Day 3: At Sea

I managed to sleep until 8:30am, which was a huge improvement over last night’s four hours of sleep. I need to do a load of laundry but couldn’t motivate myself to even look for a laundry room, so I put that off for another day. I’m having the worst luck with stains on my T-shirts, and I think it’s because of the fact I always sit in the “couch” seating at our dining tables, and the height of the table predisposes me to spilling things on myself. Either that or I’m just a klutz. Most likely the latter. I will be leaving behind four T-shirts when I pack up. 

I missed breakfast all together, but knew there would be no shortage of food today. I am still having app issues and can’t see my folio on my phone. Even worse, G couldn’t see mine on his phone either. I assumed that the “start of the cruise” busy-ness had finally died down at Guest Services so I visited them to get things straightened out. How they got so broken is anyone’s guess, but all signs point to those three cancelled cruises.

I still can’t see my folio but somehow it wasn’t linked to G’s and now it is, so he can see my folio on his app.  The rep initiated a trouble ticket to get it fixed for me, but so far no luck. I won’t hold my breath. 

I met up with G for lunch in the Allegro Dining Room, and had just ordered the salmon poke bowl when he thought we should go to Ocean Terrace afterwards. Luckily, the poke bowl isn’t a lot of food, and it’s sort of in the same family. I had never before been to Ocean Terrace on any ship. I loved it. 

Poke bowl

The seaweed salad was delicious


Naturally, I had to try a mermaid mimosa. 

So pretty!

Sitting there overlooking the Piazza while a cha cha class was taking place was fun and beautiful, and we had a most enjoyable time. But it was 3pm when we finished and we only had time to squeeze in a quick swim (hot tub for G) before we needed to get cleaned up for the evening. 

We went to dinner in the Concerto Dining Room exactly at 5pm because tonight’s Captain's Circle party was starting at 6:30pm. It was Italian night and I had penne arrabbiata topped with shrimp and a Merlot. 

We met friends Francis and Larry and Barb and Callum outside the Vista (less) Lounge and they joined us as we were honored as the cruise’s second most traveled couple. Numbers ranged from 1535 days to 1930. There are only 231 Elites on board, so if I sent laundry out, I could probably get it back in two days but I think I will just do it myself. Cutoff for MTG is 268 days, very low.

After the party, we all went next door to the Wheelhouse Bar. It was pianist Nany’s 25th birthday and we had a small celebration for her after her set, and then I lasted only through Derek Dishington’s first set before I returned to the cabin and crashed. 

I guess I can only close down the bar for two days in a row before I need to be tucked in bed early the next night. I don’t know how people manage to be night owls every night. 

Day 2: At Sea

I fell asleep about 2am last night, which was 3am when we moved clocks forward. I got up at 7am for a bathroom break and thought, “What the heck, I’ll just go to breakfast and then go back to sleep before lunch”, which, I’m sure you can predict, is not what happened. We ended up sitting on the comfortable outdoor seating on the Terrace Deck until lunch, and, after that, I was certain, I’d sleep all afternoon, but no. 

We used the adult pool and hot tubs this afternoon. It was sunny, hazy and humid and, frankly, too hot for me to be sitting in the sun on a lounger, but the pool felt heavenly. We then had to do a major clean up for formal night. In fact, it was the first time I’ve worn makeup since we got off the Regal on October 27. They don’t check for that at the Hilton. 😉

I went all vegan tonight with the fennel and mushroom salad and roasted carrots entree (the chermoula sauce was delish, but the soup was a disappointment. 

Definitely not as advertised. It was vegetable soup, not tomato soup with bread. 

The champagne waterfall was held starting at 6:30pm, but we went to the Princess Theater to get seats for production show Bravo. Always good, and there was still a diva (from Canada) in the performance. 

Does anyone knew her name? She was perhaps the best we’ve seen in Bravo. 

Afterward, G wanted ice cream, so we stopped by the gelato place and he had to convince me to go to Derrick Dishington’s first set in the Wheelhouse. I was definitely wearing down. A couple of Elderflower Palomas later, I caught a second wind and stayed after G left about 10pm. In fact, I stayed until Derrick finished up at nearly midnight. We were not as rowdy tonight (being heavily influenced by a nameless one who was more subdued tonight) but, boy did we have fun. Derek informed us he’s leaving at the end of this cruise and he will be missed. 

Formal night Derrick (from Scotland)

I skulked in just before 1am and tried unsuccessfully not to wake G up when I did. Tomorrow, I promise myself, I will sleep. 

Day 1: Embarkation on the Regal Princess

Wucy, we’re home!

