Day 3: At Sea (Part 2)

After finishing my earlier blog posts this afternoon, I was able to log on to Wifi and post them from the Horizon Court Buffet. I'm having much better luck publishing them via email than via the Blogger app. In fact, we have even been able to check our Nest thermostat and security webcams at home (last year we didn't have the Nest and couldn't access the webcams from the Emerald Princess). So it seems that, if you can find the right place and time, Royal Princess Wifi can work...but we've been hearing that many people are having issues with it. That's a bit disappointing on a brand new ship, but I can work with it.

Tonight was the only formal night of this 5-night cruise, but we had not received a form to fill out for the usual Elite hors doerves. No matter; I phoned room service and G's favorite chocolate covered strawberries were delivered minutes later, as were some minibar items we wanted to change out.

Speaking of minibar, you might remember that we get a free minibar set up with 8 mini bottles of liquor, 2 beers, some sodas, sparkling waters and still water bottles simply by having reached the Elite level in Princess' Captains Circle (their loyallty program). Well, because this is only a 5-night cruise, we had decided to skip buying soda stickers that provide for unlimited fountain drinks. We'll be lucky to finish our minibar items! So, no fuzzy water this cruise, and, boy, do I miss it!! It's nice to be able to order something every time we go to a lounge or sit by the pool. While we had popcorn from MUTS on the first night, we've been way too tired (last night) or too full (tonight) to do it since. I miss that too. Fuzzy water and popcorn means blog time and bed time for me!

So, I'm all over the place here, but I'll bring it back to this afternoon and evening's activities now...

While I was roaming around the ship and blogging this afternoon, G was hot tubbing and going to the 4pm Veterans get together. He brings back the most interesting bits of gossip from these hot tub sessions (and people think women gossip; men are much worse). Yesterday it was that five suites somewhere (I think on the side of the ship) had been flooded with ankle deep water when a pipe above them burst. Wouldn't that be an unfortunate experience on a cruise!?! We had something similar happen one pre-cruise night at the LaQuinta, and we're running around in the middle of the night trying to close open suitcases and rescue electronics. Today's conversation apparently centered around the slow service in the dining rooms, which is generally being attributed to the galley's Inability to keep up. What's odd is that people are being told that by their waitstaff (as we were this morning) so there appears to be a little finger pointing going on. Passengers' first inclination is to blame the waitstaff, but, as he pointed out to us, our waiter had just 6 passengers and still couldn't provide timely service. No doubt this will get resolved eventually, but it's interesting that it's become such common knowledge.

Again I'm getting distracted here...

We chose not to dress up for formal night, but were surprised by how many passengers did, although G said he only saw two men in tuxes. Still, we went to Club 6 for the Elite lounge at exactly 5pm. That's the ticket; today I got food and had my drink order taken. Things are looking up! We left about 6:15pm to go to the 6:30pm production show next door in the Princess Theater- Sweet Soul Music. Loved it!!! It's all our favorite music (reminds me a little bit of Motor City), and the singers were all excellent. But one of the male singers, Jesse Hamilton- was just superb. It was the first of two production shows we're going to see this cruise, and an entirely new show developed to be performed on the Royal Princess. I had forgotten now wonderful it is to see a new production show!

We swung by the Piazza for the captain's Welcome Aboard cocktail party and got a glass of champagne before we headed up to the Horizon Court Buffet, not for a buffet dinner, but for a special, extra cost offering tonight, a fondue experience. We remember well a fondue restaurant we enjoyed on the Norwegian Sky in 2000; we'd not had fondue since then. Well, it was fun and delicious and we enjoyed very personalized service from waiter Kitiphong from Thailand (who knows Suttipong, so I have to email Sutti to tell him we've met his friend). We each ordered different appetizers and entrees, and loved them all. Of course, the piece de resistance is the chocolate fondue for dessert. Oh my. It was decadent. Served with the entree is a shot of kirschwasser for each of us. We should have known at that moment we weren't going to able to stay awake long. We felt the fondue experience was well worth the $20 per person charge, and a nice change for those of us who have done the Crown Grill and Sabatinis over and over again.

We dallied so long over dinner that we missed illusionist David Cats' 9:15pm performance in the Vista Lounge. His next one wasn't until 11:15pm (scratch that- the kirschwasser was taking a toll), but we went down to the Wheelhouse Bar to listen to pianist Ray Cousins again (I could do that every evening), and when he took a break, we decide to call it a night. We're stuffed and relaxed and well entertained...does it get any better on a cruise?

Tomorrow: an 8am arrival into Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos islands.

Photo 1: Jesse Hamilton performing during Sweet Soul Music

Remaining photos: from the Fondue Pot in the Horizon Court Buffet

Thoughts on the Royal Princess (Part 2)

I've moved back outside to the Outriggers Terrace; the squall has passed and this is once again a most pleasurable place to be. This post will go into more detail about my thoughts on this new ship, now formed after 48 hours on board. I'll cut to the chase, first, lest you think I'm complaining too much about certain features: we are already well convinced that, while we'll miss certain things about the Emerald Princess, we'll have no trouble spending an extended amount of time on the Royal. Whew! I was really thinking we'd end up back on Celebrity next winter, not that there's anything wrong with that, but Princess, at this point, is just a bit more comfortable for us.

So, in no particular order, here are my opinions...

The elevator issue and those silly fountains remain the most disagreeable things on the ship. The elevators have never been as bad as on embarkation day (understandably) but they are still not good. When there are four of them in a lobby, the two on the left are not tied in to the two on the right, so, just as on other ships, passengers push both sets of buttons and take the elevator that arrives first, leaving the other elevator to stop. on. every. deck. Doors open and no one's there. Princess, do you want to hire the twins to reprogram this (I'm sure they and any 10-year olds could easily do it)? This is one of the most wearisome features on the midship elevator bank on the Emerald Princess: here we have it, times three.

The fountains still haven't figured out how to 1.) spray upwards when the ship is cruising, or 2.) stop draining across the Lido Deck. Anyone who has spent even one hour watching football on MUTS on the other ships when cruising on gentle seas could have told Princess that those fountains weren't going to work. If the water in a pool splashes out and drenches game-watchers, a piddly fountain spray wasn't going to stay straight. Silliness.

