arizonaperson

Yes, unfortunately you will have to be out of your cabin by 8 am or 8:30 am,Give or take so your cabin steward can clean the room and prepare for the next guests.With that being said you could probably be out of your cabin and stay on board until the last people are off ,but then you Will just be waiting in the lounge or wandering the ship with hand luggage.(. Unless there is a back up of disembarkation ,you’ll probably be off at 10 AM at the latest and that might be pushing it if you stay onboard until the last moment) You could also sign up for a princess disembarkation tour ,they usually have those and you can inquire once on board. I’m assuming you have a late flight from Fort Lauderdale? you could get a day use hotel room in the Fort Lauderdale area ,we did that once when my husband wasn’t feeling well and we had a late flight and he just wanted to sleep. Or you could rent a car and have a place for your luggage and go tour around the Fort Lauderdale area and beaches.

Yes you definitely can plate food from buffet and take it back to your cabin. Probably no lids,but ask for one. If not, just place another plate on top as a lid. Also nice to do with like cheese and crackers and snacks like that to have drinks out on your balcony if you have one or just in your cabin while you’re getting ready for dinner.

To the OP/ author. Perhaps Good Spirits bar which was formerly La Patisserie will have a coffee bar on deck 5??

Got it,for the 3 People that responded .I don’t believe the OP responded. My comment was -I just never thought to do this when I go on a cruise. I go on a cruise to cruise.when I go on a land vacation I go on a land vacation. Yay to all of you that have done this ,had nothing really to do with expense when I made my comment, well sort of .I just can’t imagine spending money on a hotel which I am assuming is a five day cruise to Cabo overnight ,but I’m not even sure on the length. So I just thought perhaps the OP got a smoking deal on their cruise and they weren’t concerned with spending money to stay in a hotel for whatever the experience be. .I still just can’t imagine wanting to spend the Money for a hotel room and food ,but again just my opinion. that’s why there’s choices out there in this world and it was just an interesting topic to me. Appreciate everyone’s response to me ,but this is definitely not about me .this was answering the Op/author to see if it could be done. Again I just find the topic very interesting . I don’t think any more comments need to be directed at me we need to go back to the original person.

Op your question is an interesting one to me. I hope you are able to do an overnight in Cabo. I would never think to do this while on a cruise ship. I would not want to pay for a hotel and meals off the ship when the ship is right there waiting for me with all the food that I want and a cabin a.k.a. hotel room that I’ve already paid for. But perhaps you got this cruise very inexpensive and a hotel for one night won’t break the bank??

If you have a travel agent they may be able to advise how to set up this large table or call Princess. Are you sure all 8 of you or all 12 of you want to eat together every evening at the same time? Maybe not all of you will want the d.r. Every night. Which makes Dine my way possibly feasible for you? Maybe one family will want the buffet, one or two nights.Maybe kids will eat early at pizza place and then go to kids club.Maybe the one year old or Adult needs a nap after a long day in port and the large table you set up for say 6pm goes empty. You may want to all dine together now,but once onboard in November,too many variables?

You can ask for early walk off when they give you your disembarkation instructions usually 3 to 4 days before the end of your cruise. If you walk off with your luggage that means you don’t put it in the hall the night before ,you just walk off at the designated time.

Long Beach airport is great. we fly PhX to LGB often.My family lives local,so no experience with public transport at LGB,but no Princess doesn’t offer a transfer from that airport. But pretty sure Uber/Lyft/taxi and possibly a shuttle service would work perfect for you. Long Beach airport to the port in San Pedro where the Discovery Princess leaves from ,it’s not that far. Keep your flight into Long Beach ,easy airport to navigate. You might find more information on the West Coast departure area of cruise critic if you haven’t already checked there.

Squire5000, i don’t believe Princess has ever restricted children in the specialty restaurants onboard. Lots of “ stuff” in the current Captains Circle magazine that don’t mean squat. Example: the wonderful medallion. To quite a few passengers it is not great. The magazine says feel like a vip no matter what stateroom you have. Not when your drink that you order never makes it to you. I think Princess is trying to make it known that they are family friendly to compete obviously with the cruise lines that have a lot more activities for children . I think for anyone responding or reading if children are going to bother you on a cruise probably need to do an adult only cruise line which I don’t think there’s very many of them out there. Agree like anything else yes children can be restless and cause a scene and yes their parents can also be oblivious to it. Of course yes adults can do the same thing so I don’t think there’s gonna be an overwhelming amount of people in a specialty dining with children, probably a few here and there . Few days ago I was with an acquaintance at the movie theater and they made comments all throughout the movie but I didn’t shush them but I felt like it ,they were sitting right next to me. And they’re old enough to know better- 80+ Years old. So it just goes to show you, you can’t have control of every situation. People are going to be people and do what they want .

