We took our coffees up to the rooftop and enjoyed the beautiful Seattle sunshine. It was a perfect weather day, and Seattle looks so much more appealing when the sun shines. At 10:30am we boarded a shuttle to the ship for $10pp. A Lyft was about $15 but we weren’t certain if they would drop us off in the parking lot where we picked up our Lyft yesterday, which was about a 5-10 minute walk from the terminal. Today’s shuttle dropped us off right in front.
After everything we went through completing our check in on the Medallion app, it worked just as it was supposed to. We walked up to the Elite waiting area in the terminal just as they were invited to start boarding and we got right in line. We were clapped on to the ship by several crew members (nice!) and made it as far as the Ocean Terrace Bar where we ordered our first drink (Prosecco for me), and then I ordered a second one using the app and it worked great. And then it got testy and I couldn’t get it to work.
This truly is a beautiful ship.
We went to the Concerto Dining Room when it opened for lunch at noon and were so happy to see our favorites back on the embarkation day menu. Lunch service was friendly and efficient, and, best of all, we saw our friend Samsuri from Indonesia who is either a head waiter or a supervisor in the Concerto Dining Room on board. It was nice to get caught up on how he and his family coped during the pandemic.
Day 1 dining room lunch menu
We took a minute after lunch to go to the Princess Theater to check in as part of the new muster drill process, and then finally made it to our cabin for the first time. Cruise Director Dan announced about 12:45pm that the cabins were ready for passengers. We booked a balcony on Lido Deck for this cruise, the balcony because it’s Alaska and there is much to see along the way, and Lido Deck because we had stayed in this area on the Majestic Princess just before COVID and loved it. We met Nilo our cabin steward, and, just as I did on the Nieuw Amsterdam, I requested turn down service each night. That is my line in the sand when it comes to cutbacks. I love having our wet towels replaced in the evening because we usually shower before dinner. I also feel that if people don’t continue to request turndown service, we’ll lose it altogether.
Our luggage was delivered shortly afterward, and after I unpacked I went to the passenger laundry on Deck 15 aft (the closest one to us) and ran a load of laundry. The token machine wasn’t working, which momentarily caused me much consternation (can you imagine waiting in an embarkation day line at Guest Services for a laundry token?), and then I realized there was a bowl of tokens on top of the token machine. Whew! With just a little bit of hand laundry, we should be set until we return home. I doubt we’ll use our Elite laundry benefits at all, as Nilo said it’s been been taking three days to get laundry back.
I tried to order a drink and check the dinner menu while I was sitting in the laundry room, but had no luck with either thing. Instead I watched the muster drill video on my iPhone as I was waiting for the dryer to finish, and by the time everything was clean and put away, it was time to dress for the evening. We started out at the beautiful sail away party on the open decks with the singers and dancers performing, then went directly to the Hollywood Conservatory for the Platinum, Elite and Suite Lounge. If I called the Vista Lounge on this ship the Vista-less Lounge for its lack of view, the Hollywood Conservatory is the vista-full lounge. They’ve added a few tables and chairs there, and it’s a perfect spot for the PES Lounge (not to mention it’s right above our cabin and so easy to get to). Walking into the lounge, the first bar waiter we saw was Eugenie from Ukraine who we knew from the Ruby Princess. He actually remembered our names and favorite drinks!
Euggenie
We were so happy to see still more familiar faces at the PES Lounge, including Customer Services Director Miguel, last seen pulling his hair out dealing with Chinese immigration upon our late arrival in Shanghai in January 2019, and Hotel General Manager Jasper, who said there are about 3300 guests on board this week, so the Majestic Princess is almost sailing full. It certainly feels that way. Every elevator is packed, there is no social distancing anywhere. They only saving grace is that we are all wearing masks.
It was a bit of a walk from the Hollywood Conservatory down to the Concerto Dining Room for our 5:20pm dinner reservation. And that began the only negative experience of the day. Service was so slow; we had been seated for nearly an hour before we got starters. G’s pork medallions were literally three quarter sized pieces, each about 1/8” thick. It was really one bite of pork medallion. I got the cod and it was barely bigger. Huge cutbacks there. We couldn’t even have dessert as it was nearly time fir the Princess Theater show to begin, so we decided to go to the buffet later.
Day 1 dining room dinner menu
Comedian Carlos Oscar is always quite good. He has a second show tomorrow night in the Vista-less Lounge and we may try to get to it, but tomorrow’s production show is our highest entertainment priority. We headed up to the World Fresh Marketplace for coffee and dessert, and I had a decaf soy cappuccino.
And by then we were ready to call it a day. As embarkation days go, this was a very easy one, with no flight and boarding a ship we are so familiar with. Our beautiful Seattle day has already changed; it was downright cold walking across the Lido Deck tonight. I think the forecasted nasty weather may arrive as soon as tomorrow. But armed with a covered balcony and the Premium Beverage Package, I’ll think we’ll survive just fine.
Day 1 Princess Patter
