Live from Discovery Princess for Oct 21-Nov 4

[lx200gps]

4 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

Glad you got that charge taken care of.  It can add up!  Luckily, we haven’t been experiencing that so far on this ship.  
Anyone that knows me well knows how much I absolutely hate wasting food.  Thus, less is better for when we order.  However, when we go to the specialty or causal restaurants, that’s sometimes hard to do.  I just had the best fish leftover from last night’s meal.  I’m one that doesn’t mind cold food and we live on leftovers.  The fridge is doing a great job at keeping everything pretty cold.  
This is interesting and something I have never noticed before. Someone mentioned putting a towel over the cabinet that houses the fridge.  This cabinet has vents on the side and I do believe it helps keep the fridge colder.  

 

We went through Take Five the first day onboard and on our way to the theater.  I see 6-8 slot machines in there towards on the side away from the bar area but they were turned off.  It is wide open and have dropped by for a cold drink at the bar on the way to the theater.  It doesn’t look like there are any plans of closing it, although, we’ve never seen anybody sitting in there.  That is so surprising, as it is a gorgeous venue.  
I will try to get an answer from someone in the know and see if they have future plans for it.  

 

That is great news, thanks so much for the confirmation. We also love Take 5 as it's our  absolute favorite spot for great QUIET ocean view seating  on those long sea days. ;o)  From what you could see, did it appear that those slot machines were permanent or temporary?  When we were on board Oct 7-14, I could peer into Take 5 from a glass door in the casino and saw a few slot machines installed right inside the aft (Piazza) entrance into the area, as you entered, they were on the left side. Have they been removed? Keep up the great work, excellent thread ;o)

[Cruise Raider]

9 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

High praise indeed! 😉

 

We have recently discovered Long Beach as an alternative to LAX for cruises out of San Pedro. Do you recall how much the Uber cost?  Enjoy your cruise!  May softer pillows be in your future. 

Thank you so much!  
And yes, for us, Long Beach is the only way to go to Los Angeles!  
The Uber X was $33 plus tip and the Uber XL was $44 plus tip.   We have paid a lot more at various times.  This was kind of early in the day but thought that was a great deal, even with a 25% tip, it was so worth the cost.  We’ve paid $150 to get home from a cruise out of San Francisco several weeks ago where it used to be half that price.  Well .. inflation has hit us in the Bay Area with a vengeance.  
 

[RLK33853]

Thanks for the review.  Do you know who the Maitre"d is?

[Cruise Raider]

9 hours ago, Cruise Craig said:

If you get the oppertunity I would love to see pics of the MDR menus. Thank you so much for the updates I'm on the Nov 11th sailing so this is super helpful.

 

Just Right Pillows for all.

 

Thanks!

I am so sorry that we haven’t gone and probably go to the MDR on this sailing.  We have the premier package and we are loving our options for the casual dining.  I tried to make a reservation on the app in order to see the menus and was unable to do so. 

 

For lunch, we went to GiGi’s and it was fabulous!  The place was packed, which was surprising as we were in port.  
Then, tonight, we tried the Ocean Terrace and had the waiter pick what he thought we might like.  We explained we were sushi novices.  He did a great job in choosing what we might like.  The epservice was spectacular!  Next time we go, we will order just the edamame and California rolls with the wasabi and ginger. Oh my goodness, that was all so good!  
 

 

[trbarton]

23 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

We booked a B2B on the Discovery Princess for this week and next week.  The first leg is heading from Los Angeles north as far as San Francisco and then back down the coast and next week, they will be headed down to Mexico.  
 

We took a flight into Long Beach yesterday morning on Southwest Airlines with a friend that book the first leg of this cruise rather last minute.  I love the airport experience of Long Beach so much more than LAX.  Our friend quickly retrieved her checked luggage, we ordered an Uber and we’re on our way to the pier in San Pedro.  Once we got there, we waited in line under the tent for about 90 minutes,  I always book a flight that has another flight afterwards just to make sure we don’t miss the ship, so the rather lengthy wait was on me.  But, I’d rather be safe than sorry.  
Check in for the green lane or the blue lane was really quick and easy.  There was no differentiation for priority checking but there was a seating area for elite status passengers awaiting boarding once security and check in procedures were completed.  

We were on our way out to sea without any delays yesterday around 4 PM after a wonderful embarkation lunch in the Skagway dining room.

