san diego spartan

He had 4 programs. I attended the first 3. Excellent. Make sure to look for it in the schedule. Seemed to be about 11am ish. Also he narrated the day we went into the fjord and saw the glacier. We listened to hom on the TV in our cabin while on our balcony

DuVaul was the cruise director. Michael is the naturalist who gave the Alaskan enrichment talks

Lol....I think you might be right re the sofa now that I think about it...hubby would throw his clothes on it!! I do think HAL and Celebrity bathrooms are a tad bigger with the shower doors not curtains on the newer ships and the standard balconies seemed a bit deeper to me. But will see since I have both a HAL and Celebrity cruise booked in the next 5 months

I love Celebrity and I agree with the comments that neither HAL or Princess will have better or even comparable food and drink. I am just off the Discovery Princess - 1st time cruising Princess - and I thought the MDR food was decent to good and there were a lot of choices, which I found HAL on my last cruise last year had reduced the amount of choices on the dinner menu. I like HAL specialty dining better than Princess, but neither compare to Celebrity. I found the wine choices on Princess terrible. HAL has a comparable drink choices to Celebrity (I drink mainly wine). If you drink mostly mixed drinks then they all seem to have comparable alcohol. I love the Music Walk on HAL - I have been on 3 ships with it (all have included the Rock Room) and it was something I truly missed on Princess. I just did not find the live music on Princess to be comparable and the main production shows - only 1 was good - though this is all subjective of course. I have another cruise in December booked on HAL (Koningsdam - will be 3rd time on this ship) and then in February a cruise on Celebrity (Solstice - will be 1st time on that ship). So will have some updated comparisons soon. I do agree with the suggestion for Oceania - if you can afford it - I have only sailed once on Oceania but it was head and tails above these other cruise line. also agree HAL tends to have an older crowd, but I've noticed with the newer ships the medium age has become younger.

Glad you enjoyed the cruise. We did use the Medallion App to order snacks to the Vista Lounge when we were watching an NFL game and it worked fine for us - but our friends ordered as well and their order never came - though it showed it had been delivered. Someone else apparently got it I guess. I did use the App to order drinks at the pool on the 1st full sea day and it worked fine for me as well. It seemed to work well on board for me - it was just the whole getting ready on the App pre-cruise that I truly hated and I also hated the way the time line of events showed on the App. It was nice to open your door as you approached the cabin. Glad you had a large balcony - I saw them and they looked very nice!

I think the show times were either 7/7:30 and 9/9:30.... sorry I don't remember specifically. There seemed to be a show for the earlier dinners and then the late dinners. The Vista Lounge had DJ music nightly, I really don't recall if they had other entertainment in there at night.

Was thinking same things

Yes there is hot water and a nice selection of tea bags both herbal and caffeine choices.

They had the Chef's Table available on our 9/18 sailing and we saw it being utilized at least 3 or 4 nights.

Agree the standard balcony we had was small/tight. Our friends had a mini suite and they found a cabin that had a decent sized balcony.

So you have ruled out HAL - but I would put it back on your list and truly consider it as the best option. I have only cruised Alaska 2x - one HAL and one just off the Discovery Princess and I would go back to HAL on the Alaska cruise. Alaska is more laid back in terms of dinner wear on HAL. I actually found many more people in tuxes and sequin gowns on Discovery than I did on HAL. so I don't think that should be a deal breaker for you. I do have to say I enjoyed the inside passage much more on Discovery than I did on HAL. It is smoother - so that is a consideration if you have some people in your group who might be concerned about the roughness of the sailing. Also I loved Glacier Bay but Discovery captain got us so close to the Dawes Glacier and the fjord was amazing! I almost liked it better - hard to say they were both so cool. I think the fjord depends more on your weather. We were late September so I wasn't hoping for much - but they claimed we got the closest to the glacier from any of the other cruises this season. I think Skagway is a must - I have NOT made it there yet - as it was canceled on this cruise - but Sitka is just OK - so I would see who works that into the itinerary. Yes, bigger ships like the NCL Bliss, etc do not have great port positions. I actually found that in Juneau, Ketchikan that HAL had a much better berth than Princess did - not a deal breaker, but something to consider if you have older people in your party (and we did with HAL). I also like that HAL has ships that can close their pool area so you can sit out there in relative comfort if the elements are bad plus they have that great lounge on the high deck forward that is enclosed and is so relaxing so sitting and viewing the beautiful scenary. Also - not a decider, but my husband swears the pea soup HAL provided while we were at the Glacier was much better than Princess (who did not provide it on glacier day to my knowledge). I do have to say I enjoyed the naturalist on Princess much more than on HAL.

