Semi-live from the Discovery Princess | April 30 – May 7 | Alaska Inside Passage

[OrcaGirl]

Hey everyone,

 

Heading over to Canada Place in a few hours to board the Discovery Princess for its 7-day sailing to Alaska, with stops in Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan and scenic cruising in Hubbard Glacier (conditions permitting).

 

As the first Alaska sailing of the season for the Discovery Princess, we’re starting from Vancouver but ending in Seattle (the ship’s homeport for the rest of the summer).

 

 

I’ll try to post 2-3 times each day with what we’re up to, though my particular focus will usually be food, cocktails, entertainment and excursion adventures. (I’ll also be posting lots of photos over on Instagram Stories; look for erin_braincandy if you just want all the photos and none of the commentary.)

 

 

A little about us…

 

I’m Erin, and I’m a cruise enthusiast. I think I’m getting close to my twentieth cruise? This is my fourth time sailing Princess, but it’s been a while. Recently I’ve been mostly sailing on Celebrity and Norwegian, so I’m curious to see what Princess has got going on these days. I live in Vancouver, with a partial view of Canada Place, so it was neat seeing the Discovery Princess pulling into the port late last night just as I was deciding to put off packing until the morning. 😂

 

 

This trip I’m travelling with my mom and her older sister’s ex-husband’s little brother’s ex-wife…

 

 

They’re both in their mid-70s. Mom has been on just one cruise prior to this (our very first cruise was to Alaska on the original Regal Princess in the early 2000s), and D (as she shall now be called) has cruised a few times before but mostly on Holland America. They’re both from a small farming community in northern British Columbia, so I suspect being on a big new cruise ship is going to be waaaay out of their comfort zone. We’ll see how it goes!

 

 

Background reading

 

If you’re interested, here are my previous three live threads:

 

Norwegian Bliss | December 2021 | Mexican Riviera

 

Celebrity Solstice | October 2022 | Mexican Riviera

 

Celebrity Edge | February 2023 | Caribbean

 

 

 

 

[DUCHESSRN]

Have a wonderful cruise .

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

I'm looking forward to your report!

[Ragdollbd]

Bon voyage!  Can't wait to read your review.  42 days & I will be on Discovery Princess to Alaska 🙂

[tiggerrr]

12 hours ago, OrcaGirl said:

This trip I’m travelling with my mom and her older sister’s ex-husband’s little brother’s ex-wife…

 

 

Lol.  Okay, that took a moment to unpack.
 

Looking forward to your take on things. My wife and I are from Edmonton and are on this cruise too.  Our second time on Discovery. 

[quack2]

I get that you're leaving from Vancouver but returning to Seattle.  Is the ship really going to go west of Vancouver Island when heading north?  Seems a liitle odd but that's what the map shows.

[OrcaGirl]

Whew, that was an exhausting day!

 

After some last-minute packing, we decided to start heading toward Canada Place a good hour and a half before our chosen arrival time.

 

Traffic getting to Canada Place was baaaaaaad. It was the first three-ship day of the year, and it’s like everyone had forgotten how to merge and how to be patient.

 

We headed into the underground at Canada Place to drop off our luggage at 11:53am; we were on board at 2:35pm.

 

In between was one long line after another of semi-organized chaos, and so much walking on hard concrete. (More benches please!)

 

Baggage drop was relatively painless, but the lineup to get our medallions was long and winding, and then there was the line to even get back downstairs into the security line, and then the actual security line, and then the customs line. Just too much for my ladies. My mom is already swearing ‘never again’ and I’m swearing ‘never again on a three-ship day’… 

 

Probably the longest/worst boarding experience I’ve had…

 

The one highlight was spotting so many Santas (and eventually a couple of Mrs Clauses) in the various queues. Apparently there’s a big Santa group on board.

 

After boarding the ship we headed straight to our room to drop off our purses and backpacks etc, and to get the **** off our feet for a few minutes.

 

We’re in a mini-suite on the Lido deck; I’ll do a separate post on it later.

 

After a short rest, we headed over to the buffet for a quick snack and beverage, and then to our muster station to check in.

