Day 120: At sea

Our sunny and warm weather continued most of today, and we did a good job of dividing our time to be both inside and on the open decks. I awoke feeling slightly less sneezy, but still hoarse and raspy. Since it's most likely a cold, and has not moved moved into my lungs, I'm just going to let it run its course while I recover in the cocoon of care that is the Emerald Princess.

We went to breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room around 8am. G is eating what he calls his 'healthy' breakfast these days:  a huge fruit plate...and a pastry or two. ;-) Since I knew I'd be having a nice lunch just a few hours later, I had orange segments and cereal topped with strawberries. Our junior waiter today was the gorgeous and oh so sweet Marcella from Mexico, who was also on the Pacific Princess just a few months ago.

G's fruit plate...

...which cancels out this. Right? ;-)

We left breakfast and strolled out on the Promenade Deck, where we made the full loop around the ship a few times and then stopped, first at the very front of the ship on Deck 8, and then on Deck 7, watching as the ship's bow churned the water into what looked like whipped frosting. Honestly, I could sit and watch that all day long. 

The front of the promenade on Deck 8, reason #4 we're not on the Royal or Regal. 

But I had things I wanted to get done today, and we returned to the cabin for our morning pill taking activity and then, after G left to go to through the galley on the tour that follows the culinary show in the Princess Theater, I pulled out the nail polish removal pads (thank you, Jane!) and gave myself a little manicure and then simply touched up my Sally Hansen nail strips in Rock Star on my toes, applied a month ago, with a new clear top coat. That stuff wears. like. iron.  I followed that up by doing the hand laundry I'd been neglecting lately and hung it up to dry. It's funny...I don't mind Awesome Ambrish seeing bras drying on our stretchable travel clothesline, but I am considerably more shy when it come to the room service waiter who delivers our minibar on turnaround day tomorrow. These will be dry and stored away by then. 

The day was so pretty that I plugged in my ear buds (the audiobook about Rosemary Kennedy was going to *poof* off my phone tomorrow so I needed to get that finished) and plopped a Tilley on my head and went up to the jogging track on Deck 19 to walk until lunch. Mom is now walking .5 miles three times daily around her senior living facility and, darn, I need to keep up! (Go Mom!!!)

G and I met up again for lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room and I was feeling so righteous about my healthy breakfast and morning walk that I simply had a salad with orange segments and almonds topped with chicken breast...and tea with honey and lemon. I still need that occasionally to lose the Bette Davis voice. G was totally not on board with this 'healthy eating' thing at lunch and had a chimichanga and salad and tuna melt sandwich and two different kinds of ice cream, which means that I sat and watched him eat for a long, long time. 

A big salad for lunch

We squeezed in a hot tub visit and some water jogging for me (in my fav little pool which, by this point in the cruise has been totally discovered so I had to share). I was ready for the steam room by then, but G went to the Grapevine Wine Tasting at 3pm. We both squeezed in some downtime afterwards (with me continuing to power through my audiobook until the end. What a heartbreaking story!) and G napping. 

Actually, as I type all this it sounds like our day was so unexciting, but, honestly, it was our favorite way to spend a sea day. 

We kept dinner simple tonight:  G had just the New York strip steak (for two cruises in a row he says it's been the best beef of the cruise) and I had the tamarind salmon and a glass of wine. We had just dark cherry sorbet for dessert, but I've already followed that up with the red velvet cheesecake from the Horizon Court Buffet (Suzan, I wish I could send you a slice via text!). After dinner, we sat in the Piazza for awhile and listened to the music of Strings and Steel and then stayed for the short performance by Danny D'Oscar. He twirls and balances three differently shaped metal frames and it was a beautiful thing to watch. We even had a seat right in front, so I was able to take pics. 

Speaking of pics, we'll be in Fort Lauderdale in just 12 hours, so I will wait until then to upload a few photos from today. I'm still being miserly with my internet minutes on the ship because of a certain sporting event taking place in just 48 hours that might require me to use a LOT of minutes for texting. Hopefully, I'll be sending lots of :-)s, and not too many :-(s. 

Oh man...I've managed to put that out of my mind for most of this week.  Must. hang. on. just. two. more. days!!!!!!