It was, like most embarkation days, not without its bumps, but we have left Galveston and are underway to, well, I’m not really sure, but I know there are two days at sea before we get there. It feels pretty darn good to be back. 

I had pre-reserved a Lyft for this morning. I’ve learned my lesson. Turnaround days in Galveston are no time to be winging it. Demand pricing is sky high and availability is limited. We were going to be picked up from our hotel at 9:30am, and driver Steven, with his Suburban, had ample room for all our luggage. We’ve been using Lyft and Uber so much that I’m getting discounts almost daily. From the Seawall at 43rd St. to Terminal 28 was $14.71, our cheapest cross-island ride yet (in a moment of desperation, we paid $40 a week ago for a taxi when we were standing in the rain with our luggage after we got off the Jubilee). 

Now that we’ve checked out, I’ll mention that our hotel was Home2Suites by Hilton. There is also a Tru by Hilton at the same location, which is a basic hotel room, but, as you saw in the pics I posted, we had a small sitting area and an equipped kitchen with a dishwasher and microwave. I had spotted it online the last night of the TA cruise and it was the first place G checked out on that disembarkation day. He was sold on the large walk in shower, the fact that it was new and not moldy or smelly, and it had a kitchen and a balcony and a Gulf view. We paid a phenomenal $129 a night from Sunday to Thursday, but the weekends were $288. It was outrageous during the Lone Star motorcycle rally, over $500 a night, so don’t leave for a cruise that weekend.  We were quite a novelty there, staying as long as we did, and we were treated really well. Highly recommend.  

We waited outside Terminal 28 for about 30 minutes until we could enter, go through security and then get in the Priority Lane to pick up our medallions. And there we hit our first snag: there were no medallions for us under our new cabin number. We asked them to look under our original cabin number. No luck. They looked under our TA cabin number (thinking that since our Medallion luggage tags still had that cruise’s cabin number on them, that might be where the Medallions were filed. Nope, nowhere. We were given blue cards and told to go to Guest Services on board. Medallions were made for us there. 

Cabins were ready, of course, since there were no passengers disembarking, so we dumped our carry ons and were in the Allegro Dining Room for lunch when it opened at noon. It was so good to be back, and I couldn’t get over the contrast with dining room service on the Carnival Jubilee. 

 Embarkation day salmon

All’s right in my world

I returned to the cabin after lunch, hoping our luggage had been delivered, and it had, as well as someone else’s. These cabin upgrades just before embarkation day make things interesting. We think our minibar was delivered to our original cabin so we have to chase that down tomorrow. 

After I unpacked, I went to the World Fresh Marketplace in search of our waiters from last cruise, and found three of the four of them. I had completed the surveys for both of us the day after that cruise ended, singing our waiters’ praises, and they did get the feedback. Glad I didn’t wait a week to do that! 

Since we could not yet use our Plus Package to get alcoholic beverages (hate that when sailing out of Texas), I went down to the IC for an iced decaf coffee, and ended up staying and chatting with people until G picked me up to go to dinner. The Medallion app was not working until about 6pm, so we didn’t have the tracking capability, but G and I were using iMessage to keep tabs on each other. And the bars were all opened at about 5pm. 

Maitre d’/ DRO Anaki made sure we got the same table we had for the crossing, but our old wait team of Peter and Matthew switched places with new wait team Warren (Philippines) and Gift (Zimbabwe). As it turns out, Matthew and Gift are roommates. I always called Matthew ‘Sir Matthew’ but G called him Captain Bob (from Zimbabwe, get it?) so Gift is Captain Bob 2.0. We do enjoy our waiters immensely, which is the primary reason it is so important to us to have the same table, same waiters every night. 

Back to healthy eating (but too much drinking)

Tonight’s show was a male vocalist/guitarist who is certainly one of the top ten performers we’ve ever seen on a cruise ship, not only because of his voice and guitar talent but also his showmanship and choice of material. If you ever get a chance to see Antonio Larosa, go!  We loved his show and would have returned for the late performance but ended up falling in with a group at the Wheelhouse Bar. 

There were lots of football games available around the ship this afternoon and evening, but I was keeping up with the scores in my phone. I was really enjoying doing ship stuff today after several weekends of football spectatorship, but I was happy to see the Lions continuing their run!

Piano entertainer Nany was playing in the Wheelhouse and she had told us she was going home to Argentina after the crossing so we had to see what was going on with her (she extended) and then Derek Dishington started playing about 9pm and we literally shut down the Wheelhouse after 1am. We started out with one other couple which grew to about 16 people by the end of the evening. We totally rearranged the Wheelhouse and our circle of chairs got bigger and bigger as people kept joining the group

It’s going to be a very fun cruise. 

