We had a wonderful day at sea today. The sea was gentle, the air cooler enough that it was perfectly comfortable on the open decks but also most places inside the ship (sections of which had been very, very warm while we were in the islands), and people were spread out enough that the ship really never felt too awfully crowded (except in the World Fresh Marketplace, which is an almost perpetual zoo).
We started the day on the Open Deck Behind the World Fresh Marketplace and it was glorious this morning. We get our specialty coffees (decaf soy cappuccino for me) and some of the cut up mixed fruit to get started and life is certainly good. Eventually, G gets an omelet and I get smoked salmon, onion, tomato and cucumber, my favorite breakfast this year. Smoked salmon in the buffet had been very limited the past couple of years, but it is either out or available upon request in the Majestic Princess World Fresh Marketplace.
I spent the part of the morning gathering up all the beach items and giving them a good scrub before packing them away, which inevitably left a lot of sand in the sink, in the shower, on the carpet. I love the large bathroom sinks on the Royal Class ships, but, like all flat-bottomed sinks, it’s difficult to get all the... whatever (soap, makeup, toothpaste, sand) out of the corners. Flat-bottomed sinks, as contemporary and sexy and relatively larger that they are, are tough to keep clean.
We then went to the Princess Theater for the Bridge and Technical Department presentation, billed as a virtual bridge tour. The bridge portion of this was done by the First Officer on board, from England, and he was a real hoot, especially when he talked about the waiting game for a captaincy to open up. There must be a hundred jokes on the bridge about this, because we hear a different one every time we attend one of these presentations.
We chose Alfredo’s pizzeria over lunch in the Concerto Dining Room, but did go to the dining room for dessert. G was jonesing for an ice cream sundae. I swallowed my guilt as well as the pear jelly (American: jello). After all, there’s an animal involved in that somehow.
Day 12 lunch menu, page 1
Day 12 lunch menu, page 2
We were dressed for the evening when we went to the Grapevine Wine Tasting in the Allegro Dining Room at 3pm. I’m not drinking anything these days, so G enjoys double sips of wine, because sips are just about as much as is poured during the wine tasting. Dear Samsuri from Indonesia always talks about one of the featured wines, and I just wanted to see him do that today. He knows he has firm fans in us.
From there we went to the 4pm matinee performance by violinist Chris Watkins in the Princess Theater. He was accompanied only by Majestic Princess orchestra pianist Efraim, and this was one amazing show. The beauty of these matinee shows is that they attract only the passengers who truly enjoy the offered entertainment as opposed to the evening performances when people go simply because it is the show de soir. We’ve seen Chris’ matinee performance at least twice already this season, but Efraim made it even better. Then vocalist Sandy from party band Evolution joined them for The Prayer and I don’t think even half the eyes in the house were dry and everyone had goosebumps. Magic. How often do you see a standing ovation in the middle of a show as well as at the end?
And that’s when I turned to G and reminded him how much we are paying per day for this cruising season (because of course I’ve prepared a spreadsheet and know it right down to the penny), and pointed out we would pay that much for a concert like this one at home. Just a concert. The rest of the day was a bonus. After 22 years, we still love cruising.
Violinist Chris Watkins, pianist Efraim, vocalist Sandy
It was Captains Circle party night, so there was no Elite Lounge in the Vista-less Lounge, and we went directly to dinner at 5:15pm. We went to tonight’s Captains Circle party at 7pm (there are two more tomorrow night) because we knew that tomorrow night’s Princess Theater entertainment will be production show Encore. We do not want to miss that!
Day 12 dinner menu, page 1
Day 12 dinner menu, page 2
Day 12 dessert menu
Instead of a show, we ended tonight on the Open Deck Behind the World Fresh Marketplace, definitely our favorite part of the Majestic Princess. It makes sense; G pointed out that our favorite thing at home is sunset on the deck, and the nighttime sounds that follow it. On the ship, the sound comes from the ship’s wake, and the sunset moves around, but it still our favorite way to end the day.
Life is good. :-)
Day 12 Princess Patter, page 1
Day 12 Princess Patter, page 2
Day 12 Princess Patter, page 3
Day 12 Princess Patter, page 4