azbirdmom

We had a choice of Canyon Road Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay. Who knows if that will stay the same, I imagine it will change based on supplies.

Us too! Here’s the note we received. Not sure if this is happening on all ships or just the Discovery but the old rules about swaps likely no longer apply.

I drank the Sauvignon Blanc each night in the Concierge Lounge, well except for the night with Margaritas. I'm not a wine snob by any stretch and can tolerate all but the cheapest wines though so I couldn't tell you what the other wines were either. They had several though and from a picture that I took I can see the reds - The Footbolt Shiraz, Los Vascos Cabernet Sauvignon, Calera Pinot Noir, and Canyon Road Cabernet (the same brand of wine they had in the Elite / Suite mini bar set up).

IF what I heard about the number of devices connected significantly affecting performance is true you may fare better. I'm thinking that your cruise may not be full. Our's was the Love Boat theme cruise and we had more than 3400 passengers onboard. In any event it sounds like you are prepared for what may happen which is all you can do. We checked email in ports when we could wake our phones up (no charge with T-Mobile).

That's weird. It must be different on different ships, our excursion credit is usually there when we board. Or perhaps they missed the fact that you were Elite. In any case you should pay a visit to Passenger Services. Here's how it appeared on our folio by the way:

Hmmm, maybe there are two Suite Managers and we just didn't meet Mirela? And I agree with you on Sabatini's on the Discovery. I think they made it more contemporary / generic which will enable them to easily change dining concepts in the future. We did go to Sabatini's most mornings for breakfast and it was good but for the first time I liked the James Beard French toast over the usual brioche version in Sabatini's. I mentioned that and they were able to do the James Beard style for me. First world problems I know, it's all good!

By the way I'm wondering if Mirela is at the end of her contract. We had business cards from Vanessa (the Suite Concierge) and Mirela Petcu (Suite Experience Manager) in our suite when we first arrived and we never met Mirela. But when we went to the Concierge Lounge we met the two Vanessas one of whom was the Suite Experience Manager too (and it was Vanessa the Suite Experience Manager who invited us to 360). I guess you'll find out soon enough - here's a snippet of the invitation we received to the Mexican Fiesta from both Vanessas:

The MDR on deck 6 was open so you can do Club Class. We went to Gigi's for pizza and agnolotti.

Wow, a sky suite! Will definitely be following along, that is if you can log into Cruise Critic while cruising. I could not get into it at all last week on the Discovery. In fact I got the dreaded no Internet message quite a bit and sometimes even simple text messages would not send (I enable Wifi calling on my iPhone). I couldn't get into my Cox email at all on this cruise nor on the one on the same ship in July. When it happened in July the Internet Manager sent the error message I was getting back to shoreside for review (he got it too when he tried to go to the Cox website). Different Internet Manager last week and he basically said it is what it is. I also asked what happened to to the Internet service post pause, it used to be better. He said pre-Covid there were maybe 600 devices connected and now there are frequently more than 4000 connected. When I mentioned "Fastest Wifi at Sea" he basically said what Marketing says and what happens on the ship are two very different things. Good luck, hope your experience is better at the top of the ship. On a happier note Vanessa is wonderful. We went to the happy hour in the Suite Concierge Lounge most nights including the special Mexican Fiesta night where they added Margaritas and lots of special appetizers (quesadillas, jalapeno poppers etc.) to the buffet so we visited with Vanessa and other suite guests quite a bit. They also have bottled water (plain and fizzy) out for the taking all day and night. All of this is new to us since the last time we were in a full suite (pre-pandemic). Although you're getting a lot of alcohol in the room, they are now providing a full bottle of red or white wine instead of the 8 little bottles of hard liquor that are usually part of the Elite / Suite mini bar set up. The wine was drinkable (unlike the swill that they give to Club Class mini suite passengers), at least to me. Between the two bottles of wine and the two hour happy hours, we didn't use the Plus package much at all. By the way it was in the Suite Concierge lounge during happy hour last Friday that we received our invitation to 360. Another couple we were chatting with on the last night of the cruise had gone and we were asked if we wanted to fill the last two slots that evening. We did go. We were told by one of the waiters that it was officially starting November 5th but if that is not the case and they are still running the trials, I can't imagine that they wouldn't include you if you asked. Definitely ask Mirella when you are onboard about it. I hope you have a fantastic time on the beautiful Discovery Princess! We sure miss the ship.

Or those of us who get that info from our TAs post it as it provides early pricing info before that info is available on the Princess website.