We crawled into bed at 2am, which became 3am when clocks were moved ahead over night. 

It’s going to be a very exhausting cruise. 

Life is amazing. :)

It’s all turning good

It is Saturday, turnaround day for a few ships here in Galveston, and the hotel is hopping. It’s funny…Monday through Thursday there are only an handful of us at the free breakfast (very nice, BTW. We’ve really enjoyed it). This morning, it was packed, and, if you want to talk cruises, it’s the place to do it. Nearly everyone is leaving today or tomorrow on a cruise. 

I wanted to post one last update before we re-board the Regal Princess tomorrow. Tomorrow!  It feels so good to finally say that. 

Our luck finally changed this week, starting with the Princess announcement that our ship would sail on Sunday, the availability of the next cruise over Thanksgiving (the few remaining cabins were gone the next day), and the excellent price on the December 1 cruise. We won’t have the seven weeks of uninterrupted cruising that we had planned, but we will have seven weeks of cruising. And Princess is doubling our days for the cancelled cruises as promised, because we had booked Princess Plus for all of them. Cheapest Princess days ever, but, oh boy, we would much rather have not gone through all this. 

Then, just yesterday, we received a free upgrade for our cabin on this first cruise, to a deluxe balcony cabin. Since we have to move between all of our cruises, and weren’t in the perfect location for any of them, we were open to upgrades. I guess we’re batting 1000 with our Princess cruises this fall, first being upgraded from a balcony cabin to a minisuite the transatlantic and from an inside to a deluxe balcony on tomorrow’s cruise. 

In another example of how the Princess Medallion app fails back to back cruisers, I tried to print luggage tags for tomorrow and they are still showing our cabin from the transatlantic cruise. Seriously? Tomorrow’s cruise isn’t even technically a back to back cruise with the TA. We’ll have to get luggage tags from the porters at the terminal. 

Also yesterday, when we were supposed to change hotel rooms, I was checking online and found our same suite category that we’ve been in from the start for a lower price than we were going to be paying for a regular hotel room. I sent G screen captures and not only did he negotiate the lower price, but we get to stay in our same suite until we check out on Sunday. That is a big deal, as we didn’t lose the kitchen and can reheat leftovers in the microwave. And, at this point, any time we don’t have to pack up and move it’s a good thing. 

Even though the paperwork continues to grow as I book and unbook travel arrangements and track credit card charges and refunds, I think that’s all behind us now, at least until we return home. I had to complete our Open Season insurance enrollment this week, which I had planned to do when we returned home but we extended and it has to be completed by 12/9. I turn 65 in January (I have no words) so I had to do some research but even that got done. It’s been a productive week. 

My notes since 10/25, scribbled on the back of confirmation sheets I had printed for our Overlord Tours excursion to Normandy (because I have no other paper). 

We went down to the hotel bar last night for happy hour for the first time and met up with other people who are going to be on our cruise, and ended up getting pizza delivered to the bar (which didn’t serve food) and having dinner with them. 

So, if I seem happier in this post…I am!  All of my cruise fears were realized in the past three weeks, but I’m still anxious to return to the ship. Go figure. I did have to tell my guys I won’t see them until Christmas break, but I think know that I’m feeling that way more than they are. I mean, come on. Between friends and girlfriends, I understand my place and know my role (paying for restaurant meals and sending encouraging texts). 😉

Speaking of encouragement, thank you for all the encouraging emails you’ve sent to me. Those who commented on our attitude and keeping our sense of humor…no, not so. I think we did pretty well until last Saturday when we found out our cruise the next day was cancelled. From then until we received the Princess announcement on Tuesday that the Regal would sail tomorrow, there was no joy in Mudville. G can always make me laugh but even he was having none of that. It’s hard to convey just how excited we are to return to the ship. 

So my next report will be (knock on wood) from the Regal. Oh happy day!

The day it went off the rails…for the third time

G was up and out early on disembarkation (Saturday) morning. I knew he would want to use cellular service to check on things at home. I was slower to get started, and was surprised when he burst into the cabin and told me he had heard from another passenger that the next Regal Princess cruise was cancelled. 

No, I insisted. That person must be confused. I mean, there had been two cancellations. They must have been thinking about one of them. But I threw on some clothes and went to an upper outside deck where I had a cell signal. 

I could not believe it. Another Cancellation Notice appeared in my emails, dated the day before. I checked the cruise date, hoping this was another case where Princess was just late sending this out. Nope. It was for the cruise leaving the next day. We had been checking emails in all our ports, but didn’t have internet on the ship. Everything was a go when we sailed from Cozumel at 5pm on Thursday. And changed just a few hours later. 

