LIVE from Discovery Nov. 5 - Nov. 14, 2022 - including Sky Suite experience

[HBCcruiser]

Well, I debated doing this LIVE thread for several reasons but thought that there might be some people out there who are considering booking the Sky Suite or who may want to know more about the experience. Also, I have heard that the Wi-Fi (or total lack thereof) is a total NIGHTMARE on this ship. How can that be? It is a new ship!! In this day and age having decent the Wi-Fi should be a given IMO. Where is Musk when you need him? I guess we shall see how it goes. I invite other passengers on this cruise to chime in along the way. The more the merrier I always say! 

 

I am starting this thread a bit early so you can ask me any questions up front. That way, I can try to answer them before the Wi-Fi goes bye-bye. We shall see how it goes. If you do not hear from me for a day or so once I board you know why. 

 

Itinerary Cruise 1 (Sky Suite): 

 

Nov. 5 – Board in LA (cell service but sometimes does not work well in LA port)

Nov. 6 – Sea Day (probably no internet)

Nov. 7 – Cabo (cell service)

Nov. 8 – Cabo (cell service)

Nov. 9 – Sea Day (no internet expected) 

Nov. 10 – Back in LA – Cruise #2 – No Sky Suite 

Nov. 11 – San Diego (cell service)

Nov. 12 – Sea Day – (probably no internet)

Nov. 13 – Ensenada – (cell service)

Nov. 14 – Back to LA and work reality

 

This cruise will be a B2B starting with a 5-day Cabo overnight in the Sky Suite with my DH and BIL, followed by me sailing solo for the first time (yikes!) in what started as a mini suite but due to a recent upgrade bid is now an S4 for a 4-day Comedy-themed California Coastal cruise. 

 

The first cruise was booked using FCCs from multiple COVID cancellations. My DH and I are limited to how many vacation days we get, and at the time we needed to use up our COVID FCCs by December 2022. This cruise plus an upcoming December ’22 CB Panama Canal cruise will use up all our FCCs. When I booked this cruise the price for the Sky Suite was not bad – especially compared to what NCL Haven Suites and Royal Caribbean Star Class suites sell for.

 

The second leg was booked using my teacher discount. My awesome TA was able to combine some additional discounts making this cruise impossible to pass up. I booked a midship mini suite with the discount and did not have to pay the single supplement fee. Nice.  With Veteran’s Day falling during this cruise, I did not have to use another vacation day. 

 

Two months before the cruise I decided to try out the new upgrade system and put lowish bids on a few categories of suites. Three weeks prior to the cruise I received the “Sorry, you did not win...”  emails for all but one bid. Thirty minutes later I received the “Yay…” email for the S4. Super fun! 

 

DH and I love Cabo and have traveled there both by cruise ship and by air many times. My BIL has never been, so we plan on showing him some of our favorite haunts and doing one private excursion with him – a sunset sail where we will hopefully see some whales.

[HBCcruiser]

One Month Before the Cruise: We received a welcome email from Thor, the Sky Suite land-based Concierge one month before the cruise. He gave us an overview of the Sky Suite amenities and asked us to set up a time to discuss particulars, which we scheduled a few days later.

 

 

[HBCcruiser]

Thor is wonderful and very responsive to emails and requests. We set up times for our balcony breakfast and dinner, went over our likes/dislikes, gave him the list of beverages and alcohol we preferred (you get 2 bottles of alcohol and free beer and mixers with this suite), reviewed our schedule and events we wanted to attend, made dinner reservations and more. He asked for information regarding our private excursion in Cabo and let us know that they would make sure we got back on the ship. Talk about service!  He also informed us that he would send a confirmation email closer to the cruise as gave us the name of our onboard concierge, Mirella, who will contact us about a week prior to the cruise. Lastly, we set up a meeting time of 10:30 AM embarkation day when Mirella would meet us at the port to escort us onboard. The call took about an hour, so plan for that if you are working.

[HBCcruiser]

Two weeks prior to our cruise the 2 door magnets we ordered arrived, but no medallions. I contacted Thor to see if we were supposed to pick them up at the port and if we should get them before meeting up with Mirella. He replied to me email in under 5 minutes showing our Medallion orders and showing that my BIL’s had arrived today and that ours had not shipped out yet, but that they would arrive the next week. Wow! Talk about great service! I wish I could send him a tip!! 

[HBCcruiser]

We have 3 days to go before the cruise. I have not received any confirmation email nor have we heard from "Mirella". I hope to hear within the next few days. If not, I am not that concerned. As long as we get onboard, I am good to go! 😎 🥂

[SwimCarrie]

This is great. Thanks for the report and keep it up! #lifegoals 🤣 I cruised alone for the first time last year and I'm hooked. My husband and kids are strangely not as enthusiastic. Haha. You won't regret going alone, I guarantee it! Bon Voyage! 

[c-boy]

I tell ya the concierge service is wonderful and addictive. Once a have it ya don't wanna go back.

[HBCcruiser]

46 minutes ago, SwimCarrie said:

This is great. Thanks for the report and keep it up! #lifegoals 🤣 I cruised alone for the first time last year and I'm hooked. My husband and kids are strangely not as enthusiastic. Haha. You won't regret going alone, I guarantee it! Bon Voyage! 

Good to hear. Honestly, I’m a little nervous about it. 

[cr8tiv1]

Following along.  Would loved to have joined you for your solo portion.  I didn't have any issues with the internet doing Mexico cruises.  

[HBCcruiser]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Following along.  Would loved to have joined you for your solo portion.  I didn't have any issues with the internet doing Mexico cruises.  