The quality of the entertainment on board has been on a different (better, higher) level than on the other Princess ships. I hope this continues and spreads fleet-wide.

The Vista Lounge has every other row of chairs that is nearly impossible to get into. I guess they expect us to sprout wings and elevate ourselves into those chairs, but have they seen Princess passengers lately? Not a lot of mobility ability among most of us.

The Piazza is all it's cracked up to be, but because it's a Multi-use venue, the various entertainments are timed consecutively instead of concurrently. Kory Simon doesn't start in Crooners until 10:15, after dancing and music and mini-production shows, etc. Yes, the Piazza is the place to be at night (because the much touted "top decks" are wet and windy and slippery and chilly.

Alfredos is a treasure. Love it, love the service, love the menu, love that it's open from 11:30am onwards. A real winner.

I've yet to see ANYONE in Celebrations. Shocking! ;-)

There are ample loungers on this ship. No, not many are in the shade, and the shade that exists is moving shade, but, to be able to find loungers poolside at 2pm on a sea day is a very good thing.

I take back everything I said about the Pastry Shop. Stopping by there mid-afternoon, there were several fancier desserts being offered, and a cook was carmelizing creme brûlée as I watched and videoed. He explained what he was doing as I videoed, which leads me to believe that they are very accustomed to doing these sorts of demonstrations. We heard at the MTP lunch that there is sometimes a chocolate fountain there at lunch, which sounds decadent, so, in the end, I'm more impressed than I thought I would be.

We still haven't eaten in either the Horizon Court Buffet or the Horizon Bistro. We're trying to dine around, but will inevitably run out of time.

We walked out of the (minimized) Promenade Deck behind Facets last night, wanting to enjoy the nice outdoor seating there while watching the ocean, but there was water dripping down like rain- but we could tell it wasn't rain. Of course, my first thought was "those damn fountains are leaking all the way down here", but G thinks it was ocean spray dripping off the Seawalk overhang. Whatever the cause, the seating was unusable (but the view of the Skywalk from below was cool).

I haven't seen the pools to be overrun and crowded. The hot tubs are moreso, but because all six of them are in relatively close proximity, it's easy to just go to another one. However, they are also not a bit shaded, so beware. It's too early to tell how these areas will be on a longer (7-night) Caribbean cruise, so for now I'll tentatively say they might work. The biggest issue I see is the noise bleed from the main pool to the quiet Retreat Pool. Whether it's from a movie, a pool game, of a band, you definitely hear the noise at the "quiet" pool. I despise those cabanas, but I'm sure Princess is pleased...they were all in use this afternoon (at $80 a day).

What I'm about to tell you is hearsay to an exponential power, but I've been told by someone who should know that the Regal will add an aft pool (where?) and center stairs for passenger use. Don't take it to the bank, but it's nice to know that Princess has heard all the complaints.

The kids and teen areas look every bit as nice as they did in the marketing videos. We love the jogging/walking track, but unless it's early in the day or cloudy, it's a windy oven out there. I'm particularly impressed with the outdoor fitness equipment stations...there are far more of them then I realized, and detailed use instructions are posted for each one. This reminds me so much of the large cities in China where, next to the playground equipment in parks is adult fitness equipment just like on the Royal Princess. As someone who always wants to be outside, I think that's a fine idea!!

The International Cafe is amazing with ample seating. In fact, the Royal Princess on whole feels less crowded than the Super Grand Class ships. We love that.

There are no sales table in the Piazza during the evenings. There are no sales table in the Piazza during the evenings. There are no sales table in the Piazza during the evenings. (This is so important it's worth saying thrice).

The tender loading area is so cool that it's almost sexy. We'll no longer feel like we're walking down a narrow stairway in the bowels of the ship. On the Royal Princess it's open and large and bright and new. This didn't stop it from taking 2 hours (we heard) to get tender tickets to Princess Cays yesterday, the explanation was that tenders of this size had never docked there before. I'm sure it will improve over time.

I need to close for now, and will post a Part 3 of ship thoughts before Sunday. But for us, as of now, the Royal Princess offers more in the plus column than the minus, and we can't wait to cruise on her again!

Photo 1: those Vista Lounge chairs. Mmmmm...comfy! ;-)

Photo 2: just one of the many pieces of outdoor exercise equipment on the jogging track.

Photo 3: even he didn't like the fountains

Photo 4: a replica of the coat the Duchess of Cambridge wore for the Royal Princess christening.

Photo 5: the dripping Skywalk at night.

Day 3: At Sea

I have SO much to tell you today, and we have so much more to come that I've wised up and am starting this post at 2:30pm. I'll take it part way now and either add to it or start another post later today.

I'm sitting on Outriggers Terrace on Deck 16 in a comfortable cushioned wicker chair with a gorgeous view of the ship's wake. It's shaded and (relatively) quiet back here (well, usually...right this moment a blender is being used at Outriggers Bar), and I've decided this is one of my many favorite places on the Royal Princess in which to be. Now that you know the setting, I'll tell you how I came to be here...

After I finished typing by blog last night, it was well after midnight, and once again I couldn't get on Wifi to publish it. I'm learning not to stress it...you'll see it eventually, unless I lose it, and I think I've figured out how not to do that again. Bottom line is that I had learned last winter about the Blogger app for iPhone from cruise friend Linda who was using it to blog about her cruise on the Emerald Princess. I waited until I returned home to try it, and it was perfect. I was actually able to embed photos in a post, instead of them all appearing at the beginning or end of a post when I email them to my blog. Blogger worked great at home, and not at all on the Royal Princess. Furthermore, if I can't get on the Internet, I can't save what I've typed (emails can be saved even when offline). Complicating things- on the Royal Princess, Google Blogger appears in Italian, and while I can guess what some words mean, mostly I'm clueless.

Bottom line: I'm back to emailing my blog posts and all the photos will appear at the top or bottom of the posts. I'll try Blogger again post-Royal Princess and might have more luck.

So, back to being unable to post last night...I quickly gave up and fell asleep...hard. I'm telling you, the combination of our ultra-quiet cabin location, the best mattress I've ever had at sea, sheets that aren't the usual Princess prison-issue, and pillows that are actually thicker than a pancake have combined to provide me some quality zzzzzzzzz's.