And, finally, I ran into a couple in an elevator today who told me they had been reading my blog and, as a result, they were very excited about this, their first Princess cruise. Sadly, they've been less than impressed, and told me why. I was sorry to hear that, but, while I always try to be honest with my impressions of a cruise, I do not put others' opinions in my blog if I haven't had the same experience. I have frequently said that this is just my diary; it's not a travel review. 

With a few exceptions (most of them simply related to our transition from the little Pacific Princess to this much larger ship), we've been very satisfied with our cruise experience. It helps a great deal that the people who have the most impact on our cruise- our cabin steward, waitstaff and headwaiter- have all provided excellent service. The bar service has been sketchy with a few standouts, a photographer irritated me so much this week that I actually filed a complaint, there are not enough pool towels for them to be placed in our cabin at night, requiring us to go to the pool area in the morning to get them for our beach excursions, and I dislike the Curtis Stone always available items as much as anyone. These will not be our best cruises ever, but, let's face it, after 100+ cruises, not every one can be. However, we are having such a great time that we've added one more cruise in this series since we've been on the ship, and that really is most credible recommendation of all. 

But that has also left us with a dilemma...do we follow the Emerald Princess to Australia next year, cruise the Mediterranean on the Pacific Princess, cruise in the Caribbean or do something else entirely?  There simply aren't any bad options. 

Life is good. :-)

Day 103: At Sea

Was there a morning today?  I honestly don't recall. We've discovered a channel on our cabin TV called Prime US, and, as G was channel surfing this morning, we came across Special Agent Gibbs in an episode of CSI. For two people who have been out of the country for over three months, this provided a wonderful feeling of home, and we both enjoyed it very much. G did eventually get dressed and leave the cabin- I heard he ran into Suzan and Greg when he went for coffee in the IC- but I didn't leave until it was time to go the Most Traveled Passengers luncheon, held at noon in Botticelli Dining Room. We were seated with the Customer Services Director Luca and he indulged our questions about the things he has seen and done as part of his responsibilities on board. Multiple glasses of wine later, we were served another amazing dessert (I think the Princess pastry chefs are getting their chance to shine during this 50th anniversary year!), and somehow made it back to our cabin to rest for a few minutes.

MTP luncheon dessert

I managed to get on Internet long enough to order our transfers from the pier to LAX next Monday, booked through Prime Time Shuttle for $16 per person. I have to admit that I'm kind of excited at the prospect of spending a few days at home before we leave again, this time for the Caribbean. Now that we are as close to home as we are, and despite being on board with great friends, I am a smidge homesick. Of course, once we start wading through almost four months of mail and any associated issues, I may quickly move from homesick to sick of home. 

The Grapevine wine tasting to which we'd been invited as part of our Elite benefits was held at 3pm. Better to get all the debauchery over in one afternoon, I guess. I was really thrilled with the differerent (to us) wines served at today's tasting; I don't believe I've ever seen four of the five wines at a previous tasting. They were Gerwurstraminer Michael Leon; Donnafugata Anthilia (another white); Estancia Meritage Reserve (my very favorite); Melias Priorat; and the standard Errazuriz Late Harvest dessert wine. Feeling quite...relaxed, we walked out on the Promenade Deck afterward, my first time outside all day. Though it was mostly cloudy, it was warm and not windy.  This bodes well for our stop in Puerto Vallarta tomorrow. 

We were at the Elite Lounge with friends at 5pm for still more drinking and fun. It was Breeza Marina night, and we celebrated my belated birthday but, most importantly, the birth of Suzan and Greg's first grandchild, Savannah, the day after. It is so wonderful to have friends to share these things with!

Dinner was the Italian night menu (penne arrabiata with chicken breast for me) and we are quickly getting spoiled by wonderful service from Ciria (who makes it all look easy when it really isn't) and Sergii. We arrived early for the 7:45pm performance of Motor City in the Vista Lounge so as to score front row seats. It's not new news that Motor City remains our favorite production show of all, so to see it on both the Pacific Princess (in its adult length) and on the Grand Princess (with its 30-minute length for child-sized attention spans) was a real treat for us this winter. Prior to this, we hadn't seen it since (I think) the Island Princess in 2012. 