Yup totally agree with Triple7tahoe. Very little, if any variety and the choices are pretty basic - like red or white - that's it. I had seen a drink menu that was posted from the 1st sailing of Discovery and there were more choices, but not for our cruise. As I enjoy drinking wine and this is my vacation, I was very disappointed. I presume Vines is a wine bar that is not on the Discovery? That was something (if that is what it is) that was sorely lacking. Also, I also noticed that there was not a lot of craft brews on board (though I did not seek them out and perhaps the Salty Dog had some). I'm so used to living in San Diego that craft brews are everywhere.

the wine "list" is terrible and I mean terrible and I am not a wine snob, though I do not drink Chardonnay.

We were on Discovery 9/18 to 9/25 - they showed two Sunday NFL games on the movie under the stars on lido deck and on Monday night also. On Thursday night football they played that in the Vista Lounge Deck 7.

So most of these are for everyone not just the suite people. The special breakfast in Sabatini's each morning and the concierge lounge are for suites. we were just on Discovery Princess and during lunch day one side of the Skagway dining room was for concierge people - but looked like same menu? Someone else can confirm. I also think that suite people had a free wine tasting one day, though it was only $12 if you were not in suites. When I booked my Princess cruise (1st time on Princess) I tried to check out the suite perks and found them sorely lacking compared to Celebrity. I do have to say I got a "peek" of an aft suite cabin and it was super nice and the balcony which was wrapped around a corner was amazing!

Just back from a Seattle to Vancouver cruise and we were allowed to bring 2 bottles of wine on without corkage if we drank in the cabin. On embarkation we only brought one bottle on (OK hubby decided to crack out the other bottle in the hotel room the night before and I didn't want to bring on an opened bottle). We then at the 1st port bought a bottle of wine and they let us on with it no problem. Didn't seem that was what they were looking for when you put your bags through the scanner. Though I'm sure this may be hit or miss depending on what port, etc.

It was shown 1 night only - but there were 2 show times that night. I believe it was the 2nd formal night that they had the show. The 1st formal night they had the other show (also 2 times that evening), which I believe was called Spotlight. We changed all of our dining in the MDR to 7:30 p.m. each night, so there was time to make the late show times.