I awoke at 8am, as G was just getting ready to slip out of the cabin for breakfast. We arranged to meet up at 8:45am in the Concerto Dining Room, where waiter Carlos from Mexico and Junior Waiter Putri from Indonesia provided the friendliest service imaginable...but, once again, slower than molasses in January (a Mom-ism). We were in no hurry, but Carlos felt compelled to explain that, even though he had only 6 passengers to attend to, the galley was totally backed up with the special made-to-order egg items in addition to today's features mushroom frittata. He said that between 7am and 8:15am, the galley could keep up, but fell behind after that.

I have a suggestion: now that the ship is in the Caribbean, especially on sea days, run breakfast from 7:30am to 9:30am, spreading out us semi-late risers. Of course, on this, as on so many things, my opinion is not solicited. But, if it were: Problem Solved!

We finished breakfast just in time to make it to this cruise's Cruise Critic meet and greet, which was held at 10am in the Vista Lounge. We personally hadn't been very active online, although the group as a whole had been VERY active; still, we enjoyed meeting new friends and Roberta and I, who had "talked" online were able to meet in person- always fun.

Over breakfast, I had tried to get on the Royal Princess' new intranet feature to check our on board spending and make sure we had received all the credits we were expecting. I could check my own account, but then couldn't figure out how to log off to check G's (and Roberta said she had had the same issue). Finally, we gave up and just went to the Passenger Services Desk (PSD) and got an old-fashioned paper copy. All is in order, and it was far easier to just do it that way.

Next, we had been invited to a luncheon as one of this cruises top 40 most traveled passengers (MTP), held at noon in speciality restaurant Sabatinis Some people like the luncheons better; others like the cocktail party like we've had so often on the Emerald Princess, but I'm told it's at the Captain's discretion. Well, normally we're cocktail party fans, because it gives us a chance to move around and mingle a bit (this can be a definite advantage if we're seated with some pompous, well-traveled passengers, and, trust me, we've met quite a few of them (do these people not realize that, with extreme privilege should come extreme grace?)). No such problem today; we were seated at a table with Captains Circle host Crissey Reid (yay!) and passengers Steve and Marcia, and spent a most pleasurable 90 minutes. Even better, headwaiter Marius from Romania, who took such good care of us on the Emerald Princess two winters ago, was the headwaiter at the luncheon (each small table had its own waiter!) and, after lunch, pulled a flash drive out of his pocket, plugged it in the computer at the greeter's desk, and proudly showed us photos of his beautiful baby daughter Maria. We're so pleased for him!

Lunch was wonderful (of course), and I'll publish a copy of the menu with this post.

We returned to the cabin for a quick change: G into a swimsuit to head to a hot tub, and me into shorts to find a place in the shade on deck to start typing. I first went one deck up from our cabin to the adults-only Retreat pool and was thrilled to see a few empty loungers, two of them in the shade. For 5 minutes. Then the ship moved or the sun moved (most likely both) and I was in the sun. I'm not adverse to the sun (actually, well protected. I prefer it), but sun and iPhone screens don't mix, and I was a woman on a mission to get this typed.

There were no loungers around the main pool in the shade, so I continued back to the area behind Outriggers and here I stayed. Lots of open chairs for relaxing, and tables to sit at to dine. However, the Officer of the Watch on the navigational bridge just made an announcement: a blustery storm is imminent. Sure enough, the Outriggers Terrace has become a wet wind tunnel, and I'm on the move again.

I've re-settled in the Horizon Bistro, a "lighter-style" dining option just forward of the Horizon Court buffet, and am warming up with a cup of hot tea. I'll check this post for the inevitable spelling errors, add some photos and start another one specifically about the Royal Princess (friends and family have been warned!!). ;-)

Photos 1-6: the menu from the most traveled luncheon, as well as some photos. The food was delicious as it was beautifully presented.

Photo 7: the Blogger app, in Italian. That little "waiting" icon would just turn forever, and never do anything else. Damn.

Day 2: Princess Cays

We are having the most fantastic time!! So much to tell you tonight, but it's almost midnight and we've just returned to the cabin. I am worn out, but I'll type as much as I can. Getting on the Internet to post it...that's another matter all together.

I slept until nearly 7:30am, and G was MIA when I awoke. He must have been really quiet leaving the cabin without waking me even the slightest bit. I tried again from our cabin to get on Wifi (I was totally unsuccessful at it last night), but fared no better this morning. By the time I was showered and ready to start the day, G returned to the cabin, having already eaten his first breakfast of the day. He joined me for his second one, in the Concerto Dining Room. Service was painfully slow; it was well on to 10am before we were done and an announcement had ready been made that tender operations for Princess Cays had begun.

We were in no hurry to go over to the island, but instead spent a bit of time sitting on the lovely teak loungers on the side of the Promenade Deck (honestly, I could have been happy there all day), but left soon to explore the areas of the ship we hadn't seen yesterday: the Vista Lounge up close, the fitness center, the jogging/walking track and the sports court. I'll save my thoughts on them all for another post, but I have to tell you now that we loved all of the areas (except for the ridiculous seating in the Vista Lounge).

When we walked down to Deck 4 after noon to catch a tender, tender tickets were still being required. Captain Tony later apologized for the delay in tendering people over to Princess Cays, but it was not surprising given that it was the ship's first visit there ever, and the first Princess ship to stop there this season. Apparently the Royal's larger tenders required some modifications to the dock on the island, and that was the major cause of the delay. Luckily, one of the perks of our loyalty status (Elite) is that we get priority tendering, so we were able to avoid the whole "wait in line for a tender ticket" process.

And, speaking of tenders...wow, they are huge (they hold 200 people) and beautiful and the top, open part where we like to ride is much more comfortable, with a hard back to sit against instead of the plastic banners stretched between posts. And the tender loading area, with wide stairs leading to it...really an improvement.

Princess Cays looks pretty much the same as last year. It's hard to tell a hurricane even passed over it almost exactly 12 months ago. The first aid station has been moved a bit to the left, but that's all that we noticed. There was a nice banner stretched across the bridge welcoming the Royal Princess on her maiden stop.

