jeromep

Sailed out of Canada Place a few years ago. Our sailing was the first Princess ship calling at Vancouver for the spring/summer season. With only one ship in port, I wouldn't call it chaotic, but unlike other embarkation ports, there were very slow lines and many switchback queues. It isn't a huge open facility like most modern cruise ship port buildings. It's a lot like waiting in line at the DMV... with all your luggage. On the outside Canada Place is a striking piece of mid-80s architecture, on the inside (at least in the cruise terminal portion) it looks like a Carter administration government building. My local post office was built during the Carter administration, so I know how drab and boring that looks. Come to think of it, when Canada Place is filled with cruisers trying to embark, it looks a lot like our local Social Security office... but everyone has luggage.

We don't cruise often, but when we do we book suites. I've only done conventional tendering once without the priority tender embarkation that you get with booking a suite, but Princess tendering does feel slow. If you have priority tender embarkation then you get to skip the line, cut the line, really, but the "at sea" tender handling process feels quite slow, deliberate. I guess that is good, I mean we wouldn't want to have tenders crashing into each other at the ship or the dock, or a whole bunch of seasick pax because the tender pilot was Carol Shelby, but tendering with haste is not Princess's strong suit.

Oh, I get it. I could only tolerate the Piazza for a few minutes at a time most evenings. The entertainers on the ship during our sailing were all excellent, but it is super loud. I could never understand why they would have a good vocalist/pianist/stand up at the Piano in Crooners while at the same time they were playing music down on the floor of the Piazza. I enjoyed it when the Piazza shows ended for the evening and all that was left was the piano player at Crooners. Then Crooners "got hot" and was the place to be.

Unless they have completely torn apart the Ruby's dining room since we last sailed on her, the 2 tops in the dining room are mostly a curving banquet with a table for two and a chair on the other side. While they are 2 tops, you sit mere inches away from the people at the 2 top next to you. There are very few table and chairs for two in their dining rooms, but a couple of them are out there. And yes, if you have the reservation for a table for two in your app and you can see it in there, then it should also be in the service computers in the dining room. I recommend a polite conversation with the Maitre D, at some point in the near future. It will be much easier to get a 2 top later in the evening or very early in service, so if you can change when you dine, that will make your selection easier.

I agree, I love Take 5. First off, I'm inclined toward jazz in terms of instrumental music, but the space is just beautiful. Has a lot of natural light during the day, a great bar. When we were on the Discovery last July the Platinum, Elite, Suite nightly lounge was hosted there and it was a great way to get a snack and beverage before a later dinner. The sausage roll they had most nights was spectacular. I could have made a meal out of them. Great live music later in the evening too. That said, the Discovery is a beautiful ship. In general, Princess does put their A teams on their newer vessels. Wouldn't you, if you were running a cruise line? Sure, you want a consistent experience, but human variability is always in play. A theme amongst the fans here is that Princess doesn't impress... it is comfortable. There is glitz and glamor in some places, the Piazza is basically that space, but generally speaking once we have settled into our cabin, it feels like home. @Oakman58, I see a lot of references to sailing Norwegian in your signature. It is difficult to compare the two lines. While I suspect that you'll have an excellent cruise on the Discovery, especially since the ship is new, I can't help but wonder if you are hoping for the Norwegian vibe. I know that your experience on the Diamond wasn't good, and as you state, it was just post CVD and the ship was in a restart mode. I think the Discovery will give you a much better experience and be more indicative of the current state of Princess as a line.

Just like @suekel we booked in the app for embarkation night and we were not charged. It zeroed out at the end of the transaction. If it doesn't and expects you to input card information... Then do what @memoak suggests and contact the dine line once on board or visit the concierge lounge to have them get you reservations. Yet another reason to get on board as soon as possible on embarkation day. I have usually left comped first night specialty dining reservations to chance and booked them once on board or through the concierge after getting on board.