Rather lengthy so read at your own risk! Just wanted to give my overall impressions on the ship and a take from a newcomer to Princess (though not a new to cruising in general). I do have to thank the people who responded to my questions pre-cruise as I had many as was not familiar with Princess and the Medallion App, etc. First time on Discovery Princess, first time on Princess, but have taken almost 30 cruises on other cruise lines. Traveled with my husband. We also had another couple traveling on the same cruise. Had always wanted to sail on Princess. Overall, I had a good time (despite getting Covid-19) and the ship was nice, but there were a few things that I found disappointing and would not make Princess my first choice in the future. I am not a fan of the Medallion App due to the time it took pre-cruise to get everything set up/entered. It was cumbersome to try to find things on the App pre cruise and would prefer to use the lap top website to just enter the info required for check in. Also you could not book excursions pre boarding on the App – did not make sense to me. It did work well for making dining reservations for our party pre-boarding. It did work fine for us on the ship (even ordered food to the Vista lounge while watching some NFL football), with a small hiccup 2x when we came back on the ship from port. We just had to log out and log back in – not a big deal. Using the locate your shipmate was handy on one occasion. My big problem is that I did not like the App to look at the schedule of events (prefer the paper Princess Patter that my cabin steward gave us). It was just not user friendly and difficulty/time consuming to scroll through on the App. Also I could never find the opening/closing times of the restaurants, shops, bars, etc on the App. Maybe I just missed it? We were booked on the September 18th Alaska cruise from Seattle to Vancouver. For some reason this was unfortunately not a RT out of Seattle due to the end of the season I guess. I would have preferred RT since we had to deal with the ArrivCan app and a one way flight from Vancouver to San Diego which was more expensive and more complex as there were not a lot of choices/direct flights. Unfortunately missed Skagway port - which I had been so looking forward to - but next time right? The weather was not felt by the Captain to be safe to go there due to having to tender us in. Understandable and we made the best of it in Sitka instead. Anyway, the Discovery Princess is a nice looking ship. As it is fairly brand new, everything seemed in good shape. Being new to Princess I failed to do my due diligence and just booked a standard balcony cabin. Once I realized that it did not have a small sitting area (small couch) but just one chair and a desk, I would have upgraded to the deluxe balcony or even the mini suite (our friends had one and it was a nice size, though the jacuzzi tub seemed like a waste of space). I tried to do so through our TA but was quoted a ridiculous price to do so and I never received (despite being eligible) the request to bid on a better cabin. So not sure what happened there. The cabin was FINE just a bit tighter than I’m used to. The bed was comfortable, and I liked the pillow menu! The cabin steward was great and kept the cabin in prefect order. The balcony is small. 2 chairs and a small table. We were R704 – more after on the port side, Rivera deck. The cabin was quiet and conveniently located to the stairs/elevator and the laundry room where we actually did some self-laundry. Nice that it was free (soap and dryer sheets too!). I liked the large closet, though could have used a few more shelves. Plenty of hangers for a 7 night cruise. The bathroom is SMALL. Hopefully you are not a large person or I have no idea how you would turn around in there. The shower was fine, but really on a new ship I was surprised it was a shower curtain and not shower doors as I am used to on other ships. The flat screen TV was good, though it was not the fast reaction when you tried to move through the channel choices. I liked that there was room in the closet to store our luggage instead of putting it under the bed like on other ships. I like that the liquid hand soap and lotion were provided. I'm not a fan of combo conditioning shampoo (oxymoron in my opinion). So brought my own conditioner to use. I had read reviews re the terrible placement of the toilet paper, but frankly the bathroom was so small I did not find it a big deal. Positives of the cruise: Excellent Staff with 1 exception in guest services that was quite frustrating and really left a bad taste in our mouths. Food – overall quite good in the MDR for dinner and for lunch. The buffet was OK – though the design is cumbersome and quite tight at times. They had some decent choices and for the most part the food was good. At 1 time at the Crown Grill ($29 fee) and would not waste the money again. Disappointing meal. International Café is very good and really like Gigi’s Pizzeria. Did not try the Salty Dog on deck nor the slice Pizza. Though the MDR breakfast was just so-so and while I usually prefer to eat there in the mornings, found no hurry to do so on this ship. Also thought the room serve menu (especially for breakfast) was lacking in choices. Liked that there was a venue open 24 hours to eat if necessary (OK did not use that but it was nice to know it was there). The desserts (which exception of the Crown Grill) were delicious! We had no trouble pre cruise making dining reservations for the 4 of us. And after the 1st night we were asked if we wanted the same table each night with same waitstaff, etc - we decided to say "yes" and had it the same time every night the rest of the cruise, which worked out very easily. Enrichment Programs – Excellent with the host Michael! Really enjoyed his presentations, informative, entertaining, great photos, etc. I attended 3 of the 4 and would highly recommend them to future cruisers. Also enjoyed several other informative programs. Princess did a good job in this area. Loved the large outdoor Movie Under the Stars screen – watched a bit of the NFL game Monday night and it was great. Unfortunately for an Alaskan Cruise it is really wasted as Princess Discovery has no way to shut or cover that pool/lido area – it was pretty cool at times or the weather not congenital. I can see for the Mexican Riveria it will work fine. Gym – was nice and large and had some nice equipment/machines (though no 8 lb dumb bells). Used it several times and was never crowded. Games/trivia/Zumba, etc – they had a nice mix of things to do to keep you entertained. The Zumba classes were fun and I did attend the line dance “party” on the last day in the piazza, that was fun. I did think that some of the trivia times were odd and interfered with the main dining room meal times, so I missed some that I would have liked to attend. Pool areas. The wake pool area is really nice and I like that pool on the back – very scenic. I also like the option for the adult only retreat pool (though never used it as it is outside) and I think on some days was not open. The lido pool area on Deck 16 and the Deck 17 hot tubs were super nice – but again not used by many due to it being an Alaskan cruise. We did have a lovely warm day for Sailaway from Seattle so used the hot tubs then and it was fun. Despite the Medallion App (or probably because of it) the embarkation was smooth and quick. Disembarkation was easy, though a bit backed up at times, we were in no hurry so waited it out. The not so great: Entertainment – while one of the production shows (Rock Opera) was good, the other one which was a newer production was not that good. I also found that while there were several choices for music (piano, orchestra, jazz, etc) that other than the violinists, the rest were just so-so. I am used to higher quality of live music entertainment. Wine choices – poor, poor and really poor! Wow – I had heard it was bad, but had no idea it was that bad. Asked for a wine menu at dinner – brought something that basically said “red” or “white” – no kidding! Princess needs to step up their game on this. Even paying the different between the plus and premium package did not amount to anything but disappointing. Deck layout that did not allow you to walk through to the middle of the ship on decks 6 and 5. Had to walk up and around and back down – was confusing and frankly don’t know if I ever go the “hang” of it. Crowded/slow elevators at mid ship – use the aft ones or the stairs for quicker get around (and work off some of the extra calories!). Poor layout in the buffet and hard to find drink/beverage self serve stations. I also prefer a cruise line where the staff servers you at the buffet over letting you do it yourself. The ship felt “tight” or narrow at a lot of places (i.e. Deck 7) when you were trying to get around. The buffet tables were also close together which made it difficult for the disabled persons I saw. Also oddly many of the stair cases we took were tighter ones – though some areas had wider ones. Specialty dining choices – not that interesting to me and based on the 1 meal I had (Crown Grill) – not worth it. I did not get a chance to try the sushi bar though the menu looked good. The gastro pub Salty Dog did not look like any good options to me for $19. Also I felt that the “feel” of the specialty restaurants was just “meh” – not “special” – many were just right were people were walking and not secluded enough like I’m used to on other ships. What was missing. While I did like the 3 story open piazza and a lot of the programs/entertainment seemed centered around it which was nice (though it got crowded and the seating was limited), I thought the Princess Theater was tight seating and there should have been drink holders. But mainly I missed an indoor lounge area which had floor to ceiling windows that was up on the top or near top of the ship to sit and enjoy the scenery as we were cruising. That is important on an Alaskan cruise to me. It was too cold to sit up on the open deck (and I have to say I never saw blankets offered just pool towels). Overall a nice cruise. Princess seems to have a bit more of a lively “party” feel than Celebrity and Holland American -which is fine with me. I also liked that there was very few kids on board, but probably had to do with the timing of the cruise since most kids were back in school by then. Due to some disappointments noted above, I’m not in any hurry to book a new Princess cruise. Have 2 more cruises coming up – one on Holland America and one on Celebrity. Am glad we tried Princess though and I'm sure if it became an option in the future we would sail again.