There was a lot more going on tonight. Once again, there was a second show to see...comedian Carlos Oscar in the Princess Theater. We're batting 1000 on having two shows each night. Also happening later on is the International Crew Show, something else the Emerald Princess abandoned almost two years ago. (I don't know why that ship seemed to be getting so shortchanged on entertainment compared to the other Princess ships.) And tonight is Country Western night with a party in the Explorers Lounge. Lots to choose from, and we're...going to bed. My cough is still nagging; I need Robitussin and sleep...and, maybe, another episode of CSI. 

Day 66: At Sea

In the end last night, the sound of the waves crashing against the wall of our cabin kept me awake more than the ship's movement, and even then it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I managed to sleep in (there was certainly no sun in our little submarine to wake us up) and we were both slow to get going today. There was simply nothing we had to do this morning...so we didn't. Not that there wasn't plenty to choose from. The galley and dining team crews were being run off their feet with the culinary demonstration and wine tasting set up, and the entertainment staff has not had a down minute all cruise (but that might be good to help prevent a pre-occupation with sea- and homesickness, as some of them are on their first contracts at sea).

We did eventually get some coffee and a small breakfast in the Panorama Buffet but didn't want to eat very much. This cruise's Most Traveled Passengers (MTP) luncheon was being held today at noon.  While we were sitting in the Panorama Buffet, Captain Ciruzzi made an announcement about the tropical depression that was causing passenger depression in the tropics...apparently, it is not expected to improve. We must keep our porthole hatch battened down (this term has been much discussed between G and I in the past 24 hours and I wish I had Internet enough to look up its origin...another list item for Papeete) and people with balconies on one side of the ship have been told they can't use them. The Promenade Deck is closed off on the port side, but the pool deck is still open. It's been raining on and off all day, at times very hard. And our stay in Raiatea tomorrow, scheduled for 7am to 11pm, is being shortened. We'll sail at 5pm instead. The winds are expected to increase even more as the day goes on tomorrow, and might impede our ability to cruise back out of Teavapiti Pass if we wait until too late.  Simply put, the weather is pretty crappy and it looks like it's going to stay that way. Well...shoot. 

Today's luncheon was our third MTP luncheon out of these seven cruises, and, while I know some people swear by them, they are simply not our favorite.  Give me a coupon for a specialty restaurant or a nice cocktail party anytime. Anything feels more relaxed than the luncheons.  The menu, however, did not disappoint and we were lucky to have been seated with the Food and Beverage Director Steven for a change of pace. I had talked to the pastry chef two days ago when he was restocking the candy canes around the gingerbread village (he swears having candy canes there for the taking keeps little fingers away from his creation, and it appears to be working), and he promised white chocolate mousse for dessert at the MTP luncheon. Sure, I'll get cleaned up a bit earlier in the day and be on my best behavior for that. The menu, in its entirety, was as follows:

Starters-

-potpourri of seafood Cinderella:  a trove of land and sea gems, Maine lobster, crab, sea scallops, shrimps and Florida citrus segments conveyed in a Cinderella carriage <okay, an aside here. The Cinderella carriage portion of this appetizer was quite amazing, kind of a big, bowl shaped waffle fry-type thing.>

- Risotto Ai Funghi porcini & tartufo:  arborio risotto with porcini sauce mushroom enhanced with truffle and basil

I got the Seafood in the Cinderella conveyance; G got the mushroom risotto

Entrees-

-Filet of Sea Bass:  herb crusted, served with ginger pickled shrimp, lemon butter sauce and premium market vegetables

- Black Angus Beef Tenderloin Rossini:  grilled and tooled with pâté du foie gras, green-peppercorn demi-glace, mascotte potatoes and bouquettiere of fresh vegetables

Both G and I had the beef and it was perfection.

Dessert- Semi-Freddo al Cioccolato Bianco-Soffice:  white chocolate mousse with Drambuie cream and honey tuile

Roll me home, please. That is a LOT of fancy food to eat in the middle of the day. I could happily have slept for a while, but there was no time in the schedule for that. MTP luncheon was followed by wine tasting at 3pm. Thankfully (thank You God!)  we were seated with blog reader Paige who could liven up a funeral. Paige was a star who allowed me to have parcels shipped to her home around the end of November and she brought on board for me another tube of Physicians Formula tinted moisturizer with SPF 50 and my weightless hair oil. I was down to my last drop of that when she arrived on December 18th (which means that I'm much better at forecasting weightless hair oil usage than Hebrew National 97% fat free hot dog consumption).  We made the best of a normally fairly dry hour and,  before I knew it, it was 4pm and all I had done today was eat and drink. Sounds like Christmas to me!

