Fort Lauderdale February 7, 2015 Beginning of Next Leg

We wake early.  Almost always impossible to sleep in on turn around day.  We toss and turn a bit and we agree we should get the wash in early and done early.

The laundry is located close to our cabin and it is quick and easy to get tokens for the machines since you can scan your cruise card and then charge it to your account. 

With the laundry in we head up to Horizon Court for a small bite to eat.  The place is busy, but because of the better layout it flows so much better and seating is not really a problem today.  Staff quickly ask if we need juice, coffee or tea and replenish the glasses too.

We know there are a lot of in transit passengers today (in transit means passengers are staying on for the next leg too).  I have been told it is just under 400 passengers.   

Today we have the option of heading off at any time and going ashore but if we head off any time we need to wait until around noon when all aboard is made open to come back.  Oh course we can stay out longer as long as we are back before sail away.

Today we also need to change cabins.  We booked a guarantee so we were lucky enough to get the same cabin for the first twenty days, but have to move two cabins down for the next ten days.  We still have the same steward and the layout is the same.  It is also an obstructed balcony view but this really has no obstruction at all, in fact we can see the water quite clearly.  Very nice and no complaints about the cabin.

One thing we noticed is the light just above the bed that comes on when you also turn on the closet area light.  In our old cabin the light above the bed shone bright and we thought that was odd since if someone wanted to discreetly get dressed the light would wake the person in bed.  The new cabin has a light that comes on in the cabin too, but it is by the balcony door and doesn’t disrupt the person sleeping so much.  Then it dawned on me, the other cabin had an upper berth so it could not put the light by the door where the berth was in the ceiling.  The new cabin light layout is much better.

We clean up the old cabin, pack up things on shelves into bags and then when the new cabin is available (Jenny cleaned that cabin right away, she is a dear) we move items by going back and forth.  We are able to just remove the drawers and exchange them with the empty ones with no problem.  Jenny’s manager comes down to help us move, he moves all the items on the hangers to the other room and we thank him but we are able to move everything.  In total the change took about a half hour and it was helpful to do some cleaning up too.  Things got packed away that we don’t need any more or haven’t used.

I decorate the cabin door with a Valentine’s Day theme and finish off the laundry.

As in transit we need to meet in the Princess Theater at 10:30.  Today with more ships in port (six) it is going to be slower than last turn around.  Last turn around we were the only ship in port and it was quick, in fact they called us to the lounge early to go off.  Today when we make our way to the Princess Theater there are still passengers on board in some of the lounges. 

We take a seat in the theater and wait for about a half hour.  At 11 we are led out to the gangway where we bing out on our old card.  The staff (aka Golden Girls) he chants “single file, hold on to the railing” as we head down the escalator (I think it is the same guy who has been manning that escalator for the past ten years).  In fact whenever we use an escalator at home Bernie chats the same thing now.

We are filed into rows of seats and we wait.  The ship needs to arrive at a count of zero passengers before we can go back on.  Also they need to get a custom agent to look at our passports and there are still lines for customs for passengers coming off.  Normally we go thru the customs agent’s booth but today a single agent comes to us and we are asked to open our passports to our picture page and all we do is show him and we are led back on.  Very easy process but today it is long.  In total it was just under 1.5 hours, but this is because of the number of people staying on and the busy day in Port Everglades.

Originally we were going to walk into Fort Lauderdale and pick up some items but I really don’t feel like it.  I don’t need anything important.  Bernie needs a new toothbrush but I tell him for just that we can pick one up in Calypso Cove.  

We are needing to head to the cabin and relax and enjoy the calmness of the ship before everyone gets on.  When I suggest to Bernie that we go to Alfredos for lunch I barely have the words out of my mouth when he is saying “yes”.  He loves Alfredos especially the Royal Pizza.  Of course I got the Sangria and Bernie got the Blue Moon Beer.

It is getting busier on board and there are a few places I want to check out that we normally can’t see.  

Oh I forgot to mention that before we got off this morning I went around and took pictures of quite a few different cabins, including the ones that my Facebook fans from my page requested.  I really like the layout of the inside sideways cabins.  Also loved the full suites forward too. Here is the link to the pictures of the cabins.

