deltahog

Exploring all my options. At the end I have a Vancouver day. But at the beginning I don't get to Seattle until 9p the night before. It's somewhere I never go, so why not treat it as a port stop? If possible. I have other sea days to enjoy the ship.

Discovery Princess - can I get on at opening time, have lunch, drop bags, then get off ship and return at final boarding call? If I do, anything worth it in walking distance, in Seattle?

No spa offer experts eh? Bumping to the first page for one more try.

Oh thank goodness. From the thread title, I was thinking Bermuda Triangle, Donner party, MH370.....

Here's the exact text of an email received today for my 9/24 sailing on Discovery Princess and it has lots of wiggle words: "Enjoy an exclusive pre-cruise discount for the Lotus Spa®, the best place to begin your cruise. You'll love saving up to 25% on embarkation day treatments and other great deals available online. You can't get this offer on board so book it soon!" Ah, the infamous "UP TO". So it could be 0.1% off? And is it only for embarkation day? So I click the link in the email and it simply takes me to the general page for Lotus Spa, under princess.com. No listing of what "treatments" are on discount. No listing of how much the discount is. No way to compare what the sale is, versus what a regular price is. So how am I supposed to make heads or tails of this? Any clues or prior experience with this "pre-cruise discount"?

That's what I meant. The choices were private table for 2 or Sharing. I picked Sharing because we want to meet others.

I have reserved 6:30 p.m. dining every night upcoming Discovery Princess. 2 pax but we asked for a full table so we could talk to others. A 2-top is not what we want. Is this thread telling me we won't get the same table and same people every night, even though we are reserved already for the full week? The same waiter means nothing to me. The same tablemates.....can be good or bad depending on whether you hit it off. If we don't like them, then it's a good thing if we don't get them again the next night. But if we hit it off with another random group at the table, surely we can arrange to meet up for dinner on the upcoming nights at 6:30 and still be seated together?

Ah. That print too small for me to read. Thank you for the translation. Looks like a 9 to me.

What does the "9" mean on the menu? I have read extensively and not seen anything that MDR dishes can be extra (except for the 3 things at the bottom, that I understand completely).

That's remarkably close to my off-the-cuff, no data analysis suggestion that every cabin get an assigned time of one hour for a guaranteed chair. Per day or per cruise though......what about a reasonable compromise of per sea day. Who wants their assigned time to be on a port day, anyway.

Oh that's a close one. How long are you going to be gone? Are you going to stop for a snack?

OK but not a problem for me. I won't need to sit in a chair to see the landscape. Various ship areas will all have that and a few minutes walking and viewing at a time is all I will need.

Tangent -- I assume this will not be an issue on a late September Alaska cruise Seattle-Vancouver? Not exactly sunbathing latitudes.

OP, I had the recent same situation, and realized that if there's any night I want to see a show or any activity rather than my dining time, that would be a good night to see the show then eat one of the other included eating places (gotta give those a try) or even be a "walk up" at one of the other MDRs for the night. At whatever time we want to eat.

The bathroom one I shouldn't have put in, of course going to the bathroom doesn't lose your chair. But going elsewhere to eat is an entirely different activity, too bad so sad.

I am just talking about basic human decency. (non cruise) I am not going to linger at a restaurant table when others are waiting for a table. That's rude. I eat, I pay, I'm gone. We have a home association pool. I am not going to take a lounger all day if others are waiting for one. That's rude. I'll enjoy for a reasonable time (2-3 hours) then go home. Drive throughs make you pull forward if you have to wait for your food, so as not to make others wait on you. Basically, any scarce resource, where there are others also waiting on that resource, it's rude to use it for more than a reasonable time. All day on a crowded cruise ship is more than a reasonable time. If no one else is waiting, I don't care if you sit there 24/7.

That's easy, no one should be allowed to take up a chair ALL DAY on a crowded ship. Going to eat or the bathroom are natural times to say "sorry, someone else's turn chair hog."

I don't know about the casino thing, but the other two are for specific times. Not just "this is mine for the day."

I wonder whether there can be some kind of guaranteed chair slotted system for every paid passenger. I don't know enough about the number of passengers (or cabins, better) divided by the number of chairs and the number of daylight hours. But if the math works out, before you even get on a cruise you could know that you have poolside chair 21-A from 2-3 on Wednesday. If you don't want it you can give it up.

You anticipated my longer post. Saving, in general, should not be allowed.

I would have to see the ship and the surrounding area to know precisely. Certainly, the pool, plus deck activities and the bar immediately adjacent. It may be easy to understand by analogy. Chairs at casino tables are for casino activities. You cannot throw a towel on a blackjack chair and say "no one sit here, I'll be back in 30 minutes to play, I'm going to eat." Chairs in theaters are for theater activities. You can't put your purse there at 5 and say "I'm going to eat, no one take this chair." Chairs in the MDR are for MDR activities. You can't put your book there at 5 and tell the staff "don't seat anyone here I'll be back." Etc etc etc. Really seems quite simple and self-evident to me. The Golden Rule goes a long way.

I hope in reading this thread you have become more educated and considerate of other people.

Yes. I am saying what should be. As well all are. It's rude otherwise.

I'm quite serious. You leave the pool area, you lose the chair. That should be the rule. Many other posters have suggested the same, with the idea of tracking location by medallion; or monitors employed by the ship.

You are certainly entitled to use the buffet. You are not entitled to keep a lounge chair while you do it. Lounge chairs are for guests doing lounge chair things. Under your theory, why not just put a towel on a lounge chair the first night and have it there all week?