No, really, everyone is being very friendly and upbeat. The Patter is chock full of activities to keep passengers occupied and happy. The same sorts of events that are offered on longer cruises are happening here, just at a faster pace. And they are all extremely well attended. I tried to get into Wilson Jean-Baptiste's steel drum class this morning, arriving five minutes after sign ups started, and ten minutes before the class began, and every drum was already taken. Even at drummer Antonio's Festivals of the World Caribbean drumming circle, nearly every instrument was in use (but I snagged the clappers today!). Just as in previous cruises, the class grew by at least 50% from start to finish, including my own husband, who came looking for me and ending up getting involved, and, when it was over, everyone agreed that it was great fun.
I chose not to purchase a soda sticker for this four day cruise. Our minibar items are arriving too fast and furiously, and G has been trying to keep up on his own and failing miserably. I am lending a hand this time around, drinking gin and tonics and Perriers (they're just fancy fuzzy water!). In the end, it's probably for the best. Every time I've walked past a bar, there was a crowd of people around it three rows deep. It was confided to me that 600 of the all inclusive drink packages were sold ($50 per person per day), more than ever in the past on this ship. It seems like everyone is walking around with a drink in hand, all the time.
We skipped breakfast altogether and met in the Coral Dining Room for lunch. I had the best lunch dessert I've ever had, a peach crisp with marzipan. Wow, that was yummy. It's on the lunch menu with the chicken Caesar salad, so look for it if you'll be taking a Princess cruise. After Antonio's drumming circle, I returned to Club Fusion for the Passenger Feud game show. Probably due to the expected popularity of it, the BOGO Happy Hour, usually held in the Wheelhouse Bar from 3 to 4pm daily, was also held in Club Fusion at the same time, and that made for a fun and rowdy Passenger Feud.
G and I met up in the cabin where I had some closet time to decompress. He watched a movie on TV (not sure which one, but it was LOUD! It was leaking through my earbuds while I was trying to watch the third episode of Season 5 Downtown Abbey on my iPad). Tonight's suggested dress was "dress to impress", which was a new one for us. Dress to impress? We had no idea what to expect. I wore my silk kimono and G wore his best tropical shirt and we fit right in. We saw everything tonight, including one man in a tuxedo. Most men wore either long sleeved shirts or sport coats; women's wear ran the gamut from capris to dresses.
We stopped by Vines, the wine bar on board, before dinner in lieu of going to the Elite Lounge in Skywalkers. People watching is just so much fun on this cruise, and it's much better done in Vines, on Deck 5 in the Piazza, than in Skywalkers. We hit pay dirt when a wedding party walked through the Piazza right after the ceremony took place. Weddings are a spectator sport for me; I loved seeing that!
Our dinner menu was the 50th anniversary menu we first had on the Grand Princess, with that same heart-shaped dessert. It's the fifth time we've enjoyed it, and we are still enjoying it, very much. Our beef tenderloins were fork-tender. There is no Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall on this cruise, but there was a 50th anniversary balloon drop in the Piazza at 7:15pm. We've seen several of those by now, so instead went to the Princess Theater to get good seats for production show Pianoman. Love that show!!
We are taking a brief break and heading back out tonight to the Wheelhouse Bar to listen to the Massina Duo. The lead female singer from party band Fresh Power has laryngitis, and the singer from Massina Duo filled in with 20-minutes notice tonight when the band played for the balloon drop. There was a private party (the reception for the wedding that took place today) in the Wheelhouse that kept it closed until 10pm, and it was fortuitous that Massina wasn't needed in the Wheelhouse until then.
No new news on the norovirus. We're still under Code Red, and probably will be all this cruise, but don't know if the cases of it are increasing or decreasing. We're steering clear of the buffet except in cases of extreme hunger (so...not often), washing our hands 250 times daily and not eating anything with our fingers and staying happy and healthy.