We rested for a few minutes in our cabin before going to the Cabaret Lounge for a Christmas Carol Service. We weren't sure what that meant, but Christmas carols after an afternoon of eating and drinking...how bad can that be??  Well, what it really was was an interdenominational church service for Christmas during which carols were sung. Cruise Director David did a really nice job with it, and piano entertainer Jere Ring played and sang "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and I fried (that's not a typo at our house) then. It was very moving. 

We were so busy praying and frying that we had no time for more drinking, and skipped the Elite Lounge, going directly to dinner in the Club Restaurant instead. I wasn't exactly starving, and had just salad topped with chicken...and sorbet for dessert, of course. And more wine (more of course). We made it to the 7:30pm production show Motor City. The audience was totally into it, and the energy of the show was off the charts. It was huge fun...we love that show, and, it appears, we're not alone. 

I have an alarm set to get up on deck tomorrow morning to watch as the Pacific Princess maneuvers between Raiatea and Taha'a one last time (for us) this winter, but something tells me I might be up there in the rain. At 9pm it is still pouring outside, but, thankfully, the ship is less bouncy tonight. The weather outside is frightful, but the Pacific Princess at Christmas is purely delightful. Regardless of the weather, this is proving to be a wonderful holiday cruise.  

Day 119: At Sea

I'll always remember today as Packing Day (also known as the Day of Reckoning, the Day of Realization and the Day of Reality). No, we're not totally packed yet (after all, we have one more full day left!), but we've made significant progress. Of course, we won't really know how we're doing until we weigh the suitcases. It could turn quite ugly then, very quickly. But we're in much better shape than we were on the same day last year.

We were up early again today (once again, that's always the case when we have no place to go and all day to get there), and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in the dining room. We shared a small bottle of champagne (we're trying to get through the alcohol that remains in this cabin, an endeavor that will leave us not sobering up until we're on the plane going home) which was quite nice with my splurge of French toast, deep fried and completely unhealthy.

After breakfast, we spent just a bit of time sitting poolside in the sun. Captain Nick had warned us that we were sailing through a weather front, and the seas have been a bit bouncy, but even more noticeable is the cooler temperature, especially after the heat of yesterday. It was a perfect day to sit in the sun.

Unfortunately, we were people on a mission, and our first task was to get through the paperwork we've accumulated, especially making certain that we had all the statements from our visits to the Medical Center and the corresponding on board spending statements that we'll need for reimbursement from our travel insurance, plus taxi receipts and dental receipts. Filing those claims is going to keep me busy for a long time, I'm afraid. Once that was in place, we next moved to the pile of other receipts that have accumulated in the tiny space between the safe and the side of the cubby into which it's installed. It was then that we became aware of just how many visits to Publix and CVS that we made, and how many cash advances we'd gotten through the casino. G always feels compelled (or is it entitled?) to gamble a bit when he gets cash advances that way. I think it would be ultimately less expensive to use the usurious ATM on the ship.

All other vital scraps of paper got filed in our two 'cordian folders (nod to JT), which will weight our carry ons down to the point where they're unsafe to put in the overhead compartments on the plane. I had to be tough...Christmas cards: trash. Birthday cards: trash. Princess Patters: trash (except for the ones from the Christmas and New Years cruises). Luckily, Johnathon's cart was still in the hallway, because we emptied our cabin's trash can time and time again.

We broke for lunch in the dining room (splurge: baba au Rhum for dessert. Divine; it tastes just like those Tortuga Rum Cakes), and then stopped by the final art auction just to see how much the navigational map of the cruise was auctioned off for. This is a large map that charts our cruise and is signed by all the officers on the bridge. It is posted just outside the buffet during the cruise and then auctioned off at the end of the cruise, with the proceeds going to maritime charities. This cruise went low: $200. A few cruises ago it went for $1500.

