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!