 

And then back to our cabin to watch sailaway from the balcony. Except we were also late leaving, presumably because people were still in line. 🤷‍♀️

 

But at 5pm the Love Boat theme sounded on the horn and at 5:15 we started pulling away from Canada Place.

I’m going to have to write up our sailaway experience, dinner and evening shenanigans in the morning. I’m beat. Same for pictures; I’ll post in the morning.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by OrcaGirl
gd typos

[OrcaGirl]

Okay, first batch of photos from yesterday.

Checkin queuing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boarding and exploring

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[OrcaGirl]

Sailaway time!

Since the weather was looking iffy, we decided to watch sailaway from our balcony. I used the MedallionApp to order pina coladas to the room.

 

The Niuew Amsterdam left before us, and the Radiance of the Seas followed us out.

 

 

 

 

According to the captain we had just 2m clearance under Lion’s Gate Bridge.

 

 

 

Since we left late, by the time we sailed under the bridge, it was time to quickly get dressed for our 6pm reservation at Sabatini’s.

[Bemidji Ty]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.  Looking forward to following along.  Cheers.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Bemidji Ty
Time

[jeromep]

Thank you for the pictures, looks wonderful, so far.

[OrcaGirl]

Dinner at Sabatini’s

 

Pre-cruise, the only reservation I could get for Sabatini’s that wasn’t 8pm or later was on the first day at 6pm. Of course we get there and it’s empty, and even by the time we finished dinner it was barely half full. I know, I know, it’s more about staff and kitchen capacity…🤣

 

 

At least we got a lovely window table and nice views.

 

 

The food was amazing, but a lot. Six courses of awesomeness is great, but with two ladies who typically eat very lightly, it was probably a bit of a waste.

 

Highlights for me were the burrata and the lobster pasta. And of course the opportunity to order a negroni… sbagliato… with prosecco in it… 
 

 

My mom really enjoyed the soup and the sabayon.

 

Our servers were lovely and quickly adjusted to my mom’s sense of humour and started joking back with her. 🤣 

 

Only weird thing was the sommelier (I think) interrupting our meal, addressing me and my mom but ignoring our friend Daneen, and doing a hard sell to get us to upgrade to Premier Plus. No thanks, dude.

 

We closed off dinner with a shot of limoncello, which I remembered sharing with my mom during our very first cruise twenty some years ago. She hasn’t changed her opinion of it. Couldn’t hand it back to me fast enough. 🤣 

 

 

Food p*rn photos to come separately, still need to get them off the DSLR.

[OrcaGirl]

Sabatini’s photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by OrcaGirl
Apologies, can’t get the order right

[piper]

Thanks for the posts! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[nini]

Thanks for sharing you journey with us!

We boarded at Canada Place last September and it was HORRID and very repetitive (showing the same documents over and over and over......).

Please tell your Mom that she is correct about the Limoncello on Princess... YUK! However, if she has a chance to try it in Italy, it is wonderful! We bought bottles to take home from the farm we toured which was close to Naples.

Your itinerary looks great. Happy Cruising!

[toofewcruises]

Thank you for posting! I will be boarding the Discovery in Seattle in 20 days. Hoping for a smoother embarkation! Sorry about yours 

[nini]

1 hour ago, toofewcruises said:

Thank you for posting! I will be boarding the Discovery in Seattle in 20 days. Hoping for a smoother embarkation! Sorry about yours 

 

We have boarded twice in Vancouver and each time is a mess or takes forever with lots of unnecessary repetition.

Edited May 1, 2023 by nini

[travelin.sisters]

thanks for sharing your cruise & have a wonderful time...tell your mom that next time she cruises with you, you will request wheelchair boarding (I always do for BIL, he can walk but can't do the long standing in line thing)

[cr8tiv1]

Have a wonderful journey and I hope the meals will wow your mom over (since the lemoncello and embarkation didn't).  

 

I was lucky...end of season, only one Grand ship in town...embarkation was fast.  I don't understand the up and down of Canada Place.

[mthomp5]

Following along and enjoy your updates and pics so far!  I was on the Discovery in September and will be sailing on her again in April.  She’s a beautiful ship.  I love the Love Boat theme horn….heard it on the Royal and Regal.  But never heard it when we were on the Discovery in September.  Good to know she has it.  We probably just always missed it. 