We stopped for lunch at the BBQ and sat at a picnic table to eat it. We then spent some time feeding the fish from the feeding pier that had been rebuilt after Hurricane Sandy. We had not packed gear for swimming or snorkeling- we just wanted to enjoy the BBQ and see the island- but we decided to walk down to the brightly colored bungalows area. On the way, we passed a lot of passengers going the opposite way, towards the tenders to return to the ship. Most of the loungers were already unoccupied and we found two in the most ideal location and sat down to enjoy the view and the sound of the waves.

The wind whistled through the pine trees above us, the waves crashed, and I could feel all the stress of preparing to leave home just melt away. I guess you could say that that was the moment our cruise really began for me.

We returned to the ship on the second last tender (last tender wasn't until 4pm!), and were in Club 6 for the Elite lounge by 5:15pm. Once again, no one came around for a drink order, but at least the hors doerves hadn't yet run out. I'm still not impressed by the service or the lack of views, but it certainly is a more convenient location than Skywalkers to get to.

We went to dinner early, just after 5:45pm, as we wanted to go to a show in the Princess Theater at 6:45am. Waiter April was up for the challenge, Two courses later, we left to attend a performance by David Cats, a illusionist. It was our first experience in the Princess Theater, and, wow, we were really impressed by the sound and lighting. But this show...I'm not one for magicians, but David. Cats (from Venice) is amazing. His show quality was way above anything we've seen on other Princess ships. As proof, how many illusionists have you seen on ships that get a standing ovation? David did, and G was one of the first on his feet (and he's a tough critic!).

Afterwards, we decided to go to Alfredos, the pizza restaurant on Deck 6 just for dessert, but I saw a salad caprese on the menu with roasted red and yellow peppers and fresh mozzarella cheese and had to try it. We now love Alfredos, and hope to get a pizza there later in the cruise. Milos from Serbia provided friendly, efficient service, which we've generally found in short supply in the dining areas, aside from our own wait team of April and Michael.

Immediately afterwards, we watched the singers and dancers perform a new show in the Piazza called Escape Completely. It's just a quick 5-7 minutes, but it was really cute. The singers and dancers are dressed like crew on the ship, wearing a steward's uniform, chef's uniform, waiters uniforms, officer's uniform, etc. Two of them are dressed as a young passenger couple and they are dragged onto the floor to participate in this song and dance telling them how they can escape completely, which is Princess' tag line. At first, I didn't realize they were really part of the show, they played the reluctant recruits so perfectly. All in all, it was a cute and creative performance.

Next up was the Wheelhouse Bar for pianist Ray Cousins. Wow wow wow. This man is AMAZING, the best I've ever heard on ships, and got a standing ovation after every song. His talent is huge! When he took a break, we headed to Crooners piano lounge to listen to pianoman Kory Simon, who had played in Crooners on the Emerald Princess last year. It was really great to see him again.

Finally, we could go no longer. G is already asleep, and I plan to be soon.

Our verdict today: we would definitely cruise again on the Royal Princess. We know that the service issues we're encountering could be resolved well before we board again next fall, and although the ship design certainly has its faults, we've seen no show stoppers yet.

We feeling better about our decision to spend next winter on this ship. Yay!

Photos: scenes from the Royal Princess' first visit to Princess Cays

Day 1: Fort Lauderdale and embarkation day

Well, no surprise to us, but it is 8:30pm and we are retired for the evening. If I go back and look at my blog posts from embarkation day in either of the first two years, I'm sure I'd find that we did much the same. The busy-ness of wrapping things up at home, the very late arrival in Fort Lauderdale yesterday (actually, this morning) and an early wake up have all combined to make a movie in bed more appealing than any entertainment being offered tonight on the Royal Princess. Not that there aren't a lot of entertainment options to choose from- there are. 

We boarded the Royal Princess today just after 11.30am, and, as suggested in the notice we'd received at check in, we went to our cabin just to drop off our carry ons and put our valuables in the safe. We were delighted to see that our cabin was ready for our arrival, well ahead of the 12:30pm time that had been promised. 

Our next stop was the Concerto Dining Room on Deck 6 for a dining room lunch (we avoid the buffet on embarkation day at almost all cost). I don't know if it is a Royal Princess thing or a Princess-wide thing, but our beloved embarkation day lunch menu has been seriously diminished. No salad- just a choice of two appetizers and two entrees, and- horrors- one of them wasn't the salmon I love so much. Instead I ordered the trout almondine; G chose a double order of chateaubriand. Neither entree was very good, but they weren't bad  either. They were just "plain good". 

We skipped dessert in favor of a serious walk around the ship, and, except for the fitness and sports areas on the high aft end of the ship, we've pretty much covered it. I'll review our early impressions in a separate post, so family and friends who really aren't all the interested won't be dragged on the tour against their will.

Muster drill was held at 3:15pm; our muster station is the Princess Theater on Decks 6/7, which was wonderful, but, oh my, the elevator wait to return to our cabin nine decks up was forever. G immediately started to climb the stairs, but even they were packed. I chose to sit in Club 6 for awhile to use my iPhone and allow both the crowds to clear and G to unpack his luggage in the cabin. After 20 minutes, the front elevator lobby was still packed with passengers holding their life jackets and waiting for an elevator, but by then the stairs were clear, and I made the climb. 

G was almost done unpacking as much as he was going to, so I did the same while he showered, then I showered and we were ready for the evening, just in time for a beautiful (and I mean beautiful) sailaway. Luckily, we had been informed by Captain Tony Draper that sailaway would be delayed by an hour, until 5pm, due to luggage handling issues on shore, and that was fine with us. That gave us the breathing space to get things settled in the cabin and get cleaned up for dinner before we watched it from an open deck (I think it was Deck 19). 

The ship's horn blew the first two lines of the Love Boat theme song, similar to the way that Disney cruise ships blow "When you wish upon a star" as we made our way down the entrance channel to open water.  I thought I'd hate the musical horn (very unclassy and untraditional), but I don't. It's cute. But, as G said, if we pass around a hat for a collection, could we have another few lines of the song?