Well..., we were on Discovery last July and my wife and I both purchased the full cruise pass to the Enclave. The facility is nice, but compared to the spas on the older Grand class ships, I don't like either the overall location of the Lotus Spa or the cramped quarters the whole complex exists in. The Enclave is different than the thermal suites on the Grand class ships. First off, the centerpiece is a hydrotherapy pool that has a number of jetted stations where you let the water blast against various muscle groups, typically back and legs, along with some underwater loungers. It is a nice feature, when the pumps are running it is loud and kind of breaks the peace of the location. When the pumps' timer turns off, the room becomes library quiet, but somebody always turns it all back on. It has a similar collection of steam and thermal rooms, as compared to the thermal suites on Grand class ships, on the periphery of the hydrotherapy pool. And then there is a small selection of heated loungers on the port side of the Enclave. Relative to the number of people on board, the facility is way too small and was busy and crowded every time we visited. Not just on sea days, but on port days. And since it is part of the spa, it is only available during spa hours. Once the spa closes, well, your access does too. Once you purchase your pass, it is linked to your account and your medallion is what gets you in. They will verify your pass through your medalion when you arrive at the front desk, then hand you a key card that lets you come and go from the Enclave. My wife and I would change into swimwear in our cabin and then head down to the spa. It is usual procedure to head to the locker room, grab a robe and spa slippers, put your shirt and shoes in a locker and then head down the hallway to the enclave. The locker rooms are tiny and when it is busy you are rubbing shoulders with the guy next to you. Lockers have electronic locks that allowed for self coding, but they were not working, so nothing left behind in the locker was secured. I hope they got that fixed. After that, it was always chance if you would be able to find open loungers or if the Enclave was packed or not. When leaving you'd head back to the locker room, grab your things, put used robes, towels and sandals in the dirty hamper, and give your keycard to a spa staffer at the front desk. Would I purchase a pass again? Maybe, if I was fairly certain that the place wasn't jam packed with users at every visit. The major difference between the Enclave and regular thermal suites is basically just the presence of the hydrotherapy pool. Note that suite passengers get free access to thermal suites on the Grand class ships, but on the Royals with the Enclave, suite passengers still have to pay for the pass. Considering that the only major difference between the two is the presence of the hydrotherapy pool, I don't consider that a good exchange or amenity change, at least for those of us who typically book suites. I mentioned earlier that I liked the Lotus Spas on the Grand class over the Spa on the Royals. Simply put, the Spa on the Royals is low down on the ship, and the public areas are very dark, since they are all inside with no external lighting. The design cues that have been chosen for the new Lotus Spas are attractive, however it doesn't make up for the fact that the spa is basically a long rambling hallway with rooms on either side and no exterior views. The Lotus Spa on the Grand class is up high with natural light coming in from the windows that encircle the Lotus Pool, and waiting areas and treatment room access all get natural light from this space. Plus the treatment rooms in the Spa on the Grand class ships all have exterior windows allowing them to be light and bright inside. The treatment rooms on the Royals are a mix of outside rooms and inside rooms, which can be very dark. I haven't looked closely at where the spa is on the new Sun class ships, but I hope Princess made the choice to give them a lot more natural light and larger public spaces than what they did to the Spa on the Royals.

My wife has to visit the home office in Seattle three or so times a year. They usually put her up at the Mediterranean. It is nice, not 4 or 5 star nice, but it has nice rooms, is clean, and has a very nice roof deck with great views. It is located in the Lower Queen Ann neighborhood, and there is generally a decent amount of food available in walking distance in that area. The La Quinta is on the edge of Belltown. And as others have correctly stated, it is an office tower neighborhood, so it is sterile and caters to a day crowd. It has been a while, since I've hung out in Belltown, but my impression was that Belltown kind of folded up at night and didn't have a lot of food choice as the evening got late. It was more of a brunch/lunch neighborhood. That said, I always recommend staying farther south, closer to the airport. The hotel prices are much more reasonable and food is easily found, either in hotel restaurants, or some of the more notable restaurants in the SeaTac area. I'm a huge fan of 13 Coins and they are open very late. I think the SeaTac location is 24 hours, but I could be wrong. Seattle is not an inexpensive city, in fact it has become very expensive in the past 10 years.

