Discovery Princess April 29th Coastal

[highloyo]

OK, the best deal to get to YVR is by the Canada Line. It's a block and a half walk to the station from the Pan Pacific Hotel next to the cruise disembarkation. It's a very clean and efficient train that goes directly to YVR airport. There are about 9 stops or so and takes around 30 minutes. There is plenty of room to take your luggage if you can manage it. The cost from Canada Place, Waterfront Station to the airport is $3 for seniors. thecanadaline.com 

[highloyo]

On 5/3/2022 at 10:12 PM, tiggerrr said:

We’re starting to wind down for the night as morning will come early and be busy. I thought I’d throw my thoughts in here as a way of getting it all straight in my head.

 

This was an excellent cruise from start to finish. Very happy right now. So any critiques below are minor and did not affect our enjoyment. 
 

Highlights

This is a beautiful ship. Absolutely now our favorite ship across any line for the decor. Enough that feels like Princess, but unique too. Sleek, modern and elegant all in one. Great artwork. 
 

Lots of places to use for different purposes. To have a drink, to read, to have fun, to listen to music.  That may be a bit different when the ship is more than 60% capacity but the spaces are still there.

 

The entertainment was excellent. From productions shows to smaller venues, we enjoyed everything we saw and heard.

 

Food in the restaurants was also excellent. We ate MDR, Crown Grill and Sabatini’s and it was all good.

 

The crew was amazingly friendly and helpful.  We got more hellos and offers of help on the cruise than probably any other previous Princess cruise.

 

And ordering drinks on the app and having them delivered to you worked really, really well for us. Probably too well.

 

Misses

This is probably the same for all Royal class ships, but I hate the layout of the buffet. (We’ve cruised on every non-Royal class Princess ship at least once but somehow never a Royal class ship). There were long lines from inefficient design. You were guessing which side to enter and hoping that was the side that was open to the lines and not roped off. Minorly irritating.

 

The staff were significantly inexperienced on allergens compared to our previous experience. Including issues when tongs or utensils were missing, just grabbing utensils from other areas. E.g grabbing gluten free bread from under its cover with tongs from regular bread. To some extent that’s on us.  We had grown used to staff having more experience and we didn’t want to bug the chef every time in the buffet. But I would recommend, you need to bug the chef every time. The chefs all knew what they were doing. The rest of the staff are learning.  No actual issues occurred so we’re fine and happy. Just passing on the lesson learned.

 

Nice Touches and Nitpicks

For the completely ridiculous portion of the post.  I like the USB charging ports in the lamps next to the beds. I hate the position of the toilet paper under the counter that always seems to cause you to rip off only one or two squares.  I like that guest services is now out of the immediate piazza area which improves traffic at busy times.  I hate that the Privacy notice has to be set on the panel outside (meaning being somewhat dressed in case someone walks by).  I like the more limited space for the art and photo areas from a flow perspective.  And I hate the app - even though it worked better for us than many others it has a long, long way to go.

 

But those are all so small things that I needed to get off my chest.  The bottom line is - find a reason to sail on this ship.  The ship and the crew were amazing. No regrets. Great vacation. Wish we could stay on.

I agree with many of things you noted as positives. The ship is beautiful. I liked the decor which seemed much nicer than the Majestic which I left on March 12. This is especially true for the cabin. There wasn't the annoying light that would come on from the nightstand each time it was motion-activated. We took advantage of ordering from the app especially morning lattes and flat whites right after we woke up. The food was good and the menu was very similar to the Majestic.

You're right about the buffet. It was confusing. Often times I'd go down one aisle and would see the same dishes as the other aisle. The layout is not ideal. For a passenger count of 2247, 3 dining rooms were open and there was never a wait.

I don't think my wife ever used the toilet paper. She said it's too far away. Consequently, we went through a box and a half of tissues. The USB charging ports are a very big plus. 

My big complaint....the time we were allowed in Victoria was terrible due to arriving 2 hours late. We had an excursion scheduled to Butchard Gardens. We were told to meet at 3:15 in the Princess Theater instead of 1:15 due to the delay. They said all excursions will take place as planned. what they didn't say was it will be a very abbreviated excursion. Seeing the number of people in the theater waiting I'm sure the financial aspect of cancelling the excursion was considered. My ticket was $120. We got to spend about 1 hr and 20 minutes at the garden, a crying shame. I felt really bad for those that opted for the afternoon tea at the garden. They never really had a chance to see anything at all for $159.

