TR Discovery Princess to AK Sept. 18-25, 2022

[KKB]

We spent 1 night prior in Seattle & 2 nights after in Vancouver so just got back Tuesday evening.

I didn't take notes this time so I will review by category! 

 

First: air

We have companion pass with SWA but they don't fly to CA & the flights to Seattle were crappy times.

We snagged Air Alaska direct to Seattle for $130 each--no more than it would have run us using companion on SWA.

Nice airplane.

We chose to do carry on to avoid luggage fees (and I saw it as a challenge!). 

Managed to get gate check--no brainer direct!

 

We flew United home from Vancouver.

Quietest airport I have seen since June 2020!

We went from drop off to gate in 30 min.

First plane was decent but short flight to Omaha plane was much cozier. 

Gate checked in Vancouver as well, wasn't worried if our bags were late...plus Air Tags JUST in case.

 

Hotels:

Holiday Inn Seattle Downtown. Good location (near Space Needle) & decent price. Spacious rooms. 

Ate dinner at nearby Thomas Street Warehouse. Good bar food, great waiter. Place started hopping about the time we left.

 

Victorian Inn Vancouver. Decent location. Best price when I booked--I should have checked before we left as we could have gotten the Fairmont DT for the same price! It is a cute hotel but BE SURE to book a private bathroom if you want one as some have shared ones.

Pender is the street directly north of the hotel & we walked along it about 10AM Sunday & their were A LOT of homeless as well as drugs being opening smoked (not talking pot...). No one bothered us & we even saw a few along the busier street as we walked around. But it was a shock initially & we worried we had chosen a bad area. As time went on we determined we had not. We walked along Pender at other times & never saw any at those times. Guessing early Sunday not as many people so they were more comfortable being out. 

DH was at a bar 2 blocks away on Pender Sunday night watching the game when a homeless woman attacked a woman. People tried to detain her (without touching here) until police arrived. She did escape but was caught. Bartender said this was NOT typical. 

I DO recommend the hotel--it was super cute. Close to the Waterfront & not too far from main shopping area. Several good bars/restaurants nearby.

We walked along main shopping area (reminded us of Park Ave) & Waterfront on Sunday and went to Granville Island Monday--SUPER cool artsy area with many shops & a brewery, distillery & an AMAZING public market. 

[KKB]

Ship

Discovery Princess is BEAUTIFUL. 

While the rooms are nearly identical to the Caribbean Princess we sailed in July, and the footprint very similar to all the Princess ships we have sailed, you can tell it is a bit larger. But overall, the layout is very similar.

 

Ports

Ketchikan, Juneau & Sitka

We traveled w/ DH's aunt & uncle, both late 70s. They had done AK & we had not. They just wanted to walk around each town. So I scoped out bars. His uncle cannot always walk a long way but he did very well--we just stopped frequently for a drink!

 

Ketchikan we hit The Asylum & The Arctic bar.

 

Juneau we hit Tracy's Crab Shack (terrific but crab ain't cheap!), Red Dog Saloon & a bar in some old Victorian hotel.

https://kingcrabshack.com/pages/menu

 

Sitka...Skagway originally scheduled...then the rockslides so changed to Sitka. THEN week before back to Skagway. Then winds were high so changed back to Sitka day before as we couldn't tender.

Sitka is BEAUTIFUL! Free shuttle from port to town...drivers give you a bit of history along the way.

 

We did a bit of shopping in each place--very unusual for me compared to Caribbean cruises! But so many unique & local stores. Made my carry on only decision precarious--but we managed!

 

We LOVED LOVED LOVED Alaska & want to do some excursions to hike and/or see wildlife when we return. 

 

We had scenic viewing of Dawes glacier the morning before Juneau. Truly spectacular!

[KKB]

Activities & Shows

Very fun activity staff--DuVaul (director) is hilarious & charming--we chatted with him a bit in Ketchikan

                                        Karen--she is moving to Coral for her 1st director job! She was geniune & lovely

                                        Conrad--he is quite new. Very charming & a voice for radio

                                        DJ JB--his humor REALLY came out during Hollywood Hiccups!

                                        Joy--we didn't see her as much; she is quieter & very sweet

 

We played SO much trivia & attended most game shows. Great fun, even won a few prizes...unfortunately our carry on decision did no allow us to bring home those lovely stainless water bottles!!!

 

Shows--Spotlight Bar & Rock Opera were both brilliant--a wonderful surprise after we were less than impressed on the Caribbean Princess. 

One note--PLEASE try to be on time. I was astounded the people that show up even 15 min. late then stand looking not even realizing they are blocking others' views.

 

 

[KKB]

Food

MDR was brilliant as always. The AK cruises include A LOT of FABULOUS salmon...I was in HEAVEN.

The only thing I didn't love was a pepper leek quiche. It was OK, but not as great as everything else.

 

Burgers & hot dogs by pool great as usual.

 

Gigi's pizza was fine. I have gluten free...boy I need to remind the chefs to cook those crusts WELL. Underdone crusts aren't fun, but GF, well, BLECH.