While I understand that you are asking about public transit, I used Google maps to determine travel times. If you are moving from SeaTac to the hotel in light traffic, the travel time is not quite 20 minutes. On the other hand if you use Link, you are looking at 45 minutes. Plus Link can have some very sketchy characters on board, and isn't very clean. I'd always do an Uber or Lyft to and from the airport over taking public transit. Plus, when you get to Westlake you will be underground, and will have to pop up and, by my calculation, have to walk at least 2 blocks to the hotel. If you Uber, you will be dropped at the door. Downtown Seattle has a lot of "characters", more than I'm comfortable with anymore.

We've cruised out of Seattle a number of times. I much prefer to stay overnight before the cruise in hotels near SeaTac or in south King County and take an Uber/Lyft to the port the next day. It is a pretty rare unicorn to find a hotel in Seattle that offers shuttle service anyplace you really need to go. The only hotels that will shuttle you from the airport to the hotel are going to be the SeaTac area hotels. Virtually no hotel in Seattle proper offers shuttle service to/from the airport, although during the cruise season some hotels do arrange for shuttle service to/from the port through third-party providers or the van arm of a local cab company or limo company. I'll get back to that. Last year we stayed at the Ceaderbrook Lodge, which is down near SeaTac, but up the hill and stuffed way back in a residential zone. They had an affordable park and cruise fare, for a 4 star location. An Uber from that location to the port is about a 40 minute drive in weekend traffic and will run you anywhere between $50-80 including tip. We made the mistake of letting the front desk book a black SUV for us the morning of the cruise, that cost me a shade over $100, including tip, and the driver insisted that I pay in cash. We didn't make the same mistake on disembarkation. We booked an Uber SUV to take us back to the hotel, and for the same distance paid $70 including the tip and I didn't have to fumble with cash. I'm not a huge fan of using hotel provided or booked shuttles because there is a lot of hurry up and wait. With Uber or Lyft you walk out of your hotel room when you are ready to go to the port. Fire up the app, indicate which pier you are going to, and ask for a ride. You'll get a driver in less than 10 minutes and you'll know the price for the ride up front and you tip in the app. Every time I've used a hotel booked shuttle, my travel party is there, on-time, waiting for the shuttle, the people we are sharing with are late, confused, disorganized, trying to even up their account with the hotel, whatever, and delay the van getting going to the pier. And on a per/head basis, my travel party in a hotel shuttle costs about the same as my party in an UberSUV. When it comes to selecting where to stay before or after a cruise, ask what kind of hotel you want, look at online reviews and pricing and pick the one that you like the best. Leave the driving to carshare services and don't involve the hotel in your transportation.

My mistake. Terribly sorry. Celebrity and Princess have a similar vibe. I think Celebrity is a bit fancier in some areas, less fancy in others. I think the two brands compete well against each other and provide cruisers quite a bit of variety if they hop back and forth between the brands, without really altering the style of cruising. I guess I had RCI on the brain considering that I'm keenly aware that Celebrity is an RCI holding.

CC has a prohibition against referring to or referencing specific travel agents. You'll notice that everyone that comments here is quite delicate about mentioning travel agent names. If you do, the post will be pulled down by the mods and they will send you a "friendly" reminder about policies. That said, I do agree that having an independent travel agent that you book all your cruises through, somebody that is local, or somebody that you have grown to trust, is a better resource than other travel resources.

@travelloverontario you mention that this is your first with Princess. So you are checking off two "adventures" at once. Others have commended about solo travel, which I think is a great option. Princess is a very different vibe from RCI. There is less "stuff" on board to entertain you. I don't get the impression that you are into climbing walls, waver riders, and water slides. If so, I think you are going to be disappointed. There is very little, if any, corporate co-branding on Princess. You won't find Starbucks or other big brands (Tim Horton's has better coffee anyway). Princess has done, and continues to do "celebrity chef" co-brands in their dining rooms and specialty restaurants, but my cat has a longer attention span than Princess does in terms of keeping those "celebrity chefs" around. If you stick to the MDR and ask to join a group table, I'm sure you will find nice folks to chat with and maybe some shoreside travel companions. We've always met nice folks to chat with on board, and sometimes have had the opportunity to join each other on shore, or meet up for lunch or dinner on board later on in the cruise. The Emerald Princess is one of the older Grand class ships. Some folks split hairs about there being Grand class ships and Jewel class ships, but it is a Grand class hull design and the interior follows the Grand class layout. Best place on those ships to spend a sea day or time between ports that is quiet and out of the way is up at Skywalkers. It is a nightclub, but during the day is almost always just unused lounge space. You are way up high behind the stack and have nearly 360 degree views of the ocean. It is one of my favorite places to hang out because it is quiet, not many folks are up there, and the views are stellar. Not sure what else to share. I think you are going to have a great time.