Yes! Right after 7:30 I have no doubt that diners in Sabatini's were rather startled by the violinists and the group marching through. Right place right time for sure. To be honest we had just decided that after finishing our wine in the suite concierge lounge that we would just head up to the buffet. This was a significant upgrade from that LOL.

One more thing I forgot! I did get pictures of the drink they gave us before entering Sabatinis where we weren’t allowed to take a picture..

By the way, even though we were participating in a trial, we weren't asked for our opinions. At least not explicitly. When we were leaving the venue at the end I did notice a large screen that had pictures of each of us at some point during the meal. It appears that they videoed us and perhaps they had microphones around to hear what we were saying although it wasn't obvious. And although they took our pictures we didn't get a copy of them at the end. Maybe they will do that when they start this for real, I can't imagine they wouldn't give folks something at the end of this. They did show our pictures during the experience though 🙂 .

I think they will get to those countries anyway. The bartenders on the Discovery all seemed to be wearing them. Back to the old wardrobe again!

Oh I think you would find enough to eat like us and what we did have was delicious. And the experience was very cool. But yeah at that price we probably won't be back. Everyone is different and it's sure nice that Princess is providing experiences that appeal to everyone - from foodies to us plain eaters!

You're welcome! It was a wonderful week and to have this experience to end our time onboard was fantastic.

We did it last night on the Discovery. We were asked about 45 minutes before it started if we would like to try it and we said why not. They chose people at random as far as we could tell and it was free as it was a trial. There were a total of 20 diners - including Lauren Tewes aka Julie McCoy from the original Love Boat - well maybe not entirely random selection? We all met near the Salty Dog bar where they took our pictures and gave us a special cocktail. They told us our seat numbers and then two violinists appeared. We followed them into Sabatinis through the kitchen and into the 360 dining area. We were immediately told that we could not take pictures (darn). It's a circular area with images projected - practically everywhere. The seating areas are around a circle and the maitre d would come to the middle to explain each course. I won't ruin it with too much detail but it's a culinary trip through the Mediterranean with sights, sounds, tastes and smells of the different areas we "visited". We were served seven courses and managed to at least taste all but one. We are fussy eaters with simple tastes so maybe not their target audience for this sort of thing. We were also served cocktails and wine from the different regions. Presentation was impeccable and there were 10 waiters who delivered each course to every diner at exactly the same time. The whole experience lasted 2 hours and it was definitely fun. Those who enjoy the Chef's Table will probably be wowed by this as will others looking for a different kind of dining experience. From what we heard they will officially "open" on the Discovery November 5th and it's supposed to be $150 each if the info we heard was accurate. Glad we got to do it for free!

Wonder how long it will take before the shops onboard start discounting all of those Real Love Boat on CBS tshirts? They are $32 now, didn't even check to see how much the hats were. Seriously. I was looking for an original Love Boat shirt given the theme last week but nope, it was all Real Love Boat.

With many airlines you should be able to do that as long as it is ticketed / paid by Princess. Which they don't seem to be doing until around the 30 day point.

Thanks for the warning. Will look for the shuttle 🙂

Thanks for the info. I just checked the website and it looks like it is an 8 minute walk from where we will land (in terminal 7/8).

Does this mean that you didn't use your CPAP on the final night? We always have an extension cord and plug them into a non-surge protected power strip at the desk. If the desk is across from the bed we have the steward use masking tape to secure the extension cord to the carpet. Debarkation day is just too hectic without having to crawl under the bed to remove the plugs and we won't go a night without using our CPAPs. Those must be leftover. Now that they are using Medallions instead of cruise cards those things are kind of useless.

If it's a 7 day cruise the difference in the two fares is exactly the price of Princess Plus ($50 X 7 X 2). Maybe the glitch is that under some searches the giving you the fare with Princess Plus?

Sounds like his final days were spent doing what he loved. In my earlier post I forgot to mention that some credit cards have travel insurance benefits as well. You may want to check that to see if you can get reimbursement for what your medical insurance didn't cover. Continuing to send good healing thoughts to you.

Did you do that at the time of the original booking or shortly before the cruise? I've asked for quotes for upgrading from the free cabin offered to a full suite and alternately to Club Class when initially booking and have been told they don't have those in their casino upgrade inventory. They have quoted prices for suite but they are pretty much always more than what I would pay if I went through my TA using the casino discount. Maybe it's different if you've already booked and later call about an upgrade? Or maybe I don't play enough to warrant special treatment LOL - my offers are usually free insides, sometimes the Princess Plus is comped but lately it hasn't been.