The Discovery:  

We have cruised on this ship 4 times in the past.  I just love the Royal class ships and all the choices for dining outside the MDR!  Some people really enjoy the wrap around promenade deck, which the Royal class ships don’t have but, to me, I don’t care about this feature in the very least.  
On this cruise, the ship is not filled to capacity but it still has over 3000 onboard, so it does seem full but not overly crowded.  
we’ve not had trouble finding seats for any of the events we’ve attended or at any of the areas we’ve grabbed a bite to eat.  

What others have mentioned about the mattresses not being the same as on other Princess ships seems to be true.  The mattress in our cabin, although more so on the overly firm side, is really not bothering either of us however, the pillows are just not great.  Bless the heart of our room steward that really tried to find a suitable pillow for me.  I don’t remember the pillows being this form from our previous cruises on this ship.  There’s just no soft ones to be found.  
 

The ship is in great shape!  Everything is tastefully decorated and nothing seems to be in disrepair. There are USB ports in the past of the bedside lamps, however, our devices take USB-C.  But I thought I’d mention it anyway in case it helps others.  
It is fabulous those motion sensitive lights have either been removed or never installed on this ship. I seriously cannot remember if they had those lights a few months ago when we last cruised on this ship.  
 

What is so impressive to me is that we aren’t being overcharged for anything so far.  We upgraded to the premier package while onboard and our folio only reflects the charges that we should see.  I know this isn’t any thing that should be out of the ordinary but nevertheless, it’s so no refreshing not having to go to guest services to have erroneous charges removed from our bill.  
 

We’ve dated at the GastroPub last night, always a favorite for me, and at the Bistro Sur La Mer tonight.  Neither venue was too crowded and the service was absolutely wonderful at both places.  In fact, the service throughout the ship has been great!  The food at the Bistro Sur La Mer was fabulous and portions were not over the top huge!  I really love that.  I understand that The Catch By Rudi will be replacing the Bistro on November 11th or thereabouts.  
 

We’ve really enjoyed the entertainment so far.  Miguel Washington, the comedian that has performed so far, is hilarious without being vulgar!  Bravo!  
Leo Rossi has given a couple of talks and is always a must see in our book! 
 

We are really enjoying everything onboard (save the extra firm pillows) so far!  The service has been outstanding as has the entertainment.  
Tje food and drink is also quite good.  


 

 

 

 

Great writing. 
 

Tom😎

Edited October 24, 2023 by trbarton

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

 

Beautiful night in San Francisco tonight. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

I am loving your review.  The Discovery Princess is my favorite ship. She’s a beauty!
 

I’ve spent three weeks on the Discovery and loved everything except the mattresses killed me. They are super firm. Oh, and I had a crunchy pillow if that makes any sense. 
 

Thanks for taking us along.  Enjoy your cruise and stay well! 

[Carnevale]

We have enjoyed some time in Take Five after dinner having night caps (really good staff and bar tenders at this bar) and listening to the jazz trio.  Right now it’s great venue.  Hope it stays that way.

 

For us our pillows have two challenges.  Some (not all) are crunchy which might be the pillow protectors.  And all of them are really thick and firm They are too thick to use two (as we normally do) yet not enough to just use one.

[Cruise Raider]

8 hours ago, GoofyontheHiSeas said:

 

Beautiful night in San Francisco tonight. 

 Fabulous photo! 

[Cruise Raider]

8 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I am loving your review.  The Discovery Princess is my favorite ship. She’s a beauty!
 

I’ve spent three weeks on the Discovery and loved everything except the mattresses killed me. They are super firm. Oh, and I had a crunchy pillow if that makes any sense. 
 

Thanks for taking us along.  Enjoy your cruise and stay well! 

The crunchy pillow makes so much sense to me.  I’m actually liking the mattress the more I sleep on it.  I suppose I could make it down to the Ross store today to get my own pillow. I never made it out and about yesterday.  But, even with that, I was so tired, the pillows are doing the trick.  