We had just enough time to get to a navigational bridge lecture in Club Fusion by none other than our dinner companion of a couple of cruises ago, 3rd officer Aaron Krueger. We had to leave quickly at the end to get to our final wine tasting of the winter. Sommelier Thai will never be bettered, I'm convinced. We've learned so much from him and enjoyed his wine tastings all winter long.

No time to rest then...we zipped back to the cabin with just enough time for G to shower and dress in his tuxedo for tonight's formal night. Before dinner he had a 4:30pm veterans get together in the Wheelhouse Bar. As soon as he left the cabin, it was my turn to get ready, and I had just enough time to stop by the florist's table for a surprise we had ordered for Sutti and Somphong. On our last formal night of the cruise, we were giving them each a red carnation boutonnière, and delivered them when the dining room opened at 5:30pm. The boutonnières were just another way of saying "thank you" to them for their wonderful service all winter long.

We will miss them so much!

Following dinner (lobster for me), the evening was a blur or entertainment options. G did me the favor of sitting through the 7:15pm performance of production show Disco: Blame it on the Boogie (sadly, not his favorite, but it's kind of grown on me a bit).

Immediately afterwards, we made our way to the Explorers Lounge for the 8:00pm show of mentalist Joshua Seth. His mentalist shows are really amazing, and tonight he even got me up on stage. He asked if anyone had ever been to a psychic, and another lady and I raised our hands, so he asked us to come up. He asked me to think of the name of someone who had passed away that I was especially close to, and I thought of my grandma. I wrote her name on a piece of paper which I folded twice and he ripped into pieces. And he then guessed that she was a woman (right) whose name started with an M (check) and then guessed her name.

How does he do that? I'm still pondering it...

Next up: listening to band Sol Provider in Club Fusion. We have never enjoyed a band the way we do them, and, honestly, whereas last year there might have been six people in Club Fusion listening to a band and dancing, with Sol Provider Club Fusion is always comfortably full. They are that good. We'll miss them too.

And, finally, we went up to the Adagio Lounge to listen to the Emerald Princess orchestra playing jazz. One jazz set and a key lime pie martini later, it's bedtime. We didn't get any more packing done tonight, but we did have so much fun!

Photo 1: the day started with champagne at breakfast...

Photo 2: and ended with a key lime pie martini

Photo 3: and in between we laughed about ordering flowers for Valentines Day (in the March 5th Patter)

Photo 4: and ate baba au Rhum for lunch dessert

Photo 5: and surprised Suttipong and Somphong with boutonnières on formal night

It was a wonderful last sea day of the winter!

Day 112: At Sea

It was just a bit bouncy last night, but we slept well in spite of it. I should say I slept well...I'm hearing tales that G was up around 1:00am, checking out the International Cafe, Skywalkers and the other lounges, just to see what goes on at that time of the night.

The things that happen when my back is turned! 

Still, G was up early, and grabbed two chairs on the Terrace Deck. By 7:30am he was back in the cabin, making enough noise that it was inevitable that I'd wake up. I joined him on the Terrace Deck, and he took care of getting coffee and breakfast from the Cafe Caribe (and have I mentioned that the Cafe Caribe is serving made-to-order omelets too?). Although the sun rose in front of the ship, by 9:00am or so the back area was in the sunlight. Luckily, it wasn't quite as hot today as it had been two days ago...we sat comfortably back there, G waiting on me hand and foot (a real "who are you and what have you done with my husband?" experience, I assure you!) until about noon. G had checked...veggie burritos were on the dining room lunch menu, and we LOVE them.

It's kind of strange this cruise; G suggested last night that we shouldn't hold back this last cruise, we should allow ourselves to eat whatever we want (I didn't realize he was exercising moderation himself, what with his four scoops of ice cream for each lunch and dinner dessert) because this is it. Every cruise, there is something that I might want to eat, but I tell myself, "I'll have that next cruise".  Suddenly, too soon, there is no "next". So last night I had the spring rolls as an appetizer (first time all winter), for breakfast I had a chocolate croissant (ditto), and for dessert at lunch I had blueberry frozen yogurt (ditto again). 

This is fun!  It's also kind of softening the blow of our final cruise of the winter.

After lunch, we stopped by the Cruise Critic meet and greet hoping to catch up with Jenny and Bill, but didn't see anyone we knew. G then made a bee line for a hot tub, while I made the "items I couldn't cruise without" posts, taking photos of all those odd things in the cabin while G wasn't here to question why I was taking pictures of the Fabreeze bottle and the clothesline. By 2:00pm I was in the Terrace Pool, treasuring the still sunny, but fairly windy day. 

