Live from Discovery Princess for Oct 21-Nov 4

[L11]

1 hour ago, HBCcruiser said:

Interesting. If we already made reservations for Bistro (February cruise) will they automatically move them to the Catch? Also, if they move Sabatini's will they also move the suite breakfast dining room? 🤔

I had the same question. Since we sail on 12/3, I went ahead and contacted Princess. They told me the the reservation would be automatically moved over to Catch. Now, whether or not that actually happens...who knows? I intend to check once I get on board. Wish me luck!

[Cruise Raider]

15 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

 

Oh the spicy California veggie roll sounds right up my alley.

 

Looks like you are having another amazing cruise!

Oh my word, it had asparagus, cucumber and small strands of crispy fried onions with a tomato on top.  Truly excellent!  Ask them to put the spicy sauce on it .. it was not too spicy at all.  I think it was rolled in chia seeds or black sesame seeds.  Yummmmm!  

Sheer perfection and with the pickled ginger .. it wowed me.  
Like I said, we are sushi novices but we found we love it so much, and since they treated us with such care, we now love it and know more of what we love. 
 

 

[Caligirl33]

On 10/21/2023 at 7:23 PM, BlerkOne said:

 

10 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

I’ve been informed that the switch to The Catch will take place November 11th .. so it looks like you are in luck.   
 

This is SUPER exciting news! We board on 11/18. Now if I could just figure out how to reserve it! 

[Carnevale]

Did you happen to find out the total number onboard for this sailing?  Any info about what countries the guests represented?  We always enjoy these kinds of fun facts but haven’t seen it on this sailing.

 

we get off tomorrow and are envious of your extra time onboard!

[Cruise Raider]

11 minutes ago, Carnevale said:

Did you happen to find out the total number onboard for this sailing?  Any info about what countries the guests represented?  We always enjoy these kinds of fun facts but haven’t seen it on this sailing.

 

we get off tomorrow and are envious of your extra time onboard!

I think the total number on this current sailing was just over 3300.  
I did not hear the run down on how many were form each country.  

[MsSoCalCruiser]

9 hours ago, Luv2escape said:

We were getting pretty excited about our upcoming Coastal on Discovery.

After reading the comments about the beds & pillows, I am getting concerned about my back. We have been cruising with Princess since 2001. We had some VERY BAD beds 😒

before The Princess BED was rolled out. Even came back from several cruises & required chiropractic care. (doesn't seem right after spending so much for a cruise).

Furthermore where is the choice of pillows? Do we have to settle for cheap, crummy pillows? We cannot bring our own because we are flying.

Thanks for letting me rant.😮

We haven't cruised since before the pandemic (2019) and this cruise is to test the waters to see if we will return to Princess or jump ship to another cruiseline.

 

Put your pillows in a travel vacuum bag and put them in your suitcase. I do that every time I fly. You can purchase vacuum bags with a hand pump for travel on Amazon.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

9 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

I wouldn’t worry too much about the beds and pillows.  Everyone is different and to be honest, I really have been liking the mattress.  Maybe give it a chance.  
even the pillows are fine now I’ve slept on them for nearly a week.  
The mattress and pillows are still worlds better than those that we had while on Royal Caribbean.  
 

 

Yes, everyone is different! I like a really soft bed. My friend hates a soft bed and says that they kill her back. If you’re worried about the bed being too hard, pick up one of those inexpensive egg crate mattresses, and bring that onboard with you.

[Cruise Raider]

To continue, the in transit passengers are to meet in the Princess theater at 9:00 AM. I’m sure there are only about only 75 passengers currently in here out of the 116 B2B travelers at 9:10 AM 

 

I did find one little bit of information that I found interesting.  In transit passengers are allowed to order room service in the morning on turnaround day.  Those in full suites can do the same but not any other disembarking passengers.  

