Discovery Princess April 29th Coastal

[ceilidh1]

I will attempt a live from, internet and CC permitting! If you are on this sailing, please feel free to add your posts!

 

Background

Sailing this time is myself and DS (10). Just 6 days ago we got off NCL Bliss doing this exact itinerary. We live in Vancouver, so these coastal s are faves for us. We haven’t been on Princess since pre Covid- sept 2019. This was one of our best sailings, marking the 4th trip in a year with Matt O! I’m not sure how much we will enjoy princess without Matt, but going in with an open mind and hoping to have a blast!

 

Pre Cruise 

This was not ideal! We have sailed medallion class many times before the app and loved it. Sadly, the app has taken away much of the pre cruise excitement and replaced it with frustration! First off, my perfectly good iPhone 6 was not compatible with the app. At that time, there was no web version to use and I reluctantly upgraded my phone (much to my teens delight as she now has the brand new iPhone 12 which also didn’t work well with the app). I was able to get to the green lane after many hours of switching between app and web. However I was never able to choose an arrival time or complete the health questionnaire. It was made even more infuriating with all the emails from princess reminding me to complete these steps! I gave up and will just roll with it.

 

Originally, I went with this sailing as the departure time from LA was 11pm. I’m not one to fly in day of but with this late time I felt confident in doing so. I booked EZAir at a decent price and was ready to roll. Then they changed departure time to 5pm and my flight was just not going to cut it! Four hours on hold and I had a flight the day before and now needed to pay for a hotel. I booked Crowne Plaza again - we just stayed there two weeks ago and it suited us fine.

 

Testing 

We still need negative tests to fly to US as well as to board, so I booked a proctored session through azova.com and used my own free rapid tests. Went off without a hitch and both negative! Completed ArriveCAN easily and checked in for air Canada flight, uploading proof of vax and proof of negative test. Ready to roll!

 

We are very familiar with transportation in Vancouver, living downtown so we hopped on the Canada line to the airport and breezed through security and US CBP. Currently having dinner at the Canucks Bat and Grill!

[Astro Flyer]

Buon Viaggio! 🎉

[CruisinMama2003]

Yay! Another Live from Ceili 😃

 

Have the best time! 🍷🍹

[odie1024]

Have fun, will be following along. Doing my first Princess cruise in June and looking forward to it. Love the Boston Red Sox shirt I see in the picture.

[that]

Tomorrow EVEN with delayed boarding  due to the Ship Naming Ceremonies, hoping for the Princess treatment for your trip.  You may take to Cruise Director DuVaul Gamble as you did to Matt O.  Bon Voyage.

 

[Hogladyrider]

Looking forward to following along!

[milolii]

Enjoy!  Matt is great.  I am sure you will have a great time. 

Edited April 29, 2022 by milolii

[SenatorsFan]

Have a great time! 😊

[ceilidh1]

42 minutes ago, odie1024 said:

Have fun, will be following along. Doing my first Princess cruise in June and looking forward to it. Love the Boston Red Sox shirt I see in the picture.

Go Sox! That’s our boys….

[ceilidh1]

Not sure if this is a Covid thing, or a Vancouver thing, or a combo of both…but the last three times I’ve flown from YVR everything has closed down at 6pm!!! On the plus side, our plane is here…

[azbirdmom]

Oh that poutine looks yummy!  Have a wonderful cruise.

[sunviking90]

2 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Not sure if this is a Covid thing, or a Vancouver thing, or a combo of both…but the last three times I’ve flown from YVR everything has closed down at 6pm!!! On the plus side, our plane is here…

 

 

We are doing the same thing tomorrow evening for our 7:50 pm flight  to catch the Majestic on Saturday and follow you up the coast. Looks like you at least got dinner. Did the restaurant stay open later than 6?

Enjoy your cruise!
 

[mpk]

5 hours ago, that said:

You may take to Cruise Director DuVaul Gamble as you did to Matt O.

 

 

Duval was fine, but it took a while for my party to figure out his greeting.  He always starts out with "gee double oh dee" evening, which seemed like he was saying GWOOD evening.  Hard to explain and visualize, but when you hear it, you'll see  🙂

[ceilidh1]

Made it to LA after a pretty uneventful flight. Considering it was 11pm, LAX was nuts! Had to wait for 3 shuttles to the LAX-it lot as so many people were taking them. Now, of course, when it’s that busy pricing goes up! Ten days ago, we $37 for an Uber (including tip) from LAX to Crowne Plaza. This evening, lowest price was with Lyft and it was $70! The taxi line was at least 40 deep so I bit the bullet and ordered the Lyft. I even paid the extra $7 for priority. That was a bad move! It took our driver over 40 minutes to find us - he kept calling and asking where we were…well, we were right at lot 30B exactly where we were meant to be. For some reason, he was trying to find us at curb side at the terminal. Doh. We finally found each other and made it to Crowne plaza at 12:30am!

[HBCcruiser]

Yeh LAX can be a nightmare. Following along. Enjoy your cruise!🥳🚢🥳

[Peachestravels]

15 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

I will attempt a live from, internet and CC permitting! If you are on this sailing, please feel free to add your posts!

 

Background

Sailing this time is myself and DS (10). Just 6 days ago we got off NCL Bliss doing this exact itinerary. We live in Vancouver, so these coastal s are faves for us. We haven’t been on Princess since pre Covid- sept 2019. This was one of our best sailings, marking the 4th trip in a year with Matt O! I’m not sure how much we will enjoy princess without Matt, but going in with an open mind and hoping to have a blast!