Every time I pass the area in which Cristian is working, I'll say "Hi Cristian!", and from somewhere in a cabin with an open door I'll hear back "Hi Mrs. X!"  Not once this winter have I heard the same greeting from our Steward Nazi. 

I've really missed it!  No, we haven't suffered too badly (the worst was wrapping used dental floss in toilet paper for 2 days because we had no tissues, despite leaving a note requesting some, and that wasn't that awful), but there's just been something missing. And I don't mean tissue or bath towels. Something that makes cruising a special kind of vacation- a different kind of vacation.  Now we have it again. 

Yay!

We got dressed for the evening and went to the Captain Circle party for Gold members again at 4:45pm. G likes that program better than what we get at the Platinum and Elite party, so Captains Circle host Tracey allows us to attend.  Without enough time to go up to Skywalkers before dinner, we instead opted to have a pre-dinner drink in Crooners, which is an excellent place for people-watching. 

I couldn't wait for dinner tonight...what would I have that I'd denied myself all winter? I was giddy with the thought of it. So, what did I have?  The same lychee and watermelon with candied ginger as an appetizer, sorbet as an intermezzo and chili shrimp as an entree that I always have. But when Sutti presented the dessert menu, I was pleased to see that it's been changed yet again (see photo for tonight's dessert menu), and a cheese plate is back on the menu. That's another positive tweak of the menus. We've seen a lot of that this winter!

We finished dinner in time to catch the 7:15pm show of comedian Scott Wyler in the Princess Theater. G liked him, as did many people around us. I....just have a tough time with comedians, I've decided. I love political humor poking fun at the other side (a la Jon Stewart). That's hard to find on a cruise ship. 

We're sitting in Club Fusion listening to band Sol Provider right now, and then will move to Adagio for the Emerald Princess orchestra playing jazz at 9:00pm. Then popcorn, fuzzy water, penicillin and bed, in that order. 

It's been a good day. 

:-)

Photo 1:  sunset from our dining room table

Photo 2:  tonight's shrimp entree

Photo 3:  the new dessert menu format

Photo 4:  the Brie and Gouda cheese plate

Fort Lauderdale- part 2

Photo 1: water taxi Captain Wyeth, docking the taxi using a remote control

Photo. 2: that's one house!

Photo. 3: this is the bell tower of the house that the Waste Management/Auto Nation/ Blockbuster built

Photo. 4: Steven Spielburg's yacht 7 Seas

Photo. 5: thank you Graham!

Day 109: At Sea

Today at sea was not all that different for me than the past five port days, because, as I realized just today, I'd only been off the ship on Princess Cays and for the walk on Bonaire this. entire. cruise. That is a first for me, and not something I'm anxious to repeat. This really was the sickest I've ever been on a cruise- not fun!!

We went out to the Terrace Deck early this morning and claimed two loungers that we sat in until lunch. Breakfast was cereal and yogurt from the buffet, eaten poolside. By 10:00am, it was already so hot that I needed to cool off in the Terrace Pool every 30 minutes or so; G, of course, was using the hot tub on the back of Deck 17.

By 1:00pm, it was simply too hot (and the sun too intense) to spend any more time out there, so we came in, took two minute showers and went to lunch in the dining room. It was a good thing we did; macadamia nut ice cream was on the menu and G had four scoops for dessert (I had Key Lime frozen yogurt). Zumba still wasn't an option for me today, but we did walk a few laps on the Promenade Deck after lunch, and although it was largely in the shade, it was still hot. The blasts of A/C that we got while passing the automatic doors on the ship felt heavenly.

It was hard to imagine the winter weather crossing the country this weekend, but I really did try.

I still couldn't. ;-) Stay safe, everyone (especially you, Mom)!!

The rest of the afternoon was spent on personal maintenance (nails) and trying to finish up an e-book before it poofs off my iPhone on Monday (its due date). It's going to be close....