 

Buffet was good. But it is HUGE & honestly I felt the layout to be not intuitive. I really do prefer the big horseshoe most ships have (tho Caribbean Princess has that small crowded place to start). It was impossible to remember where to go back if you wanted seconds of a fav! 

 

Buffet was PACKED on the day we viewed the glacier as the naturalist was broadcast there (as well as your stateroom). I recommend going early if you want to view from there.

 

ONE complaint.

PORK LOIN

Aunt had it in buffet & said it was so tough she could not cut it.

Last formal night she had it again in MDR--SAME THING. 

So...I'd avoid the port loin!

 

 

[KKB]

Final thoughts.

We LOVED AK & cannot wait to do it again!

 

AK IS more casual than even the Caribbean...most wore their comfy warm clothes, few "dressed" for dinner. 

 

Weather was lovely. Cold during glacier viewing on balcony but not TOO cold.

Light jackets in ports.

Typically I wore light joggers, tee & jersey cardigan around ship.

Last day got warm & the shorts came out. 

Vancouver was GORGEOUS--shorts & tees. 

 

Service as always was wonderful. But it might be the first cruise in a long time where we didn't have servers/bartenders who always recognized us & called us by name. 

 

The ArriveCAN app...we did it. We stopped in Guest Services to show them the QR code as we hadn't seen our steward to show him (we were told to Friday I think). They didn't get our names or anything.

We NEVER showed it again anywhere! Was very odd.

Frankly getting thru Vancouver port was easier than getting out in US--didn't even show our passports! 

(we did have to fill out a form to turn in)

 

Oh--one more minor complaint. Major design flaw--apparently not just this ship??!!

We asked to have the balcony divider opened between our room & aunt/uncle's room.

It opened right in front of the door of our slider...covering half of it!!!

It was a squeeze to get through the opening to the balcony!

Why would they not switch the slider opening to the other side? 

(Yes, they could have made a slightly smaller desk for better configuration...)

In no way ruined our cruise, but the logic escapes me on that one!

 

Sapphire is my next cruise--4 days 80s cruise out of LA w/ BFF in 2 weeks.

DH & I have:

Celebrity Equinox (S. Caribbean) in Nov with cruising friends we met in 2018

NCL Encore (Caribbean) poker cruise in Dec.

Carnival Miracle (Hawaii) in Jan--1st Carnival. It was free, so worth a try.

 

 

[KKB]

OOPS--forgot casino!

VERY smoky--I had to wear a mask to be comfortable.

No bar--I love to sit at a bar playing video poker.

 

We played poker tournaments twice--each paid 3 places. I managed to go out 4th both times.😳

 

We played A LOT of  .05 Super Times Pay Video poker. Racked up 4x the points we earned in July just playing .25 video poker. 

LUCKILY the last night we decided to head to casino for a bit of last playing about 8:30 instead of staying for a game show...they were closing the casino & cashing everyone out! Dealers had thought they would be open until 11!! 

So needless to say we truly only spent about $100 each all week!

 

We were offered $300 free play each on a future cruise! (more than his uncle who earned 2-3x more points than us--NO idea why!)

I went ahead & did an open future booking as well to take advantage of that offer too.

 

We were looking at 2 week Panama Canal in April...tho now I am vying more for a TA cruise to London at the same time...I may sent DH home for golf league while I catch MSC in Barcelona for a TA back to the states! I can pay for both those cruises for LESS than that Panama Canal cruise (probably can cover the 3 nights hotels too!)

[san diego spartan]

I was on your same cruise and have tested positive  for Covid.  One of the people who also was in our group has as well. Only my 2nd cruise since the pandemic and I felt the Discovery was a bit tight in places.   The buffet design not great and hated that decks 6 and 5 did not go directly through.  We were told the ship had only 2000 passengers.  I can't  imagine it at full capacity. 

 

I was one who tried to wear a mask a lot but there were times I didn't.   I'm  wondering if the line dancing parry or the zumba was the source of exposure? We only did outdoor excursions.

 

I do have to say the outdoor TV movie screen by the pool us awesome.

 

 

[MileHighAko]

Thanks for the review. We were also on that cruise and loved every minute of it.

 

1 hour ago, san diego spartan said:

I was on your same cruise and have tested positive  for Covid

Sorry to hear you got covid and hope you recover quickly.  I was surprised that we never heard about anyone getting sick during the cruise.  I'm sure it happened, but never heard peep, and rarely heard anyone coughing or anything (until the flight home).  The four of us have returned healthy so far. Two of us wore masks when it was crowded, two did not.

 

I asked on crew chat and they reported 2,544 guests on board.

 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

3 hours ago, san diego spartan said:

I was on your same cruise and have tested positive  for Covid.  One of the people who also was in our group has as well. Only my 2nd cruise since the pandemic and I felt the Discovery was a bit tight in places.   The buffet design not great and hated that decks 6 and 5 did not go directly through.  We were told the ship had only 2000 passengers.  I can't  imagine it at full capacity. 