[Cruise Raider]

So, just to add …

One of our friends was invited to the 360° experience yesterday.  Not so sure of the backstory to this but while she was sitting in the Piazza with our group, she was approached by one of the team members for the dinner to tell her she was selected to attend.  We had all thought she won this as part of the Princess Prizes.  I think that was around 4:20 PM and if she wanted to go, she had to meet in a certain location in 15 minutes.  They won’t disclose the location of the dining area and I forgot to ask her where it was held.   The cost ended up being $149 pp.  She wanted to try it so, she quickly went up to change her outfit.  
We met up with her last night afterwards and asked her how she enjoyed her dinner.  She said it was probably not something she’d do again.  She felt rushed through each course.  
we’ve done the wine makers dinner with her in the past and she so thoroughly enjoyed that.  I know she’s also was thinking about doing the Chefs Table.  Neither of us can eat such a large meal that late at night so, we passed on looking into doing it again.  
The Winemakers dinner went up from $40 pp to $120 pp in the past several months so that did destroy any interest I might have in it.  We’ve also gone to the Super Tuscany dinner in Sabatini’s the past and have not heard anything about that recently.  
I checked into the Crown Grill possibly serving lunch one day.  One of the bar managers thought maybe they would but we only have one more sea day and they explained they wouldn’t be doing it on this sailing.  Lunch would be the best option for us so hopefully that will happen on the next sailing.  
 

I would like to report that I think the premier package has better value for us now than before.  We used to upgrade for the better wines but now that casual dining is included, it makes cruising even that much more enjoyable.  
I love being able to pop into one of the casual dining restaurants whenever I am hungry to get a bite to eat.  Anytime dining used to be like that as well but not so much now.  We’ve had some great meals and service in the MDR in the past but don’t see us wanting dinner there so much anymore.  Lunch is one meal I still like in the MDR.  We had such great service there the first day.  Prathamesh and Sudesh are both fantastic waiters here on the Discovery.  
 

Leo Rossi’s Knights of Rock shows have been fantastic.  We were so tired that we missed going to his show last night.  They’ve rescheduled him to do nighttime shows and he does draw larger crowds now.  However, for us, our body clocks say 9:30 PM may be a little late for us to attend a show.  
Anyway, I understand he will be onboard the Discovery until January so if you have an upcoming cruise on the Discovery, you may want to check out his talks.  
 

 

 

[PescadoAmarillo]

8 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I’ve spent three weeks on the Discovery and loved everything except the mattresses killed me. They are super firm.

And someone on the current Sapphire live from is saying theirs is way too soft. It makes one wonder why people are willing to buy the Princess bed. Are the mattresses really that different or are people’s perceptions that varied?  My back has been wrecked by bad Princess mattresses over the years, yet the one we had on the Sapphire was actually better than ours at home. Still, I would be unwilling to buy one based on the wide comfort range we’ve seen. 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

18 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

Leo Rossi’s Knights of Rock shows have been fantastic.  We were so tired that we missed going to his show last night.  They’ve rescheduled him to do nighttime shows and he does draw larger crowds now.  However, for us, our body clocks say 9:30 PM may be a little late for us to attend a show.  

Wow that’s a shame as I really love his presentations.  On my 19 with him on the Emerald (Aug 21-Sept 9, 2023) he was at 2;30 (or there about) in Explorers. It was a great time of day for me and his shows were very well attended. I just don’t do 9:30 shows. By then my social battery is depleted.  
 

I am so glad you’re having such a great time. 🥂 We are looking forward to our next sailing with you and DH. 

[Cruise Raider]

13 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

And someone on the current Sapphire live from is saying theirs is way too soft. It makes one wonder why people are willing to buy the Princess bed. Are the mattresses really that different or are people’s perceptions that varied?  My back has been wrecked by bad Princess mattresses over the years, yet the one we had on the Sapphire was actually better than ours at home. Still, I would be unwilling to buy one based on the wide comfort range we’ve seen. 

I really think the mattresses on Princess are pretty consistent and the best in the cruise industry, however, the Discovery does have different mattresses than the other Princess ship’s we’ve been on.  I believe it was because the ship was supplied with whatever mattresses they could find in bulk during the supply chain issues.  When we first sailed on her, it was back in April of 2022.  I recall seeing hundreds of freighters dotting the entire port of LA area.  
I’ve read somewhere that most mattresses are locally made, though so it may be more of a workforce issue.  
Either way, we are thinking about getting a firmer mattress at home next time it needs a replacement.  We are both doing pretty well on this bed.  
 

 

[Cruise Raider]

If any of my fellow passengers on this cruise that happen to be reading along with this thread, be sure you watch the Wake Show segment this morning where Duvaul, the Cruise Director, is interviewing the sommelier.  I laughed so hard there were tears in my eyes!  
That man is so darned funny!  
 

I also learned that there are some entertainment directors from other ships that joined in with corporate to create some new theme nights and theme cruises.  
It is always so fun to have new experiences to look forward to.  
 