I have no problem with MDR lunch burgers. If you really want something special on the burger, I'm fond of blue cheese or Gorgonzola on burgers, the MDR is better able to accommodate you than the grill up on Lido. For me the laid back and quiet nature of lunch in the MDR is why I choose it over the buffet or grill. As for portion sizes, well..., they are smaller for just about all meals in the MDR compared to 5 or more years ago.

@D1324tt best advice is to just buy the FCD in the app a day or so before disembarkation and then book your future dream cruise through your normal travel agent or through Princess. My most recent cruise search for a cruise we were interested in showed little price differentiation between various TAs and the Princess web site. The benefit of the FCD is that you can generally book a cruise with only the FCD as your "down payment" or security, plus you get a little bit of OBC. But our schedule is never such that we can plan a brand new cruise while we are on the current cruise. I generally need to be away from a cruise for about 3 or 6 months before I get to hankering to take another.

I think the jury is out on your question, however I'd like to suggest a different approach. Your airline carry on luggage is just the right size to go through the scanner at the port. I'm not sure of your pre-cruise travel plans. Are you staying someplace prior to the cruise? Maybe a hotel stay in a city before your flight into Rome? Either way, I'd make sure that you had your day 1 clothing of choice for your excursion packed in your carry on. That means if you are flying from home to Rome and immediately transferring to the ship, you'll have to plan ahead and have that clothing all packaged up in the carry on. Then you don't have to worry when your larger, checked, luggage arrives. If you have intermediate travel plans, you may have to reorganize your luggage before you get to Rome, like putting dirty clothing in your checked bags, making space for your excursion day clothing in your carry ons. Either that, or I didn't understand the assignment.

Funny, one of the owners of the local dry cleaners I go to just got off the Discovery Princess last week and couldn't say enough good things about everything, the food, the service, the entertainment. This was an Alaska cruise, RT Seattle. She was really fond of a duo that plays in one of the lounges each evening, couldn't remember their names but showed me a picture of them. Everything she shared with me indicated that you'll not have any problems finding musical entertainment. No mention of mariachi music, on an Alaska sailing I would think mariachi would be, at least, slightly out of place, but it sounded like the obligatory bands and musicians were all there, the Lido deck party band, jazz group, classical chamber group, and such. The emails I'm getting from Princess for my upcoming Discovery Princess booking indicate that Rock Opera and Spotlight Bar are the major production shows.

Kirkland Signature bottled water is excellent, at least whatever bottler they are using in the Pacific Northwest to stock their stores, Costco that is. It has a nice crisp flavor, and doesn't taste like plastic. I'm fine with tap water, both at home and on board the ship, but I wouldn't bat an eye at a bartender handing me bottled water from Costco. I purchase it for use when out camping. It's a good tasting, quality product.

That is welcome news. I haven't been to Vancouver for at least 6 years.