G dressed in his tux and went to the veterans get together in the Adagio Lounge at 4:30pm, and then picked me up to go to comedian Phil Tag's 5:30pm show in the Explorers Lounge. This was our first personal experience with this early show time, and today, on a sea day, the Explorers Lounge was full for it. Phil Tag is easily the best comedian we've seen l winter (yay!), though I'll be the first to admit that comedy is a very personal thing. I'm just really over "bossy wife-stupid husband" kind of humor, which so many comedians have as their mainstay. Phil Tag doesn't, and that's why I liked him.

We arrived in the Michelangelo Dining Room for dinner about 6:15pm (nice to see our table was still waiting for us). I was lobster night, but I also had a new (to me) appetizer of pears and blue cheese with pecans. There was escargot too, but I had to pass. That's still a little heavy for me.

Afterwards, we swung by the Piazza to watch jugglers Team Rootberry do their 10-minute "sideshow" (that's what G calls them). They are the juggling team that considerably changed our opinion of jugglers last winter.

Production show Disco: Blame it on the Boogie was also being performed in the Princess Theater three times tonight.

G went back to the Explorers Lounge to see Phil Tag's 8:00pm show, but I returned to the cabin. I'm feeling better, but want to take it easy on these sea days. We're hoping to have some fun in Fort Lauderdale on our last turnaround day.

And, finally, I am slightly livid over something I just heard tonight. I think I've mentioned that, for the past two cruises, we've had basically no entertainment shows on the final night of the cruise, just the Crew Talent Show at 7:15pm and 8:30pm. Now, the crew talent show is good fun, but by having it done at those times, it excludes crew members who simply can it get away from their duties. It's usually done at 10:15pm on one of the last two nights of a cruise.

Well, dear waiters Sutti, Surasit and Nicky have been working on their costumes to once again perform their traditional Thai dance for the show. Last year, they were THE hit of the show, and people were on their feet applauding before they were even finished. The costumes are now ready, and they were supposed to perform tomorrow night. But today they found out that, because Princess hasn't arranged enough entertainment to finish out the cruise, once again this cruise the crew talent show will be done at 7:15pm and 8:30pm. Sutti, Surasit and Nicky can't do that...that's dinner time! All that work on the costumes, and they are not at all hopeful they'll ever get to perform the dance...because Princess is going cheap on entertainment.

This makes me so mad!! And me fired up is a dangerous thing (just ask my local government).

I am going to write my local congressman- er, cruise director, to see if they can't perform the dance as one of the "sideshows" in the Piazza. It's too late for this cruise, but it could work for next cruise.

G has his juggling lessons from Team Rootberry to keep him busy. Now I have a mission too.

Can you tell I'm feeling better?

;-)

Photo 1: pear and blue cheese appetizer- yummy!

Photos 2-3: Team Rootberry performs in the Piazza

Day 99: At Sea

Well, it's a sea day, and you know what that means...food photos!

I had a late sleep, until at least 7:30am, and even then lay in bed watching an episode of Downton Abbey before I got showered and went to breakfast in the dining room. I missed Zumba, I missed line dancing, but oh, it felt so good to be lazy. At almost 100 days at sea, I am just now feeling like I'm wearing down a bit. That's an improvement over last year, when I was feeling this way at about 80 days.  Have I raised my endurance or lowered my expectations?  ;-)

G was sitting in a lounge chair on the Terrace Deck, and so I grabbed some cereal from the buffet and joined him. It was soon so hot that I changed into a swimsuit. G came and went, but I popped in ear buds and listened to an audiobook, taking myself and my iPhone into the Terrace Pool to cool off every so often. Finally, by 11:45am, the heat and the sun forced me inside, where I met up with G. We went to lunch in the dining room, wine tasting at 3:00pm, G went to the Veterans get together at 4:30pm and we all met in the Michelangelo Dining Room, dressed formally, at 5:30pm. 

Clever G had invited a 3rd officer from the bridge, Aaron, to join us for dinner, and he showed up looking quite handsome in his dress white uniform.  G knew Aaron a bit from talking to him since he'd come on the ship about a month ago (G talks to everyone), but I just met him tonight, and he is a delightful guy.  We thoroughly enjoyed his company at dinner, and peppered him with questions about his background and the day to day life of a bridge officer. 

