Day 11: Turn around day in Los Angeles

The seas last night grew increasingly rough until about midnight, but we were tucked into bed watching football for a chunk of that time, and I was exchanging texts and rehashing the plays and calls with my guys and therefore spending my birthday evening doing what I love most. We set an alarm for 6am this morning and were in the Botticelli Dining Room when it opened at 6:30am, kind of caught in that limbo between one cabin and another while most guests disembarked the ship. 

We stored our valuables in our new safe, put my medication thermos in our new refrigerator with an In Transit slip of paper clearly affixed to the door (friend Paul once lost thousands of dollars worth of medications when Room Service delivered a new minibar and thought those items left in the refrigerator were trash), tucked the rest of our items into the closet area and went to O’Malleys pub to meet up for immigration at 9:30am. We only had to walk off the ship as far as the end of the gangway, present our passports (no facial recognition there) and then walk a short distance down to a different gangway and reboard the ship. All together, it took about an hour to complete the whole process, including the wait in O’Malleys. 

Turnaround day laundry

I’ve never seen linens piled so high

By then our new cabin was ready, and I quickly unpacked before we went to lunch in the Botticelli Dining Room. We were happy to see our usual waiters, Paquito and Amul there, though we’re not certain if they might be assigned to a different area tomorrow. I kinda hope not. They’re great. 

We spent the afternoon alternating between sitting on the Terrace Deck and making calls and taking care of a few business things that needed to be done on a weekday.  

US Coast Guard base

Sunset over Santa Catalina Island taken through a Club Fusion window

Turnaround days in LA are chilly but it was bright and sunny. 

The evening started in the Elite Lounge and then we went to our window table for two in the Michelangelo Dining Room. Go us!  Actually, we’ve had this exact table for probably a couple of hundred nights on the Emerald Princess in the past. Dinners with Darko spring immediately to mind. Waiter Ronnie from the Philippines and Junior Waiter JulioCesar (no kidding) from Peru seem like they will be well able to cope with anything we throw at them (like sorbet as an intermezzo between the starter and the entree). I ordered pavlova for dessert and, hand to heart, it was the very best pavlova I’ve ever enjoyed on Princess (and I’ve enjoyed more than a few). Two more times!  I’ll get to have it two more times!

Simply the best

G only made it ten minutes into last night’s Princess Theater show, which was also tonight’s show, so we instead listened to live music around the ship before we called it a day. We move clocks ahead an hour overnight, which we’re getting good at but definitely don’t enjoy. 

Our new cabin has a low machinery rumble, probably from pool equipment in the room next door. Luckily, it is a constant hum, akin to a white noise machine, and should actually be conducive to sleep. We!re in one of those sideways cabins on Riviera Deck, with quite a bit more room and, even better, an extended vanity (for me) and a second counter (for G). We have “his space” and “my space”, and nothing promotes peaceful co-habitation in an inside cabin like clear and unbreachable boundaries. 😉

Life is good. :-)