texswamper

We are definitely light sleepers although we are also early risers. Thank you for your experience. We have never been the cabin right on the door. I think I’ll see if there is another near that location.

I tried to seek out reviews that mentioned this cabin being on the fire break door or having the small "white space" across the hall but couldn't really find anything other than there is no balcony connection to open w/the cabin next door if that's something you are looking for. Has anyone stayed in that cabin or on the deck above or below that could tell me their experience with pros or cons? This would be for a 21 nt Transatlantic cruise, so longer than just a quick 7 night cruise. Thanks in advance for any insight!

We had a situation in Wales in 2019 where the ship could not get into port due to the seas and the independent guide I had booked with was very unhappy and rude when I had to contact her. We eventually sent her $100 because she complained so much about having driven to the port to pick us up. I won't book any independent/private tours that don't offer a refund if the ship isn't able to dock but more likely I would only book tours that allow us to pay in cash on the day of the tour. Thirty years of doing private tours we only had that one bad experience!

Made me unhappy when they removed the barrel chair from the balcony cabins years ago. If we book a balcony, it has to be deluxe as well but normally we just book the mini suite for the large sofa and extra space. I've cleaned up a chair from the balcony and left it inside last year on the Ruby just to have an extra chair. Crazy

You are so right about there being different recipes! We spent 3 weeks last year on the Ruby and LOVED the lasagna. It was offered more than once. We just spent 2 weeks on the Emerald and it wasn't at all like the lasagna on the Ruby & only offered once in 2 weeks lol.

We used Invergordon Tours in 2019 for our group of 6 and had a wonderful private tour. Wouldn't hesitate to use them again or recommend them to friends or family.

I have booked with Paragon Taxis for our cruise in October. I read many reviews and got quotes from at least three different companies. I think I'm also going to use them for a full day of private touring from our Southampton hotel since we are arriving three days before the cruise. https://paragontaxis.co.uk

It won't be a problem. It's just the way the computer prints the names. We've flown many times on many different airlines with tickets that do that with the names. Also, we've used EZ air several times but mainly on United flying first class or Business class overseas and always get to choose seats but the tickets are not paid for until final payment. I go into the personalizer and redo flights if there's a price drop before final payment. I have only requested early ticketing once but I won't do that again.

That's impressive that you were in the cabin by 11:30! Last year on the Ruby from Galveston the rooms announcement wasn't made until at least 12:45 and the doors to all of the cabin hallways were closed. Your early entrance was the way we always remember it pre shutdown but happy to hear that maybe our late time was just a Ruby issue??

Exactly why we choose EZ air and face the music of challenges if there are changes I suppose.

Update: Didn't pan out so looks like we will have to be one of the first off the ship and pray it all works out because it was going to be a $1373 fee to cancel and $2880 pp to change flight. (first class seats) So, I will think a bit longer in the future about using EZ Air because you do lose much control.

I'm in the thick of it right now with my TA because United changed our return flight from Seattle to Houston when we disembark the Discovery in July. They changed the fight to 11 am and most people say it's a huge risk to try making that. So, our best option now is to change to the 11 am flight on Sunday morning and stay one more night in Seattle. We have used EZ several times pre shut down and never had any issues but now I'm seeing what others are talking about. I know it has nothing to do with Princess but due to the airlines. Definitely challenging but I appreciate not having to pay for tickets so far out. Pros and cons like everything I guess.

I have a cruise leaving from Southampton in 2024 and when I try to have the medallion sent to me in Texas through my app, it says it's not available for shipping and picking up at the port is my only option. Is this normal??

I hate to hear that since Regal has arrived in Galveston the embarkation & disembarkation process seems to be in disarray. Having sailed out of Galveston many times and 3 times at the beginning of 2023 on the Ruby, I can attest to the fact that we had no such issues and things moved smoothly and quickly but facial recognition definitely makes things speedy. Having the Regal booked in 2024 from Galveston, I hope this gets turned around and goes back to "normal" soon. Any thoughts that doing away with boarding times could be adding to the long lines, at least for embarkation?

I would not stay at one of the hotels near Hobby airport as the neighborhood in that area is not one I, as a Houston area resident, would ever stay in. You can take Uber just a little bit south, towards Galveston, and stay in a much safer area. Clear lake or League City area near NASA would be better. Many people stay in Texas City area but someone that lives on the south side of Houston may have more specific recommendations.

We will be on the 16 day in October as well. 🙂

We are right in the middle of this as we booked a Viking France's Finest for May 2025. This is the itinerary that we want to do & we were actually scheduled for 2020 but we took the refund when it was cancelled. The final payment is due February 2024! It's crazy & we don't like it but since Amawaterways hasn't released their 2025 cruises yet (TA says August), we decided to go ahead with the booking to use the $25 pp deposit. If we decide to change to Ama, we will forfeit the deposit, but we are ok with that. The TA said there were only 5 balcony cabins left for our sailing, so clearly there are plenty of cruisers that are willing to let Viking keep their money for more than a year as surely not all of them are return guests who do benefit with a final payment due 6-8 months ahead.

Thank you for your explanation. Makes sense. 🙂

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=700188 This is the review I was referencing. It is the newest review on the Discovery Princess Member reviews.

We have chosen this cruise for June 2024 based on our daughter wanting the new ship for kids and we wanted an itinerary that included Glacier Bay having cruised there in 2017 onboard the Coral Princess. I've just read a recent review from a cruiser on Discovery that felt they were lied to about the ship visiting Glacier Bay as it only went into the beginning of the bay. He said a $300 excursion to actually get close to see the glacier was what Princess was really offering. My question is this, is the Discovery Princess too large to see Glacier Bay like we did aboard the Coral Princess? Thanks for your comprehensive review!

Attitude is everything as the saying goes! Being unhappy wouldn't change a thing for sure. Hope your next cruise goes as is scheduled!

https://www.cruisehive.com/norwegian-cruise-lines-transatlantic-voyage-did-not-go-as-planned/102250 Seems that NCL's apology offer was a bit better than the offer you were given by Princess.

Thank you! I'm leaning towards The Mayflower right now. Seems like a decent central location & our daughter likes the suites available for a family of 5.

We will be leaving from Pier 91 onboard Discovery Princess. Are there hotels that are walkable to embark at Pier 91? We will be traveling with daughter's family with children ages 11, 9 & 5. Trying to decide best location.

When she posted that there are only 1969 guests I was so wishing that I was on that sailing! We were on 1/8/23 and had 2900 but a lovely week and decided to return in February. Sadly the first week we were on 2/26, was the week that the norovirus reared its ugly head but we had less than 50 kids onboard. Unfortunately, for our b2b we were forced to disembark for 4.5 hours while the ship was sanitized and the week of 3/5 had over 370 kids! We had never been on a Princess cruise with that many and decided that we would never cruise in March or April going forward lol. The 1969 guests sounds wonderful! 🙂