Finally, we headed to Club 6, the Royal Princess version of Skywalkers on Deck 6 (no surprise there!), and that was a huge disappointment. I was never approached for a drink order, and by the time I got to the hors doerves table, they were out of tonight's Stilton and I didn't see it replaced before we had to leave for dinner. With windows along the side wall covered with sheers, Club 6 offers absolutely no view and is a poor substitute for Skywalkers. But, on the plus side, it's a heck of a lot easier to get to and then go to dinner from afterwards. Skywalkers' great views off the back of the ship up high come with the cost of being hard to get to and come from.

We stopped by the Captains Circle (the Princess loyalty club) desk to see Crissey Reid, one of our favorite CC hosts ever. Big hugs, but she looked tired. She said that the 1200+ Elite cruisers on the transatlantic cruise that ended Sunday morning made for a VERY busy cruise for her. A couple we had sat with in Club 6 had been on the transatlantic. Even though they're Elite themselves, they said they called it the "Entitlement Cruise", because those many highly traveled passengers were so demanding and had such high expectations. Maybe it's best we gave it a pass.

Our dinner assignment is very early traditional dining, which is usually at 5:30pm but on the Royal Princess is at 6pm (can't explain but we love it).  We eat in the Concerto Dining Room mid-ship, which we also love. We dislike the location of the traditional dining rooms at the very back of the ship; they're hard to get to and make me feel claustrophobic. Our waitstaff, April and Michael, both from the Philippines, are friendly and efficient. G's prime rib tonight was perfect (his words) and I had a basa-something (a fish dish) that was delicious. He had a hazelnut soufflé for dessert, topped with ice cream and vanilla sauce. I limited myself to three bites of the always incredible flourless chocolate cake. I'm not a chocolate fan, but I convert to one once a cruise for this dessert; it's like eating fudge.

We returned to the cabin for the evening right afterwards. We started to walk out to the main pool area to check out a hot tub to use, but it was windy and chilly and we decided bed held more appeal. 

It was a fairly typical first day for us, albeit it on a very un-typical ship. 

Tomorrow- Princess Cays, Princess' private beach resort on the southern end of the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. Yes, we've been there nearly 40 times, but we love it and plan to go ashore, providing the tender ride from the ship to the island isn't too rough. Captain Tony said after muster drill that the winds would remain high, but that their direction should allow the island itself to provide some shelter for the tender boats. Keep your fingers crossed!

The Royal Princess Internet situation

Wifi on the Royal Princess appears to be as bad as I had read. I can't get on in our cabin at all, despite a repeater on the ceiling in the hallway just outside our door. Photos don't want to load at all. I've lost one long post to the ether sphere- it's neither in Drafts nor Outbox not Sent nor the blog.

I've taken many, many photos and can't upload a single one, and am not going to frustrate myself by trying. So, unless things improve, photos will be posted on turnaround day in Fort Lauderdale.

Meanwhile, we've continued to explore the ship, and, despite more than a few head scratchers, overall we love it. The outdoor fitness area and running/walking track in the best. Loungers EVERYWHERE (but very few are shaded). We keep asking ourselves: could we spend a winter on this ship. So far the answer, despite a few frustrations, is YES!

Whew!

Early thoughts on the Royal Princess

It's been only eight hours since we boarded, but it's hard not to draw some preliminary conclusions about the Royal Princess ship design...and so I'll let myself do just that. Here they are- and if they change before we disembark on Sunday, I'll amend this list. 

The Piazza (the atrium of the ship) is, as anyone who's seen a photo knows, gorgeous. The materials, the finishes, the subdued but elegant colors and those twin double spiral staircases all combine to present a visual feast. However, I dislike the placement of the photo area in the. Piazza. It's hard to glam up a photo area, and the result is that it seems out of place amid all the surrounding elegance. 

We haven't yet tried pizza restaurant Alfredo's, but the menu looks wonderful and the decor is beautiful. 

The second, minor atrium where the Passenger Services and Shore Excursions Desks are located, is much improved over the Emerald Princess, where the PSD staff has to compete with the sound of the entertainment in the Piazza when dealing with aggrieved passengers. The fountain there provides a soothing background sound, a nice touch for those people standing in line for the PSD (who generally have an unhappy issue). This is exactly where a fountain belongs- NOT on a pool deck (more on that later).

Much has been written about the Crown Grill/Wheelbouse bar combination. I doubt I'll visit either in just 5 days to be able to form an opinion, but it's apparent why there might be an issue as they are completely open to each other. 

We swung by the Horizon Court buffet for some fruit mid-afternoon. Yes, it's huge. Yes, there's plenty to choose from. Yes, they need some kind of diagram or map at both the front and rear entrances. It's a wonder that anyone can find everything they want to eat and a table to eat it at before their food gets cold. The much touted Pastry Shop is just a dessert bar with a fancy name. I saw no desserts I haven't seen on any Princess ship...but it's early days yet. 

The outdoor area with wicker seating and tables behind the buffet on the back of Deck 16 is perfect for dining with views of the ship's wake. It was packed today, but I'm not willing to judge it on that...everything is packed on embarkation day when the crowd all hits at one time. 

There are six hot tubs for the general passenger population plus one more for teens. They each hold six adults...that's 36 people out of 3600 who can use a hot tub at the same time. That was ample for today...we'll see what our first sea day brings. Similarly, I can't yet offer an opinion on the pool situation. Today there was plenty of room; I'll let you know in two days how they hold up to a Caribbean sea day. 

The adults-only Retreat Pool has been ruined by the $80 per day cabanas. While the ship is cruising, the privacy drapes around the cabanas become airborne. I don't see how this can please anyone- cabana users or the peripheral masses. 

The fountains in the main pool area leak water, seemingly constantly. The end result is that the pool decking becomes slippery and there was actually a 2" deep puddle of water along the outer perimeter of the Seaview Bar. And this was when the ship was docked; a fountain show when the ship is cruising must have Caution, Wet Surface signs everywhere. The fountains show tonight is at 10.30pm. It's so windy, the drapes around the Retreat Pool have become flying missiles, making it dangerous to walk by them. There is no way the water in those fountains is going to go straight up. No way. They should be issuing rain gear and Wellies to the passengers who dare to risk the winds out there to watch the fountain show. Not only is the fountain area a waste of space, it makes the rest of the main pool area a slippery mess. Dumb idea, IMO. 