Aside from this it was a great cruise. 

 

 

[dog]

Only toilet paper for cabin toilets-

told Kleenex causes problems.

 

[ceilidh1]

4 hours ago, dog said:

Only toilet paper for cabin toilets-

told Kleenex causes problems.

 

Hope you're enjoying the Discovery!

[dog]

Just now, ceilidh1 said:

Hope you're enjoying the Discovery!

We are!!!

This was the exact thing we needed. Less passengers makes a huge difference in elevators, getting into GiGis.

we are approaching Ketchikan, our one port.

Thank you so much for sharing your photos of the ship. It is more beautiful then the Sky Princess, IMO.

And the PH suite is a good use of my FCC.

[san diego sue]

Toilet paper on Discovery (we were on March 27 and April 3rd cruises) was  one ply. It seemed to be the thinnest we ever had  on a cruise ship. Had been recently on the Grand and the Majestic and really didn't pay much attention to the thin paper. On Discovery it was very noticeable. Very tempting to use the tissues instead. They were also thin but didn't fall apart, and requiring much too much paper.

Position of the toilet paper holder another problem unless you had very long arms.

[ceilidh1]

1 hour ago, san diego sue said:

Toilet paper on Discovery (we were on March 27 and April 3rd cruises) was  one ply. It seemed to be the thinnest we ever had  on a cruise ship. Had been recently on the Grand and the Majestic and really didn't pay much attention to the thin paper. On Discovery it was very noticeable. Very tempting to use the tissues instead. They were also thin but didn't fall apart, and requiring much too much paper.

Position of the toilet paper holder another problem unless you had very long arms.

Yes, it was unusually thin! My 10 year old commented that it was thinner than the school paper. Lol

[sunsetme]

same issue with tp on Enchanted, the worst ever. I had to balance it on the sink so I could reach it

[startedwithamouse]

15 hours ago, highloyo said:

I agree with many of things you noted as positives. The ship is beautiful. I liked the decor which seemed much nicer than the Majestic which I left on March 12. This is especially true for the cabin. There wasn't the annoying light that would come on from the nightstand each time it was motion-activated. We took advantage of ordering from the app especially morning lattes and flat whites right after we woke up. The food was good and the menu was very similar to the Majestic.

You're right about the buffet. It was confusing. Often times I'd go down one aisle and would see the same dishes as the other aisle. The layout is not ideal. For a passenger count of 2247, 3 dining rooms were open and there was never a wait.

I don't think my wife ever used the toilet paper. She said it's too far away. Consequently, we went through a box and a half of tissues. The USB charging ports are a very big plus. 

My big complaint....the time we were allowed in Victoria was terrible due to arriving 2 hours late. We had an excursion scheduled to Butchard Gardens. We were told to meet at 3:15 in the Princess Theater instead of 1:15 due to the delay. They said all excursions will take place as planned. what they didn't say was it will be a very abbreviated excursion. Seeing the number of people in the theater waiting I'm sure the financial aspect of cancelling the excursion was considered. My ticket was $120. We got to spend about 1 hr and 20 minutes at the garden, a crying shame. I felt really bad for those that opted for the afternoon tea at the garden. They never really had a chance to see anything at all for $159.

Aside from this it was a great cruise. 

 

 

Please don't flush tissues. They are not made to break down. 😞

[cnd crsr]

2 hours ago, sunsetme said:

same issue with tp on Enchanted, the worst ever. I had to balance it on the sink so I could reach it

Even before the shut down my DH would pack tp as he said Princess tp was too thin!

[dog]

My third time on Star, cabin stewards were vacuuming hall carpet. Told us passengers across hall were putting Kleenex in toilets and they had overflow!!!

our toilet in suite has notice on it to only use toilet tissue.

I just put toilet paper roll on the counter, easy to reach.

I bring my own toiletries- bar soap, shampoo etc.  no upgraded anything in suite bathroom.

[Happiest when cruising]

5 hours ago, cnd crsr said:

Even before the shut down my DH would pack tp as he said Princess tp was too thin!

 

3 hours ago, dog said:

My third time on Star, cabin stewards were vacuuming hall carpet. Told us passengers across hall were putting Kleenex in toilets and they had overflow!!!

our toilet in suite has notice on it to only use toilet tissue.

I just put toilet paper roll on the counter, easy to reach.

