Before I get started with anything else, I forgot to mention last night that the laundry I sent in the first night of the cruise was returned to me on the second. I almost fell over when we opened our cabin door and saw the clothing hanging there (on a hook on the wall...very nice, because on the other ships we’ve been on, it gets hung in the closet and when the closet is already nearly full, it’s easily overlooked). I haven’t had one day turnaround on laundry since those halcyon days on the Pacific Princess in French Polynesia where there were fewer than 50 Elite passengers on board. It’s shockingly nice.
Back to today...
For some reason, despite the fact that I had been up late last night partying with Elton and then preparing a blog post, I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7am today. Maybe it was because I knew I could nap if I needed to (which I never did, but it’s nice to have options). Also for some reason, also despite the fact that I had made G promise me repeatedly (no blood was exchanged, but pinkies were involved) that we were not going to have a schedule on the Majestic Princess except for our fixed dinner time, there we were, before 7:30am, sitting in the Concerto Dining Room at a table for two by a window, having a lovely breakfast with waiters Maks and Ronald. We are such creatures of habit.
I hate that about us. ;-)
We went to the Princess Theater at 9am for the destination lecture on Akaroa and Port Chalmers/ Dunedin. Sure, we already know quite a bit about all of these ports, but, between you and me, we were not impressed with the recent Destination Expert on the Ruby Princess. I think we were interested to see what a different lecturer could do with the same ports.
Well, we were impressed before Joel Te Whare (a New Zealand name if ever I’ve heard one) said even one word. As we were waiting for his presentation to begin, a handful of slides covering exchange rates, times in port and key highlights was shown repeatedly. It was quite helpful, and a nice thing to keep us interested until the actual lecture began. And when it did, I loved Joel’s slide format; they were extremely easy to follow, with additional, smaller photos dropped on each slide as he talked. I took several photos...to be posted much, much later, obviously.
From there I went to a Maori history and culture presentation in Princess Live. This one started with the Maori belief system on how the world was formed (kind of the equivalent of the Christian Genesis), and went into the Polynesian migration and how the Maori originally came to New Zealand from the Cook Islands.
About the same time, G went to the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet, held in Crooners, and when I met him for lunch, he had a fun couple from Sydney he had just met with him. The four of us had an enjoyable lunch, again in the Concerto Dining Room. (Are you seeing a trend here?)
It was time for a break then. It was pretty chilly on the open decks, so I walked through the covered Hollywood Conservatory to see what the seating situation was up there, and there were a couple of chairs available, but it looked like the people on the loungers and sun beds were settled in for the long run. I returned to the cabin for my mid-afternoon respite, and watched another episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on my iPad. These are being watched slowly and deliberately to make them last until we get to the fast WiFi in the Hobart port terminal and I can download new videos.
G returned from the Military and Veterans get together and we started getting ready for formal night #824 of the season. I wanted to listen to the Majestic Princess orchestra/ show band playing Dixieland Jazz in the Piazza at 4:45pm, and went down first while G was still showering and was so happy to find seats (yes, plural) available to sit on while I enjoyed the music. There is much to like on the Majestic Princess.
The most humorous part of the day was watching the construction of the champagne waterfall for tonight’s Captain’s Welcome Aboard Champagne Waterfall in the Piazza while I was listening to the Dixieland music. Two bar stewards were attempting to assemble the base on which the hundreds of champagne glasses are placed in a pyramid. There are two square pieces of wood with slots at either the top or bottom that are slipped together to form the “legs” in an X shape, then a small wood table top with a framework on the bottom that fits on top of the X goes on the legs, and, finally, a larger wood circle with a mirrored top is set on top of that, and then the champagne glasses are stacked on that mirror.
Well, these guys were struggling to get that first table top with the framework on the bottom to fit on top the X shape. Tried as they did, it wouldn’t sit flat on the legs. They took the legs apart and re-assembled them several times, to no avail. They flipped the legs over with the same result. Finally, they got more bar stewards and tried pushing down on all sides simultaneously. They placed the mirrored piece on top and it tipped over. Things were not going well.
A male passenger came over and offered his advice, and they tried that and it still wouldn’t all fit together. This had gone on for at least 20 minutes, and we were all fascinated by their attempts. Finally, a woman came over and told them something. They then placed the middle table top upside down on the ground, fit the legs into it, flipped it over and...voila! When G finally arrived, I started to tell him what had happened and before I got two sentences into the story, he said, “They should have turned the top over and assembled it upside down”. Yeah, okay Mr. Smartpants. Where were you when they needed you? No, actually, it was best played out the way it did, with a woman saving the day.
Dinner in the Concerto Dining Room seems to be better each night. Our waiters, another Jorge (this one from Peru) and Daniel from Serbia do not have a full section when we dine at 5:15pm, and between them and headwaiter Antonio, it’s like living a fantasy to get this kind of service. While I still had cellular data yesterday in Tauranga, I searched my blog for a post where I had mentioned headwaiter Francesco on the Emerald Princess and, in fact, had included his photo. (December 13, 2011, if you’re interested). I did a screen capture and showed it to him this morning. He was very touched, and now greets me with a two-cheek air kiss and embrace when I enter the dining room.
It’s feeling more and more familiar here. Every time I think the service can never be as good as what we've enjoyed in the past, somehow it is.
We had to divide and conquer after dinner, with G grabbing a quick glass of champagne at the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Champagne Waterfall in the Piazza and me going directly to the Princess Theater to get seats for tonight’s production show, Fantastic Journey. We had heard truly great things about this one, and even Cruise Director Andrew Kadillac had suggested to the audience at last night’s show that we might want to eat in an alternative dining venue tonight to allow us to see Fantastic Journey. Translation: there are only enough seats in the Princess Theater for fewer than 50% of the passengers on this ship to see this wildly popular show, and despite the fact that it is being simulcast into Princess Live, that still only provides enough additional seats for fewer than 60% of the passengers to see this show live or on a screen, so grab a slice of pizza on the run if that’s what it takes to get a seat for this show. Oh, and enjoy your relaxing, rejuvenating retreat at sea. ;-)
Well, Andrew was right. It was SRO, but not until about 20 minutes before the show, so it wasn’t that different than what we have encountered on most Princess ships (my fav Pacific Princess excepted).
And everyone else was right about Fantastic Journey. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen a Princess ship. The stage and large video screens wrap around the front corners of the theater, there are pyrotechnics, the costumes are edgy and amazing, the dance moves are the same, the songs are pretty recent (some MJ and Mariah Carey are the oldest, I think), there are lighted drones that look like fireflies, there are lighted drones that look like fireflies, there are lighted drones that look like fire flies. Wow!
This show alone made packing up our cabin of three months on the Ruby Princess and hauling six suitcases through construction across Quay Street and then back again to reach the Majestic Princess followed by unpacking in our new cabin worthwhile. Does Fantastic Journey appear on any other Princess ships? No, don’t email me to answer that. It would be easier to communicate using smoke signals or two tin cans and a string than to frustrate myself trying to open an email using Majestic Princess WiFi.
The Piazza during the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Champagne Waterfall
It overcame its shaky start to hold up for the pouring of the champagne
G and a fellow guest from Japan
We thought this photo was really beautiful
We next went back to the Vista Gaming Lounge, which we are now calling the Vista-less Lounge to hear comedian Jim Short do a second set at 9:30pm. He’s pretty good; as tired as I was, there was plenty to laugh at.
G wants to be on an early tender to Akaroa tomorrow, but doesn’t want me to set an alarm. I’m not sure how this is going to work out, but the no alarm part sounds darn good right now.