First Day of Third Leg - Dinner at Crown Grill

Oh I hardly slept at all.  Why? I really don't know why.  I think the last time I looked at the clock it was 2:30 and we dock early and I know that will wake me up.

Sure enough around 6:30 I start hearing the sounds of pulling into port -- the pilot boat, the thrusters, and then docking and lots of movement outside our cabin.

Thank goodness for ear plugs.  I would not leave home without them.

First thing is we go and get a load of wash into the washing machine.  Yes we get free laundry on board but doing a load gets things clean and to square one for the next voyage.

Back in the cabin we pack up our stuff for our new cabin.  We are moving again.  I know some of you hate that and sure it would of been nice to be in the same cabin all three legs, but it just was not possible to do.  So it is the price we pay for booking last minute and getting a great deal. 

But truthfully it is not hard to move cabins and in all it takes about an hour of our time for packing and unpacking and it also allows us to clean up and reorganize.  Yes even our cabin tends to get messy with papers, purchased item and stuff.  

For breakfast we head up to the buffet just before 8 am.  It is good right now.  We get a plate and a table easily.  But just after 8 it is very crowded.  I am guessing this is due to the fact that people have to be out of their cabin at 8.

Of course many are frustrated.  They have their carry on bag, their documents, their kids, their food, their spouse and patience is at a minimum.  Some interesting people watching went on.

Once again we head to deck 5 and grab a coffee and relax for a bit before we head ashore.

I review our bill once again to add up what our drink cost was last week and it only came to $200 total for the both of us.  What! That seems low.  But we didn't really feel like we did without.  Last week it was $450.  We did carry over two bottles of wine from last week so that helped.

So for us the drink package just would not have been worth it for us again.  The price of the package is just under a $1,000 total for the two of us for 7 days (includes gratuity). But it is important for you to weigh out how much you drink and whether it would be worth it for you.

We head ashore around 9:30 and we are hit with the heat and muggy temperature!  Oh not sure if I could get use to this.

We walk over to Ross for Less and do some browsing.  Then over to Publix for some items.  Then of course we need to go to Total Wine.

Our friend Elkie is from Austria and we promised to bring her a bottle of Austrian wine from shore.  But we needed help finding Austrian wine so we asked a nice man.  Miguel is his name and he is from Portugal, he chatted with us for a bit and said he use to work for Princess.

Further conversation and we find out we know a quite a few similar people.  Including Antonio Pimpao who was Executive Housekeeper and lives in Portugal.   Small world! So here is a picture of him and he says hi Antonio (I know you are reading).

So after all the errands -- including Bernie getting his hair cut -- and lunch we walk back to Pier 2.  

The lines are not long but there is a bit of a wait for the initial security check, then the security screening (maybe 10 min).  Note we had wine, but it was only two bottles and they said that was fine for two.  Also you are not allowed to have any open liquid so empty those water bottles.

The gangway line is short and we take two pictures.  One for the new Medallion system and one for the old hand held system.  Fingers crossed it works and we don't have a repeat of last week (see some of last week's port stop blogs).

Today embarkation has a bit of a new look.  Crew that are in designated areas to assist with boarding are wearing sashes with Welcome Aboard in the Medallion Class Royal Blue color. Honestly I did not like them.  Felt very pageant like.  I wanted to take a picture but felt odd about asking so sorry everyone.

Ocean Medallion appears to have rolled out to more cabins.  I had heard that Riviera deck was being added the Lido deck cabins but need to confirm. A lot more people have the medallion in a lanyard around their neck.

Once on board we make our way to our cabin and unpack.  We have to do a bit of housekeeping items with the front desk.  As I wait for Bernie to attend to these things I take some pictures of the Atrium with all the new banners.  Looks very regal. 

I will say that the regular banners that they have hanging all over the banisters and poles normally with the Caribbean designs seems a little cluttered to me and something I would find at Grandma's house. Yes it is cute for an event but all week up seems a bit much.

The Atrium has tables and stations set up for what people can expect in the coming week.  A lounge chair from Mutts, the flying shark, the production show posters, trivias, Detourist, also the drop off for the scavenger hunt form and more. Two crew staff are there too. But no one is really engaging with them.  I like the idea of this.  But I think it needs to be tweaked.

Back in the cabin we relax.  Muster Drill is just about to start.  No we don't have to attend the drill as we are In Transit but it is piped into our cabins so we have to listen to it.  By 4 pm we just can't keep our eyes open so we have a good nap until 6 pm.  

I awake and feel so very rested.  

Tonight is dinner at Crown Grill.  

We are sat at a booth at a window.  Although I like booths I often find there is too much space from the bench seat to the table and have a hard time eating or sitting comfortably. Normally we just move the table towards me but this would cause one of us to have a big space between the seat and table.

So Bernie and I move to the same side and adjust the table ourselves.  Plus it is nice to sit side by side and we can easily chat without raising our voices as it does end up getting loud later.

Our assistant takes our drink order but fills up our water automatically.  Normally we like sparkling water but we did not get a chance to order it as the glass was filled already.  

It is busy and as tables around us fill up we can't help hearing two separate tables near us.  One is an older couple who seem to be so angry with each other.  Often he raised his voice to the point she almost cried (from what we could see from a few feet away). Boy and this is only the first day of the cruise.

Then a father son couple came and sat at the deuce right in front of us.  The father was very loud.  His son in his early 20s I would guess and both proceeded to slam everything about the ship and service and basically life.  They did seem to enjoy their food though.  Thank goodness they have something positive in their life today.

Argh.... I try not to let how others act affect how I react but it did require some patience.

Our meal was very good.  In fact I think the black and blue soup and the spinach and beet salad was one of the best we have ever had.

We paired our meal with a bottle of Pacific Bay and it went very well with the Sea Bass Bernie had and the filet I had.

I had a side of Bearnaise sauce and well, it looked like a thick pudding.  I say this because this is probably the fourth time I have had it since we have gotten on board (either Bearnaise or Hollandaise sauce) and it has always had this gross thick consistency.  This is not the norm on board ships though and not sure how these chefs are making it or how long it is sitting but it is horrible.

Our server started out very good but he then got busy.  They did have extra staff brought it which impressed me but we seemed to have gotten forgotten.  Normally we have a great banter with our wait staff and we did see this happening with other tables, but did not happen with us.

No one checked on how our meal was until we were almost finished - and we did not eat fast.  

Dessert order took a long time.  And once we had finished dessert we sat and sat and finally gave up and just left.  Note we had settled the bill prior to arriving.

The head waiter here - Diego we know from the last two sailings but even he seemed to check in on us only once for a very short time and never attended to assisted our table even though he walked by often.  I know on the Royal this year the head waiter in Crown Grill was very attentive and stopped often at all tables.

So I have to say sadly that the Crown Grill on board was a miss. Food was quite good with a small miss but ambiance (no fault of Princess) and service was poor.  

We are looking forward to going back to Sabatinis in a few days though.

Off to Vines to catch up with Dominique.  It is very quiet right now - it is 9:30 and I guess most are at the show or eating or resting after a long day.

While sitting here a follower came over - Juan and his spouse and it is lovely to meet them.  We have mutual friend so it is great to connect.

Later we chat with some other guys for a long time about pretty much everything.  Three are from England, two are from the US.  I learned a lot from them and I really enjoyed the conversation. 

Back in the cabin we decide tomorrow will be a room service breakfast. 

We anchor off Princess Cays and we really want to go ashore this time.

Check out the new look of the Princess Patter