[LawDog61]

9 hours ago, Carnevale said:

We have enjoyed some time in Take Five after dinner having night caps (really good staff and bar tenders at this bar) and listening to the jazz trio.  Right now it’s great venue.  Hope it stays that way.

 

For us our pillows have two challenges.  Some (not all) are crunchy which might be the pillow protectors.  And all of them are really thick and firm They are too thick to use two (as we normally do) yet not enough to just use one.

Happy to hear the jazz trio is back in Take Five!

[Cruise Raider]

As for wine lovers, there are some decent choices available under the premier package, especially the reds.  The good Chardonnay’s are not available at all the bars, though.  
I do like the Stags Leap Hands of Time Chardonnay, which they serve in the MDR.  
The Grirch Hills Merlot is quite delightful and can be found at most bars, though.  
 

For coffee lovers, the specialty coffees are not as good as the ones served on the Majestic, but much better than the espresso based drinks we had on the Ruby recently.  
They may be playing with the quantities of coffee used for each cup.  
 

 

[jwattle]

3 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

As for wine lovers, there are some decent choices available under the premier package, especially the reds.  The good Chardonnay’s are not available at all the bars, though.  
I do like the Stags Leap Hands of Time Chardonnay, which they serve in the MDR.  
The Grirch Hills Merlot is quite delightful and can be found at most bars, though.  
 

For coffee lovers, the specialty coffees are not as good as the ones served on the Majestic, but much better than the espresso based drinks we had on the Ruby recently.  
They may be playing with the quantities of coffee used for each cup.  
 

 

I'm looking forward to those Majestic coffees in 14 days! 🙂

 

[Lady Arwen]

On 10/23/2023 at 12:57 AM, Cruise Raider said:

We booked a B2B on the Discovery Princess for this week and next week.  The first leg is heading from Los Angeles north as far as San Francisco and then back down the coast and next week, they will be headed down to Mexico.  
 

We took a flight into Long Beach yesterday morning on Southwest Airlines with a friend that book the first leg of this cruise rather last minute.  I love the airport experience of Long Beach so much more than LAX.  Our friend quickly retrieved her checked luggage, we ordered an Uber and we’re on our way to the pier in San Pedro.  Once we got there, we waited in line under the tent for about 90 minutes,  I always book a flight that has another flight afterwards just to make sure we don’t miss the ship, so the rather lengthy wait was on me.  But, I’d rather be safe than sorry.  
Check in for the green lane or the blue lane was really quick and easy.  There was no differentiation for priority checking but there was a seating area for elite status passengers awaiting boarding once security and check in procedures were completed.  

We were on our way out to sea without any delays yesterday around 4 PM after a wonderful embarkation lunch in the Skagway dining room.

The Discovery:  

We have cruised on this ship 4 times in the past.  I just love the Royal class ships and all the choices for dining outside the MDR!  Some people really enjoy the wrap around promenade deck, which the Royal class ships don’t have but, to me, I don’t care about this feature in the very least.  
On this cruise, the ship is not filled to capacity but it still has over 3000 onboard, so it does seem full but not overly crowded.  
we’ve not had trouble finding seats for any of the events we’ve attended or at any of the areas we’ve grabbed a bite to eat.  

What others have mentioned about the mattresses not being the same as on other Princess ships seems to be true.  The mattress in our cabin, although more so on the overly firm side, is really not bothering either of us however, the pillows are just not great.  Bless the heart of our room steward that really tried to find a suitable pillow for me.  I don’t remember the pillows being this form from our previous cruises on this ship.  There’s just no soft ones to be found.  
 

The ship is in great shape!  Everything is tastefully decorated and nothing seems to be in disrepair. There are USB ports in the past of the bedside lamps, however, our devices take USB-C.  But I thought I’d mention it anyway in case it helps others.  
It is fabulous those motion sensitive lights have either been removed or never installed on this ship. I seriously cannot remember if they had those lights a few months ago when we last cruised on this ship.  
 

What is so impressive to me is that we aren’t being overcharged for anything so far.  We upgraded to the premier package while onboard and our folio only reflects the charges that we should see.  I know this isn’t any thing that should be out of the ordinary but nevertheless, it’s so no refreshing not having to go to guest services to have erroneous charges removed from our bill.  
 