 

I was one who tried to wear a mask a lot but there were times I didn't.   I'm  wondering if the line dancing parry or the zumba was the source of exposure? We only did outdoor excursions.

 

I do have to say the outdoor TV movie screen by the pool us awesome.

 

 

Oh no, I hope your symptoms are mild.  Get well soon!

[san diego spartan]

13 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Oh no, I hope your symptoms are mild.  Get well soon!

Thanks - appreciate it. 

[san diego spartan]

15 hours ago, MileHighAko said:

Thanks for the review. We were also on that cruise and loved every minute of it.

 

Sorry to hear you got covid and hope you recover quickly.  I was surprised that we never heard about anyone getting sick during the cruise.  I'm sure it happened, but never heard peep, and rarely heard anyone coughing or anything (until the flight home).  The four of us have returned healthy so far. Two of us wore masks when it was crowded, two did not.

 

I asked on crew chat and they reported 2,544 guests on board.

 

Glad you are OK and that your group is too.  My husband is still negative and so is the one other in our group of 4.  Let's hope it stays that way.  2 and a half years, vax and boosted x2 and I finally got it.  Not feeling that great but hopefully the medicine kicks in.

 

Interesting about that crew chat - I would tend to believe that a lot more over what the other passenger got.  I asked her how she knew and she said she "asked" - when she said only 2000 I thought there seemed like more than that. 

 

For the most part I thought the food was good and of course the deserts were delicious!  

[KKB]

On 9/29/2022 at 9:28 PM, san diego spartan said:

I was on your same cruise and have tested positive  for Covid.  One of the people who also was in our group has as well. Only my 2nd cruise since the pandemic and I felt the Discovery was a bit tight in places.   The buffet design not great and hated that decks 6 and 5 did not go directly through.  We were told the ship had only 2000 passengers.  I can't  imagine it at full capacity. 

 

I was one who tried to wear a mask a lot but there were times I didn't.   I'm  wondering if the line dancing parry or the zumba was the source of exposure? We only did outdoor excursions.

 

I do have to say the outdoor TV movie screen by the pool us awesome.

 

 

I relate. 

We sailed the Caribbean Princess in July (PRETTY full) & I tested positive when I got home.

I would have never known my symptoms were so mild...I have elderly father so tested out of precaution.

It just reminds us how extremely virulent COVID is. 

2 of our kids have gotten upper respiratory infections in the last month (daughter TWICE). Now that we aren't being as vigilant, everything is trying to get us!

 

The only place we found crowded was those middle elevators--MOST of the time. I cannot IMAGINE those when full!

 

 

[catskier]

Funny, I asked when at guest services, they said around 3000. I had a lovely time, I thought staff was perfect. They did great job trying to keep us entertained at all those sea days. And serve us drinks to enjoy. Saw many whales on way back to Vancouver.

[MileHighAko]

5 hours ago, KKB said:

The only place we found crowded was those middle elevators--MOST of the time. I cannot IMAGINE those when full!

 

Here is what we discovered as a strategy for the mid-elevators:  There are four elevators in the main bank, and then two glass elevators on the sides. The four main elevators operate together on the same set of buttons on either side, but the glass elevators operate independently on their own button push.  What I noticed is that people would press the glass elevator button as they walked towards the main bank of elevators, and then push one of those buttons and wait.  The glass elevators to the sides are slightly angled so it's easy not to notice when they open if you're standing waiting for the main elevators. 

 

Our strategy was to just push one of the side glass elevator buttons and look at what floor it was on. If it was near the floor we were on, we'd just wait right there. Everyone else went to share the main elevator bank, and we almost always would have a private ride on the glass elevator. It might have made us wait an extra minute or two now and then, but easily worth the wait to not be crowded in the main elevators.

 

Aside from that, we always select an aft room so half of the time we used the aft elevator bank which was never busy. :) 

[KKB]

14 hours ago, MileHighAko said:

 

Here is what we discovered as a strategy for the mid-elevators:  There are four elevators in the main bank, and then two glass elevators on the sides. The four main elevators operate together on the same set of buttons on either side, but the glass elevators operate independently on their own button push.  What I noticed is that people would press the glass elevator button as they walked towards the main bank of elevators, and then push one of those buttons and wait.  The glass elevators to the sides are slightly angled so it's easy not to notice when they open if you're standing waiting for the main elevators. 

 

Our strategy was to just push one of the side glass elevator buttons and look at what floor it was on. If it was near the floor we were on, we'd just wait right there. Everyone else went to share the main elevator bank, and we almost always would have a private ride on the glass elevator. It might have made us wait an extra minute or two now and then, but easily worth the wait to not be crowded in the main elevators.

 

Aside from that, we always select an aft room so half of the time we used the aft elevator bank which was never busy. 🙂

Oh, yes, learned a long time ago to push ALL the buttons.

We normally save a few bucks & go a bit aft/forward near those elevators.

But DH's aunt & uncle prefer central so we deferred to them this trip.

Reminds me we do it for other reasons besides a few $--also gets us a few more steps each day!