We left home a week ago today, and what has happened since then is already blurring together in our minds. Fortunately, we had a well-timed sea day today to (mostly) kick back a bit, but also to take care of some of the usual sea day duties such as hand laundry and port research and on board statement straightening out (are we cursed on that count, or what?).
Even with no alarm set, I made it to breakfast in the Club Restaurant. I limited myself to just cereal and mixed berrries today; we knew we'd be having a feast at lunch. I then took a few minutes to make some corrections to my blog post from last night- WiFi in the Club Bar seemed decent until it suddenly stopped altogether. G said the best WiFi he has found is in the library on Deck 10. Even on a day at sea, he was able to check the security cams and Nest thermostat at home. That's far better than what I've had anywhere else on the ship.
I was counting on a fun crafting activity today, but found only a knitters and natters group listed in the Princess Patter. Shoot. Maybe on those many sea days back to Florida in December? There were all the usual sea day activities offered, but I was feeling extremely non-participative and sat on the Club Bar and read and then walked on Deck 10 to get my 10000 steps in.
We both took a little more care with getting ready for this cruise's Most Traveled Passengers (MTP) lunch, held at noon in Sabatinis restaurant. We hadn't been up there yet and were thrilled (even more than that, really) to see waiters Samsuri, Melvin, Lyndon and Roderick, some of our favorites from last year, are now working up there and therefore were serving the MTP luncheon. We will have to make a point of dining in one of the specialty restaurants...but only after we've tried all the regional offerings in the dining room.
Lunch featured the very best MTP menu we've ever seen. I will type the menu out here, because I will never get enough WiFi to include a photo.
Starter
Potpourri of shellfish Neptune, with crab meat salad, lobster tail and sea scallops
Intermezzo
Lingonberry sorbet with a fantastic spun sugar cone over it. Amazing.
Entree
Baked, herb crusted turbo filet (my choice)
OR
Mediterranean style stuffed rack of lamb
OR
Vegetarian risotto
Dessert
Drambuie parfait with Gianduia chocolate heart and fresh berry coulis
This one was served with a pastry sail with square-shaped cut outs that stood about a foot tall, fashioned to look like the hotel Burj Al Arab Jumeirah in Dubai. Absolutely incredible.
We were seated with Captain JP and his fiancé Shannon and after the dessert he went to collect their baby daughter Sienna who quickly stole the show with her cuteness. She is the 16-month old real princess of the Pacific Princess.
Of course, there were copious amounts of wine and coffees and little petit fours and it all lasted until 2pm, but what does one do after a lunch like that? First, we were stuffed, but we were also cleaned up for the evening and really didn't want to have to go through the whole showering thing again. So the hot tub and pool were out (and we were so lucky to have warm sun today, so we could have enjoyed them). G went off to do whatever it is he does and I took a few minutes to re-do nail polish and sort through paperwork in this cabin and do some research into what we might do tomorrow in Malta.
We went to dinner at precisely 5:30pm, hoping to make it to the early (6:45pm) show performed by violinist Gregory. We didn't, because we simply can't bring ourselves to hurry through our wonderful meals in the Club Restaurant. I had three regional items: a starter with hummus, Greek lemon chicken soup and smother version of Moroccan chicken. The flavors are so bright and clean. We celebrated our anniversary today (it was actually two weeks ago today) and head waiter Nelson brought around a band of waiters and we were serenaded over chocolate cake with a candle. It's very special that Princess does that.
Duo of Mediterranean dips
So we were about 30 minutes late in getting to violinist Gregory's first performance, but hid in the back just as he was performing Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (which I redognized because I play it on the piano). It's a workout on either instrument. His next performance didn't begin until 45 minutes later, so we instead caught the end of duo 2 Cool's set in the Pacific Lounge and then changed into swimsuits and finally, for the first time, visited a hot tub. We move clocks back an hour tonight, once again putting us just 6 hours ahead of EDT. G is really struggling with the time change, but seems tired enough to sleep tonight (and not be up from 11pm to 3am as we've seen in recent nights).
Our arrival in Valletta, Malta is at 7am tomorrow. It is our only stop there this year, and we are determined to make the most if it.
