Review of Last Night - too funny

Jasper meets Jasper the Customer Services Director

Last night was the Captain Circle Party for the Platinum and Elite members.  We originally were given a 5 pm cocktail party time but since we don’t eat until around 7:45 we chose to go to the later party at 7 pm. 

You can see lots of seats still available in the Vista Lounge.  I don’t know if this is because it is just Platinum and Elite members or if it is because most attended the earlier party.  Whatever it is we are sitting with a nice gentleman who I see every time we play Sudoku.  He is travelling by himself and when I saw him sitting alone I invited him over.

Most travelled is just over a 1,000 days – WOW, Mr Fivel I believe is his name.  We have travelled with him a few times now.  He is rather demanding, in fact he didn’t bring a tie on this voyage and since tonight is formal he needed on for the party.  Peter the Captain Circle Host actually lent him a tie from his own closet!  Now that is service that goes over and above.

We sip vodka and soda water for Bernie and Cosmos for me and say hi to many of the crew that we know.  The Captain (Todd McBain) is so hilarious, again his quick wit are making us laugh so hard.  At one point he is walking around the audience looking for volunteers to draw names out for the champagne and he sits down next to a woman and chats with her.  Priceless.

After the party we head down to Portifinos and meet up with Mark Harris the lecturer for dinner.  He looks lovely in his tuxedo and we are sat at our usual table.  Tonight the chef is preparing a special Thai dish for us.  We didn’t specifically ask for it but we had mentioned how we were craving Thai food as it has been a while and Douw said tonight we would have it. 

I don’t think Mark knew what to make of all the staff coming over to say hi, it was non stop, all the head waiters, many of the waiters and a few of the assistant waiters, then the Maitre D came over – we comment to Mark since we have been on for so long we know quite a few people.

We really enjoyed dining with Mark and learning about his travels and his life.  He is very funny and am looking forward to his lecture today on sharks.

Emilio - Hotel General Manager - Celebrity Liar's Club

Pippa - Future Cruise Consultant - Celebrity Liar's Club

Dr. David - Celebrity Liar's Club

Peter - Captain Circle Host, and Jasper - Celebrity Liar's Club

After dinner we head to Explorer’s Lounge for the Celebrity Liar’s Club which consists of Dave the Baby Doc (aka crew doctor), Pipa the Future Cruise Consultant, Emilio the Hotel General Manager and Peter the Captain Circle Host.  I don’t want to give away all that was said, cause I don’t want to ruin it for others plus I was laughing so hard I can’t remember it all.

we did up signs to flash to each of them, this was Emilio's sign

Dr. David performs what the word means

 

They all played off each other and each had they little tricks.  Peter even took Jasper up on stage and had him sit on the table in front of him – he was very excited as you can see.  Pipa did a great job playing the ditzy blonde, Emilio made us laugh so hard with his serious comments and his talk about his neighbor Gianfranco, Dave had props and we couldn’t stop laughing.

After the show we head to the Wheelhouse for port with some friends and we close the place and well pretty much the entire ship too!  It is just after midnight and we don’t see a single passenger.

I want to thank Felipe for giving me the lovely pineapple earrings – I had been joking around with the shoppies on how I have been looking everywhere for a Pineapple on a t shirt or earings or just a pineapple!  Guess what he found some, beautiful gold earrings.  He gave them to me last night, how sweet.

Review of the First Gold Captain Circle Party

Today while sailing on the Star Princess – Oct 8, 2012 -  I had the pleasure of being able to sit in on the Gold Member Only Captain Circle Party.  For those that had sailed at least once prior to their fifth sailing.  With so many Gold Members on board and in the Loyalty Program Princess created a new event for those members only.

The event was scheduled for 4 pm on a sea day on a formal night, however dress code was smart casual.  The event was held in the Princess Theater and the doors opened 15 minutes prior.  Staff welcomed everyone at all access points and collected the invites to be used in a draw at the end of the event.  I would like to personally comment on how impressed I was with the Cruise Director Staff, notably Zara and Brandon who both had a lot of energy and were very helpful in directing people down the stairways to seats they said they had personally picked for them.  Made me smile knowing these people must of felt special.

