Princess Cays

Omg did we ever have a great sleep.  This cabin is so quiet.  No noise from others' tv's and no noise from others on balconies.  Note I am very noise sensitive.  We are forward of the forward elevators so not much traffic either in hallways.

We are anchoring off the coast of Princess Cays around 9 am.  This is a tender port.  

I try for the first time to order my cappuccino via the app.  Oh I am liking this.  It is delivered about 15 minutes later.  Remember the good old days when Bernie would get me my coffee, now all he has to do is order it via the app.  Although my drink did come hot, others let me know there is an option for requesting it extra hot in many of the drink personalizing options when you order.

We then dress and head up to the World Fresh Marketplace for breakfast.  It is nice to see every section of the buffet open.  Oh and there are even more hand washing stations on this ship compared to Majestic.  Obviously they have tweaked this ship with the necessary needs that were missing on earlier ships.

But it is busy here.  Staff are run ragged.  This is common when everyone is wanting to get off on a day when we dock around 9 or 10.  

Bernie is so happy getting his big plate of fresh fruit.  Cause goodness knows it is so expensive at home, and not as fresh.

We done our bathing suits, lather on the sunscreen 30 SPF. And off we go to Take 5 the elite priority tending spot.  We are the just at 910 and it is empty and we are whisked off to the tender right away.  I believe we are the 2nd tender.

They have large tenders and we are enjoying being out on the water.  Note masks we're mandatory of the tender due to lack of social distancing.

I will add here that masks are not required onboard when you can maintain social distancing.  They are recommended though.  We normally don't wear them unless we are in a queue, shopping, or in the theater when sitting next to someone.  We always wear them in the elevator which is mandatory.  I would say most are doing what is requested, except for the elevators.  It is a tight space and this does concern me.  We try not to take the elevators if we don't have to, but we are on deck 14 and I won't climb all those flights in high heels.

Back to the water shuttle.  It is very very windy today.  Our tender moves from the ship and then bobs in one spot for a good 20 minutes.  I am starting to wonder if we will make it in.  Is it too windy?  We did enjoy a lovely conversation with a couple from Michigan though.  But after a long while we are on our way in to the dock.

Oh it feels so good to be back.  We meander down the path to the sanctuary cabanas and plot ourselves down in front of the water.  

This area is usually very quiet, and it works for us.

A lovely server comes by and by 11 am I am into jh first tropical drink!  A Hawaiian Tropic, yum.

The wind is making it pretty much fruitless to try and snorkel.  Also swimming is tough too because of the waves.  But we both go in a few times to cool off.

Lifeguards are there and they did help some who ha trouble getting out of the water because of the swells.

We did eat at the buffet.  It was good, perfect for the beach.  A burger, some potato salad and a cold beverage!

By 130 we had been in the sun for 3.5 hours and even though we slathered on numerous applications of sun screen we know we can't push it.

Back in the cabin we shower.  Bernie does some ironing in the laundry available on each deck.  He makes a comment that even though there were numerous spots for ironing there were no waterbottles to fill the water chamber on the irons.  Now I know for a fact Majestic had some.  So if it is a covid issue fine, by why is it different from ship to ship.  Plus how is it different from touching a water bottle to touching an iron.

We had a call from guest services and to call back, but we call and are on hold for over 15 minutes before giving up. I go down to the guest services desk, but the queue is too long.  We will wait for them to call us back.

We have the pleasure of knowing many officers in our long history with Princess.  Many we call personal friends.  We have visited their homes, and or they have visited our home.  

So we feel blessed when guests services calls back and offers us a balcony stateroom.  Thank you HGM, But we are very happy with our cabin and say thank you but we are good.  Now if it would of been a suite, another story... as she giggles.

They call back and they want to send us something.  Nice, sure.  A short while later a bottle of wine arrives and chocolate covered strawberries.  Sweet!  However there is no corkscrew, or even wine glasses.  Normally this happens automatically, but I guess it was missed.  I try calling room service but after 15 minutes on hold I give up.  I then call guest services and get thru and request glasses and a corkscrew and they said they will take care of it.  But nothing was delivered all night.  We will just take the wine to dinner when we dine at the specialty dinner in a few days.  

Don't beat me up for being ungrateful because we aren't.  I make a point of reporting what I see the good and the lacking, and rarely when it is bad.  I know if I was running a business I would want to know when the little things are being messed up so I could fix.  I can't stop thinking how a brand new cruiser would react to these little mess ups.  I know the great product Princess has, but do they? Will they come back if they experience these hiccups.  

Overall it was a great day.  I sure love Princess Cays.