Will post all the pics on my fan page when I get home.

So back to our day after lunch.  I want to see the Spa and the Enclave and oh my yes it is beautiful and I wish I could justify the cost of a pass but at $200 for the ten days I just can’t afford it.  I would rather do something else.  In fact we signed up for the Ultimate Ship’s Tour that is $150 each and is more our style. 

I head up to the kids club to see that area.  On the first day before sail away you can check it out.  Gee I wish I could be a kid again.  They have really done an excellent job with this area.  Again I took a ton of pictures but will have to wait to post until I get home.

Up on the top decks I tour the Sanctuary and the Cabanas they have up there.  I think the Sanctuary is a great idea and it does look relaxing up there.  We use to go to the Sanctuary all the time but have stopped when they raised the price.  Cost is $20 for half a day or $40 for a full day.  You can buy a whole cruise pass for a discounted price of $300 for ten days. 

Okay we are both hitting the wall now… we need a nap desperately and the Muster Drill is about to happen so we crawl into bed and try to nap.  But we are woken by announcements in the cabin by Captain Dino.  Now as handsome as he is, being woken by him thru a P.A. is not how I dreamed it would happen.  Don’t tell Bernie.

We enjoy a lovely sail away from the port in our cabin.  The horn blasting the beginning of the Love Boat. We are happy we are on for another leg.

Bernie grabs the coffee card and we head down to the International Café for a tea and see Trevor Cole is playing his Steel Pan in the Atrium.  What a lovely way to begin a Caribbean holiday.  Trevor says hi to us and we shake our booty to the tunes for a second.  What a great ambassador to Princess Trevor is.  In fact after his set he joins us in Vines for a chat.  He shares pictures of his beautiful wife, his home and his son.  It is always great to connect with the crew, their friendship to us is always a pleasure and we treasure them. 

We dress for dinner and head to our “regular” table.  Daniel and Inna are there to greet us but they are packed.  For the life of me I can’t figure out how they assign the tables.  Seems he gets all the tables.  The section behind us and the one behind Bernie are not even half full but Daniel’s section keeps getting filled. 

Inna and Daniel can handle it but they are so busy.  It is nice to see the head waiters helping out and Franco comes by to say hi and he fills our water glasses and we ask if he could get the white wine to top up my glass.  I feel bad for Daniel, he is so busy he is not able to give the service that he would like to the tables.  But he does shine and once first course and drinks are set on all the tables he regroups and the flow is better. 

After dinner the band New Deal is performing in the Atrium.  There is a large group of dancers on board and the Atrium dance floor is busy with dancers.  The dance floor is large (certainly bigger than the Wheelhouse bar on the Crown Class ships) for dancers.  I grab Bernie’s hand and we dance a bit but boy we are nowhere as good as these dancers around us.  Our friend Rick would love this voyage.

We take a seat in Vines to chat with Ryan and enjoy a glass of wine.  It is late and we are ready for bed. 

Although sleep does not come well for us.  The mattress in this cabin is bad.  It is hard like a rock and you can see that it has seen better days or many larger passengers.  I wake every hour or so in pain on the side that I am sleeping.  I roll over and wake again in agony from this bed.  In the morning I am tired, grumpy and when I look at the mattress I see that mattress is sagging and they have added a pillow top padding to it but something needs to be done I can not handle nine more nights on it. 

I get dressed and drop something to help my aches from the bed and Bernie informs our Cabin Steward that we need a new mattress.  I will keep you informed as to our request.

Movies this voyage are:  Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day; Edge of Tomorrow; Get on Up; Guardians of the Galaxy; Saving Mr. Banks; The Giver; The Hundred-Foot Journey; The Maze Runner.

Princess Theater is showing the same production shows; Spectacular; What the World Needs Now and Colors of the World.  We still haven’t seen What the World Needs Now so will get it in this cruise.

The All Inclusive Drink Package is very popular with many people getting it.  For $49 per day plus gratuity you can get unlimited beverages that are under $10 and includes coffee drinks, water, soda and wine/beer, oh and of course cocktails.