Flourless chocolate cake on the first night in the dining room. Hands down my favorite dessert on Princess, it’s evolved over the years. I’ve heard it’s changed a little bit or not offered at all. But I have not cruised since November 2019. And the 50th anniversary - cake pops on formal night.

cruzerDeb- great Live from . We’ll darn that Princess seems to have terrible to no internet connectivity. Seems to be a theme from many Princess passengers. Enjoyed your posts.

Probably a good thing it’s showing as unavailable . Quite a few Passengers on Crown now and previous cruises in May & June of this year are not happy with the cancellation of shore excursions ,late arrival to ports,and or ports missed,I don’t blame them. I’m sure those passengers would tell all of you thinking about booking the Crown,don’t.

No, you do not need to make reservations ahead of time. Go to any open dining room- operating hours listed in the Patter( the newsletter or app). You will see multiple posts, because previously Princess cruisers were use to set dining times of early or late traditional,which is no longer offered. A lot of cruisers prefer the set traditional ( not in existence)to coordinate with Princess theater shows so they now make reservations to coordinate with that. If the theater is not in your itinerary then you probably have more flexibility. If you want to go to a specialty dining room,probably need reservations- fee. Show schedule for the theater give ot Take is start time 7:30pm and second show 9:30 pm. Can look for a Live from thread on cruise critic for your ship a month to a few weeks out.

just in case others are reading this later the three ships are discovery princess, Norwegian jewel, and celebrity solstice in port the day the op/ author cruises.Not -royal Caribbean RCL. i think this is October 29, 2022? I still have never seen the parking lot full .

I could be incorrect , but I think they’re emphasizing the at least 28 day period between the first dose and the second dose. So is there 28+ days between your Astra Zeneca and Moderna vaccines ? You could always call your travel agent and/or Princess to try to double check on this. I do believe they’re just trying to make sure people are vaccinated to go cruising. So with 3 doses of a mixed COVID-19 vaccine I would think you would be good to go ,but I would check with a more reliable source than people posting on cruise critic of course .

I’ve parked many times at San Pedro cruise terminal.The parking lot is huge .I believe over 2000 parking spots. Near where Princess checks in there’s kind of a separate lot and then further down where Norwegian boards there’s another area. But you might want to call the phone number and ask them how many handicap spots they have ,if that’s what you require. I am assuming You have checked other hotels in the area besides the Doubletree for cruise stay and parking. About Parking Concepts, Inc. Secured overnight parking lots for cruise facilities are managed by Parking Concepts, Inc. (PCI), a California-based parking company founded in 1974. For more information, call (800) 540-PARK. Parking is free for the first hour and $2/hour thereafter ($20 maximum/day).

Have an enjoyable cruise. Cheers. Following along on your Live journey.

Nina, enjoy your cruise and I can’t say enough about what a wonderful experience we had starting with our sons first USA domestic flight at six weeks old, followed by his first international trip at 8 weeks old and the first year of his life he was on a plane every single month. He’s grown now and his first job included international and domestic USA travel . We traveled for “ holiday”with him his whole entire life. Nina, I hope you looked at the family cruise section. Many nice threads there. You will be very prepared by 2023 for cruise. Amazing some people’s comments ,they totally went off topic and interjected their feelings on children & behavior. Ignore them . This was not at all what you were asking. So insensitive of people . I’m assuming this thread probably needs to be closed??

Oh no 😕 to the op/author for the insensitive off topic replies.

Steelers0854- thanks for the Live and the photos. I’m enjoying following along.

Makes sense now with that information,thanks.

To the op/ author- On cruise critic if you scroll past the Roll Call board/forum there is an area called special interests cruising and within that is family cruising. Might want to post your questions on that thread as well. I say take your child on a cruise for sure. We started out many, many ,years ago with an eight week old infant for his first international trip and many more after that. On the family board many parents will have helpful tips for you.

Why would your grandson & whole family be testing so early (10 days prior) for Covid ( PCR) with no symptoms? Did I miss something? i thought it was 2-3 days prior to cruising.

Hopefully you will find out before you cruise the answer. I know there is a basketball court,but wonder if the can or do set this up on The Crown for pickle Ball? I didn’t see anything in the Patter for a May 2022 cruise. Try posting on a roll call or a Live from if there is one a few weeks before your cruise and maybe someone will check it out for you.

I’m pretty sure on the land portion you pay for your own food unless it’s a connoisseur tour and/or escorted tour. We went on an Alaska cruise several ,several years ago and all the food on the land tour & train we paid for. But I highly recommend the land tour and then a cruise after.