I bring my own toiletries- bar soap, shampoo etc.  no upgraded anything in suite bathroom.

I’m sure everyone put the used toilet paper in the sanitary bags provided, for the stewards to dispose of.  

[Happiest when cruising]

22 hours ago, highloyo said:

OK, the best deal to get to YVR is by the Canada Line. It's a block and a half walk to the station from the Pan Pacific Hotel next to the cruise disembarkation. It's a very clean and efficient train that goes directly to YVR airport. There are about 9 stops or so and takes around 30 minutes. There is plenty of room to take your luggage if you can manage it. The cost from Canada Place, Waterfront Station to the airport is $3 for seniors. thecanadaline.com 

It sure is easy. If you have too much luggage, I suggest a taxi or another form of transport. 

[dog]

3 minutes ago, Happiest when cruising said:

 

I’m sure everyone put the used toilet paper in the sanitary bags provided, for the stewards to dispose of.  

I don’t understand this.

[Happiest when cruising]

52 minutes ago, dog said:

I don’t understand this.

 

52 minutes ago, dog said:

I don’t understand this.

If people want to use different toilet paper, they need to dispose of it responsibly. If anyone asked their room steward what to do with it, that’s what they would tell the guest to do with it. 

[chubbypiggy]

On 5/4/2022 at 6:19 PM, NevadaJo said:

I don’t have a photo but took this screen shot from video. Baja 102

Now the shower has glass door instead of shower curtain?  

[highloyo]

1 hour ago, chubbypiggy said:

Now the shower has glass door instead of shower curtain?  

Baja 620 had a shower curtain.

[ceilidh1]

On 5/7/2022 at 3:09 PM, chubbypiggy said:

Now the shower has glass door instead of shower curtain?  

If only....

Maybe in suites? Definitely a curtain in our balcony cabin...

[cruisingrob21]

I was on the sampler voyage after the coastal voyage.  I may get flamed for saying some of the below but its my honest opinion.  

 

My last 3 voyages have been on the Sky, Majestic, and Discovery.  At this point, I can't say that I will seek out the Royal Class ships to sail on in the future, and may even avoid them.  If it wasn't for copious amounts of FCCs from cancelled voyages, I'm not sure I would even sail on Princess again as they have changed a fair amount from where they were just a few years back.  I realize I have a choice to sail with other lines, and plan to continue to do so - It just makes me sad that, in my opinion, princess had a pretty solid product a few years back, and now they seem to have lost their way.

 

Not happy about:

• It's been mentioned elsewhere, but the majestic and this ship are NOISY - not from a movement perspective, but just that there is music piped in everywhere it seems - and right on the verge of being distracting.  Near the wakeview pool and bar, it was especially annoying as it seemed to be the same ten, top 40 songs that were remixed.
• The outer promenade on deck 7 of the Sky was "open" in that you could walk it from near front to back.  But its not useful for walking and the areas near the lifeboats are single file.  On the discovery, most of the outer deck areas were closed off on deck 7 for much of the cruise.  I'm not sure if that was because it was pretty chilly out, but it was darn hard to even find the doors to the outside.
• The doors to the Vista Lounge and Take Five were always closed - maybe to keep the sound in, or the ambient music elsewhere out but it made me not want to go in for fear of disturbing the bands that were performing.  Maybe that's just me, it just wasn't welcoming as the vista lounge or wheelhouse bars of the past and I'm wondering if the bands in those venues had low attendance because when the lights are low in those areas, it looks closed.
• The buffet and gym are the only climate controlled areas on the upper decks to observe the scenery.  Both are pretty loud.  Obviously the Majestic has the Hollywood Conservatory and they probably should have done something similar on the Discovery since she will be based on the west coast for the foreseeable future.  The voyage I was on was early in the season so I'm sure it will warm up, but the first and last day at sea to/from Seattle when the ship is sailing full speed is windy and chilly.
• I avoided elevators due to covid which was my choice, but I typically avoid elevators anyways - the hike from deck 8 to deck 16 should be sold sold as an "8 minute quad workout" - this is not unique to princess but I miss the buffet and pools being on deck 14.
• The IC seemed to have the same stuff at all times and every day.  Maybe just an anomaly.
• Good Spirits at Sea is a nice thought, but I found that if it's not staffed with effective presenters, its kind of boring.
• Some of the bigger game shows and audience events should have been in the vista lounge - Princess live isn't big enough for the crowds for the couples game show at 7:30.
• The former high limits gaming area on the majestic, which is take 5 on the Sky, Discovery, and Enchanted, was turned into a defacto sports bar with a wall of TVs on the handful of sports that the satellite picks up.  I couldn't find something similar on the Discovery other than some tv's in the casino, above the tables - and you can't really sit there and watch sports without actually playing at the tables.
• MedallionNet on the first day was not stable and very slow.  It improved after we left vancouver.
• MedallionClass app - not that functional - clunky, unorganized, and why is the font so huge on phones - looking through the schedule requires doom scrolling.