[fpsphil]

45 minutes ago, mthomp5 said:

Following along and enjoy your updates and pics so far!  I was on the Discovery in September and will be sailing on her again in April.  She’s a beautiful ship.  I love the Love Boat theme horn….heard it on the Royal and Regal.  But never heard it when we were on the Discovery in September.  Good to know she has it.  We probably just always missed it. 

On my 3 times on the Discovery it’s always been hit or miss when the captain hits it. Didn’t hit it once leaving SF or going under the Golden Gate

[mthomp5]

42 minutes ago, fpsphil said:

On my 3 times on the Discovery it’s always been hit or miss when the captain hits it. Didn’t hit it once leaving SF or going under the Golden Gate

Ahhh….that makes sense. 

[OrcaGirl]

Post-dinner Shenanigans

 

Apres Sabatini’s, D was done for the night and headed back to the cabin but mom needed to stay upright for a bit.

 

We toured the Enclave, and to my utter shock, my mom thought it looked pretty cool and decided to book a weeklong pass. Well sign me up too! I love a good thermal spa and usually book a spa cabin when sailing Norwegian.

 

After that we headed to Princess Live for the game show. Tonight was musical trivia, where the host played a song and you had to guess which year it came out of two options. I suuuuuucked. My mom lasted longer than I did just by not participating and staying seated.

 

 

Mom especially loved the entertainment host, though I didn’t catch his name. Great dance moves.

 

After the game show, we decided to turn in. Our steward had turned the sofa into my bed, and I was skeptical at first, but you know what, it wasn’t bad.

 

 

Placed our room service order for breakfast on the door and it was lights out.

 

Random Observations

 

I am not a fan of the Medallion app so far. Very slow, very clunky, and as a former web manager, some very bad UX decisions were made that just don’t make any sense.

 

There are also weird errors on the app, like the old menu for Sabatini’s, typos, etc.

 

Very poor elevator etiquette on display. Wait until people get off the elevator before trying to board, and don’t cut in front of the elderly or wheelchair users. Basic social graces.

 

I stopped trying to count individual Santa’s after 20 or so, so if anyone has the actual number please share.

 

Wildlife count for day one: one eagle and one seal. (I see them weekly at home but it was neat seeing them squabbling over feeding grounds in the harbour.) And the one moose.

 

[OrcaGirl]

Day 2 - at sea

 

Had a decent night sleep on my little sofa bed sliver. Woke up around 7 and headed down to the International Cafe for an iced Americano and a delicious almond croissant. 
 

 

Took it back to the room just in time for our room service order for the ladies to arrive.

 

After first breakfast, we headed down to the Enclave. Unfortunately D took one step inside and decided it was too warm/steamy for her. She was able to get a refund for the week, thank goodness. Lesson learned: don’t book the Enclave pass for someone until they’ve toured it themselves.

 

Mom and I stuck around and enjoyed ourselves for a while. It was very nice, although I do prefer the Norwegian thermal spas — bigger, places to sit and relax that aren’t just the heated stone loungers, windows to the outside world. But this was also half the price, so… 🤷‍♀️

 

After our spaaaaaah time, it was up to the buffet for second breakfast. I can’t put my finger on what it is that I don’t like about the World Marketplace… the layout doesn’t feel intuitive, perhaps.

 

 

We headed to the piazza for some people-watching. Mom really enjoyed watching the line dancing class. 
 

 

Bingo time! Wish they had the cards with fold-down tabs instead of charging for dabbers. No luck for us but it was fun.

 

 

We had a quick lunch in the buffet before I abandoned the ladies to head to the theatre for a presentation by a woman who kayaked solo up the Inside Passage from Washington state to Sitka in 78 days. (I’m a kayaker myself but nowhere near brave enough for a trip like that. Four days is my max.)

 

 

After we reconvened, it was casino time. I dropped $20 very quickly on the coin drop thingy, and then found an old-school one-armed bandit for my mom to play her first slot machine. And the ***** wins $45… 🤣 Smart girl cashed out right away.

 

 

We headed back to the room to rest and change for dinner. 
 

[cr8tiv1]

Mom seems to be having first time cruiser luck.  Hope it will sway her toward more cruises.  Glad she is having a good time.