Glad you are OK and that your group is too. My husband is still negative and so is the one other in our group of 4. Let's hope it stays that way. 2 and a half years, vax and boosted x2 and I finally got it. Not feeling that great but hopefully the medicine kicks in. Interesting about that crew chat - I would tend to believe that a lot more over what the other passenger got. I asked her how she knew and she said she "asked" - when she said only 2000 I thought there seemed like more than that. For the most part I thought the food was good and of course the deserts were delicious!

Thanks - appreciate it.

Yes just off the Disvoery Princess this past Sunday and the MDR lunch on embarkation day was Skagway Deck 6 mid. Pretty decent choices and was from 12 to 1:30pm. All breakfasts and lunches that were in the MDR on our cruise where always in Skagway. Note the decks do not.go through on Deck 6 if you are Aft. So you might have to go up or down a Deck to get their. Best to go to the mid elevators and go to Deck 6. Also you could only enter from one side...I think starboard. Other options included Gigis if you prefer pizza etc

I was on your same cruise and have tested positive for Covid. One of the people who also was in our group has as well. Only my 2nd cruise since the pandemic and I felt the Discovery was a bit tight in places. The buffet design not great and hated that decks 6 and 5 did not go directly through. We were told the ship had only 2000 passengers. I can't imagine it at full capacity. I was one who tried to wear a mask a lot but there were times I didn't. I'm wondering if the line dancing parry or the zumba was the source of exposure? We only did outdoor excursions. I do have to say the outdoor TV movie screen by the pool us awesome.

Yup just off the Discovery princess. It started in Seattle for 7 night cruise ending in Vancouver. Long day of travel as flight times from YCR to San diego weren't great options

Traffic in Los Angeles is so unpredictable. I think technically you should be fined but if there's an accident or something on the freeway man you may not make your flight. I think guy grew as people as just how much risk you are willing to take. If there is any wiggle room to take a later flight I think peace of mind would With the later flight. However I have a husband who likes to gamble and he would probably be OK with us getting on that early flight keeping fingers crossed at everything goes OK with the walk off from the ship and getting a taxi or Uber

Ok thank you for the clarification. Leaving from Seattle.