We’ve dated at the GastroPub last night, always a favorite for me, and at the Bistro Sur La Mer tonight.  Neither venue was too crowded and the service was absolutely wonderful at both places.  In fact, the service throughout the ship has been great!  The food at the Bistro Sur La Mer was fabulous and portions were not over the top huge!  I really love that.  I understand that The Catch By Rudi will be replacing the Bistro on November 11th or thereabouts.  
 

We’ve really enjoyed the entertainment so far.  Miguel Washington, the comedian that has performed so far, is hilarious without being vulgar!  Bravo!  
Leo Rossi has given a couple of talks and is always a must see in our book! 
 

We are really enjoying everything onboard (save the extra firm pillows) so far!  The service has been outstanding as has the entertainment.  
Tje food and drink is also quite good.  


 

 

 

 

Following your adventure!  We also have the Premier package added to our next cruise, so I’m looking forward to your valued opinion.  Have a wonderful cruise!

[Lady Arwen]

7 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

As for wine lovers, there are some decent choices available under the premier package, especially the reds.  The good Chardonnay’s are not available at all the bars, though.  
I do like the Stags Leap Hands of Time Chardonnay, which they serve in the MDR.  
The Grirch Hills Merlot is quite delightful and can be found at most bars, though.  
 

For coffee lovers, the specialty coffees are not as good as the ones served on the Majestic, but much better than the espresso based drinks we had on the Ruby recently.  
They may be playing with the quantities of coffee used for each cup.  
 

 

Thanks so much!

[MsSoCalCruiser]

1 hour ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

And someone on the current Sapphire live from is saying theirs is way too soft. It makes one wonder why people are willing to buy the Princess bed. Are the mattresses really that different or are people’s perceptions that varied?  My back has been wrecked by bad Princess mattresses over the years, yet the one we had on the Sapphire was actually better than ours at home. Still, I would be unwilling to buy one based on the wide comfort range we’ve seen. 

I’ve always been fine on all of my Princess cruises.  I thought that the beds were great. We booked a b2b on the Discovery starting with the inaugural cruise and it was so painful for me that I was waking up all through the night. I asked for a foam topper, but they did not have any. Our room steward, found several comforters and put those underneath the sheets and that helped (she was awesome) but If that didn’t help, I was going to have a friend purchase and bring me a topper on turnaround day. It was awful. I would wake up in the night and sit straight up because it was so painful.

Edited October 24, 2023 by MsSoCalCruiser

[Lady Arwen]

2 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I’ve always been fine on all of my Princess cruises.  I thought that the beds were great. We booked a b2b on the Discovery starting with the inaugural cruise and it was so painful for me that I was waking up all through the night. I asked for a foam topper, but they did not have any. Our room steward, found several comforters and put those underneath the sheets and that helped (she was awesome) but If that didn’t help, I was going to have a friend purchase and bring me a topper on turnaround day. It was awful. I would wake up in the night and sit straight up because it was so painful.

Oh my, that sounds awful!  I wonder why the beds on Discovery haven’t been upgraded if passengers are finding them so uncomfortable.  Nothing is worse than a bad mattress, especially on vacation.  Perhaps Princess will do it if enough people complain.

[1emerald1]

5 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

The crunchy pillow makes so much sense to me.  I’m actually liking the mattress the more I sleep on it.  I suppose I could make it down to the Ross store today to get my own pillow. I never made it out and about yesterday.  But, even with that, I was so tired, the pillows are doing the trick.  

Haha, I was going to comment on the crunchy pillows on the inaugural cruise but caught so much heat for saying the mattresses were hard as rocks, I decided to refrain!  Thanks @MsSoCalCruiser for backing me up!!

[MsSoCalCruiser]

11 hours ago, 1emerald1 said:

Haha, I was going to comment on the crunchy pillows on the inaugural cruise but caught so much heat for saying the mattresses were hard as rocks, I decided to refrain!  Thanks @MsSoCalCruiser for backing me up!!

You’re welcome, ha ha. I felt like I was sleeping on a 2 x 4. Oh, and my car would not start when it was time to leave. I thought I had a dead battery but I didn’t have a battery at all because someone stole it out of my car! By the time I got home, I had a headache and I thought it was from a few hours of dealing with AAA, my insurance company and the Port Police…. Nope… Covid.

[Cruise Raider]

Honestly, I’m kind of starting to really like the mattresses and they are totally different from what we sleep on at home and also what we normally find on any other Princess ship.  Even the pillows seem to have softened up but I think I’m just getting used to them, is all.