Very Much Enjoyed:

• The crew was for the most part excellent and friendly
• Some of the new game shows have upped their production value
• I continue to favor the world fresh marketplace layout and size compared to the horizon courts of the grand class ships.
• The Crown Grill bar was a nice space

We are sailing to Alaska this summer on HAL - and I used to slightly prefer Princess to HAL even though they can be similar, I feel like Princess just isn't selling what I'm looking for in a cruise anymore in either their ships or onboard programs, and that kind of bums me out.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, cruisingrob21 said:

 It just makes me sad that, in my opinion, princess had a pretty solid product a few years back, and now they seem to have lost their way.

 

I used to slightly prefer Princess to HAL even though they can be similar, I feel like Princess just isn't selling what I'm looking for in a cruise anymore in either their ships or onboard programs, and that kind of bums me out.

 

Also Princess has eliminated the small ships (such as Pacific Princess) from the fleet and can no longer offer the unique itineraries that helped male Princess special.

 

Princess does send the larger ships to some of the ports the smaller ones used to go to, but the tourist infrastructure in many of those ports is not sufficient for the number of passengers on the larger ships.

[CU64]

On 5/6/2022 at 8:55 PM, Happiest when cruising said:

 

If people want to use different toilet paper, they need to dispose of it responsibly. If anyone asked their room steward what to do with it, that’s what they would tell the guest to do with it. 

Anyone knows that putting Kleenex in toilets clogs them up & causes plumbing problems. We were in minisuite & tp holder right there. I used the thin paper: it did not kill me for 7 days. Maybe I will bring my own roll of tp which still will be fine to flush as it is tp, not Kleenex. If you cannot reach holder, do what another poster said: take it out & put on counter. Really, how hard is this !

[dog]

3 hours ago, cruisingrob21 said:

I was on the sampler voyage after the coastal voyage.  I may get flamed for saying some of the below but its my honest opinion.  

 

My last 3 voyages have been on the Sky, Majestic, and Discovery.  At this point, I can't say that I will seek out the Royal Class ships to sail on in the future, and may even avoid them.  If it wasn't for copious amounts of FCCs from cancelled voyages, I'm not sure I would even sail on Princess again as they have changed a fair amount from where they were just a few years back.  I realize I have a choice to sail with other lines, and plan to continue to do so - It just makes me sad that, in my opinion, princess had a pretty solid product a few years back, and now they seem to have lost their way.

 

Not happy about:

• It's been mentioned elsewhere, but the majestic and this ship are NOISY - not from a movement perspective, but just that there is music piped in everywhere it seems - and right on the verge of being distracting.  Near the wakeview pool and bar, it was especially annoying as it seemed to be the same ten, top 40 songs that were remixed.
• The outer promenade on deck 7 of the Sky was "open" in that you could walk it from near front to back.  But its not useful for walking and the areas near the lifeboats are single file.  On the discovery, most of the outer deck areas were closed off on deck 7 for much of the cruise.  I'm not sure if that was because it was pretty chilly out, but it was darn hard to even find the doors to the outside.
• The doors to the Vista Lounge and Take Five were always closed - maybe to keep the sound in, or the ambient music elsewhere out but it made me not want to go in for fear of disturbing the bands that were performing.  Maybe that's just me, it just wasn't welcoming as the vista lounge or wheelhouse bars of the past and I'm wondering if the bands in those venues had low attendance because when the lights are low in those areas, it looks closed.
• The buffet and gym are the only climate controlled areas on the upper decks to observe the scenery.  Both are pretty loud.  Obviously the Majestic has the Hollywood Conservatory and they probably should have done something similar on the Discovery since she will be based on the west coast for the foreseeable future.  The voyage I was on was early in the season so I'm sure it will warm up, but the first and last day at sea to/from Seattle when the ship is sailing full speed is windy and chilly.
• I avoided elevators due to covid which was my choice, but I typically avoid elevators anyways - the hike from deck 8 to deck 16 should be sold sold as an "8 minute quad workout" - this is not unique to princess but I miss the buffet and pools being on deck 14.
• The IC seemed to have the same stuff at all times and every day.  Maybe just an anomaly.
• Good Spirits at Sea is a nice thought, but I found that if it's not staffed with effective presenters, its kind of boring.
• Some of the bigger game shows and audience events should have been in the vista lounge - Princess live isn't big enough for the crowds for the couples game show at 7:30.
• The former high limits gaming area on the majestic, which is take 5 on the Sky, Discovery, and Enchanted, was turned into a defacto sports bar with a wall of TVs on the handful of sports that the satellite picks up.  I couldn't find something similar on the Discovery other than some tv's in the casino, above the tables - and you can't really sit there and watch sports without actually playing at the tables.
• MedallionNet on the first day was not stable and very slow.  It improved after we left vancouver.
• MedallionClass app - not that functional - clunky, unorganized, and why is the font so huge on phones - looking through the schedule requires doom scrolling.

