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.