Yes, let's talk first about the bed. The new mattresses. You may recall (if you've been cruising with us for years), that a rotten Princess mattress in one of our early winters at sea really wrecked my back for months afterward, and it took plenty of money and time and treatments to get me where I am now, which is pretty darn comfortable...unless I get a too soft bed. The Embassy Suites mattress was new and plush and after one night on it, my back was hurting yesterday. That's why I was so concerned when I sat on my Emerald Princess bed and it seemed much the same. Well, whatever the difference is, there is one. Speaking as someone who needs a really firm, supportive mattress, though the new Princess mattress seems soft and cushy, somehow it manages to provide great support too. It's a wonder. I awoke with no new aches and pains, and the ones I had yesterday are gone too. This is big!!!!
It's hard to think of cruising for months each year on brand new mattresses that don't personally work. Now, in addition to not needing to worry about whether the previous occupants smoked in our cabin ('cause they can't), I no longer have to be concerned about the state of our mattresses. I am thrilled! (Now, if I could just make sure the previous occupants weren't cat owners with dander on their clothes. No hate mail, please...I'm just highly allergic.)
It was 9:15am, just 15 minutes before the DaVinci Dining Room closed for breakfast, before we were sitting down and being served oatmeal topped with strawberries (in the interest of not holding up the galley crew). Sure, we could have easily had oatmeal in the Horizon Court Buffet, but, as you know, we are mostly dining room people. Other passengers, such as Suzan and Greg, rarely eat in a dining room, prefering the flexibility of the Horizon Court Buffet, and I have to admit to being envious of them at times like yesterday's sail away when we were rushing off to change for dinner at 5:30pm, and they continued to enjoy sailaway and a beautiful sunset over Miami, but, in the end, we do what works best for us.
Sitting there at breakfast, it was wonderful to see headwaiter Francesco, who was with us on the Emerald Princess for two winters, and waiter Secksan from Thailand. And throughout the day, we continued to see familiar faces, and the first question from every one of them was 'How long are you staying?." Really, are we that predictable? I guess so.
Following breakfast, G went off to do his thing while I sat in the International Cafe (give me a minute to set up that keyboard shortcut. I can't believe I didn't already have that one) and had a cappuccino. We have so many partial coffee cards that I am on a mission to use them up while we are on the Emerald Princess. At 10:15am, I went to the Conference Room for a quilling session with cruise staffer Lucy from Brazil. I was in my element there, but the finished result doesn't exactly reflect that. I had Googled 'quilling' while I was home and saw some amazing examples of quilling art work, and couldn't imagine how they were done so perfectly. Well, a fellow quiller filled me in today...apparently there are forms that constrain each paper spiral to a certain size, so that they are consistent. That's the piece of this I've been missing, because mine are all different sizes and caked with glue and not very good at all. However, Mom was so proud of the Christmas tree card I made on the Pacific Princess that she showed it off to her fellow residents at the senior living center.
Really, are there any bigger cheerleaders than moms??
So today I made a heart for Valentine's Day. Luckily, Valentine's Day is weeks away, so I will have the opportunity to improve on it. Actually, there is no where to go but up. :-|
Following the crafting session, after I picked all the glue off my fingers, I made my way up to Skywalkers. Now, the conference room is on Deck 6 forward and Skywalkers is on Deck 18 aft, and I was instantly reminded that we're not on the Pacific Princess anymore Toto! Wow, that's a hike! In Skywalkers, I met up with G at the tail end of the Cruise Critic meet and greet. I haven't been active on any of the roll call threads for these cruises ('cause I was on the Pacific Princess dealing with South Pacific internet), and wasn't certain I should attend today's meet and greet. But it was fun to meet a couple of people who have emailed me through my blog (including Jackie, who will be our next door neighbor next cruise, so excited was she about our 'old' cabin on the Riviera Deck).
Up in Skywalkers was the first time I looked outside at today's weather, and it was not great. Grey and rainy, and G said that I had just missed Captain Forteeze who had talked at the meet and greet about the fact that he was trying to outrun this storm (the same one that had made our flight into Fort Lauderdale two days ago so turbulent) and, hopefully, tomorrow's weather will be better. Rainy sea days don't bother me in the least, but I do feel sorry for those people who are on for just one cruise and want to go home with a tan.