The $20 per day Sanctuary is all that the Marketing videos promised it would be. Here's a nugget of knowledge:  on embarkation day, the Sanctuary is free of charge. This could be a real bonus for those people doing back to back cruises- a quiet escape from the normal hecticness of embarkation day. 

The library is a "why bother" thing, the smallest I've ever seen on a cruise ship, but I'm not certain that's so horrible. With the proliferation of e-readers, a lot of passengers come on board pretty self-contained. Maybe the library, small as it is, is enough to meet demand. 

It's sad that there's no full wrap-around Promenade Deck, but, having seen the small areas of external decking that's there, and the seating areas they contain, I think that I'm happier to focus on what's been added (cushioned teak loungers and wicker conversation areas) instead of what we've lost. In the end, it's just not a big deal for us. 

We looked into the Vista Lounge and Princess Live, but I can't offer an opinion on either yet. The Princess Theater is another area that's not as bad as I'd read. Yes, the seating is narrow, but I don't think it's any narrower than on the Emerald/Ruby/Crown (it's kind of like a middle coach class seat on Southwest. Yes, it's exactly like that). There are no trays that can be pulled out of the arm for drinks; I don't think that's a plus for either drink sales or passengers, but...well, it's not a huge deal either. We like the entrance from Deck 6, probably because it reminds us a bit of the Emerald Princess. We didn't go to the show in the Princess Theater tonight, but have heard that the lighting and sound quality is amazing. 

The Sea Walk, and enclosed walkway suspended over the edge of the ship 16 decks above the water and with an area of glass floor looking down to the ocean is nice. (I have a fear of closed in spaces but no fear at all of heights.) Since we have an inside cabin on the same deck, I'm looking forward to watching port arrivals and departures from here. It has a slightly funky smell on the inside, but that was admittedly when we were docked. Maybe, when the Royal Princess is underway, the ventilation is better. 

The Concerto Dining Room, the only one we've been in, is pretty with lots of tables for two. Our table for dinner is in the middle area, and we were walked to it through a service station, which didn't thrill me, but we left via a different route which was better. There just aren't as many definable areas for walking to/from tables as on other ships. The Winemakers Dinner area is in the Concerto Dining Room and was very elegant. We're not going to try to book that for this 5-night cruise, but it's something we want to try next time. 

The biggest drawback on the entire ship is the elevator situation. Why they shrunk the elevator size on a ship with 500 more people than the Emerald Princess is beyond me. We knew to expect long elevator waits midship, but what we're seeing still surprises us. I have no idea how mobility-impaired people can manage. People are dashing across the elevator lobby to claim one empty space on an elevator going the wrong direction just to get on; how does anyone with a cane or scooter manage. This is the single biggest issue on the ship; the fountains are a silly nuisance but the elevator situation, at least on embarkation day, was dire.

So, these are very preliminary perspectives, and I'll post if they change over the course of the next few days. What isn't likely to change is our opinion of our cabin, an inside cabin on Lido Deck 16 under the Sanctuary. We love it; we love the location, we love the 32" flat panel wall-mounted TV, we love that, in addition to the four drawers in the nightstands, we now have four shallow but wide drawers under the TV. This is a huge improvement over the Emerald Princess, where we have two shelves behind a door, which are too deep and too low to really be useful, and three very narrow shelves which aren't good for anything other than holding G's baseball caps. The cabin is actually about 5 square feet larger than our Emerald Princess inside cabin, but looks smaller due to the lack of mirrors (on the Emerald Princess, most of the back wall is mirrored).  The cubbies next to the safe are narrower and fewer than on the Emerald Princess, but, overall, we think the storage is superior to an Emerald Princess inside cabin. 

Of course, everything is in perfect condition (I can't even play "Find the inevitable hole in the sheet", because there aren't any). The mattress is perfect, firm but comfortable, the linens and towels nearly new, the carpet and counter tops perfect...well, it's only four months old. Still, it's really nice. 

We purposely wanted to avoid those inside cabins that run parallel to the corridors; they offer less privacy when the door is opened and the bed is also closer to any noise in the corridor. They may be very slightly larger, but we feel confident that we've made the right decision...for us.

We LOVE (yes, it's that good) the bathroom sink. Deep and rectangular, it's perfect for hand washing clothing (I know, because I already have). And speaking of hand washing clothing, we've had to adjust our usual clothesline location. There is only a plastic-topped print on one cabin wall, instead of both opposite walls. We've always stuck our clothesline suction cups on those prints, stretching it across the width of the cabin. On the Royal Princess, we've had to attach one end to the sole print, and stretch the line diagonally over to stick on the mirror over the vanity. When there are clothes on it, this means that one of us (me) can't see the TV. It's not a big deal: next year we'll bring a megamagnet for the opposite wall and hook the other end of the clothesline to that. 

The ledge in the shower for leg shaving is truly a highlight of the cabin. Unfortunately, the shower curtain then floats outside the shower pan and floods the bathroom with every shower. No problem- we just line the bathroom floor with pool towels, as we do on the Emerald Princess when the shower curtain is too short.

The bottom line is that we see this cabin as completely livable for a winter at sea. (We have the same cabin we've booked for next winter).  In the tally of hits and misses, our cabin is definitely a hit. 

In the overall grade card for the ship, I'd say there are several As, a few Bs and Cs, and two Fs (and you know what they are). I'll give you a first semester update in a couple of days. 

Stay tuned...

Cruise #1: Royal Princess Caribbean Inaugural

There are two nice beach ports on this cruise but let's face it...this one is all about the ship, not the itinerary. 

My mom's Bon Voyage

In case you hadn't noticed, my mom and I are pretty close.  Not geographically close- we live in different parts of the country- but we talk everyday by phone.  It's quite an abrupt change for us both when, because G and I cruise, we find ourselves talking just once or twice a week.  I sure feel it, and I think she does too. 

