Discovery Princess: the last Royal-class ship, Alaska from Vancouver, winters in Los Angeles
Discovery Princess measures roughly 145,000 GT, 330 m long and 38.38 m wide, over 19 numbered decks with 15 open to guests. She sleeps 3,660 guests at double occupancy in 1,830 cabins, 81% with a balcony, and about 4,400 with every berth in use, with 1,346 crew. Fincantieri delivered her at Monfalcone on 28 January 2022, and her first commercial voyage left Los Angeles on 27 March 2022. The sixth and final ship of the Royal class, she is based in Vancouver and Whittier for the Alaska season.
There is no SeaWalk on this ship, and that is not a typo
The glass walkway that illustrates every advertisement for this class belongs to Royal, Regal and Majestic. Discovery does not have one, any more than Sky Princess or Enchanted Princess do. The top of the ship went elsewhere: deck 18 carries two Sky Suites, cabins S309 and S310, with a terrace opening onto the Movies Under the Stars screen. Listings online still advertise a SeaWalk here, recycling Regal's copy; the deck plans say otherwise.
A west coast ship, and three airports not to mix up
In summer 2026 she works Alaska on 8-day round trips from Vancouver and one-way runs to Whittier, the seaport for Anchorage, calling at Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Glacier Bay. She leaves Alaska on 26 September 2026, then runs 8-day round trips out of Los Angeles from 3 October to 26 December. From Montréal both Vancouver and Los Angeles are nonstop, five and a half hours to one and six to the other. Whittier means a connecting flight to Anchorage plus two hours to the pier, not something to attempt on embarkation morning.
Two cabins sleep five, and they are the only ones
In Alaska a balcony earns its keep: the glaciers slide past early in the morning. Take one midship, deck 10 Caribe or deck 11 Baja, in categories BA or BB, or a Deluxe Balcony for the two indoor armchairs, codes D4, DA or DB. A step above, an MA or MB mini-suite gives you a real sitting area, which matters when it rains three days running. Worth saying on the first call: only Sky Suites S309 and S310 on deck 18 sleep five, and every other category tops out at four.
What disappoints, and what The Sanctuary fixes for a fee
Deck 7 is called Promenade without being one: there is no full outdoor lap of the ship, and the walking track sits on deck 18, seven laps to the mile. Balconies are narrower than on the Grand class, and the stepped aft staterooms are overlooked from above. On glacier days everyone goes up at once and the pool deck fills early. The Sanctuary is the real answer to that density, and it carries a fee, here as on the other five ships.
The Medallion, the Wi-Fi and the loyalty programme
She was built MedallionClass. The disc you wear unlocks your door as you approach, pays with photo verification, speeds boarding, and an OceanNow order follows you to a lounger by the Wakeview pool. The irritants are real: the app and pre-cruise steps must be cleared before you travel, the disc registers your position on board, and mailing it home is chargeable while pier pickup is not. In the fjords the mobile signal disappears for hours. At Princess Cruises, Captain's Circle counts whichever serves you better, cruises or days, and the benefits worth having arrive at Platinum.
Two ships to compare with Discovery Princess
Sky Princess follows the same layout with the same two Sky Suites, but works Florida and Europe, and sails at full capacity far more often. Sun Princess opens the Sphere class, for anyone who would rather see what the line draws today than a 2013 hull reissued.
Who Discovery Princess is wrong for
Anyone coming aboard for the glass walkway from the photographs. A family of five who cannot secure one of the two Sky Suites. Anyone counting on a full outdoor lap every morning. Teenagers after a water slide or a ropes course, since the ship has neither. And anyone hoping to board at Whittier at the end of a single flight.