Cruise Raider

Thank you for your very balanced review.

I think you will be very pleased with your decision. And, the Royal is a gorgeous ship! I also do love the Discovery but the Royal has a few distinctions that set it just a slight step above, IMO. The Discovery was released during all the supply chain issues so, their beds are just not quite as comfortable as those on the Royal. I know that’s a slight issue for some but it is very noticeable. The Discovery doesn’t have a ‘separated’ nonsmoking section for the casino like the Royal does. Also, Crooners gets so much smoke from the casino so, that’s not a pleasant place to have a cocktail. She also doesn’t have a Vines but, the Gastropub bar does serve as a suitable alternative. Don’t get me wrong, they are both still fabulous ships. There are just these few reasons why I would pick the Royal over the Discovery if I had to pick. The Majestic is my absolute favorite. She may be missing Crooners but has so many other positives that I can overlook that.

I believe you are correct. We’ve been invited onboard by a crew member and an officer has to be the one to escort the guests onboard and be responsible for their time onboard. This monitoring may be conducted by a crew member once authorization has been completed. Even with that, it takes approximately 9 days prior to the visit to approve the visitors after they send in a copy of their passport or other identification. It’s very unlikely that as a passenger, one would be able to just invited your friends onboard unless you have some very good connections with authority onboard.

I booked it for my January cruise, my March cruise and my April cruise. I have the premier package on each one of these sailings and they are all paid in full.

Not arguing but I just got a check for a little over $8 from Bottomline Technologies. Dang, I do my best to spend every last dollar of OBC on each and every sailing! 😆

Glacier Bay has a series of different glaciers and it is spectacular! if you’re only going to Alaska as a one and done, I highly recommend Glacier Bay!

That’s what Holland America was doing for the longest time and not sure if that’s still happening but I just won’t book a cruise that way. I understand it may be easier for them in the long run but one of the reasons I book a cruise is to ensure I can get a favorite cabin. They really are not all created equally!

A good TA is worth their weight in gold. And, they can oftentimes give you extra OBC or perks you might not otherwise get with booking direct or using a CVP at Princess. Gone are the days that Princess allows their CVPs to match what you could get at an outside TA. I use a CVP for all my bookings at Princess knowing I get full control over my booking. They are able to do things that outside TAs might otherwise offer. But, for all other cruise lines, I still do use a very good TA.

Thrak, we also love Vines but found the Salty Dog Gastropub bar is a very nice alternative on the Discovery. Alan and Francis were the bartenders there and always fantastic. During the day, you can use the seating for the GastroPub as you would do at Vines. Around 10 minutes to 5 PM, they would scoot you out to prepare the tables for dining. The Take Five bar was always so relaxing and comfortable!

I don’t believe so. It will most likely remain as having the same expiration date.

I’ve read, but have no person experience with this, that it will be treated as 2 sailings.

I have had no trouble booking it for my cruise in a few weeks no my cruises in March and April.

It opened a couple of weeks ago. At the beginning of November, they were switching out the sign when we were disembarking.

You will incur a one time fee of $14.99 for using the app. If you each use the app, you will be charged that fee twice. Then, you can use it throughout the cruise. If you order items via your stateroom phone, it will be $5 per delivery. So, it might be better to just use your app if you have already paid the $14.99.

As much as this is cutting into our travel plans, everything has gone up so much! we used to be able to go for a 10 night cruise to Mexico for $2000 with the plus package. It has now doubled in price. I really don’t blame the cruiselines .. I’m sure their fuel prices, as well as supplies, have also doubled.

As long as the person with the premier package is in the photo, you will be able to download those to your device. And yea, you can get you copies of any 3 photos you wish in whatever size you wish and each additional copies of photos will cost you $5. That has been my experience. You can even upload photos from your device to have them printed, it those are the ones you like. Of note, we had a photo taken of us with the crew once and it did not show up on our digital downloads .. they said it doesn’t cover the group pictures with the crew but they got it for us anyway. so, if you want family photos, this is a great way of getting them.

My interpretation is of a woman who goes to work at a bar and works hard every day only to go home alone at closing time, while everyone else has found love as they leave arm in arm with others.

Good to know.

They are definitely not just a cut above a high school musical .. we’ve seen some excellent performances with amazing talent and hard work! Fiera and Magic Can Do even had very hard working and talented performers, although the shows themselves were not to my liking, even if they are on one of my future cruises, I will not be attending. Anyway .. the two shows that come to mind that have more of a storyline are Spotlight Bar and Secret Silk, both of which are fantastic shows by extremely talented production crews. I also love Rock Opera but there’s not story line to this show, just great choreography, costumes, sets and incredibly talented performers. These three shows are ones I could watch countless times!

Even after having a leisurely breakfast, we’ve always beeb home by 10:30 AM from and we live a further distance from the pier to the airport. We’ve even been home as early as 9:00 AM with walk off and ordering an Uber. Uber now has the option to pay a little less and wait a little longer. Because we are really never in a hurry to get our ride after a cruise, we tend to take the cheaper option.

I should volunteer to be a tester for a free cruise. 😆 I guess I really would t be a volunteer if I ask for something in return. But hey, I’d take that job!

Whoa .. that’s a better deal than I thought it would be!

thank you for that! If I might ask you a silly question, is the $110 pp or per couple?

We’ve also taken cruises out of San Francisco many times. Unless there is a major delay with disembarkation, you will have plenty of time to get to the airport well before noon. If you are at Pier 27, which I think you are, there is a taxi line up there at the port, you can just grab the next one in line. Or you can go across the drive through and pick up an Uber. Be warned that Lyft and Uber have gone up dramatically from the pier upon disembarkation in SF. It used to cost us around $60-$70 to go home, just past the Oakland airport, and it has now gone up to over $100 the last few times we’ve used them. Anyway, the port of San Francisco uses facial recognition so the immigration process is really quick and easy, especially is you are carrying your own luggage off the ship. Depending on the day of the week and what is happening on the Embarcadero, there may be little to a lot of traffic but I still think the drivers know how to get out of traffic jams in the City. BTW, Princess does on,y sell EZ air out of San Francisco for any flight at noon or after. They usually pad this time so, even though I may not have a flight using EZ Air, I use that time as my guide when I do fly.

If seasickness isn’t a problem, you may want to one of the cabins midway along the corridor on the Sun deck. Those cabins are beautiful and don’t really have any noise from the retreat pool. Plus, the forward elevators are hardly ever an issue. The midship elevators are definitely the most crowded, followed by the aft elevators.