Last year she sent us a Bon Voyage card with a most wonderful surprise...a bit of poetry she'd written just for the occasion.  We stuck it on our cabin wall and enjoyed it all winter, and I'd meant to share it on my blog and just never did.  I'm remedying that right now:

 

This year she took it even further, and we recently received a card with this poem in it:

 

That's my mom.  I am so blessed.

 

<3

 

Waiting to board

We are sitting in the terminal at Pier 2, all checked in for our 5-night Inaugural Caribbean cruise on the Royal Princess. 

Yay!

We were on the 10am All Stars Shuttle from the La Quinta to the ship. Security at Port Everglades once again seemed tight, if the back up and long wait we encountered was any indication.  (Someone must have answered "yes" to the "do you have any weapons" question!). Once here, we had no wait to check in and were immediately directed to go upstairs. There is an Elite and Suite Lounge, but it filled before we arrived at 11am, and we're sitting just outside of it. No matter- there are no snacks or coffee or even water (which I was hoping for) in there. 

We received a notice at check in that, although boarding should begin at 11:30am, and we can drop off our carry on luggage in our cabins, they won't be ready until shortly after 12:30pm. Whether this is a one off, or the new standard practice, I'm not certain.

Our first plan is to have lunch in the dining room; afterwards, G is hoping to meet with the maître d' about our dinner arrangements. Then...EXPLORE!  We've seen so many photos, read so many reviews. Finally, a chance to see for ourselves. 

I'll post as time and Internet allow. :-)

So close we can nearly smell the salt air

It's almost 2 am, and once again this year we're safely tucked away at the La Quinta near the Fort Lauderdale airport. It's been a hectic and emotional 24 hours (I love cruising, but I hate leaving home), but it helped that we again resisted the urge to book an early flight that would have had us leaving the house before sunrise and instead flew out later in the day. 

Unfortunately, our flight was delayed and then delayed again as the weather turned increasingly yucky.  We knew we were pushing up against the 1am cutoff of La Quinta's free airport shuttle.  When the weather worsened and de-icing was required, we resigned ourselves to paying for a taxi to make the transfer.  In the end, we barely made it, but we did make it.   We've just arrived, exhausted but content in the knowledge that WE'RE HERE!!

Our Southwest flight itself was as pleasurable as flying can be stuck in a middle coach class seat:  free drink coupons (and a screw up yielded an extra Chardonnay), snacks and free Direct TV. I chose NFL Network hoping for updates on tonight's game (no luck) since ESPN wasn't an option (and saw, for the first time, that Robin Williams' Snickers commercial urging his team to win one for Mother Russia- LOL on an airplane gets you some attention!).  We could have watched the World Series but- yawn- baseball's not my game.  I followed it up with an episode of Law and Order I'd never seen (not surprisingly) and then news from NYC hoping to catch a score, and, finally, the Tonight Show.  The men on either side of me snored while their iPhone screens continued to play their TV shows of choice (it felt comfortingly familiar).  In the end, the triple hit of exhaustion, three glasses of Chardonnay and the opportunity to actually sit and watch TV worked their magic; I'm as relaxed tonight as I've been since, oh, last March 8th or so.

I'll let you in on a secret...we actually had flights booked to come down here on November 2nd and November 9th too.  We've been through this before, where something (me, pneumonia, hospitalization) came up at the eleventh hour, nearly forcing us to postpone our trip, and Southwest's very user-friendly rewards program lets us book and then cancel flights with impunity.  I tried cancelling them from the plane, but the WiFi was about as fast as what we've been prepared to expect on the Royal Princess (we've heard it's horrendous). So, as much as I hated to do it, I set up a last "to-do" for tomorrow morning, to cancel the flights before we board the ship (and the post-flight hotel nights we had booked too). 

We've been spending pre-cruise nights at the La Quinta near the Fort Lauderdale airport for 10 years now, still courtesy of the year G lived in an LQ in El Paso, TX in the military.  It's not fancy, but, for a late arrival (and 1:30am was pretty late), it's really perfect. I phoned the hotel when our flight was delayed, and they advised that we call as soon as we landed, pushing that 1am transfer shut down as we were. I did that, and then phoned again after we collected our luggage. We know exactly where to go to catch the shuttle, which is good, as we were on auto-pilot by this point. Thankfully, this year we weren't assigned a room at the very end of a thickly carpeted hallway...we only had to wrestle our luggage down five doors.  And wrestling was required; we've maximized our luggage allowance once again (our four checked bags were publically weighed in and stamped 49, 47, 44 and 44 pounds. Yay us!). 

We can't help but be conspicuous tomorrow morning- something tells me we'll be the only couple getting on the Royal Princess for a 5-night cruise with almost 200 pounds of suitcases, two roll aboards and a backpack. :-o  We've decided we can't really unpack on the Royal -we'd be finishing up about the time the ship returns to Port Everglades- and have tried to pack with that in mind, hoping to minimize our forays into the large bags. 

Right...

Too tired to type any longer...night night!

On our way (almost) (in 5 minutes)

I'm sitting in Martha's car waiting while G does a final walk through of the house. Her Camry is loaded down, but we knew from prior years that everything would fit. It did, however, require a little discussion as we figured out just how we've managed to get it all in in the past.  It's a trick!

I took the twins and their older sisters to a local yogurt shop last night as a last and final hurrah. Much easier to say goodbye over sugar!  I survived. :-(

This morning we had a final run to the safe deposit box, a final load of laundry and final emptying out of the refrigerator/freezer (ketchup was our only choice for breakfast. We passed.) and unplugging it (we're smarter now...it's plugged in on the side so there's no need to pull it out the final morning).

I don't think we've forgotten anything, but even if we have, there'd be no room for it anyway. Lightly packed, we are not. It was a grey, gloomy and cold day, which had me shoving a fleece pullover, wool headband and gloves into my suitcase.  (You know, 'cause when you're cold, the simple act of putting warm gear into a suitcase warms you up. ;-))  Besides, watching football on MUTS (the big outdoor screen on Princess ships) might be chilly at night. I'm now prepared. 

A quick look back (lump in throat), but once again I fixed my sights on boarding the Royal Princess 24 hours from now. 

We're on our way!

