Sea Day Evening - Dinner at The Bayou Cafe

Crooners when it is quiet

When I wake Bernie is getting ready.  I am feeling much better.  A nap was a good idea.

Bernie heads to Crooners so I can get ready.  I meet him there around 7 pm.  We both enjoy a Bramble and he tells me about a conversation he had with these three women from Vancouver.  

One woman went on about once you move up to the next level in the Captain Circle program Princess automatically upgrades you.  

Bernie tried to correct her but she was adamant. Note she was platinum and never did ask Bernie about his loyalty level or experience with Princess.  

But sorry ladies upgrades prior to a cruise do not have any bearing on how often you have cruised.

The next woman asked Bernie what was the longest cruise he had been on.  He responded 49 days.  Her response was oh I never could do more than ten to twelve days as I have pets.  Bernie nodded, her next comment was that her dream was to do a world cruise.  Bernie smiled and said you do know that a world cruise is longer than 12 days by around 10 Times.  

I laughed as he told me this story. 

Monika joined us for drinks.  At 8 we all head to the Bayou café for dinner.  We both have a free meal here as one of the most travelled passengers on board. They have given us a meal at any of the specialty restaurants.  Otherwise the cost is $29 per person.

Monika go the porterhouse steak

We enjoy a bottle of Prosecco (Princess 50th Anniversary bottle) and cheer another great trip.

I start with the sausage with grits as my appetizer. 

For my entrée I have the chicken that I thought would be spicy but it is not at all and adding hot sauce to it helps.

For dessert I have the Norman Love peanut butter bar.  So yummy!  Bernie gets the peach cobbler and we all taste his so the waiters brings another one so we can enjoy more of it. 

Pat joined us for dessert - and Bernie feeds her his Peach Cobbler

Overall the meal was fantastic. I like it here.  Especially the Jazz band that plays.  Service is good.  The waiters are busy but I am impressed with the head waiter helping out.

After dinner we head down to Explorers and it is busy.  It is Happy Hour and we order a bramble from Mabel.  

Jorge and Nice join us and we do some dancing and crowd watching.  

There are quite a few younger passengers trying to get drinks.  Bar Staff are checking ID to ensure they are old enough.  Another issue is many people are bringing their drinks onto the dance floor which has staff scrambling to retrieve.

We head back to the cabin and crash.

First Two Sea Day

Well what can I say, sea days are sea days – also known as relaxation days.

We gained an hour the first night and are up and showered and able to dine in the dining room for breakfast again.  

Bernie and I both want pancakes, especially since the ones we had yesterday were hot.  Well sadly neither of our stacks of pancakes were hot this time.  Warm but not hot.  

The butter just rested on top in a solid state.  Oh well I guess it was good while it lasted.

It is very windy and the ship is rocking.  Many people are commenting and many are feeling the effects, even the crew.  Us we feel great.  I will add the next day the winds died down but the seas got worse and we were really rolling.  Holding on to railings was key and I just hoped anyone with mobility issues were okay.  This is certainly not the worst seas I have experienced.  I have had worse seas off the coast of Cabo San Lucas, and just off the coast of Fort Lauderdale too.

By the third day at sea the seas have calmed and it is warmer.

Because of the weather most people are in the public areas.  
Finding a quiet place is difficult – not unlike many ships we go on.  We get a seat in the coffee bar and usually end up chatting with someone there and surprisingly an hour goes by.  

I have been enjoying the movies in the cabin and one day they showed the movie Big Eyes and the next it was Inside Out.  

Laundry is taking anywhere from 48 hours to 72 hours to be returned.  With so many elites it is understandable.

For last night I planned a special evening for my honey to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary, which is in July but this trip was planned for that.  So I spent the afternoon running around getting things.

First I called the dine line and made reservations for the Bayou at 8 pm.  I then went to the front desk and ordered a rose corsage to be delivered to the cabin before dinner (cost was $15).  

Into Calypso Cove for an anniversary card and then some chocolates.  At first the woman recommended a heart shaped box of Godiva Chocolates but I ended up with a Toblerone Bar cause I know he would prefer that.  Just before our reservation I head to the Bayou and pre order a bottle of the 50th Anniversary Prosecco for the table. 

Back in the cabin later I write up the card and a note and place it beside his bed while he is napping.  Directions are: dress smart casual for dinner, put on corsage, and meet me in Crooners for a date night.

We start with drinks (me martinis and Bernie his vodka soda) with friends.  At 8 I take him to the Bayou for dinner.  
We are welcomed and are sat at a table right by the window.  The place is very quiet (right now) and the head waiter pours the Prosecco and Bernie and I toast to a great 20 years.

George is our server and he welcomes us back.  We place our order and we notice around 15 crew arrive, many of the dancers/singers sit at two tables.  Some other crew arrive a little later.  It is nice to see them getting to enjoy a dinner out (note they have to pay the cover charge of $25 too).  