On the big screen little trivia quotes flashed.  Here are some of the ones I liked:

•     Princess first set sail in 65 with one ship to Mexico
•     2007 Princess launched the Department of Romance (kiss the person beside you)
•     In 2005 Princess celebrated 40 year anniversary, they are looking forward to their 50^th anniversary
•     First transatlantic cruise was 1968
•     Princess sails to all 7 continents
•     Princess visits 350 ports worldwide
•     20,000 crew members work on board Princess ships

The show began at 4:05 and I would say the theater was 90% full.  That is a lot of Gold Members.  The one couple beside me stated this was their third Princess Cruise, the other couple said this was their second Princess Cruise.

It began with a video of loyal Princess passengers talking about why they love Princess, and I have to say I agreed with all the comments and they made me feel good and I was happy to say that I too am a loyal repeat Princess passenger.

After the video ended the Princess Orchestra started playing “When the Saints Go Marching In” and the crowd is clapping and seem to enjoy it.  Martyn Moss our Cruise Director comes out on stage and welcomes everyone to the first every Gold Captain Circle Party.  He then introduces the Star Princess singers who come out and sing a song.  For me personally this was the one area that I didn’t enjoy as much.  Now I love the production shows but this felt out of place as the lights went down and we had to listen to the number they performed. 

Martyn then introduced the latest Royal Princess Video which was all about the Top Deck and the entertainment that will be featured there.  Sure this was nice to see on the big screen but I had seen it online and it is shown on the in cabin tv too, and it sort of felt like a sales pitch.  What felt awkward was after the video Martyn asked “so who is booked for the Royal next year” no one clapped but I did see a few hands.  He then introduced Pippa the Future Cruise Consultant, then he introduced Peter the Captain Circle Host.
 

Captain McBain was introduced and well, Captain McBain is a natural with the crowds.  He makes us smile with his quick humor and doesn’t mind making fun of himself.  My favorite line he used was “Thank you for coming back home to Princess”.  Love it!  And that is exactly how I feel when I come on board any Princess ship – I feel at home and the crew are like family.

All the invites that were collected are to be drawn, but not everyone handed in their invites so some of the cruise director staff sprint around collecting invites and Martyn is once again quick with a funny about the whole situation.  Once the invites are in two names are drawn for a bottle of champagne.  The last draw is described.  Whoever gets drawn will receive all the elite benefits for the remainder of the voyage, which include laundry, internet, formal night canapés, mini bar set up, priority tendering, 10% off in the boutiques etc.  The name is drawn and Peter rushes over to escort the lucky winner to his desk to get the details.  I have to say that when the prize was announced I heard a lot of comments around me saying ohhh, ahhh, and hope I win.

As soon as the draw is over the event is over and then it is a mad dash by everyone to exit the lounge.  At all the doors staff are there to hand out drink vouchers.  One per person that entitles them to a complimentary beverage compliments of Captain McBain, up to a cost of $7.95 and may not be utilized as an onboard credit, discount for a more expensive product or for any other onboard revenue area.  It is only valid for this current voyage and must be presented at the time of redemption.  Photocopies are not accepted.

My review of the event – well I liked it.  Sure some people are going to be disappointed they don’t have the other cocktail party but as soon as they get to Platinum they will once again attend the other party.  I like the idea of getting to use the coupon for any type of beverage up to $7.95 whenever they want.  The Captain Circle Party is nice but I often don’t care for the drinks they offer and getting your own specific beverage takes a long time.  Also it was also so very very busy and crowded that we often skipped it.  I will be curious to see how crowded the Captain Circle Party on this voyage ends up.

Friday – can you hear the waves it is a day at sea

Wow it is 9:30, well really 8:30 but the clocks went forward.  So much for breakfast in the dining room.  I want to head to Sudoku so I am dressed and out of there in a flash.  I came in third in the Sudoku challenge and won a lanyard, and since I have lots of them I gave it to the nice gentleman next to me.