 

While we are waiting for the remaining passengers to arrive (there are always those that choose to not be on time .. holding up everyone else!  It’s ok with me as it’s quite comfortable here in the theater.  There is also a disembarking passenger in here that must have misunderstood the instructions on where to wait.  
 

We have all our luggage packed up except for the clothing on hangers. We are carrying our valuables in a small bag.  They will move our luggage and clothing to our new room for us.  We usually attempt to stay in the same room but we booked this second leg very recently and there were only a few cabins available.  We understand the next sailing is sold out.  
we on,y have to move up one deck and are still midship so we will just have to take one more flight of stairs up to our cabin.  We’ve built up our tolerance for that extra flight.  😂 

 

I M going to take this time to fill out my survey.  I understand that the crew onboard never sees it unless we fill it out within 3 days.  We need to make sure they get credit where credit is due.  
 

 

[Cruise Raider]

Now, everyone has gotten here .. only 45 minutes late for two passengers.  I guess stuff happensand there are reasons.  But, there are still guests disembarking and the theater has very comfortable seating so, it’s all good.  

I had to return my glass to the Take 5 venue and it’s all set up for a wedding.  What a gorgeous venue for a wedding or a vows renewal.  
So elegant!  

Edited October 28, 2023 by Cruise Raider

[fabby50]

Hello!  Enjoying your review.  We board the day you get off.  Do you know if they have rolled out the new vegan menu on the Discovery?  Someone posted a couple of days of it, but they are on a different ship.  Thank you very much!

[Cruise Raider]

5 hours ago, fabby50 said:

Hello!  Enjoying your review.  We board the day you get off.  Do you know if they have rolled out the new vegan menu on the Discovery?  Someone posted a couple of days of it, but they are on a different ship.  Thank you very much!

I’m pretty sure they have.  While we haven’t eaten in the MDR as of yet and may not, be seen the beyond burger in the Salty Dog GastroPub and vegetable rolls in Ocean Now.

 

[Cruise Raider]

The B2B process was seamless.  We were seated in a separate section in the terminal and boarded about 10 minutes after sitting down along with the elite passengers.  We were onboard by 11:00 AM.  All as quick and painless,  

 

[PescadoAmarillo]

8 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

I M going to take this time to fill out my survey.  I understand that the crew onboard never sees it unless we fill it out within 3 days.  We need to make sure they get credit where credit is due.  
 

 

I hope that’s not the case!  Where did you hear that?  I spend a lot of time mentioning people by name, but almost never within three days of the end of the cruise. I don’t want to think they never get credit for what they do. 

[Host CJSKIDS]

@Cruise Raider Bon Voyage again!!  Hope the next sailing is as good as the first, if not better.

[avonlady6390]

I did a b2b last year and we waited in the theater of course there was a couple who were late everyone turned around and I heard some boos as well I would not like to be that couple.

[Cruise Raider]

12 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

I hope that’s not the case!  Where did you hear that?  I spend a lot of time mentioning people by name, but almost never within three days of the end of the cruise. I don’t want to think they never get credit for what they do. 

I heard this from several of the managers onboard and confirmed it with one of the officers.  I was surprised to learn this, too.  It still helps them on a corporate level but they are never informed unless it goes into a report which is published for each dept head unless it’s done within 3 days.  
We were actually privy to seeing one of the reports once and it was tallied up with names shortly after the previous cruise.  

[Cruise Raider]

12 hours ago, avonlady6390 said:

I did a b2b last year and we waited in the theater of course there was a couple who were late everyone turned around and I heard some boos as well I would not like to be that couple.

I am thinking it really didn’t impacted our ability to get off and back on the ship in a timely manner as we still had to wait in the terminal for another 10 minutes or so.  
The part that was funny was that while we were waiting in the theater, people were having to use the restroom and such and they were trying to keep us all together.  It was a bit like herding cats.  😂 

[Cruise Raider]

So, maybe this has to do with upgrading to the premier package via the app, my the erroneous charges have started up once again.  I didn’t get any on the last leg but have about $40 in bar charges on my account from yesterday.  I will send a CrewChat message to have them removed.  
 

