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We did the Plus to Premier upgrade literally seconds after boarding the Discovery a few weeks ago (had to use up some the our OBC). We did it at a table in the Piazza as we walked on board. The gentleman selling it to us was quite clear, when I confirmed with him, that it would "go live" instantly, and it did. He used one of the employee tablets connected to their system to do the immediate activation. But yes, ALWAYS check your on board account on a very regular basis, mistaken charges are not uncommon.

Sorry,no idea what this means.

Actually, they weren't "mains", we ordered one as a starter and the other as the main, so I would expect the "main" to be of a suitable size. It wasn't, they were both tiny. Quality-wise, they weren't any better or worse than any other meal in any other restaurant on the ship, which is to say they were fine. We have found that over the last few years, the food quality tends to vary significantly ship to ship, cook to cook. The food on the Discovery a few weeks ago was much better than on the Sky as recently as last Feb.

It's interesting that you say this about the portion sizes in the Salty Dog. We were on her a few weeks ago, and found the portion sizes for the main courses we had to actually be much too small due to how they were presented. The lobster mac and cheese and the short rib poutine were served in tiny bowls which would have been perfect as appetizer sizes but were much too small for me as main courses (and no, I'm not a big eater). I remember one of dishes coming in a specially designed white bowl which was very large outside diameter, maybe 14" across but the center holding the food wasn't more than 6" wide and not very full. All the other venues had perfectly good portions, just not the SD. We're back on her again in Feb for another try. Glad you're having such a great trip ;o)

A LOT depends on what time of year the OP is asking about as well. I checked the Hampton inn next to the pier for our mid-July trip and the cheapest refundable rate I could find was north of $US675 for one night. We're planning to stay way up in Burlington and drive down the morning of the cruise

What about Park and Fly packages from hotels near Logan? The airport is not far from the cruise port and should be a quick Uber or taxi ride on the morning of the cruise.

We use Take 5 as a quiet place to read on sea days, and in the 5 or 6 cruises we've been on that had a Take 5, there were only one or two times that it was closed for a private function, and then only for a brief period. Even then, in one case they only used half the bar, so the other half was still open for us to use. During the day, there is never any music playing, it's dead quiet, which is why we love it so much. At night, yes, it's a jazz club, not the place for peace and quiet ;o)

If you're on the July 14 sailing, looks like we'll on board together ;o) The Emerald is a great ship, one of the slightly older but not too small class. We've only been on her once 6 or 7 years ago, and IIRC she had a refurb in 2019, though we've been on her sister ships like the Ruby and Crown many times Re the Medallion accessory for Premier, it's only a small plastic medallion clip that can be used to clip the disk to a shirt pocket or inside a shirt, as some crew members will occasionally do. I don't use it as I found it fit the medallion too loosely, and prefer an older style wallet card. As to getting the accessory, once you start the check-in process, you will reach the point where you have to choose the medallion and specify the shipping details. Once you go through the process, the "system" will know that you are Premier, and will show the medallion, the stock lanyard AND the accessory, along with the $0.00 balance owed (unless you choose some other accessory that doesn't come free). If you don't have the Premier plan, then the accessory won't show as a free add-on. It looks like this, though the ones we received a few weeks ago were solid blue

Sadly, no. Although they show Boston as a cruise port, they had nothing available for our specific dates in July. I'll try them again in a few months in case they open up some slots.

Probably a similar reason as to why it's also not available in Quebec or New York state. Provincial/state regulations governing insurance won't allow some or all of the product to be sold in their jurisdiction.

Yup, it sure is. We know Boston pretty well as we visit occasionally heading to the Cape. Fortunately, we will be doing the drive around 8-9AM on a Sunday, so we should be OK but I sure will be using Google Traffic. Still, I'm going to be investigating closer possible Park and Fly/Cruise options, maybe near Logan, as the idea of just leaving the car where it is for a week and Ubering to and from the ship also has its appeal.

I would only caution that if the bottle is stored, and you try to access it from another dining venue such as a specialty restaurant, make very sure you tell the waiter who is going to try and retrieve it exactly where it is stored. In the days before the advent of the packages, we would bring wines on board as well, and if we shifted restaurants, the delay in finding the half-empty bottle could be significant while the crew tried to find it.

