highloyo

A lot of down time on the 2nd to last day of our cruise ending in Vancouver earlier this month. The morning was a schedule disembarking Covid test before reaching Victoria. After our negative test results I tried accessing my 2 email accounts on the internet. It was slow and had connection problems, logging me out a few times and causing me to lose what I had written and had to start over. My point, I wouldn’t trust the ship’s internet to do a proctored Covid test.

First time with the medallion and app was on the CB in Aug 2018, our 1st cruise in several years. It was all very new to us and we were just getting adjusted to the “new” technology and excited to be cruising. It didn’t have all the features then but was fairly easy to use. We’ve had two cruises over the last 2 months and find the app and medallion quite beneficial and convenient. I am one to say it’s been great. Moving into a new technology needs to start somewhere and this is a good start. There will be glitches with a new platform but often times it’s user or device issues IMHO.

I looked at the menu and wasn’t impressed, Granted, I’m Chinese and live in the San Gabriel Valley, Calif the hub of the best Chinese cooking and restaurants in America.

Yes, I only buy the more more expensive fresh poke and sit at the nearby wine bar with a glass of Chardonnay. Oh I didn’t know The Village Walk has closed permanently. It’s been over 2 years due to Covid, the quarantine restrictions and testing since I was last in Honolulu. We were going every few month for the last 20 years. We plan to go in a few weeks for the1st time since Feb 2020.

The parking lots in Ala Moana Center are always full. These can’t all be rentals. I see many locals at Macy’s and Nordstrom. However the best thing at the mall is Foodland poke and the Japanese Village Walk. In the past I’ve bought a new iPhones at the Apple store. It was a lower sales tax rate than Calif. Also when phones were discounted for 24 month service contract, that store only charged tax on the discounted amount unlike Calif which taxed the full retail amount.

Unbelievable, for sure Phishing scam.

I asked for $300 to be charged to my cabin so I could play craps on a table that seemed favorable. It took a few minutes for them to scan my medallion, do the necessary paperwork and give me my chips. After a couple of bets the table turned very cold, everyone left and I was the only one left at the table. I don’t normally throw the dice so I left as well. After a few minutes bored in the casino I cashed in $292 in chips. Nothing was said when cashing in my chips after about 20 minutes.

Private coach or bus service, or Amtrak (although it is a bus and not a train). Private coach can probably get you to SeaTac. Amtrak will get you to the Amtrak station where you will need to find a way to SeaTac. Car rental is very expensive due to a drop off in another location and country. BTW, even if you get to Seattle, please don’t board a plane if you are positive.

You complete one form for your entire family unit.

Yes I had a couple just like a McMuffin.

Yes a test is needed unless it changes by the the time you disembark. There’s been several updates/changes over the last month regarding pre-testing requirements, quarantine and Princess’ policy regarding testing passengers that need to fly back to the US.The testing requirement is fly into the US is not a Princess policy.

It seems Colorado Coasty recently checked with Princess about the transfer from Vancouver to Seattle and it is no longer offered. It was an option for me when I disembarked on May 4. So you should see if it will be available for your cruise.

Wife retired from HA and was based at LAX.

There’s been two large resorts that opened recently, Resorts World and Circa. I haven’t been to either one or know their smoking policy. Perhaps being new they have taken the approach to not allow smoking but IDK. I believe some tribal casinos in California don’t allow smoking.

We departed from Los Angeles with the cruise visiting Victoria and terminating in Vancouver. It’s a very simple app to complete, maybe 4 or 5 simple questions. Prior to a recent change it was more complicated because you had to provide a quarantine plan. That no longer is the case.

Baja 620 had a shower curtain.

@Yehootu Were you with HA?

ArriveCAN was not checked when checking in at the pier. During the cruise there was an info sheet detailing what needed to be done. If you already did it please check in at Guest Services with the QR code, if not please complete it. That was the only time it was ever asked about. No one asked a thing when we got off the ship in Victoria.

We sailed on Friday Apr 29 on Discovery from LA to Vancouver. We took our PCR tests on Tuesday. It was fine when we checked in. The agent looked at it, matched our names and checked the date.

Not true about Las Vegas. All the casinos except Park MGM allow smoking. There may be one or two others that have banned smoking but for sure Park MGM has.

Movies on the Discovery were not good. Old movies like Blame It On Rio.

I was assigned B620. E626 is a nice cabin. It may be at the tail end of the last life boat. IDK if you paid for an unobstructed balcony but the lifeboat is right about there. It could be a location upgrade if you requested the very end section. This is the section in 600’s not 700’s.

We disembarked the Discovery on May 4 in Vancouver. Princess offered a transfer to SeaTac. It was one of our options since quarantine restrictions were from 5-14 days (it kept changing). We self tested on May 2. If one of us were positive then we would not take the Princess provided test on May 3 for air travel from YVR and sign up to go to SeaTac. My SIL lives in Kent and we would stay with her until clear. Since we were negative we took the Princess test on May 3 with the negative results sent to the airline. Our flights were flexible as a retired airline employee.

The bus to Seattle was available for my May 4 disembarking.

I booked the Discovery 5 weeks before sailing and the only regular balcony I could book was a Guarantee. I booked it. I was upgraded to a Deluxe Balcony on the Baja Deck for my April 29 cruise about 2 weeks before sailing. While on the ship I noticed several vacant cabins near me that were also Deluxe Balconies. The ship sailed at 61% capacity so there were many empty cabins.