The only problem with these other tables arriving is the two waiters are now very busy with tables all over the restaurant.

We are off to one side and we are kind of forgotten.  Plates take a long time to be cleared once we have finished our meal. I even went to the washroom after my entrée and came back and my plate was still there.  Our water and wine stay empty for long periods and I once had to ask to have more water.

The food was very good. I started with the sausage and polenta again and for my entrée had the blackened chicken which was very moist and flavourful but not blackened at all.  Bernie had seafood bisque to start and the catfish for his entrée.  For dessert we shared a dish of the pound cake which was amazing.  

This was our third experience in one of the Specialty restaurants and I do enjoy them.  But sadly Princess falls short in maintaining special service in these specialty restaurants.  Sure they have been very quiet this sailing and so they have cut back on servers, but when they get a rush they should be calling for assistance from somewhere.  

Service here is usually just as good or less than dining in the dining room.  It just is not special.

But it was still a beautiful evening of celebration and as we strolled down deck 7 and arrived at the Atrium we dance a bit to the sounds of the piano player Daniel Oliver who is good but he is no Corey Simon.

Friday Evening – Sea Day – Formal Night

 

After a very restful nap we shower and get dressed for the evening.  The Captain’s Welcome Aboard Show is happening.  The Atrium is busy but manageable, but the sight lines are difficult but I do get a few pictures.

They are handing out the champagne and the Norman Love Chocolate pops!  Yummy.

We run into Antonio and we meet with Sheila and say hi to her from Monika and Rick – she says hi back.

Everyone looks lovely and many are posing for pictures. 

This is a great sight, families, couples – young and old, children, friends all smiling and creating memories.  Isn’t that what life is all about, and what better way to do it than on a ship.

Tonight we are dining at the Bayou Café.  I love this venue.   Right beside it is a small bar and a dance floor and the band Pastime Duo who are from Brazil.  They are perfect for ballroom dancing, but we find out they are getting off in Venice and not sure who will be replacing them.  Listening to live music while you dine here only adds to a great evening.

Bernie's Catfish

We meet up with Antonio who joins us for a meal.  We start with some champagne to toast the evening.  Then a bottle of wine – sorry didn’t get the name. 

Marvin is our waiter – also known as Marvelous Marvin – and we remember him as he served us in Alfredos the other day at lunch.  He gives us his recommendations and he continues to surprise us with treats throughout the meal.

My appetizer is sausage grillades, Bernie had the seafood gumbo, for my entrée I had the filet and for dessert the Normal Love Peanut Butter Bar.  Marvin served us gator ribs to start with too and grilled prawns as well.

Everything was great, even better than what I remember.  Service was top notch and attentive and Marvin can sing and he performed and had the whole restaurant singing along and clapping.  What could be better.

It is around 10:30 when we leave and the ship is quiet.  They are setting up Halloween display in the Atrium.  Looks amazing!

Entertainment going on around the ship this evening:  Jewish Sabbath Service, Latin Fiesta with DJ Tin Tin, The Music of Frank Sinatra with Cosmic Band in the Wheelhouse, Movies Under the Stars is Jurassic World, 50^th Anniversary Love Boat Trivia, Showtime in Princess Theater is An Evening with Celine Dion staring Tracey Shield, Majority Rules Game Show, Who Sang What Series: Motown Edition, and Wild Bunch Party in Explorers.

Saturday May 11 - At Sea

We have a restful sleep and are awake early but anything past 3:30 is sleeping in for us as that is the time our alarm usually goes off at.  We awake today around 6 and we both comment on what a good sleep we had. 

It is overcast outside, and foggy and in the distance I can hear the fog horn - since we have a more aft cabin it is less noticeable, but for those up front you would certainly hear it.  Looks like it is either raining slightly or there is spray coming from the ocean.  But we don't care we are on a ship and we don't have to work.

We tune into the morning show and it is nice to see Richard Joseph the cruise director and he is even doing wake show questions.  

After a quick glance at the Patters we see that Zumba is happening at 8 am and I force myself to get up and head to it.  I loved doing it on other ships and want to see how this ship compares.  First it is held in the Universe Lounge (which has a much larger area to work with) and Eve is hosting it and she has a huge following from the Panama cruise and we get into it.  It went on for 40 minutes and we all worked up a good sweat.

I wander down to the coffee bar where of course I run into Bernie who is sipping his tea.  I get my latte and relax for a bit, and I swear an hour passed in a minute.

After a quick shower I need some food but it is pretty much lunch soon so I hold off and head up to the Horizon Court for a bite.  

There is a Holiday at Sea sale today and I pop my head in and I am surprised at how quiet it is, but I am sure with the 700 in transit from the Panama many have already done their buying.   

