Everything about the Crown Plaza LA Harbor was fantastic. The employees here were all so friendly, the same thing we encountered traveling to our Alaska cruises. People are simply glad to be back to work. We added breakfast to our reservation for just $5pp (still can’t believe that price), and it was a full breakfast buffet with eggs, meats, waffles, oatmeal, cereal, breads, fruits, juice and coffee starting at 6:30am. We did not expect that, but enjoyed it immensely.
When we had checked in last night, we requested shuttle reservations at 10am to take us to the ship (cost: $5.50pp). We really did drag out breakfast, or at least the coffee, as long as we could, and then wondered if we could get on the 9am shuttle. It was far too early to board the ship, we knew, but we really didn’t want to spend time in our hotel room. Sure enough, there was room, and we joined two other couples going over that early. It’s only a block or two from the hotel to the ship, so we were there by 9:15am or so.
Still, it was a gorgeous morning, and, after we dropped our our large bags, we sat on concrete benches and chatted with our new cruise mates. Everyone’s story about why they booked this cruise varies, but everyone’s goal is the same: to be on a cruise once again. You know, people on Cruise Critic ask if people are really following the mask mandate on board. Yes, they are. And the mandate limiting elevators to 6 people, and sip and cover policies in the entertainment venues too. People are being very compliant…so far. We don’t want to mess this up for those that come after us.
At about 10am we entered the tent to be checked in. There was a bit of confusion with my information. The hospital where I was tested is not the same hospital where I received my first two vaccines, but it is the same hospital where I received my booster vaccine. For some reason, when I printed out my test results, below the test result on the page it showed the one booster vaccine. Three people checking me in asked why I didn’t have documentation for two vaccines. I did: my vaccination card had documentation for three. When they looked closely, they could see that the one vaccine shown on the test results page matched the third one on the vaccine card. And I finally remembered to exhale.
We were on the ship around 11am, clapped on as we were on the Majestic Princess. I love that. Everyone on board seems to thrilled to be back, and, honestly, that was one of the best parts of the Majestic cruises, too. We’ve never seen such a universally happy and grateful and friendly crew. We went directly to the cabin and I unpacked the bathroom items I’d moved into my roll aboard in the hotel room this morning. By then it was time to go to lunch, and we took a chance and went down to the DaVinci dining room (port side, which was the correct place and side for non-Club Class to go). So far that morning we had seen one or two familiar faces among the crew and officers, but there were several more among the waitstaff. It is so good to be back!!
Day 1 lunch menu
My favorite salmon was on the lunch menu. I also added chickpea soup. G’s medallions were good but are shrinking in number. Of course, dessert was the orange soufflé. ‘Cause it’s the first day of a cruise!
After lunch, I met with the internet manager to try to get on the internet. It seemed extremely convoluted on the Emerald Princess but I finally managed to get online. G still hasn’t figured it out and will have to meet with the manager tomorrow. It’s not speedy, but, so far it’s done almost everything I need it to do. What I can’t do, regardless of whether I use Safari, Chrome or Edge on my iPhone or iPad, is post, reply or react to anything on Cruise Critic. I’ve been having issues at home, too, but nothing quite this bad. I doubt I’ll be able to contribute to the Live From on Cruise Critic at all, but if you run across someone there looking for answers you know are in this blog, please point them in this direction.
Luggage wasn’t delivered until 3pm, and we unpacked quickly and joined a group of people from the Cruise Critic roll call at Outriggers bar at the back of the ship. We are staying on the back of Lido Deck in a balcony cabin, and that was so convenient for us. We seem to alternate between being ‘back of the ship” people on the Grand Class ships and ‘front of the ship’ people on the Royal Class. Location is definitely more important than cabin type on a cruise ship for us. Customer Services Director Nelson had told me in the terminal this morning that there are only 800 passengers onboard, less than 25% capacity, and this is shaping up to be a very special cruise, much like the Pacific Princess used to be or a private yacht.
We quickly dressed and went to dinner, and here’s where we started to feel quite spoiled. G had met with a Dining Room manager at lunch to attempt to get us a table we would like for dinner. As we learned, on the Majestic, Dine My Way can’t do this with any degree of personalization. Well, our request was heard, and we have a lovely table for two by the window in Botticelli. Perfection. Director of Restaurant Operations (formerly the Maitre d’ position) Rui Pereira seated us personally and we got caught up about him and his family and also Generoso.
Waiter Anil from India and Junior waiter Verna from the Philippines are fantastic, as one would expect from this lower passenger load. I’ve always thought that every waiter on Princess has the potential to be an excellent one; if they fall short it’s more a function of the number of guests they have to serve or a galley problem. Not an issue here! We are being horribly spoiled already.
Garlic prawns
Mahi mahi
Flourless chocolate cake (because life is short)
If you like the way it used to be served, they had it by the slice in the World Fresh Marketplace (buffet) tonight.
Day 1 Princess Patter
At least a hundred times the past 18 months, G commented that he really missed live music like we used to get on cruise ships. That he said this to me while I was playing the piano I chose, in the interest of marital harmony, to believe he meant only that he didn’t care for Chopin. Or Beethoven, Mozart, Bach and DeBussy. 😉 Well, we remedied that already tonight by listening to the Emerald Princess orchestra play two different sets of music in Adagio (love it there) before going to the Princess Theater at 9pm for tonight’s only headliner show with comedian impressionist Michael Wilson. We’ve seen him before but he was great and the very small audience responded with everything it had. Yes, we walked into the theater at 8:55pm and there were an abundance of seats available. Like 75% of them. It makes sense that the main Princess Theater shows will only be offered once per night on this cruise.
Walking from the Princess Theater to our cabin, we chose to walk outside across the Lido Deck, the first time I’d seen it today. OMG the memories came flooding back. Watching the Broncos win Super Bowl 50 on MUTS (I remember exactly where we sat and how we had fought about where to sit when we were out there before dawn to claim our chairs). Yes, we also watched the Bronco lose the Super Bowl but that was not the one we choose to remember, except for Darko (yes, that one) telling me “We will never speak of this again”. And the World Fresh Marketplace, formerly known as the Horizon Court. Wow! It was entirely re-done in 2018, we were told, and it looks gorgeous. Fresh and simple and modern. We’ve spent a lot of hours sitting in there. It’s all a bit like visiting your childhood home.
Then it was time for bed. Or blog, then bed. I typed this post with one eye at a time open, but will review it in the morning. Regardless of WiFi speed, that’s one of the greatest benefits of unlimited internet on a ship.
Day 1 Princess Patter