Edited October 29, 2023 by Cruise Raider

[Cruise Raider]

12 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

I hope that’s not the case!  Where did you hear that?  I spend a lot of time mentioning people by name, but almost never within three days of the end of the cruise. I don’t want to think they never get credit for what they do. 

I heard this from several of the managers onboard and confirmed it with one of the officers.  I was surprised to learn this, too.  It still helps them on a corporate level but they are never informed unless it goes into a report which is published for each dept head unless it’s done within 3 days.  
We were actually privy to seeing one of the reports once and it was tallied up with names shortly after the previous cruise.  

[PescadoAmarillo]

44 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

I heard this from several of the managers onboard and confirmed it with one of the officers.  I was surprised to learn this, too.  It still helps them on a corporate level but they are never informed unless it goes into a report which is published for each dept head unless it’s done within 3 days.  
We were actually privy to seeing one of the reports once and it was tallied up with names shortly after the previous cruise.  

Then that really does a disservice to the crew members who get mentioned AND the guests who spend 30 minutes or more completing the surveys and carefully commenting on specific individuals. Not good, Princess. I can’t think of a single reason why names have to be overlooked.
 

At the very least, Princess should make it clear to guests that the surveys should be competed within three days or don’t bother mentioning specific names.

[Cruise Raider]

4 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Then that really does a disservice to the crew members who get mentioned AND the guests who spend 30 minutes or more completing the surveys and carefully commenting on specific individuals. Not good, Princess. I can’t think of a single reason why names have to be overlooked.
 

At the very least, Princess should make it clear to guests that the surveys should be competed within three days or don’t bother mentioning specific names.

I agree wholeheartedly!  It oftentimes takes me 2 hours to fill out the survey with thoughtful comments.  
I mention all the names but it always ends up being much shorter when I complete them in between cruises or at the airport.  
 

[LACruiser88]

4 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

I agree wholeheartedly!  It oftentimes takes me 2 hours to fill out the survey with thoughtful comments.  
I mention all the names but it always ends up being much shorter when I complete them in between cruises or at the airport.  
 

We frequently write letters of commendation for specific crew members and mail them to the corporate office. 

 

We almost always receive a return thank you letter from corporate. 

 

We also frequently hear back from the crew member that they received a copy of our letter and that they received special recognition.

[Cruise Raider]

We are always so tired on disembarkation and turn around day so headed upstairs early to watch a movie in our cabin.  Well, we never made it to even pick out a movie, much less watch one. 

This mattress is as form as the last one but we are finding it very comfortable.  Our pillows are actually better and not crunchy!  😆 

We woke up to this beautiful sight outside this morning

[Cruise Raider]

42 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

We frequently write letters of commendation for specific crew members and mail them to the corporate office. 

 

We almost always receive a return thank you letter from corporate. 

 

We also frequently hear back from the crew member that they received a copy of our letter and that they received special recognition.

Bravo! 
I am so happy to hear that.  We most cruise not because of the ports of call but because of the amazing crew members.  Many become part of our extended family.  

[Cruise Raider]

Headed to the cruise critic meet and greet in a bit but stopped for a coffee in the IC first.  
Then, I saw a mimosa and Bloody Mary bar set up in the piazza.  Such a great idea!  
I couldn’t resist that because of all the beautiful extras.  
I am all in when it comes to Bloody Caesar but only if they have horseradish available.  So, I went with the Bloody Mary and wow, this kid made one that is so good.  It’s half the alcohol and double the spice!  Yummmmm

I didn’t see any response from crew chat so had to go to the front desk to have my charges removed.  Done!  Thank you, Melissa.  
I think those at the front desk have such a challenging job.  I saw some lady there having a tizzy fit and nothing they could do would make her happy.  Oh well ..