 

Pre Cruise 

This was not ideal! We have sailed medallion class many times before the app and loved it. Sadly, the app has taken away much of the pre cruise excitement and replaced it with frustration! First off, my perfectly good iPhone 6 was not compatible with the app. At that time, there was no web version to use and I reluctantly upgraded my phone (much to my teens delight as she now has the brand new iPhone 12 which also didn’t work well with the app). I was able to get to the green lane after many hours of switching between app and web. However I was never able to choose an arrival time or complete the health questionnaire. It was made even more infuriating with all the emails from princess reminding me to complete these steps! I gave up and will just roll with it.

 

Originally, I went with this sailing as the departure time from LA was 11pm. I’m not one to fly in day of but with this late time I felt confident in doing so. I booked EZAir at a decent price and was ready to roll. Then they changed departure time to 5pm and my flight was just not going to cut it! Four hours on hold and I had a flight the day before and now needed to pay for a hotel. I booked Crowne Plaza again - we just stayed there two weeks ago and it suited us fine.

 

Testing 

We still need negative tests to fly to US as well as to board, so I booked a proctored session through azova.com and used my own free rapid tests. Went off without a hitch and both negative! Completed ArriveCAN easily and checked in for air Canada flight, uploading proof of vax and proof of negative test. Ready to roll!

 

We are very familiar with transportation in Vancouver, living downtown so we hopped on the Canada line to the airport and breezed through security and US CBP. Currently having dinner at the Canucks Bat and Grill!

LOVE THE RED SOX SWEATSHIRT!!! I grew up in Boston. Fenway Park every chance I got. Also food looks delicious 😋. 

[ceilidh1]

Crowne Plaza

We stayed here for one night before boarding the Bliss 2 weeks ago and it worked out just fine. Faced with a relatively last minute need for a hotel for the night, I was able to grab this hotel again for a decent price. It’s definitely not fancy and there isn’t a whole lot to do in the area, but for one night the location is perfect, it’s clean, nice staff, and does the job!

[ceilidh1]

Both times we stayed at Crowne Plaza, I paid an extra fee (like $6 per person) to include breakfast. This is a pretty standard buffet but for the nominal price was a decent meal. Variety of fruits, breads, eggs, bacon, sausage, waffle maker, etc. One note is that, other than syrup, there are no toppings for the waffles. I’m on vacation, I want cream and chocolate chips! Lol. 

[Italy52]

Have a wonderful time on the Discovery; we sail with her in August.  Will be following your thread; thanks for taking the time to post, we appreciate it very much.

[scooter6139]

Following along too.  We are on the next leg, the Alaskan Sampler from Vancouver.

[ceilidh1]

Cruise Day

Since I was never able to choose an arrival time thanks to the glitchy app, I had planned on heading to the port just before 11am. In past experience with princess, elite and suite guests usually start boarding by 11:30. Now, last week on Bliss there was a coastguard inspection so we were waiting almost 4 hours to get on the ship. We just got word from princess a few days ago that boarding would be delayed due to the official naming ceremony. Still, I would rather be sat at the port waiting to get on than sat at the hotel, so sticking to our plan! We paid $5.50 per person for the hotel shuttle- last time we Ubered for $12 (3 of us) but it’s also easily walkable. I’m just tired and lazy this morning!

[tiggerrr]

Yay!  We’re on this same cruise. We flew in from Edmonton yesterday stayed at an airport hotel and we’ll take an Uber in an hour or so. I was going to do a Live but maybe it’s easier to throw our thoughts and photos into this one if that’s okay. 
 

I feel a bit blessed as the medallion app has worked pretty much perfectly for us so far (and now I’ve probably jinxed it).  I am so looking forward to this cruise. 
 

And LAX was an absolute zoo for us too in the middle of the afternoon. I forgot how much I hate terminal 2. 

[CruzeQueen2]

42 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Cruise Day

Since I was never able to choose an arrival time thanks to the glitchy app, I had planned on heading to the port just before 11am. In past experience with princess, elite and suite guests usually start boarding by 11:30. Now, last week on Bliss there was a coastguard inspection so we were waiting almost 4 hours to get on the ship. We just got word from princess a few days ago that boarding would be delayed due to the official naming ceremony. Still, I would rather be sat at the port waiting to get on than sat at the hotel, so sticking to our plan! We paid $5.50 per person for the hotel shuttle- last time we Ubered for $12 (3 of us) but it’s also easily walkable. I’m just tired and lazy this morning!

Bon Voyage! Thanks for the live thread. Will be following along.

[ceilidh1]

We were planning on taking the 11am shuttle to the port, but things escalated quickly and we somehow found ourselves on the shuttle at 10am. It was a bit of a whirlwind…We were at the port with bags dropped at 10:10am. Not surprisingly, they were in the process of getting through VIPs and guests for the naming ceremony. There were around 30 regular passengers waiting to the side, and that’s where we were directed. After about 10 minutes we were told that we could proceed through to security and check in but there was no ETA on  boarding time yet. We were whisked through the elite line, checked in, and now sat in the elite lounge with boarding group A card in hand. It is 10:30am. I don’t know that I have ever been this early before.

 

The elite lounge has coffee, apple juice, and orange juice but no food. It is separate from the platinum seating area and that is separated from the general seating area. I’m not sure if suite is somewhere else or with elite- it doesn’t make that clear on the signage. Within the elite lounge they are boarding by letter group. We have group A. I saw a few come in with group F. It’s pretty chilly in here with huge fans as well as air con.

 

A note about the stress I had pre cruise with the app! It didn’t matter at all. At check in, passports were scanned, vax record and Covid test checked, ArriveCAN confirmed and health questions asked. Medallion handed over and off we went. So, don’t stress! 

[ceilidh1]

12pm and we are on the ship and sitting at GiGis (embarkation lunch tradition)! There was almost a snafu at boarding time as they said the first groups to board would be F and G. Unmmm, what? Luckily someone else came by and called groups A and B. And jus like that we were on the ship!