That would have been fun if you were on as well. I am glad to hear that about the internet. On FB folks have been reporting some issues with the Discovery so I guess we shall see. 

[HBCcruiser]

So I just got a call from the land-based concierge, Thor, finalizing our dining plans and independent excursion plans in Cabo. He wants to make sure we get back onboard before the final tender. I told him that the tour would be done by 8:00 PM and that we would either return to the ship right away or grab dinner in the Marina. I'd rather eat onboard but the men may want to party in the Marina. 

 

Thor said that we should hear from Vanessa (I thought it was Mirella🤷‍♀️) via WhatsApp in a day or so to finalize the embarkation plans. Can't wait! 

 

[Hulagirl]

We were on the Discovery 2 weeks ago for the CA Coastal.  Vanessa and Mirela are both so nice.  You will like both of them so much, I'm sure.  The Concierge Lounge is such a nice addition.  We used it quite often during happy hour.  Vanessa is the Suite Experience Concierge and Mirela is the Suite Experience Manager.  The internet on the ship is very spotty and the worst at times.  Vanessa and I commented several times how bad it is, so that could be why you haven't heard from them yet. 

 

The ship is beautiful.  Have a great cruise.

 

 

[cr8tiv1]

How can the internet/wifi be so bad on the same itinerary but a different ship?  Shouldn't the Discovery have a better/improved system than the "oldER" Grand Princess?  

 

I guess I am just happy to have better internet/wifi than what I get at home (think DSL/step above dial up).  

 

Princess needs to get their act together if they want to attract the younger crowd who relies on high. speed internet for remote work or other social media.

[HBCcruiser]

52 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Princess needs to get their act together if they want to attract the younger crowd who relies on high. speed internet for remote work or other social media

I agree! I am hearing great things about Skylink on Royal Caribbean. Perhaps they should change providers. 

[HBCcruiser]

Time to get my nails done! I have work obligations tomorrow night so today is nail night. I’m still not sure what color to get. 🤔

[HBCcruiser]

I decided to go with something to match the White and Gold Party. It’s hard to photo at night.

[sunsetme]

wow

[HBCcruiser]

4 hours ago, Hulagirl said:

Vanessa and Mirela are both so nice.

Ahhh so there are two people we will work with? Did you enjoy the Sky Suite? Any tips? 

[Hulagirl]

We were in one of the Owner's Suites and not the Sky Suite.  It was booked when we decided on the cruise.  But anyone in a full suite can go to the Concierge Lounge.  We talked quite a bit to Vanessa and Mirela when nobody was in there.  They are extremely nice and helpful.  It is such a nice place for drinks in the evening.  You are well taken care of.

 

You will be given a card (like the old cruise cards) to be able to access the lounge. 

 

I'm sure you will hear from one of them soon. 

[HBCcruiser]

54 minutes ago, Hulagirl said:

We were in one of the Owner's Suites and not the Sky Suite.  It was booked when we decided on the cruise.  But anyone in a full suite can go to the Concierge Lounge.  We talked quite a bit to Vanessa and Mirela when nobody was in there.  They are extremely nice and helpful.  It is such a nice place for drinks in the evening.  You are well taken care of.

 

You will be given a card (like the old cruise cards) to be able to access the lounge. 

 

I'm sure you will hear from one of them soon. 

Thanks for the info! I have received emails and an itinerary update from Thor, the land based concierge. He said Vanessa should be contacting us soon via WhatsApp. I’ll definitely keep you posted. It’s funny, he seems really worried that we are doing an independent tour on the overnight day. Thor reminded me that the last tender is at midnight (I’ve heard 10:30 PM from FB peeps). I plan on eating dinner onboard after the tour so we’d be getting back onboard around 8:00.  He did tell me to contact them if we are running late for some reason. We did joke that if the guys miss the last shuttle they can stay at Sandos Resort where we have stayed before! 😂😂

Edited November 3, 2022 by HBCcruiser

[dides]

2 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

Thanks for the info! I have received emails and an itinerary update from Thor, the land based concierge. He said Vanessa should be contacting us soon via WhatsApp. 

Princess are meant to be launching the 360 immersive dining experience on Discovery Princess on your cruise - they have been having free trials in the last few weeks. So if that's of interest you may want to see if they can book you on it (could be a charge of $150pp). See this thread for more detail. 

 

Edited November 3, 2022 by dides

[HBCcruiser]

6 hours ago, dides said:

Princess are meant to be launching the 360 immersive dining experience on Discovery Princess on your cruise - they have been having free trials in the last few weeks. So if that's of interest you may want to see if they can book you on it (could be a charge of $150pp). See this thread for more detail. 

 

Yes! We are interested but when I asked Thor about it he said they were not offering it yet. 🤷‍♀️ I will ask Vanessa when we met her. It sounds super fun! We love the Winemakers dinner but that is not offered on these short cruises. The Chef’s dinners are great too but waaaay too much food IMO. 

[HBCcruiser]

Dining Reservations:

 

I wish Princess had the option to print all reservations for cruises, or have them show up easily on the App. I have to add them to my calendar so we don’t forget! 

 

[cr8tiv1]

Nice job.  Yes, it would be nice to “see at a glance”.  

[c-boy]

15 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

How can the internet/wifi be so bad on the same itinerary but a different ship?  Shouldn't the Discovery have a better/improved system than the "oldER" Grand Princess?  

 

I guess I am just happy to have better internet/wifi than what I get at home (think DSL/step above dial up).  

 

Princess needs to get their act together if they want to attract the younger crowd who relies on high. speed internet for remote work or other social media.

this is a dance for another tune and time