Jan 13 - Discovery Princess Embarkation Experience

[hatchda]

My wife and I drove to San Pedro and arrived at the parking  lot at 10:15AM. Porters were ready for the luggage on the main Street so we only had to roll the luggage outside of the parking lot. 
 

The security line moved quickly; however, the section where you break out into the Blue lane and Green lane wasn’t well communicated. There was no signage anywhere, the only reason we were aware is we heard some others. 
 

The green lane was quick and even though they gave us a boarding group number, they decided to simply let everyone board at once. 
 

We were on the gangway by 10:30 or so and on the boat by 10:45. So it only took us about 30 minutes to board; therefore, it was a super easy quick process. 

[CulverCityCruisers]

Hope You might do a LIVE report, but if not a review post sailing.  Last sailing on Princess the food was okay in the MDR, but we were told newer menus on the way.  If you eat in the MDR for dinner any Menus you might post would be great!!

 

Have a good sailing

 

[cr8tiv1]

You were most fortunate.  I heard the cruise before you was full.  Have a great cruise.

[5353]

Sailing this cruise 1/27. Curious which ‘movies under the stars’ screening during the cruise.

[hatchda]

These are the movies which are listed.  They also are playing the NFL playoff games 

[hatchda]

2 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

You were most fortunate.  I heard the cruise before you was full.  Have a great cruise.

This cruise I am on is also sold out. I think we got lucky by getting to the dock early and being green lane. 
 

The rooms were ready at 1:30PM. We were underway at around 2:30PM. 

[cr8tiv1]

2:30?  Wow, that's an early departure.  

[hatchda]

Sorry no photos because I wasn’t planning on doing a live/review. 

We ate lunch at the Buffet and the food was ok. The sauteed vegetables were good but the meat items were blah. They had calamari rounds about the size of a sand dollars and my wife said it was like eating a tasteless rubber band. (6/10)
 

We ate dinner at the Crown Grill and we had the filet mignon and the ribeye. The filet was great and the wife enjoyed it. The ribeye was alright. The sides and appetizers are very very small portions. The onion soup wasn’t that bad but a bit too salty for the wife.
 

For example the Asparagus consisted of 4 spears about the thickness of a q-tip and 3” long. The bone marrow potato is about the size of a mini hostess donut. (7/10)
 

I also had a premium desert at Gelato. It looked better than it tasted but it wasn’t bad. The issue is the spoon they provide is a bit too short to reach the bottom of the glass without needing to tippy toe the top of the spoon. The cup is also in layers whip cream, gelato and then fudge. It was interesting but doubt I would get another one.(7/10)

 

I will post the MDR menus when I eat there. 

 

 

[hatchda]

19 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

2:30?  Wow, that's an early departure.  

Sorry. My timing was off. We were moving at around 2:50-3PM. 

 

Edited January 14 by hatchda

[wallyj]

@hatchda, if you have Plus or Premier package, I believe you can get just Gelato, any flavors instead of the Premium Sundae monstrosities. Discovery also has the premium Cakes at the Gelato bar, which are included in the packages, unlimited for Premier, 2x day for Plus.

[HotRoot]

I'll jump in.  We called Uber from our Long Beach hotel at 10 am.  At the port there were long lines but they kept moving.  When we arrived in the building for check in, they had signs directing you to blue or green lanes, plus a lady verbally directing you.  We were blue.  They took a picture of our passport and handed us our medallions.  We walked right onto the ship.  The next time we looked at our watch, it was 11 am.  

We are on starboard.  It was a little after 3 when I realized we were moving.  

We ate both meals in the MDR.  The menus were the standard embarkation menus which have been posted here numerous times.  Our go to is the bay shrimp and avocado; salmon; and beef tenderloin.  All were good.  We would order them again, which we do for every cruise.  For dinner, my go to has always been pork tenderloin.  I decided to try something new - Cajun Fried Chicken.  I will go back to my pork tenderloin.  My other half stuck with his Bahamian Stew and he was happy.  

[MTAK]

I am on this cruise also. We arrived at 10:30 and dropped our carry-on bags in the room by 11:00. The security line was long, but it kept moving. There were signs for blue and green lane after going through security. We were green lane and didn't have to wait. The blue lane was quite long. I did not see any priority lanes.