January 18 – Happy Birthday Bernie – Lets Board the Royal

After waking and getting things organized.  Since we bought so much stuff we really needed to make room for all the things.  

We had breakfast again downstairs at the restaurant which was again good food, but the restaurant does need to work with cleanliness.  The glasses on the table were filthy and the floor was scattered with items.  

Again today there are hockey players in the lobby.  Last night the Florida Panthers played against the Edmonton Oilers and so this morning the Oiler’s players are all in the lobby.  Bernie was like a school boy in the elevator cause he was chatting with two of them.  

Back on the road and we dropped our car off at the airport with no issues, but I don’t think we would use Advantage again.  The car was great, the price was amazing but the service and pushy upsell and just the feeling that we are being taken advantage of.

Since Advantage does not provide a free shuttle we go and line up for a taxi.  The line was long but it moved very quickly and lasted only about 5 minutes.  The shuttle that some car rentals offer is handy but can be a pain if you have your suitcases and it is busy, plus it has to stop at all the ships.  The taxi only cost $14 and we were dropped right at the pier at 12:15 pm.

Now I should preface this with there are 8 ships in port today.  CRAZY….

The line was forming and we are not sure what line to stand in.  There is no one to direct us into an appropriate line and we queue up in one line and it looks like there is only one line and that it divides as we get the main door.  But with so many people who now are preferred, that line is actually slower.  The first check point is the security screening and with only one scanner for preferred and two for everyone else we take much longer than those that were aligned with us before the separation who cleared before we did.  So I recommend look and see how long the line is and go in the one that is faster if you are preferred.  

We are bringing on three bottles of champagne so when we go thru security we head over to the table for alcohol purchases and we sign a slip for corkage for one of the bottles.  What is different is they don’t put a sticker or sign on the bottle we paid corkage for.  The only thing they give us is the receipt and say that we just have to show them the receipt if we want to take it to the restaurant. 

Now to the next queue for our room cards.  It did move fast though and we noticed Nancy in the line so that was nice.  
Once we had the cards we don’t have to walk far to get into another long line.  The line to board the ship is so long it is actually backing up into the counter area where we got our cards.  

In all it took just over an hour to get on board.  Sadly this seems to be an area that Princess really needs to improve on.  Having someone on the sidewalk directing people to the proper line and answering people’s questions would have been helpful.  I wish they would have had two gangways too to ease the flow.  But now that I am on let the vacation begin but I am glad I don’t have to deal with that mess again.

We step on board and we immediately are in awe of how pretty she is and we have no real problem finding our cabin. We are only one deck above the Promenade  - AFT.  The view from our cabin is very good with minimal obstruction. 

The room is a bit smaller than other ships but we find it adequate for our needs.  

Off to explore the ship a bit and Bernie sees Alfredos and he turns and says “you want a pizza?” oh yeah great idea.  This Alfredos is huge, twice the size of the one on the Grand and there are many more menu items too.  This Alfredos has salads and pastas as well as more pizza options, and then dessert too.  We each order a drink and I get the Calzone and Bernie gets the Royal Pizza and they were both very very good.  The service was top notch and so helpful.

We walk around to explore a bit and we come across Hotel General Manager Michael Prasse and we stop him and say hi from Vancouver.  He is originally from Vancouver but now lives in England.  We chat for a bit and tell him we have a small surprise for him (a box of Purdy’s chocolates from home) to remind him of home.  

Muster Drill is at 3:15 and as we walk aft to our cabin to get our life jackets we see Lisa Ball the Cruise Director and she is surprised to see us and big hugs a quick chat.  We agree to meet up for drinks real soon. 

Our Muster Station is station G which is the Crown Grill/Wheelhouse Bar and when we arrive we see Federico Castro the Captain Circle Host who just joined today after his vacation.  We sailed with Federico on the Caribbean Princess a few years ago.  He is such a sweet considerate man and so helpful for. 

This is our 50th Princess cruise and they commemorate it with some special treats.  When we arrive in the cabin there is a beautiful flower arrangement and a bottle of champagne with a card of congratulations.  A large bowl of fruit is delivered later and chocolate covered strawberries too.  The Maitre d’ calls and asked us about our dining arrangements and we do need to change them.  For some reason we are marked Traditional Early Seating, for which we have never had or requested.  We request a table for two at 8 am and we are confirmed with our request.