Counting down

The first few years we spent winters at sea, we had to not only plan for the cruising part, but we had to think about the home part too. People who have a second home in Arizona or Florida have this down; we were complete newbies. Every year we get better at it, and by now, everything we have to do is on lists we've been developing for years and continue to amend.  There's actually huge peace of mind in being so anal; each week since we arrived home in March I'd think of something that needed to be packed or done before we leave again. I'd immediately add it to the appropriate list (we use the Awesome Note app on our iPhones) and was then able to put it out of my mind until closer to the cruise. I think it makes for a less stressful month before we leave home, which is a good thing, because it's still been pretty crazy around here.

But we're on the home stretch now, and enjoy looking back a bit at what we've accomplished. Here's the VERY abbreviated version:

1.) Medical and dental appointments complete/ prescriptions refilled? Check, check and check. The final one was Friday morning. We are cleared to travel and influenza-repellant. 

2.) House/yard winterized?  Check.

3.) Plants fostered out?  Check. (Thank you Martha...the jungle keeps growing every year!)

4.) Christmas cards in envelopes and stamped?  Check.  (October 11th this year!)

5.) Christmas shopping done and presents wrapped? Almost (I still need to wrap a couple).

6.) House cleaned?  Next question.

7.) Gutters cleaned/leaves gathered?  Check, check. Well, at least as of last week's Garbage Day Eve (a big day at our house any week, but especially just before we leave). We were out until after dark picking up every errant leaf and had a pile of trash bags out front the next morning...covered by newly fallen ones.  I've decided to ignore any leaves that drop from now on, but G has taken this on as a final mission and will be blowing leaves out of the car window as we leave for the airport Monday. 

8.) Laptop backed up/ external hard drive in safe deposit box /financial passwords changed?  Check, check and check (a nice rainy day project, not as fun as the bead stringing but still relaxing).

9.) Clothes dry cleaned and ready to pack?   Check, but not without some last tasks that, despite all my planning, caught me off guard.  When cleaning eight months worth of receipts out of my purse, I discovered two Cub Scout Bear patches I'd put there in March for safe keeping. Thursday found me setting up the sewing machine and "doing my duty" so to speak, sewing them on uniforms, and then, as long as the machine was ready to go, we found several other cruise items that could stand a repair (two buttons, a ripped pocket and a ripped seam). 

10.) Refrigerator/pantry emptied?  Okay, sidebar here...I'm still perplexed how the four final items left in our freezer again include three packs of - you guessed it - Hebrew National 97% fat free hot dogs. Who buys these things and then doesn't eat them (I'm not pointing fingers, but only two people live in this house, and it's not me)?  But there's still a pound of broccoli in there, too, and OJ in the fridge. We're not quite as vitamin deprived as we were leading up to last year's cruise, but are burned out a bit on the spaghetti sauce I made and froze in August using tomatoes from the garden. (Let's just say we're not exactly looking forward to Italian night on the ship.)  So, the kitchen's not bare yet, but it will be by the time we leave. 

The twins were on fall break last week, and were a huge help in making progress on #10 while simultaneously keeping me from going all OCD on #6. Together we played lots of games of Uno Attack, watched the NFL network on TV, and had a final dinner date at Sweet Tomatoes. They may be another year older, tough football players themselves, but some things never change (and thank God for that)! 

McGee practicing his best intimidating football face.

McGuy educating me on the effectiveness of Rex Ryan's Saints defense. When did he get so smart?

And those glasses...harious!

I even got parting gifts from them (they've known my favorite color since they knew what colors are!) and these now rank right up there as some of my favorite jewelry pieces ever (and if you have kids in your life, you're probably familiar with the Rainbow Loom craze).

So, we've just about made it through the countdown checklists. At this point, we stop worrying about being ready to leave and start worrying about being able to. After all our hours spent on ladders, we're now afraid we'll trip over a crack in a sidewalk.  Don't laugh...this isn't a done deal until our fannies hit a plane seat. 

Keep your fingers crossed...

The Royal Princess is here!

  

The Royal Princess docked at Pier 2 in Port Everglades

We spent two hours overnight glued to the computer watching as the Royal Princess arrived in the US for the very first time, at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, and it was well worth the inevitable weariness we're going to feel later today as we wrap things up at home. 

I set the alarm for 45 minutes before the Royal Princess's scheduled arrival time of 3:30am EDT (ouch!) and started watching the marine traffic map on my phone while in bed.  I had hoped to be able to stay there, but quickly grew frustrated at trying to zoom in and out on the small screen, and finally got up to watch it on my laptop and 32" monitor. Before I knew it, G was at my side. What a soul mate!

It was interesting to watch, on the marine traffic map, the pilot boat leave Port Everglades to meet up with the Royal Princess to transfer the pilot on board. We've come into Port Everglades by cruise ship probably 40 times, and this happens every time, but seeing it from this perspective was new to us, and we were fascinated.



The pilot boat (white) leaves the Port Everglades entrance channel to
 meet up with the Royal Princess (blue).... 

...and transfer the pilot to the cruise ship

At about that time, the Royal Princess could start to be seen in the distance on the Port Everglades webcam and the Fort Lauderdale Beach webcam.



The Royal Princess is that white dot in the distant left.

We eventually had seven screens open- each of the three Port Everglades webcams, the beach webcam, the marine traffic site, the ship's own webcam (which they kept aimed in its usual nighttime way, backwards to the pool areas instead of to the front of the ship- darn) and finally Cruise Critic, where a few of us real addicts "conversed" while the Royal entered the Port Everglades inlet, made a turn, and slowly, slowly (and seemingly forever) backed into its home berth at Pier 2. What a beautiful sight it was!



As seen from the Fort Lauderdale Beach Cam



Here is the first view of the Royal Princess as she enters the Port Everglades entrance channel.
This webcam is in one of the condos on the inlet (the one that occasionally catches us
waving as we sail away), and the view is blocked in part by a palm tree. ;-)

Our first close-up view!

A wider view of the Royal Princess entering Port Everglades.

Swinging the aft around to dock at Pier 2.



A beautiful sight!



While we didn't see the Royal Princess arrive in the US in person, we were able to watch it from the comfort of home (me wearing my bunny slippers!), and return to our own bed afterwards.

Not that we slept, mind you. Excitement will do that to a person!

Life is fun!