Afterwards, Martha and I went to the production show Disco: Blame it on the Boogie, and G and Betsy went to listen to band Sol Provider performing in Club Fusion. After the show, Martha and I caught part of a balance act in the Piazza and impressionist Michael Wilson's show in the Explorers Lounge, and finally G went up to the Adagio Lounge to listen to the Emerald Princess orchestra doing a jazz set.   Me...I'm tucked in bed, blogging and watching a 35 year old Love Boat episode. 

Life is good. :-)

Photo 1:  Greek salad at lunch

Photo 2:  Baba au Rhum- yum!

Photo 3:  as close to a photo of the Disco production show as I'll ever get, as no photography of any kind is allowed

Photo 4:  balancing a chandelier in the Piazza

Chet's Table- Part 3

Photo 1: Chef Giuseppe carving the veal shank

Photo 2: beef tenderloin and veal shank

Photo 3: more wine!

Photo 4: the cheese course

Photo 5: dessert- all edible!

Chet's Table- Part 2

Photos 1 and 2: table setting

Photo 3: lobster risotto

Photo 4: Chef Giuseppe pouring Grey Goose vodka on my Lemoncello sorbet

Photo 5: Chef Giuseppe preparing peppercorn sauce as Generoso looks on

Evening - Antigua and the Chef's Table

I have eaten in some nice restaurants all over the world, but I've never had a meal that compares to this one. From beginning to end, it was absolutely exquisite, and is an experience well worth the $95 per person charge to participate.

We were advised to meet at the International Cafe at 6:55pm, where we met Maitre d' Generoso Mazzone, treasure among Princess Maitre d's.  We met the others in our group of twelve people and were fitted with white lab coats for our visit to the galley during dinner hours. Led by Generoso, we entered the Deck 6 galley located between Botticelli Dining Room at the back of the ship, and DaVinci Dining Room mid-ship.

At 7:15pm or so, it was far less chaotic that I had imagined it would be, but, in retrospect, that's why we visited that galley and not the one on Deck 5 serving the Michelangelo Dining Room. The Botticelli and DaVinci Dining Rooms are fixed dining at 6:00pm and 5:30pm respectively, so the galley was in a bit of a lull when we entered.

Our first stop was a beautifully decorated table right in the galley where we were introduced to Executive Chef Giuseppe Pollara and served:

Lobster Margarita with Avocado and Mango

Tuna Tartar with Condiments

Fontina Cheese Quiche with Truffle and Sun Blushed Cherry Tomato

Bliss New Potatoes with Sour Cream and Caviar
(and champagne!)

Next we removed our lab coats and entered the Michelangelo Dining Room, where a beautiful table had been readied for us. The meal continued....

Asparagus Risotto with Lobster Tails and Claws
(with Chardonnay)

Lemon Sorbet with Lemoncello Marinated Strawberry (and over which copious amounts of Grey Goose Vodka was poured...I felt I had died and gone to heaven by this point)

Then the entree:

Roast Veal Shank and Beef Tenderloin, carved table side, market vegetables and potato mushrooms. Chef prepared. Peppercorn sauce table side. (Served with the best merlot I've ever had)

Cheese course:
Baked Camembert with Pine Nuts, Port Wine Reduction and Walnut Bread

Then, the dessert:

A Princess Fantasy Delight of Lemoncello flavored sponge cake arranged with a delicate sabayon coating (served with dessert wine)

Coffee with Chef Giuseppe's homemade Bonbons

Are you feeling full yet? ;-)

We could have stopped after the risotto and it would have been a huge meal. But altogether it was a most amazing evening, and it left us stuffed and slightly drunk. Before we left we were given a beautiful Princess cookbook and a long stemmed rose, and a photo of our group with Chef Giuseppe and Generoso.

Incredible. The whole thing was just incredible.

But the evening wasn't over yet. We left the dining room to find band Accent playing in the Piazza, and Martha and I ended up dancing. We then went to Kory Simon's show in the Explorers Lounge, which we enjoyed immensely for the fourth time (and Martha enjoyed even more for the first time).

It was an unmatchable evening!

Photo 1: Betsy, G and Martha, all scrubbed and ready for their vast tour

Photo 2: Deck 6 galley

Photo 3: lobster margaritas

Photo 4: Maitre d' Generoso and Chef Giuseppe

Photo 5: tuna tartar

Photo 6: Bliss new potatoes with caviar