So much to tell you; will I stay awake long enough to say it all?
Before we even boarded the ship, we saw (or more truthfully, were seen by) junior waiter Surasit from Thailand. Surasit was one of the three Thai waiters who performed a dance in the Crew Talent Show last winter (I posted videos on YouTube). Hugs ensued, and the first thing he said was, "We're all here", and we knew exactly who he meant. Waiters Nicky and our own waiter Suttipong from last winter are also on board (the three Thai crew members from the dance). I couldn't believe our luck. Surasit said Sutti was working the same dining room, same area that he had last winter, and there was no doubt that we wanted a table in his area again this winter.
We boarded the ship at 11:50 this morning, one of the first 30 or so new passengers to board. We went immediately to our cabin (the same one as last winter) to drop off our carryons. I was initially disappointed to see that the two special requests I'd faxed to Princess Special Services in California, for the beds in twin configuration and a hard mattress for my bed, weren't in place. Neither were our special Elite amenities. But almost immediately I suspected that we had a room steward who had just begun his contract today. As it turns out, that was exactly the case..Johnathon from the Philippines did just come on board, probably after we did. When we did finally meet up and relayed our request, it was taken care of during muster drill. Our cabin has Princess's "new" mattresses, much more comfy than the old ones...if you don't have lower back issues. If you do, and I do, they can place a piece of plywood under the mattress that, for some reason, does the trick. That's what I have, and it's perfect. Firm support but not hard.
Our next stop was Outriggers Bar, just steps from our cabin, to purchase our soda stickers, and then we traipsed back down to the DaVinci dining room for our favorite lunch of the cruise; salmon with lemon butter sauce for me and sliced beef tenderloin for G. Afterwards, we immediately went to meet with Maitre D' Jean Paul from France to set up a reservation for a table for 2 for the duration of our cruise. We hadn't yet met Jean Paul, but he was as warm and welcoming as most Princess Maitre D's (they get that job for a reason). And, guess what? We have the same table, same dining room, same waiter as last year! We couldn't wait to surprise Sutti when we walked in for dinner.
Then it was a mad dash back to the cabin. Our big suitcases had arrived, and it was time to unpack, one person at a time. The other one of us ducked out on the back Terrace Deck to enjoy the view and the sun. Muster drill was scheduled for 3:15pm and we still hadn't unpacked everything. During muster, G nodded off twice. We were starting to fade, but soldiered on. There was more unpacking to be done. Luckily (for us), sailaway was delayed an hour, and by the time we finally sailed at 5pm, we were dressed for dinner and up in Skywalkers enjoying sunset, sailaway and margaritas, the specialty of the day. Pure perfection!