Sorry for the delay in posting. This was ready to go last night but I had Internet issues on my iPad related to having just gotten off another ship. After a consult with the very busy Internet manager on board this morning, I am now good to go. :-)
Whew! It was a crazy busy day, but such a wonderful day, too, meeting up with friends and seeing the beautiful Grand Princess for the first time since 2005 and embarking on yet another cruise. I've reached two conclusions today: 1.) Regardless of how recently I've disembarked from a cruise (even yesterday!), there is nothing like the excitement of walking up the gangway on the first day of a cruise; and 2.) Regardless of the distance I travel to a cruise- three blocks or three continents- I'll end up really tired by the end of an embarkation day.
We caught a 10:30am shuttle from the Crowne Plaza to Pier 93, a 5-minute ride. What a wonderful hotel that was, and I highly recommend it for a pre- or post-cruise stay. We were able to have a seat in the cruise terminal, and that's where I first met up with our friends Grant, Carol, Phil and Jan (G had seen them earlier at the hotel). We went through Elite check in (speedy) and had a seat in the Elite waiting area with our friends. There we ran into Carolyn and Ken from the Emerald Princess last year. And Captains Circle host Catherine Fullarton, most recently from the Pacific Princess and now the Future Cruise Consultant on the Grand Princess spotted us. She was supposed to have gone home to Australia today but has extended her contract. It was wonderful to see her again so soon.
And all this before we even boarded the ship. :-)
We were in our cabin shortly after 11:30am; it doesn't get any better than that. By noon we were in the DaVinci Dining Room for lunch. Aaaaahhhh...all's well in our world again, after that Subway interruption last night. We needed to meet with Maitre d' Rui Pereira about our dinner table. We had requested a table for 2 at 5:30pm, but had been assigned a table for 8 at 5:30pm. Really, by this point in our winter, there are some nights I barely want to talk to G over dinner. ;-) Rui accommodated us (yay!) and as we walked away from him, Suzan texted me. She and Greg had arrived on the ship after driving over from Arizona this morning. More yay!
We met them in the International Cafe and it was like we picked up just where we left off in December 2013 on the Emerald Princess. We talked and talked...and talked, until it was time for muster drill. Muster drill already? Where was the day going? We mustered and practiced putting on our life vest for the third time this winter (just one more time!), and, as soon as the drill was over, I went out on the Promenade Deck to phone Mom and a couple of friends. I simply hadn't had time today to do that yet!
By the time I was done, the crowding to get an elevator was over and I returned to the cabin to see G was out and about somewhere. We eventually met up on the Terrace Deck with Suzan and Greg and watched a beautiful sailaway from Los Angeles, the prettiest (sunniest) I've ever seen there. At 5pm we went to the Elite Lounge in the One 5 Lounge, which replaced Skywalkers when the Grand Princess was renovated a few years ago. It overlooks the aft terrace area and the back of the ship and is a beautiful venue. In fact, the back of the ship - the entire ship, really- looks prettier than I thought it would after being de-nuded of Skywalkers. I've overheard some comments about it needing to be refurbished again, but, honestly, I'm not seeing it. We are quite impressed!!
Some scenes from sailaway...
The freight area at San Pedro port
Looking down the entrance channel towards the ocean.
The fuel barge finally finished fueling the ship about 4:30pm, delaying our departure a little.
We were treated to a beautiful sailaway sunset.
After dinner we walked around the ship's public areas. As I've said, we were on the Grand Princess exactly ten years ago this month, but it had a major refurbishing in 2010 (I think). While the ship still has that definite Princess look about it, it has a few common venues but in different locations than on the Emerald Princess. The best feature is that it has a covered pool area, perfect for this cruise that can be chilly the sea day following and preceding Los Angeles. The Princess Theater looks small to us, our cabin's bathroom looks large, storage in our cabin seems tight (especially the closet), but, overall, this is a beautiful ship. Our cabin is in our same favorite location on the very back of the ship up high. It's just a few steps out the door at the end of the hallway one cabin away to the Terrace Deck and the hot tubs and pools on the back of the ship. It's all very comfortable and strangely familiar, but it also seems so large after the Pacific Princess (it isn't really...it's just 2500 passengers, but the Pacific Princess had 680). G said it's a good thing we didn't go right on the Oasis or the Allure OTS (the world's largest cruise ships, operated by Royal Caribbean) directly following the Pacific Princess. We would have suffered emotional whiplash!
Finally, it was time to start unpacking. I went first and G is putting his things away now as I type this. It's the same as it often is...we start out thinking we'll never find space for everything and we end up with space to spare (except for in that closet. It's pretty tight.). G may go back out tonight but my evening is done. My cold is better but definitely not gone, and nothing is as appealing as fuzzy water, popcorn (yay!!!!) and bed.
Popcorn! I've missed nightly popcorn! And football on MUTS. Wucy, we're home!!
Here is our itinerary for this 9-night cruise. I usually do screen captures for our itineraries before I leave home, and I did for French Polynesia (but never had good enough wifi to upload superfluous photos) but don't have one for this itinerary because...well, I didn't think about it until just. this. moment.
Jan 24: Los Angeles depart 4pm
Jan 25: At Sea
Jan 26: Cabo San Lucas 12:00pm - 7:00pm
Jan 27: La Paz 8am - 5:30pm
Jan 28: Loreto 7am - 5:30pm
Jan 29: At Sea
Jan 30: Pueto Vallarta 8am - 4:30pm
Jan 31: At Sea
Feb 1: At Sea
Feb 2: Los Angeles 7am and HOME!!!!