I wish I could say we did something exciting but we really didn't.  We just relaxed, read, had coffee, chatted with passengers and well that is about it.    Oh we did run into Joel the Executive Chef down in the International Cafe and we caught up with what has been happening with him.  

We decide to head to the Grapevine Wine Tasting and are sat with six other people and we had a nice afternoon there, but it was all the same wines.  Really enjoyed when the Emerald had a few different wines to try.  

When we get back to our cabin we see that they have delivered some chocolates and chocolate covered strawberries courtesy of Executive Chef Joel.  How sweet!  We decide to enjoy our champagne tonight before dinner in the cabin and it goes very well with the chocolates.  Thanks Joel!

Tonight since we are not that hungry and since we had a nap after that champagne we decide to head to the 7:45 Spotlight Showtime featuring Comedian Phil Tag.  We rarely go to the early show and we are shocked when we walk in at 7:40 that the place is PACKED.  We are told by the staff that it is okay to sit in some of the rear rows that are reserved for those with disabilities.  So we take a seat and the show starts very soon after. 

I am impressed that Richard Joseph the CD actually came out on stage to do the introduction.  That is one thing I was disappointed with in Lee Childs, he prerecords his intros and only makes a physical appearance at the end.  So thank you Richard we liked seeing you prior and after the show.

The comedian Phil Tag had his moments but all in all it was 45 minutes I would of rather have been doing something else.  Bernie liked him more than I, but humour is such a personal thing so give him a chance if you run into him on board.

After the show we head into the dining room for dinner and agree to sit with others.  We are sat at a table for six with two other couples, one from Alberta and one from California.  We enjoyed each other's company and getting to know each other better. 

For dinner I had the French Onion Soup to start and it was okay, very salty (which seems to be a trend on this ship), a nice salad, then for my entree I had the Pad Thai and it was good (but too salty again).  I opted out of the dessert and got my cheese plate instead.

One thing we notice is the menu is a combination of items from other menus.  Like they had escargot and then other items that are normally on different menu nights.  Guess with this three day repo they looked at what they could put together and made up new menus for it.  

We wander the ship dropping in on various venues to see what is happening but nothing really grabs us.  We are in bed at 11:30.

Other things happening tonight; MUTS is showing Life of Pi (but the weather really made this impossible to enjoy); Rock and Roll Night in Universe; Music and Dancing with Phoenix Rising; Dan Hodge in Crooners and Light Jazz with Celine DeeAz Quartet in Bayou Bar.  

May 10 - Evening

After the Muster Drill, which was well the usual.... cards were scanned upon entry, yes people put their life jacket on before they should, it was quick and efficient and a important.

We head up to the top deck for sailaway but as we get up there we both comment how we are hungry and the smells from the pizzeria pull us in.  We each grab a slice of the Margarita pizza and sit and watch some of the action.

We order a drink - remember if you are still within US waters you will be charged an extra tax.  It is easily identified on your receipt and will be broken down on your printout.

see how quiet it is

here is Ian at the bottom of the pic

We run into Ian who we met on the Emerald at the beginning of the year where he was a member of the photo department.  But he had applied to join the Cruise Director staff and he is now on the Island on his first contract as a deputy cruise director.  We catch up for a bit before he heads to the sail away party.

The atmosphere is surprisingly quiet and was surprised to see that the cruise staff did the draws and then left!  They were only there for about a half hour, 45 min max.... and then the bad played but most people departed quickly as we pulled away.  I know this is only a three day cruise but this seemed to be a trend on this trip.

The ship certainly doesn't feel full and the demographics are a change too.  Much younger crowd, more kids, families.  I find out that there are over 700 in transit passengers who did the Panama Canal and are continuing to Vancouver.  There is a large school group from the Vancouver area that we find out later is a jazz band that performed at Disneyland and is now heading home.   Those teens were very polite and considerate and looked like they are having a good time.

Among our Elite documentation we received information about the Platinum/Elite lounge.  I am actually surprised they are even having it because on previous short trips they haven't had it.  For this ship the lounge is held in the back of the Explorer lounge.  Along with the invite we were given two coupons for two free drinks in the lounge.  First time we have seen these but like it of course.  Tonight's drink is the margarita with chips/salsa/guacamole.  I get a drink but no finger food, I am saving myself for dinner.

Dinner tonight is in the Bayou Cafe (only on the Island and Coral) at 7 pm - cover charge of $20 each.  We have dined here before but really wanted to try it on this trip again.  We dropped off our bottle of wine ahead of time and it was waiting on our table when we got there.  The Head Waiter welcomed us and asked about the corkage fee.  We stated that we were charged it when we boarded, as I thought we were and was concerned about being charged it twice.  He said that normally they put a sticker on it when they charge the corkage and ours didn't have a sticker.  But he said no problem and did not charge us.  