Oh, and on that topic, I think I mentioned that I had scheduled a dermatologist appointment for just a couple of days after I returned home in December, to motivate me to stay covered up in the sun. In the end, my two days (only two days!!!) when I didn't wear my rash guard were obvious to him. Seriously? I am as pale as a ghost! So I have doubled my sun protection efforts on this round of cruises, and have added a daily antioxidant called Heliocare at his recommendation. He said it's for people who absolutely can't stay out of the sun, like golfers and tennis players. (Note he didn't say construction workers or trashmen. You can tell his is an upscale practice!) I don't know where cruisers fall in all that but I am well supplied with sunscreens and coverups AND Heliocare and we'll see how pale I can return from this trip. So, rainy sea days are fine, but I'd still appreciate sun on the islands!
Following the Cruise Critic meet and greet, we went down just two decks to the Adagio Lounge for the Veterans get together. I rarely accompany G to these, but since we were already together, it made sense to do so today. Cruise staffer Brandon from Alabama was hosting it, and he did an impressive job of getting introductions started and then leading us all in a toast. Really well done, and it's nice that Princess does this on nearly every cruise. Today's turnout of around 25 included two WWII veterans, too, and that's becoming less and less common. :-(
Since we were right next door to it, we took a few minutes to check out the new specialty restaurant called S h a r e, located in what used to be Sabatinis. It certainly looks contemporary in there, like one of the McMansion model homes in our area. G, who couldn't care less about the heavily seafood oriented menu, was instantly taken with all the dark wood cubbies located as dividers throughout the restaurant. He said (as he always says) he wants those in our basement when we finish it someday (which is probably never). This is something I've heard for 27 years. He wants our basement to look like a ski chalet, a cruise ship cabin, a bungalow on the beach on Rarotonga, and now S h a r e on a Princess ship. Except that he wants to fill the cubbies not with stylish decorator items but key rings, stacks of mail, items to be returned to stores, things needing to be repaired, etc. I know this man...any lateral surface gets quickly covered. It's a good thing I am manically neat and tidy!
We happened to see waiter Geeooorrrgie (lots of extra letters) from Macedonia in S h a r e, drumming up business for the restaurant. Georgie of the Extra Letters is from Macedonia and had been Darko's roommate two seasons ago when we were on the Emerald Princess. We asked Extra-Letters Georgie if he knew whether Darko would be returning to the Emerald Princess and ELGeorgie said he was working on it. We heard from Darko on Christmas Day, and he seemed to think he'd be seeing us again on the Emerald Princess. We sure hope so!!
By that time, it had been over two hours since we had eaten breakfast, so, of course, lunch was in order. We returned to our cabin just long enough to brush our teeth from breakfast and participate in the morning pill taking exercise but ended up standing in the hallway talking with next door cabinmate Anita for a long while. I had not mentioned in yesterday's post that we had had a knock at the door shortly after we boarded yesterday and opened it to see Anita standing there. We have cruised with Anita in January for so many years that we've lost count, and she is always in the end cabin on our deck, and this year we are right next to her. We didn't know she'd be on board this cruise, and had missed her last year as we had stayed on the Pacific Princess until late January, so it was great to get caught up. Our cabin steward Ambrish from India is highly amused that so many of us at the back of Riviera Deck already know each other. Hey, we know what we like, and we like the Riviera Deck on the Emerald Princess!
Lunch with waiter Dan from Romania and Guillermo from Mexico was wonderful. I had chicken korma and nothing else (thank you, Steve, for introducing me to that wonderful entree!), and I paired it with my open bottle of Gewurtztraminer from last night's dinner and it was incredible. Poor headwaiter Pietro had to get a key and then go down one deck to the Michelangelo Dining Room wine locker to retrieve my bottle and he came back carrying it high in the air like a prize and wiping his brow. He said finding it had been like a treasure hunt but then assured me he was just kidding. Still, I know that is a PITA to them to be chasing half full wine bottles around the ship, but G is convinced that when I have wine with lunch, I am more complacent about dressing up for formal night, and he's probably right about that.