We booked a C/NE trip out of Boston for a surprisingly good price when Princess first opened them up for sale a few months ago. As it's a July 2024 sailing, the hotel prices are stratospheric in the downtown area near the port, so we're going to stay much farther north in Burlington, right on our route down, then drive the half hour down to the pier the morning of the cruise (unless I can find a hotel with a good Park and Fly package). The Hampton Inn right at the pier is almost $CAD800 for one night, for example, and the Homewood Suites next to it is over $1K per night. I'll be trying Trinity to see if they have anything useful

Welcome to Cruise Critic. Technically, the Green Line should be called "Americans and Canadians Only" line as Princess has recently started shipping up here to the Great White North

Weather could be an issue when doing this for sure, especially in March. We were lucky when we did it last summer as the weather was perfect for our walk. The walk from the Envue to the Ferry terminal is very short, just a quick walk across a very quiet street in front of the hotel. The ferry ride is easy and if you are taking it on a weekend, the ferry should be empty (ours was, around 8AM on a Saturday). As to the 15 minute walk up the Greenway to the ship, while it's perfectly flat and safe from cars, watch out for those maniac cyclists ;o) We hedged our bets against possible rain by just bringing with us two huge green plastic garbage bags which nicely covered our rolling suitcases against raindrops, but never needed them. Worst case, if the weather is really bad, you can always hail a taxi or an Uber from the ferry terminal at W 39th St., right over the Manhattan end of the Lincoln Tunnel. Have a great trip !

That would appear to be the 7 Day California Coastal on the Discovery, almost exactly the itinerary we did two weeks ago, and for which there are TWO current "Live From...' threads going on right now here on CC. Great itinerary, almost the same as we did, save that we didn't get to go to Monterey and had to settle for two nights in San Francisco. I very much wanted to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. And yes, before final payment if the price drops you can re-fare and get the lower price. Only caveat is that when you re-fare, the person doing the work has to be careful to get your exact cabin re-assigned to you. Usually easy to do but requires a bit of care when doing the re-booking

Welcome to Cruise Critic. We just finished a California Coastal ourselves. EXACTLY which itinerary are you looking at, exactly which dates, which ship, which departure port and is the price you are quoting per person or for the two of you? And yes, you can always book now to grab your preferred cabin, then re-fare if the price drops later on, some time before final payment..

Yup, that's the Take 5 we know and love. I'm VERY glad to hear that they have removed the slot machines. Can't wait to get back on her in Feb for yet another trip to PV and Cabo. And thanks also for the news about The Catch. While we love La Mer, a new restaurant experience is never a bad thing. Keep up the great reports 🥰

No problem. It's really worth looking in to. Both hotels are modern and clean, and the ferry parking is part of the entire hotel/parking complex. You can get an idea of how close it is to the ferry terminal by looking at Google Street view. There's even a good restaurant in the lobby of the hotel with knockout views of the Manhattan skyline across the river. IIRC there is also a big Sheraton also on the river not too far from the Weehawken ferry if the Residence Inn or Envue are booked out. Ferry was $9/pp each way and the walk was dead easy, flat and safe from cars as it's pedestrian only, also easily investigated by Google Earth/Street View. I only wish I could figure out an easy way to use this when sailing from the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal ;o)

Absolutely. Given the design of most of the Sanctuaries, with so many loungers in the blazing sun with no shade to speak of, not having the ability to select the SPECIFIC lounger would be dreadful.

We did exactly this for our first ever trip out of the MCT last summer. Drove down and parked at the ferry terminal at Weehawken. The garage is co-located in the same building as two hotels, the Residence Inn and the Envue, both literally across a small street from the ferry terminal and FAR less expensive than the price of a comparable Manhattan hotel. Parking at the time was $22/day, about half of the rate at the MCT. Morning of the cruise, we took the 8 minute ferry across the Hudson, then walked the 13 minutes north up the pedestrian-only pathway to the ship.

When we Uber'ed up to Berth 93 at San Pedro a few weeks ago, a porter appeared right at our vehicle with his trolley within seconds. You shouldn't have any problems finding one offering to take your bags ;o)

Are you on the Discovery right now? Take 5 has always been our usual go-to place for peace and quiet. During the day, it is usually so empty I wonder whether most of the passengers even know it's there. When we use it, there are rarely any other passengers in it, never more than two or three others and it's never used as a thoroughfare the way some other venues are (e.g. Crown Grill bar). It is very occasionally used as a venue for a lecture, or a game show involving a lot of shouting, but those rarely last more than an hour. Sadly, on our cruise a few weeks ago it was shut down for installation of equipment for a gambling tournament so we never got a chance to use it. Hopefully it's open for us when we're back on board in Feb. HIGHLY recommended as a place for peace and quiet, and those tables for two along the windows are great.

In general, the higher the level, the higher the cabin, at least when it comes to ship operation. We can be pretty sure the big Kahuna has his cabin a very short distance from the bridge, similarly the Staff Captain etc. If not on the same deck as the bridge, then steps away one deck down. Senior non-bridge personnel, like the hotel director etc may be a bit "lower" to be closer to their major areas of influence.

Princess stopped selling their insurance to residents of NY a year or two ago. The same holds for us residents of the province of Quebec. Local laws apparently.