For dinner we ordered different items.  My appetizer was the sausage which was very flavourful and I enjoyed but way too big, I only ate 1/3 of the dish to save room.  Bernie ordered the peel/eat shrimp which was served with fries and he had to control himself not to eat the fries, also this was a large dish.

We both had the salad which was outstanding and could of eaten two of them.

For my entree I ordered the blackened chicken and Bernie ordered the catfish, which again was served with lots of fries.  We enjoyed both the dishes, but Bernie commented he really wished they had something other than fries served with the meal.

Gee I can not even remember what I had for dessert but it was not memorable what ever it was.

Now the ambiance - certainly not my favorite.  Felt like I was more at a pub than a nice alternate restaurant.  We had a table for two on the edge of the railing where the band Celine DeeAz Quartet played.  Initially we were concerned about the noise level coming from the band and yes it was loud, certainly too loud to carry on a conversation but we really enjoyed the band thoroughly.  But if I had to dine here again I would request a table much further away from the band if I wanted to talk.

In the end we were not charged the corkage and we did tip an extra $20 (note your daily hotel charge of $11.50 includes tips for specialty restaurants) as we always appreciate the excellent service here.   We thought at the time that we had been charged the corkage on the two bottles when we checked in but later found out we had not been charged this as we were within our two bottle per cabin limit.  

After dinner we wandered around a bit and checked out the 70s show happening in the Explorer's Lounge.   Tonight there is also the production show Do You Wanna Dance in the Princess Theater but we were too late to attend it.  

Back in the cabin at around 11 pm where we crawl into bed and have a restful sleep.

October 14 - At Sea

We wake and we are being lazy so easy to do.  Every morning we wake and watch the Morning Wake Show.  Today is a sea day and there is no rush to get going.

Today is the Outlet Sale on board in one of the dining rooms.  Now every cruise we have ever been on has this outlet sale.  It takes place in the dining room, tables are covered with sale items, and you name it they have it.  Since the ship was in Alaska for the summer and this is the first sailing since then there is lots of items from Alaska.  You name it, it is here - good time to buy your souvenirs from Alaska.  There are watches, scarves, rings, purses, t-shirts, magnets and everything else.  Normally there may be one or two things that I may buy but the lines for the checkout are so long, I almost always just put the stuff down and leave.  However one cruise the staff had a table that all you had to do was give your card number and they packaged it and did up the bill and we pick it all up later in one of the stores.

For lunch we head to the Horizon Court and they have set up a Fisherman's Deck BBQ which I went to and enjoyed some nice fish, unfortunately just as the buffet was being set up the skies opened and the rain came pouring down.  But this is very common in Central Amercia and is a nice break to the humidity.

This afternoon Dr. Ryan is holding a lecture on the Panama Canal, now we have pretty much had enough of Dr. Ryan and his political views being expressed in every other sentence so we decide to skip the lecture but catch it on the Stateroom TV channel. 

Tonight is formal night but we are opting out of formal wear, but decide to attend the Captain Circle Party.  We are also going to the Bayou Cafe for dinner with Craig and Barb right afterwards.  We arrive in the Vista lounge just before 7 pm and are enjoying some free watered down drinks but are having a good time seeing friends.



Donna and Shaune from Edmonton



Barb and Craig with Jasper

us with Jasper

Emilio Mazzi the Hotel General Manager with Jasper

Brett Sibourne with Jasper

We had a good time at the Captain Circle Party - didn't win anything and we are very very far from being the most travelled passenger but we are still young and lots of cruises to go.  We make our way over to the Bayou Cafe, neither couple has eaten there before, it is sort of like a steakhouse but with a Louisiana twist.  The decor is very nice, dark woods, leather chairs, Carnival beads on the tables.  Prior to sailing Craig and I talked about eating together here and sharing some good wine.  Bernie and I brought a bottle of wine from British Columbia and Craig and Barb brought a bottle from California.  A $15 corkage fee per bottle is charged when you bring your own wine to the restaurant or any of the dining rooms.

here are the two bottles of wine

Lobster bisque

lobster and t-bone

I ordered this meal above!  It was huge, I could only eat about a quarter of the steak but damn that lobster tail was good.  Our waiter Hector (below) is a real character and very efficient.  And apparently he can sing.

After dinner the Newlywed, Not So Newlywed game is happening in the Explorer's Lounge.  We arrive a little late but see that Rob and Shelley have been chosen to participate.  We will never look at their dining table the same way!!

Laurie, Shelley and I all fell in love with the Shwartzky bracelet that was for sale in the boutiques on board.  We all bought one and now we all have the same souvenir from this voyage.

Ashyaa one of our favorite bar waiters from Argentina

Kim, also from Vancouver is the Assistant Cruise Director.

After the Newlywed Game we head back to the cabin laughing at very very full.  Tomorrow is Fuerto Amador / Pamana City.