We've done Vancouver to Vancouver RT California Coastal before. It is just as simple as getting in your car, driving to Vancouver, parking the car someplace, and getting on the ship. You MUST have a passport or passport card, but you'll be better served if you have both. The passport card is very convenient for driving across the border at Blaine, less so entering Canada, but more so re-entering the U.S as there are sensors at the U.S. crossing that read the passport card prior to getting to the booth. Streamlines reentry quite a bit. I recommend having a conventional passport when cruising. If you have an emergency and need to fly back home, the passport card isn't allowed for international entry when flying. I'd recommend finding a hotel/motel with a park and fly or park and cruise option. The hotel really doesn't care if you are flying or cruising, you are paying them extra to park the car with them while you are away. Last time we did a Vancouver RT we stayed a couple of nights before the cruise at the Accent Inn Vancouver Airport, which is located on the east side of the highway to Vancouver. We found their prices competitive and they have clean, generously sized rooms. They are located in a commercial area that blends to residential quite quickly, so we felt very safe leaving the car with them. We used a taxi to get to Canada Place on embarkation morning. The front desk at the hotel will call you a cab. If you want to stay in Vancouver proper, closer to Canada Place, you'll pay more, sometimes a lot more for lodging and vehicle parking. That is why we stayed in the suburbs. If you hail taxis in Vancouver make sure they accept plastic for payment before you get in. All of them should, but some drivers get snippy if they have to run plastic because it means they can't pocket the entire fare or have to report the income. Getting Uber and Lyft into Canada has been difficult, Uber and Lyft were not operating in Vancouver when we visited, but that might have changed. That was many years ago. As for Princess Plus/Premier, it is my understanding that you can purchase those on board now, on liek the first or 2nd day. You may want to consider that as an option, also.

It's the house brand, Lotus Spa. I like it, but others may find it less desirable.

Good, because if I were to join a class that requires any coordinated movement it would look like a newborn giraffe decided to participate in the activities.

Yes, and there is a superautomatic espresso machine in there for you to make your own coffee drinks. Plus, if there is a specific beverage or liquor you want stocked just ask the concierge and they will try to stock it.

I tend to think of cruise lines as vehicle brands and their relationship to each other. Carnival is a entry level cruise line, the first place you cruise because it has the brand cachet and are known as being "fun ships". RC is a step up from Carnival. I know lots of folks that have "graduated" form Carnival to RC. Larger, nicer ships, nicer cabins, more water slides, more onboard activities, more wiz-bang. Both lines are family oriented. Both lines are also more "onboard" oriented. Their goal is not just to sell you a cruise, but to sell you stuff while on board (well all cruise lines are that way, but some more so than others). With regard to selling stuff while on board, I think that Norwegian does this the most and most unabashedly. I've looked at cruising RC recently and their itineraries are not nearly as good as Princess or HAL. I also think that RC's pricing and cabin class situation is much more confusing and convoluted than Princess. Princess has some oddities in their cabin classes. Mini-suites are not suites and do not have suite benefits. Reserve Class mini-suites are not suites, but have a special dining room location and a couple of half bottles of moderate priced wine in your cabin when you arrive, and "better" locations on board ship, but aside from that are still not suites. Breakfast is always available as a plated sit-down meal in the MDR. Hours listed in the Patter. I recall that breakfast times are fairly generous, but if you are a late riser you'd better get to the dining room before 10am, or else you might miss breakfast. On top of that, lunch service starts about 11 in the buffet so you are kind of compressing your meals. Lunch is also served in the MDR on sea days. Timing for MDR lunch is pretty limited. I recall it being noon-1:30 or something similar. On port days you can find lunch in the buffet, or International Cafe in the Piazza or the grill or pizza place on Lido. If the ship has a Gigi's or Alfredo's, you can get lunch there, too. There are plenty of places on board to get lunch and avoid the buffet, whether it is or is not a port day. Princess is more relaxed, by a huge margin. Depending on the time of year, length of cruise and itinerary, you will see families and children, but it is highly variable. With no wet toys on board, like wave riders and water slides, you also tend to get a more subdued top deck atmosphere. A good thing. Caribbean Princess has a kids splash pad area, and some extensive kids club facilities that the other ships don't have in the same measure. Again, this has a lot to do with the typical itineraries that she sails. I've never known check-in times to be something that is enforced with Princess. If the ship is ready to board and people are at the terminal, they will board those that are waiting. Any boarding grouping is merely a suggestion they make in the hopes that people will follow it and that will help to not overwhelm the space in the terminal. But you are pretty much free to show up any time starting about 10:30 or 11, and you'll probably be on board in 30 minutes or so. I'm not sure what paperwork you are looking at, but on a 7 day voyage there are usually 2 formal nights. Formal nights are typically on sea days. Formal night dress codes are basically not enforced in detail. Slacks and a button-up shirt will be just fine for a casual formal night. Nobody on staff will bat an eye. As for your other passengers, there are those that "dress to impress", and that is kind of where the formal nights are going, Princess list the formal nights in the patter, and you can participate or not. I think the big thing is that at dinner you don't want to show up in holey jeans and a ripped t-shirt that says "I'm with stupid". With that said, enjoy Princess, it will be quite different from RC.

