the opportunity to sit in Roland Reyes' section with Michael Angelo (asst waiter) you'll get the best servers on the ship in my opinion. There is so much more to this beautiful ship. If you have questions let me know and I'll answer what I know. Discovery Princess B739 Cabin Video Aft Balcony

Thanks for sharing. We're just a couple of weeks away from starting our Discovery Princess Alaskan cruise.

In 2011 we stopped in Cozumel on an RCI cruise and visited the Mayan ruins of Tulum. During that excursion our tour bus stopped at a Mayan bazar that sold gold obsidian, and while we were at the Tulum site we purchased sterling silver pendants with our initials written in Mayan. In December we will be visiting Cozumel again. This time on a NCL ship and we are wondering if anyone has taken the Tulum excursion recently who can tell us if these two stops are still part of the cruise excursion?

I'm scheduled to be on the Discovery Princess in June. The online deck plans show a Churchill's Cigar Lounge on the Port side, forward location of Deck 6. It appears to be just behind the theater lower-level entrance. I've seen some posts on CC saying the floor plan that is online is not correct so I am wondering if someone who has, or is, sailing on the Discovery can validate if there is a Churchill's on the ship. Thanks