 

A quick breakfast in Horizon Court of mixed fruit and Muselix – boy it is busy up there at  10 am, but I am guessing a lot of people are thrown off by the time change too and the dining room closing at 9.

 

We head to the Piazza for my espresso and Bernie’s tea (he loves the new tea specialty tea brands he is finding here).  We see Jim MacDonald the comedian from last night and we tell him hi and how much we enjoyed his show.

Felipe and Delmarie

 

So now that we have eaten, gotten our coffee, it is time for a workout and we both head up to the gym for a good workout.  Oh what a view!  The gym was busy when we first got up there but it doesn’t take long for it to clear out – lunch time.

The afternoon will consist of some R and R out on deck in a bathing suit and cold beverage.  So bathing suits are on, sunscreen is slathered on and we are off to sun deck, aft area.  Great area, close to the washroom, close to a bar, close to a Jacuzzi, close to a pool and rather quiet.  We hang out there for about two hours before Bernie heads back to the room, I head to the spa to enjoy the steam room and sauna; however sadly the steam room was not that hot and the sauna was definitely not that hot.  This area is in desperate need of some TLC and is showing it’s age.  Thermostat was broken in the sauna, so I couldn’t tell you what the temp was but put it this way I could of hanged in there for hours and I believe with saunas it shouldn’t be like that.

We are both in the cabin now and right on queue around 5:30 we hear the drum solo just below us, no sense watching tv as it is hard to hear.  So we put on our iPods and read until it is time to get ready.  It is intermittent the sounds from below to only when they are rehearsing or the show is on.  I always like to think it could be worse – we could be above another bar that is only all night, or God forbid we actually had to cook and clean here. 

Bernie has been talked into being one of the models for the Runway Show tomorrow in Explorer’s Lounge where they will be featuring the new clothing items in the boutiques.  Stay tuned for the full story tomorrow and when I get home I will definitely add pictures.

 

 

Emilio (Hotel General Manager) and me, so nice to see Emilio again

Tonight is formal night and also the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Party.  We haven’t been to the Welcome Aboard Party in years and decide lets check it out and we have a good time and enjoy meeting many of our fellow passengers.  I even decide to try my turn at pouring the champagne on the champagne waterfall.  Yes!  I have never done this…. Hard to believe but true and now I can say I have done everything!

Captain Todd McBain

 

We meet up with friends for drinks in Wheelhouse then move over to Sabatinis for dinner.  For those that don’t know Sabatinis has a $20 coverage charge for a fabulous meal.  I chose to start with the calamari my favorite appetizer, and then for my entrée I had lobster risotto (which is a portion of the lobster three ways but I love the Risotto).  For dessert I opt to forgo so I can have my favorite drink the Sicilian Kiss.  In fact we head back to the Wheelhouse where I have another Sicilian Kiss.

Peter and Bernie

Pippa swears by the steak served in Sabatinis

Pippa and I

 

Another great day on board.

Some of the events today from the Patter:  Bible Study, Bocce Ball, Golf and Croquet, Bridge Lecture, Sudoku, Trivia, Holiday Store at Sea, Shopping Spotlight Show, Zumba, Service Club Get Together, Pin Pong Play, Casino Introduction, Egg Drop Sign Up, Texas Hold’Em Tournament, Naturalist Lecture (Exotic Marine Life off Mexico), Photography at Sea, Art Auction, Duplicate Bridge Play, Pop Choir Rehearsal, Closest To The Pin, Ballroom Dance Class, Arts & Crafts – Box Making, Bingo, Singles & Solos Afternoon Tea Get Together, Jewish Sabbath Eve Service, Who Sang What?  Featuring Totally 80s, Production Show – Stardust, Majority Rules, Comedian Jim MacDonald.

 

Movies today:  Big Miracle, John Carter, Men in Black 3, Snow White and the Huntsman