Since I had done laundry mid-cruise last cruise, and not since, I was running out of clean T-shirts. As I've said, we get several wearings of things we wear solely on the ship, thanks to Fabreeze, before washing them. I had a T-shirt I'd just purchased on the Nieuw Amsterdam in November that needed to be washed. It was a high quality shirt, dressier than a normal T, and I really wanted to wear it for our day at sea today. So I sent it to the ship's laundry two days ago. I knew I was courting trouble, but it was such a heavyweight knit I thought it might be safe.
Cue ominous Jaws music here, all the more fitting because the shirt appears to have been the victim of a shark attack. When I was putting it on this morning, I noticed what had happened to the back of the shirt. (G thinks he sees a map of the Eastern Caribbean in the 9" arch of holes).
One washing of a heavy, nearly new T-shirt. Sigh. This one I reported to the Passenger Services Desk. And I'm reporting it to you. On Cruise Critic, every time there's a thread about laundry damage, ten people say they've never had an issue to every one of us who say we have. Our personal luck may be among the worst, but then it's put to the test a bit more than usual. But these issues are not our imagination. With the exception of G's formal shirt, we're now officially done sending anything to the ship's laundry, and will send dry cleaning as little as possible, no matter how desperate we become. This Elite perk...is not.
So, I'm done ranting now, but discovering that even before breakfast was a heck of a way to start the day. In fact, I skipped breakfast altogether in favor of a vanilla blended latte from the International Cafe. G was set on going to Pub Lunch in the Wheelhouse Bar as soon as it opened at 11:30pm, so I would be eating early anyway. Pub Lunch was, as it's been every time we've gone this winter, sooooo good. I paired my fish and chips with a Strongbow cider for a really British flair, and we enjoyed dining across from a couple who are the first people we've met who have purchased the new, unlimited drink package. We saw that it is designated by a sticker on their ship cards, similar to our soda stickers. But we were surprised to learn that they still had to sign for every drink, just so Princess could track consumption. That seemed a bit strange...couldn't consumption be tracked without having to sign for everything? I would have thought that one big advantage of getting the unlimited drinks packages would be NOT having to sign for everything. Their feelings about it were that the husband loved it, and was getting the value out of it. The wife, who got the package only because she had to, is clearly not.
During our lunch, Captain Stenzel made the noon update from the navigational bridge. He always shares a bit of nautical history with us when he's done with location, direction and current and forecasted weather conditions. Today's lesson was about the origin of the phrase "three sheets to the wind". Captain Stenzel explained that a sheet is not a sail, as one might expect, but the ropes or chains that secure the four corners of sails. One sheet "to the wind" (meaning one rope loose and blowing in the wind) meant that one corner of the sail was blowing freely, and the sailing vessel (and, in the case of drunkeness, the sailor) was tipsy. Two sheets to the wind meant two corners of the sail were blowing freely, and indicated a more severe drunken state. Three sheets to the wind meant the sail was blowing wildly and the sailing vessel was bobbing out of control, as a drunken sailor who was three sheets to the wind would be staggering.
I love his updates!
The highlight of the afternoon was the Grapevine wine tasting, and I squeezed in a quick walk on the Promenade Deck (it was too HOT and sunny on Deck 19).
Dinner with Darko featured a surprise: Komang is back! He was welcomed back by all his guests like he was a much loved member of the family, which, he kind of is. It was the Chefs Menu tonight, and Darko has gotten me away from the twice baked goat cheese soufflé I love so much and onto the wild mushroom soup as a starter. It is even better.
Sunset through our dining room window:
We attended the first performance of the production show What a Swell Party with the new cast, then caught Team Rootberry doing a busker bit in the Piazza immediately afterwards. I knew last night that Rootberry had gotten on board in St. Thomas; first we saw Bill Berry running on the Promenade Deck about dinner time, then, while I was getting my late night fuzzy water, Jon Root walked by and greeted me with a hug. It's not just the crew we've gotten to know; some of the performers have noticed that we seem to never to home. ;-)
Early to bed tonight in preparation for a big day on Princess Cays, so I'll end this now, except to say that the US Public Health department came on board yesterday in St. Thomas for their 6 month inspection. The Emerald Princess did excellently, and we're seeing lots of smiles around today.
Between you and I, all US Public Health needed to do was ask us. We could've told them Emerald Princess is all good, all the time. This ship has always been a special one.