Embarkation in Los Angeles

This morning we checked out of our hotel and met our press contact with Princess Cruises in the hotel lobby. Christina greeted us and arranged for an Uber to take us from the hotel to Pier 91. We arrived at the pier just in time for a short press conference with Jan Swartz, President of Princess Cruises, and Gene Saroka, Port of Los Angeles Port Director, to commemorate the return of cruising to the port of Los Angeles.

Princess Cruises President Jan Swartz and Port Executive Director Gene Seroka celebrate the maiden call of Majestic Princess to the Port of Los Angeles.

At the end of the press conference, members of the travel press had the opportunity to interview Ms. Swartz.

I had the opportunity to briefly interview Jan Swatrz at the Port of Los Angeles

After the press conference and interview, it was time for embarkation, which is a very different experience from the last time we embarked a Princess ship. All Princess ships are now MedallionClass ships, meaning that every guest is provided with a medallion instead of a room key card. The medallion is used for a wide variety of tasks, which we will cover in an upcoming video.

Each medallion has the guest’s name printed on one side along with the ship name and sailing date. The medallions are only good for the sailing indicated on the medallion. Therefore, on subsequent Princess cruises, guests are issued a new medallion.

Part of the MedallionClass experience is the MedallionClass app for your smartphone. It certainly enhances the onboard experience if you have a smartphone with the app loaded. Embarking the ship is also much easier if you have the app, especially if you plan to pick up your medallion(s) upon embarkation. You do have the option of having the medallions mailed to you in advance of the cruise and that does make embarkation much quicker.

We were instructed to open the MedallionClass app on our phones and have the QR code ready to scan at embarkation. However, nobody ever scanned the QR code. We simply tapped the medallion on the embarkation machine and we were allowed to embark. So, I am not sure what the QR code is for.

Nobody ever scanned our QR codes.

We embarked the ship around 10:45am so none of the bars or dining venues were open, and our staterooms were not ready to be occupied. We had a little time to explore the ship before heading to the World Fresh Marketplace, the ship’s Lido buffet, for a quick lunch. We will go into more detail about food in an upcoming video, so make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel!

When it was time for us to go to our stateroom (R705) we knew the “R” stood for Riviera Deck (every deck on Princess ships is named). However, when we entered the elevator lobby, there were only deck numbers and no deck names. We had to resort to the deck plans on the Princess website to see that Riviera Deck is actually Deck 14. Nevertheless, when we arrived at stateroom R705, our medallions would not unlock the door. So, a trip to Guest Services was in order. Along the way to Guest Services, we ran into one of our fellow press associates who said the same thing happened to him with his stateroom and he learned that he had been upgraded to a mini-suite on another deck. He suggested that we check our MedallionClass app again to see if a different stateroom showed up, and sure enough, it now showed that we were assigned to A220 (Aloha Deck). So, off we went to A220, which we learned was Deck 12 forward.

Here is an insider tip when sailing on Majestic Princess. In the hallways of the cabin areas, the carpeting on the Port side of the ship is blue while the carpeting on the Starboard side is red.

Blue is Port

Red is Starboard

Tonight, we made dinner reservations at Harmony, a specialty Chinese restaurant. There is an additional $29/pp cover charge to dine at Harmony. We arrived on time at 7:20 and were seated at a table for two next to the window. Watch for our video review for more on our experience at Harmony.

The menu at Harmony

After dinner, we had to decide whether we were going to go to the late show, or visit the casino. The allure of the casino won out and it did not take Rickee long to rack up a $261 jackpot on one of the slot machines!

After Rickee’s windfall, we decided it was time to go to back to our stateroom and get to bed. Tomorrow, Majestic Princess will dock in San Diego. Stay tuned. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and Facebook for updates throughout the day.