G went off to watch the slot pull conducted by the Cruise Critic roll call and I took a few minutes to start this post (gotta love being able to do that on sea days!) before I went to the gym to use a treadmill and do some weights. I am motivated to do that on this cruise not only by my perpetual New Year's resolution but also by Suzan and Greg, who are both athletes (really!) and spend time there every day. If they don't get me there, there is no hope for me. Unfortunately, I must have missed them by minutes, but 3pm on a sea day is a great time to go up there. There were plenty of empty machines.
On my way across the Lido Deck, I was stopped by a couple enjoying burgers from the Trident Grill. They said they had cruised with me before and we realized it was just last October on the Pacific Princess. "But wasn't your hair red then?", Juan asked. Yeah, yeah, it probably was. Welcome to my world.
G was napping when I returned to the cabin, so I got cleaned up first for our 92nd formal night of the winter. Again, we're having no issues with anything in this cabin, especially hot water for showers. We weren't ready for dinner in time to go to the PES Lounge again tonight, but when we walked into dinner at 5:35pm, we were surprised to see another couple at our table. Our first thought was that we had entered the wrong dining room (DaVinci Dining Room on Deck 6 instead of Michelangelo Dining Room on Deck 5), but that wasn't the case. We returned to the dining room entrance to speak with headwaiter Carlos and he said that there shouldn't be anyone there but quickly recovered and put us at a table for six just next to our table for two, but promised we would be seated alone. I don't know who was happier about that: us, with this larger table and lots more privacy, or waiter Victor, who suddenly had four fewer passengers to serve. By the end of the meal, headwaiter Carlos stopped by to check on us and offered us that table location every night changed out to a four top but set up for two. Wow! That is quite an offer. We'll see how it works out tomorrow, but that would be all our dining dreams come true. (Wait until poor Carlos finds out we're here for awhile!)
But, back to the menu for tonight's formal night...Victor said that the 50th anniversary menu is no longer being used on the Emerald, which should thrill some people, but I will miss that delicious salad. Instead, we both ordered French onion soup (which should also thrill some people, but remember that this is a 10-night cruise and it might not be offered on a shorter cruise), and beef tenderloins. G had bananas foster and mango sorbet for dessert; I had a cappuccino and a couple of gourmandises (fancy cookies). Everything was delicious. I also ordered a bottle of Merlot that was more expensive than my $29 package allowed but just had to pay the difference. I didn't know I could do that, and it's very nice.
Following dinner we went into the Piazza for the Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall (that is a very much appreciated keyboard shortcut!!). Captain Forteeze, after he started the waterfall with the maitre d', actually walked around the Piazza and shook hands and talked to people. That's not something we'd ever seen before, and it was very welcoming and appreciated by everyone.
We scooted out before the introduction of the senior officers to get seats in the Princess Theater for production show I Got the Music. This is a favorite of ours because it's accompanied by the Emerald Princess orchestra. We waited over 30 minutes for the performance to begin, but passed the time talking with Anita, who sat just behind us. We were trying to remember when we first cruised together and think it was January 2007 on the Sun Princess. I Got the Music was worth waiting for. We were completely overwhelmed (in a good way) by the large cast of 13 dancers and four vocalists (compared to six and two on the Pacific Princess) and thought the entire cast was excellent. And an orchestra larger than four members with a brass section! Wow!
We exited the Princess Theater into the Piazza where Mr. Six Pack himself (remember him?) was performing his balancing/juggling act. We had seen Rocco yesterday when we boarded the ship and so I knew I was in for a treat. Sure enough, his shirt came off before he was done (he's so shy that way), but I wasn't well positioned for photos. I'll try harder next time. ;-)
Pianoman Kory Simon is playing in Crooners every night, and we know Kory from both the Emerald Princess and the Royal Princess and can't wait to listen to him again...but not tonight. I was ready for that comfortable bed and to get this blog post finished and published. Kory is performing tomorrow night in the Explorers Lounge and we'll be certain to see him then. We know that's a great show!
G left 30 minutes ago to get a fuzzy water from Outriggers Bar just 40 feet for our cabin, but hasn't yet returned. That's means he's either fallen overboard or found someone to talk to. I suspect it's the latter, and wonder if it's Suzan and Greg. Except for the two minutes Suzan popped into the conference room when I was quilling (she was heading to line dancing), I haven't seen them today. And that's the thing about a ship this large...there are so many different activities to participate in all day long that there are no two people having the exact same cruise experience. We love the small Pacific Princess but, for all its differences, we love the Emerald Princess too.