This was the last thing we needed to see. Our plan had been to spend one night back at the hotel, pick up our third suitcase, and board the Regal for two cruises the next day. Now what were we going to do?

Our first step was to get back to our hotel and claim that suitcase. We considered just calling it quits and flying home, but home was getting close to two feet of snow, and even if we had been able to get a flight, the thought of dragging suitcases through that snow to the front door almost made me cry. But I contracted with someone to clear our driveway just in case we ended up flying home the next day. 

In the end, we decided to stay until Thursday this week and booked flights to go home that day. We hoped that if Princess was going to cancel a fourth cruise, they would do it before Thursday. I decided not to worry about transfers to Hobby and from our home airport to our house until we knew more. We’d already shifted our Galveston Express transfers around twice, and our driver Michelle at home, we knew, would rearrange heaven and earth to pick us up. No need for her do that and then change our minds. 

We actually got the same suite again at the hotel, and that little dose of familiarity was welcome at that point. I took a week’s worth of dirty clothes down to the laundry room and settled in for a few hours. It was busy on the weekend, and the two washers were full but finished. I waited 30 minutes and then moved the wet clothes in one of them to the folding area. I did not need a laundry confrontation after the morning we’d had, but, luckily, the clothes owner didn’t show up for another hour and when he asked if I had moved the clothes, I said they were there when I arrived 90 minutes earlier. 🤥 Idiot.

We phoned Princess that day and the next, and the next, and the Filipino phone agents told us that we couldn’t cancel our final cruise without incurring a cancellation penalty. The lack of customer service is breathtaking, though it shouldn’t be. We ought to be used to it by now. The agent assured us the ship would sail on November 17, which, sadly, meant nothing. They were telling people the ship would sail even after Cancellation Notices had been sent out for the October 27 cruise. 

We got another food delivery from Kroger but were basically leaning toward flying home on Thursday, and thought we’d argue the cancellation charges later. I was certainly over all this. 

And then yesterday (Tuesday) we received notification from Princess that the ship is fixed and will definitely sail on Sunday. And that is the assurance we have been waiting for (although a fourth cancellation still wouldn’t surprise me). In fact, we immediately took all of our bonus FCCs and booked the Thanksgiving cruise (very pricey but the bonus FCCs covered it) and the cruise after that. We will have to change cabins every cruise but we will deal with that.  I hope the on board experience is as wonderful as it was on the transatlantic. It’s the only reason I’m returning. The only reason I didn’t fly home October 27 ($450pp for last minute tickets, which were cancelled just hours after booking, and we used part of that credit for flights home on December 8). 

I also called Galveston Express to see about moving our transfers for a third time, to December 8, and the guy who answers the phone is always a bit gruff but provides excellent service and he asked if we had been on a cancelled Regal cruise and I told him we had been on three cancelled Regal cruises and he readily changed our reservation. Michelle is now set to pick us up on December 8, and I seriously hope this all doesn’t go to hell in a hand basket before Sunday. 

We also had to extend our hotel but we couldn’t get the same room so we’re moving Thursday into a cheaper room (same property) for twice the price because it’s the weekend. That was painful but we are still hoping for compensation for some of these hotel charges we are racking up WHEN WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ON THE SHIP!!! 

Meanwhile, we have been exploring Galveston Island, visiting Moody Gardens and the Railroad Museum and taking long walks on the beach, and I spent today placing Amazon and Kroger orders and booking the flights and transfers for December 8. I had only brought enough meds to last through November 24, but most of what I take are supplements.  I ordered them and more toiletries to be delivered and, most importantly, a new Music Cozy sleep mask with Bluetooth earphones. The charging cord on mine is so close to being completely broken that it’s no longer charging dependably. I got 18 months of nightly use out of it, so I can’t complain. But a brand new one was delivered to the front desk tonight. Cruise on!

We’ve already received the shareholders OBC through Stockperks (less than one day turnaround).  I have to figure out how to print luggage tags here at the hotel and, oh my, I bet Lesle onboard hasn’t held our table reservation for the 17th cruise and we still have to deal with that once we board. 

But for now I’ll be happy to just get back on that ship. I’ve seen quite enough of Galveston Island to last a lifetime.  And, frankly, reading online about how well everyone else’s cruises are going when you’re sitting in a hotel room because yours was cancelled gets old after three weeks. 

Basic but comfortable

(Our room has a king bed). 

Law and Order SVU reruns on TV pale in comparison to drinks and live music, 

but football on a 55” TV makes me smile. 

Life, even when it’s not great, has some redeeming qualities.