None of that nonsense last night. I didn't stir even a little until 8:58am MST (we had moved our clocks ahead an hour last night). G raced down to get breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room before it closed at 9:30am but I couldn't be rushed. My first shower on a ship always takes a little longer because I have to get things set up in the bathroom. When I was done, I went down to the International Cafe (which will hereafter be called the IC), the coffee shop/light eatery location on Deck 5 in the Piazza to have a coffee. I tried from there to get my iPad on wifi but was again unsuccessful. I suspected the issue was having just gotten off the Pacific Princess. When I had logged on yesterday to purchase my Internet minutes (250, free as Elite or Platinum in Captains Circle), and then logged off, my logout screen said Grand Princess but had my cabin number and 14 remaining minutes from the Pacific Princess. Very odd. I suspected that might come back to haunt me and, sure enough it did. When I spoke with the Internet manager this morning, I told her we had just disembarked the Pacific Princess and she knew immediately what the issue was and fixed it. I was finally able to get that blog post published!
Meanwhile, I had run into Suzan and Greg having coffee in the Piazza, then Grant, Carol, Phil and Jan and G showed up, too. It's a good place to meet up with people, and, in fact, was how we met our Canadian friends in the first place, as we'd always be sitting in the IC on the Emerald Princess in the morning having coffee on our cruise together in 2009. Carol brought us each a box of handmade chocolates from her store, Carol's Quality Sweets in Edmonton. Now, between you and me, I was counting on her generosity, because these are the best chocolates I've ever had. We've shared them already, but just a little, offering one piece each to our cabin steward, Mychelle and her husband, Sherwin, also a cabin steward on board. I am trying to limit myself to one piece a day. Maybe two on a sea day. Three on a sea day where I have to dress formally. Or four on each formal day (coincidentally, today is one) and none on port days. That works.
Does anyone think these chocolates will last the entire cruise?
G and I went to lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room at noon. I was hungry, having skipped breakfast, and G was too, despite having finished breakfast just 2 hours earlier. The food we've enjoyed on the Grand Princess so far is, of course, mostly the same food we had on the Pacific Princess and the same food we had on the Emerald Princess last year. But I have to give kudos to the way it tastes on this ship. Today I had the Thai hot and sour soup and then asked for a SMALL portion of Chicken Korma, a lunch entree that cruise friend Steve turned me on to. Here's the thing about Chicken Korma: they bring out a good sized plate of it, really too large for lunch, and then they add 8-10 condiments on top, and by the time it's all loaded up, it's enough for six people. I asked waiter Joaquin from the Philippines for a small serving and that's exactly what I received. By the time it was dressed up with almonds and onions and cilantro and all the other toppings. It was a perfectly-sized lunch entree. I'll have to remember that for the future.
G wanted to go out on the Promenade Deck to walk off lunch afterward, and, while the sunny side of the ship wasn't too bad, when we came around the bow of the ship into the shade and got hit by the brisk wind, it suddenly turned less pleasant. I was just starting to say, "And you want to be my latex salesman" (from Seinfeld), which, in our house is a slightly more pleasant way of telling the other person "You are an idiot and this is the stupidest idea you've ever had", but before the word "salesman" was even out of my mouth we saw whales. WHALES! Maybe as many as six, spouting and breaching and making huge splashes and generally having a grand old time between our ship and the nearby Isla Cedros, off the Baja California coast. This was one of the most impressive whale viewings we've had from a cruise ship, because they were so close and active. We watched as long as we could, freezing, of course, but it was a worthwhile sacrifice. Once we stepped back inside the ship, G turned to me and asked "Now what were you saying about my latex salesmanship skills?"
Never mind. :^|
We rested a bit mid afternoon, just because I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed by all the passengers on board, after enjoying our own little yacht experience for three months on the Pacific Princess. But by 4pm, it was time to start getting cleaned up and dressed for tonight's formal night. I think our 5:30pm dinner seems early, but we also wanted to eat in one of the midship dining rooms and didn't want to do Anytime Dining, so...well, there you are. It's early but, with our table for 2, we can skip dinner in the dining room and go to the buffet on occasion and not disrupt anyone else. By 5pm we were dressed to the nines (or at least the sevens...my formal dress is feeling a little tired by now) and at the Elite Lounge in the One 5 (love that lounge!). We had moved on by 5:30pm to dinner expecting a usual formal night dinner menu, but no, no, no!
Dinner tonight featured a special Princess 50th anniversary menu that was totally new to us. We ordered the salad (G wondered aloud what a "panache" was) and beef tenderloins and then I had the chocolate mousse- raspberry-creme brûlée dessert designed by chocolatier Norman Love in honor of the anniversary year and, I must say, Princess got their money's worth with that one. Sooooo yummy!! And at the end of the meal we were presented with a souvenir copy of the menu. Fun!
Dinner was followed by the Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall. Sitting there, drinking our numerous glasses of cheap champage and listening to the mariachi band that has turned out to be enormous fun playing a real variety or music styles (Hava Nagela had everyone getting jiggy) when who do we see walk by but the reknowned Godwin from India, formerly a headwaiter but now Assistant Maitre de. Go Godwin! He saw us- we saw him and it was fun getting caught up.
Production show Do You Wanna Dance was shown three times tonight. We went to the 8:30pm performance. It was especially interesting to see this show since we had just seen it shown on the Pacific Princess. Of course, while there were six dancers and two vocalists on the Pacific Princess, there were seven female and four male dancers and four vocalists on the Grand Princess, with its much larger stage. It's a favorite show of ours, and we've enjoyed it on both ships.
We are in bed watching a replay on TV of a port lecture that had been presented earlier today in the Princess Theater. A real port lecture on the Mexican ports we'll be visiting, not a shopping lecture! Go Princess! I am feeling much better tonight, but G is sneezing. Oh no...