Embarkation Day Lunch Options - Discovery Princess

[Auntiejo]

Hello! Booked for the 10 day Mexico sailing on Discovery on 12/28. Wondering what the options are these days for Embarkation day lunch besides the buffet. I assume Gigi’s is open. Do they offer  lunch in one of the dining rooms like in the past? This is our first cruise in a few years and I know so much has changed. Thanks. 

[tonit964]

7 minutes ago, Auntiejo said:

Hello! Booked for the 10 day Mexico sailing on Discovery on 12/28. Wondering what the options are these days for Embarkation day lunch besides the buffet. I assume Gigi’s is open. Do they offer  lunch in one of the dining rooms like in the past? This is our first cruise in a few years and I know so much has changed. Thanks. 

Gigi’s will be open as well as the World Marketplace buffet.

My favorite is the dining room for lunch, it’s just a nice, relaxed way to start the cruise. 
Check the Patter for which dining room is open. 

I was on the Discovery in April and she’s an absolutely stunning ship.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[Mike45LC]

The crew will usually falsely deny that there is a main dining room open.  You need to check yourself.  Try deck 6, midship,

[hpeabody]

I did lunch in the MDR, Skagway I believe on my embarkation day in Alaska on July 31st.  Had salmon, good as usual.

[dog]

Gigi’s & midship dining room were open on Discovery for my cruise.

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, Mike45LC said:

The crew will usually falsely deny that there is a main dining room open.  You need to check yourself.  Try deck 6, midship,

 

Agree. They almost always tell you to go to the buffet and that there is no dining room open for lunch. Also agree that deck 6 midship is the most likely venue to be serving embarkation lunch. Our problem is that we often don't make it onto the ship in time for MDR lunch.

[Auntiejo]

Thanks everyone. Yes I recall in the past the crew trying to steer people away from the dining room and it make it seem like it’s not open. I also seem to recall it’s only open for about a 90 minute window, so yes getting on board early is necessary to catch the MDR lunch. I agree that it’s a lovely way to kick off the cruise. The buffet is my worst nightmare upon embarkation! Thanks again for the current info. Excited to hit high the seas again! 

[Anubi]

I am curious about this when its a B2B; we have a cruise before our transatlantic and a lot of people are doing both.  I would assume that there would be at least one dining room open for lunch?  

[93yearsyoung]

Salty Dog Grill & Slice (pool area Lido Deck) are two of our favorite easy meals or "snacks" as my DH calls slices of pizza.

[Ombud]

In less than 2 weeks I'll be having lunch in Capri, ordering my dinner, and placing a request for vegetarian tea in my cabin on Saturday 

[JF - retired RRT]

2 hours ago, Anubi said:

I am curious about this when its a B2B; we have a cruise before our transatlantic and a lot of people are doing both.  I would assume that there would be at least one dining room open for lunch?  

As noted above - almost always one MDR is open. It would be the deck 6 mid-ship MDR because that's the one with Club Class.

[GOARMY]

We board Discovery tomorrow at Seattle.  Due to yet-another online check-in glitch (annoyance), had need to chat with a Medallions representative about an hour ago.  Very helpful.  Clutter cleared-up.  Green Status verified.  

 

So--

 

For those in Club Class--head for that section in Skagway Dining Room.  Yes, open for lunch on embarkation day, and every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  

 

GOARMY!

 

[SiliconCruiser]

5 hours ago, Auntiejo said:

Thanks everyone. Yes I recall in the past the crew trying to steer people away from the dining room and it make it seem like it’s not open. I also seem to recall it’s only open for about a 90 minute window,

That seems to be the practice on all of the ships that we've been on, but we were trained otherwise on our very first Princess Cruise.  By the time we went on our second cruise, I had learned that there are a lot of Princess crew that have been trained to lie (especially Guest Services.)  We were always directed to the aft elevators too.  Now I just head directly to mid-ship elevators unless they are using those for boarding (then head to the aft.)

[Steelers36]

8 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

The crew will usually falsely deny that there is a main dining room open.  You need to check yourself.  Try deck 6, midship,

 

7 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Agree. They almost always tell you to go to the buffet and that there is no dining room open for lunch. Also agree that deck 6 midship is the most likely venue to be serving embarkation lunch. Our problem is that we often don't make it onto the ship in time for MDR lunch.

OTOH, I found boarding early as an Elite (first on board), they were handing out small cards inviting us to lunch in the DR.  This was Nov 2019 and made me think it was a thing they did for the Elites & Suites boarding first from the lounge.  That might have been my first time boarding as Elite.  Prior to that, we were right behind the Elites & Suites.

[tonit964]

4 hours ago, GOARMY said:

We board Discovery tomorrow at Seattle.  Due to yet-another online check-in glitch (annoyance), had need to chat with a Medallions representative about an hour ago.  Very helpful.  Clutter cleared-up.  Green Status verified.  

 

So--

 

For those in Club Class--head for that section in Skagway Dining Room.  Yes, open for lunch on embarkation day, and every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  

 

GOARMY!

 

Have a wonderful cruise! You will love Discovery! 

[Happiest when cruising]

11 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

The crew will usually falsely deny that there is a main dining room open.  You need to check yourself.  Try deck 6, midship,

Haha… well, I’m not sure about falsifying, but they will point you towards the buffet. But…I know better, since that learned from a friend, just like the MDR is open on disembarkation day…that’s such a nice way to end the cruise, instead of the packed buffet with everyone’s luggage everywhere. 

[Mike45LC]

Happiest, when they say there is no MDR open at 12:30, I call that “falsely.”