After Muster we have Roy and Sandra from England and Paul and Yvonne from Edmonton join us in the cabin for some champagne and a toast to a great cruise and to Bernie’s Birthday.  We head up on the top deck for sailaway with our flags so I hope you all were able to catch us on the web cam. 

Tim and Brian

We run into Brian and Tim who we have sailed with twice before and then Ed and Margaret are on board too.  It is like homecoming week.

Paul and Yvonne

Sandra and Roy (behind the flag)

Back to the cabin and we unpack and have no problem finding spots for everything with still some space to spare. Suitcases under the bed along with the life jackets (which are normally on the top shelf in the closet).  

We decide to head to Club 6 which is the Elite/Platinum Lounge.  Tonight’s drink is the margarita gold for $5 but when we ask if we can get any of the other drinks that are offered they say no and since we don’t want the margarita we decide to leave.  Here is where things are different on each ship, just a few weeks ago on the Golden and the Grand we could choose any of the drinks that are on offer for the Platinum/Elite Lounge for $5.  

So we head off and explore the ship a bit more.  We stop in at the Crown Grill and make reservations for tomorrow.  We love the open decks and all the smaller intimate areas (like aft behind Horizon Court).  

Dinner is at 8 in the Symphony Dining room.  We are sat at a nice table for two and Daniel from Peru serves us.  He says he remembers us from somewhere and we finally figure out where.  He was on the Star with us when we were on three years ago for South America.  His Junior Waiter is Inna from the Ukraine who is very helpful. 

We get two wine cards of seven bottles each, one Gold and one Silver.  The Gold gives us 7 bottles of $45, and the Silver gives us 7 bottles of $29 each.  We order one for dinner now and one to be set to the room to enjoy in the cabin.  To learn more about the Wine Card read my earlier article/blog about it here 

Dinner was very good, we started with the butterfly shrimp Creole which is a new item, and no worries it is not too spicy.  Then a lovely salad and for my entrée I had another new item of Pork Mofongo (sorry not sure if I spelled that correctly).  It is served with pulled pork, a mash of plantains with a lovely light sauce.  For dessert Bernie enjoyed the Hazlenut Souffle and I had my usual the cheese plate.

Franco one of the head waiters comes over and helps us choose a wine (Spellbound) which was an excellent choice. And we arrange to reserve two spots for the Wine Makers Dinner too.  

After dinner we wander around a bit and head to the theater for the Welcome Aboard Show at 10:15  (there was also one at 8:15).  The dancer did a new number that we really enjoyed.  The comedian Jim Collitan had us laughing so hard and we look forward to his full show.  Lisa talked about the ship and what to expect along with Simone her Deputy Cruise Director.   After the show we stay behind to say hi to Lisa and meet Simone. 

We stroll around for a bit but it being just after 11 pm many of the venues are closing or are closed.  The Wheelhouse has a lovely band playing called Inner Mood Quartet.  

Back up in the room which is just above the Wheelhouse we can hear the band below us but they stopped playing just after 11 so it really wasn’t too bad, but it should be noted that if you have a room above the Wheelhouse you may hear noise from it.

Officers on board are:  Captain Dino Sagani, Staff Captain Paolo Arrigo, Hotel General Manager Michael Prasse, Cruise Director Lisa Ball, Senior Doctor Dylan Belton (nice to see him again), Food & Beverage Director Ferdinando Vinelli, Customer Services Director Sandro Merello, Excutive Housekeeper Ruben Verduzco, Excutive Chef David McDonald, Maitre d’Hotel Fabio Marcotti.

A new feature on Princess this year is Festivals of the World and depending where you voyage is sailing will feature events that represent that area.  For the Caribbean it is Mardi Gras.  So for this itinerary you have the chance to participate in a Circle Drum Class, make your own Mardi Gras Mask with the Arts and Craft lesson or be involved in the cultural Flashmob dance class.  At the end of the cruise they will have a huge Mardi Gras Party where you can perform what you have learned.