Very Much Enjoyed:

• The crew was for the most part excellent and friendly
• Some of the new game shows have upped their production value
• I continue to favor the world fresh marketplace layout and size compared to the horizon courts of the grand class ships.
• The Crown Grill bar was a nice space

We are sailing to Alaska this summer on HAL - and I used to slightly prefer Princess to HAL even though they can be similar, I feel like Princess just isn't selling what I'm looking for in a cruise anymore in either their ships or onboard programs, and that kind of bums me out.

thanks for sharing 

I was on this May 4/22 Alaska Sampler.

Had the time of my life.

spoiled in a Ph suite- thanks to FCC.

I have booked the exact same category for my next cruise. Cannot wait.

The shorter cruise, less capacity 1800, the captain said, made it so enjoyable. No issues with elevator crowding & several wore masks when around others.

only issues with internet was in Vancouver & returning to ship in Ketchikan.  App/ tv control were issues and the toilet did not always flush— very annoying.

 

Room service was very quick & accurate the 3 times we ordered.

All crew were exceptional.

 

I was also on the Sky in December 2019, but did not have the same experience with so many passengers  on-board.

Edited May 9, 2022 by dog

[Buckeye10640]

2 hours ago, CU64 said:

Anyone knows that putting Kleenex in toilets clogs them up & causes plumbing problems. We were in minisuite & tp holder right there. I used the thin paper: it did not kill me for 7 days. Maybe I will bring my own roll of tp which still will be fine to flush as it is tp, not Kleenex. If you cannot reach holder, do what another poster said: take it out & put on counter. Really, how hard is this !

I think you may have misunderstood an earlier post. You should not flush anything that is not the ship provided TP, including TP you bring from home. 

[cruisingrob21]

6 hours ago, dog said:

thanks for sharing 

I was on this May 4/22 Alaska Sampler.

Had the time of my life.

spoiled in a Ph suite- thanks to FCC.

I have booked the exact same category for my next cruise. Cannot wait.

The shorter cruise, less capacity 1800, the captain said, made it so enjoyable. No issues with elevator crowding & several wore masks when around others.

only issues with internet was in Vancouver & returning to ship in Ketchikan.  App/ tv control were issues and the toilet did not always flush— very annoying.

 

Room service was very quick & accurate the 3 times we ordered.

All crew were exceptional.

 

I was also on the Sky in December 2019, but did not have the same experience with so many passengers  on-board.

Ah ok I was wondering how full the ship was.  Half full seemed to feel about right.  It was nice that there weren't many crowds and I had a similar experience on the majestic.

 

On the sky in Feb 2020 it was crowded but manageable because of the good weather in the Caribbean and all the deck space to spread out on.  A full royal class ship in a cool climate is definitely going to feel crowded indoors.

 

I'm glad you had a great time and by no means did I have a bad time, I just need to adjust my expectations.  My next PCL cruise is on the Crown in September, and I'm looking forward to that voyage to be on a different class of ship.

[AVCruzers]

On 5/6/2022 at 2:25 PM, cnd crsr said:

Even before the shut down my DH would pack tp as he said Princess tp was too thin!

Using your TP and Kleenex from home is what causes toilet blockage.  You are on a ship so just deal with it!