@Amy G congrats on the bid. I've thought about putting in a bid for a suite upgrade for our next cruise, coming up fast, but it would just be a suite class change not a meaningful upgrade. That said, we do suites because we don't cruise often, but we like to cruise well. We use as many of the perks as we can. If you are on a Royal Class ship with the Concierge Lounge and you need anything... anything, don't bother going to passenger services (although there is a separate waiting line for suite and elite passengers), just visit the Concierge in the Lounge and work directly with them. They can address issues with Medallion, technology, dining reservations in the specialty restaurants or the MDR (although in the MDR you will enter through the Reserve class door and should not have any wait times for tables), book shore excursions which you have not already booked, etc. They are really quite versatile and can save you a lot of time. Use the lounge resources. It is a great place to pick up a quick snack, get a quick beverage, etc. Plus it is quite and calm in there. If there is a particular beverage or food you'd like to see in the Concierge Lounge through the trip, just ask and they will do their best to get it stocked for the remainder of the cruise. Alas, you are on the Crown, which does not have the Concierge Lounge. That is ok, you'll see have a separate line at passenger services for any account related items. You have free laundry. There will be laundry bags and laundry slips in one of the closets in your cabin. Just stuff the bag, fill out the slip with what you have placed in the bag and leave it on your bed in the morning, or hand off to your cabin steward. They will get it to the laundry. If you have your laundry ready in the morning, you will likely get it back the next afternoon. Your onboard account will be charged for the laundry, but will then be credited back as you are in a suite. I've not had an issue with the reverse credit not showing up, but others here have encountered that. All you have to do is bring it to the attention of the Concierge in the Lounge or passenger services and they will get the credit initiated. So, check your onboard folio frequently, at least daily so you aren't trying to get things cleaned up on disembarkation day. The mini-bar is just a tray of small liquors, mostly the clear and brown style, vodka, gin, scotch, along with lowball glasses and a mini-fridge with some canned pop, a couple of mass market beers and a couple of bottled waters. There are some exchanges you can do if you wish for different liquor or more pop or more beer or bottled water, but I've never really executed on that. Your cabin steward will generally keep your ice bucket full in that mini-fridge. They check in on it when they service the room. If you use a little bit of ice, even if it is just for tap water, they will keep the ice flowing and you'll never be without. Nice thing is on the Grand class ships the minibar is placed on your wet bar, and it is a real wet bar with a sink. Suites on the Royal class ships, there is no wet bar in the suite, even though there really is space for one. That is a disappointment. First night specialty dining is easy. Just decide if you are into Sabatini's or Crown Grill and ring up the dine line once you are on board and request a time. Generally speaking, there are no wait lists for the specialty restaurants on embarkation evening. That is part of the reason that they give suite guests the complimentary specialty restaurant meal on embarkation evening. You may also be fine with no reservation at all, but like a lot of suite perks, just make sure that they do not charge your folio or that they have reversed any charges if they have to post it and then reverse it for accounting purposes. Your standing MDR reservation is kind of meaningless now. Since your suite gives you Reserve Class dining you reservation is not necessary as there are generally no lines for dinner in the Reserve Class dining room. And if you have to wait, it will only be momentarily. I can't tell you exactly which dining room hosts the Reserve Class door, but you'll find it. It will be a dining room off the Piazza or atrium. Your suite gives you a cruise long thermal suite pass at the spa. Just head to the spa and they will be glad to show you the facilities. Tendering? If you have an excursion booked in a tender port and the excursion is booked through Princess you either meet in a public space with the rest of the cruisers that are on that excursion and then tender in together, or you are provided tender priority boarding tickets which put you to the front of the line to tender. Suite guests get tender tickets on tender port days regardless if they have an excursion booked with Princess or not. I suppose I could go on and on.