Second Leg Cruise Reflections – Buenos Aires to Valparaiso

Note:  These are my own personal views.  I have had many people make comments to me but I refuse to post anything that is second hand that I did not experience (good and bad) unless I viewed it myself.

Like the first leg I wanted to go back and comment on the voyage and what I thought of it and stated the Great, the Good and the Not So Good.

Great:

-          Once again the crew are amazing.  Since we have been on board for 30 days we recognize many and many recognize us and say hi to us by name.  When we show up in a bar they remember our favorite drink and ask how our day was.  Big shout out to Beth and Jasmin in Crooners, Anthony in Vines, Zoran, Thais, Beatriz, Natasha, and Jayne in International Café.

-          Our wait staff this leg have been some of the best we have ever experienced.  Our table with Mark and Lorelei in Da Vinci is one of our highlights every day.  Mark and Lorelei (table 514) remember our preferences and we share our day with them and we love hearing about their day too. 

-          Entertainment on board is still great…. Lots to do, great shows, wonderful trivia type games, Wake Show is fun to watch too.  Lisa and Dan are seen about the ship all the time and always approachable and are working very hard at accommodating many.

-          Movies are some of the best we have ever seen.  We rarely get to the movies at home but love that we can catch up with many when at sea.  This leg we have seen almost all the Oscar nominated movies with many being shown in a venue on board but then also repeated in the cabins too.

-          The Captain and his officers and how they have managed the poor weather we have encountered and often having to make difficult decisions (skipping the horn) to protect the vessel and the passengers on her.

-          Love the itinerary, lots of ports but lots more sea days to really relax and come back new as the ads say. 

-          Love the wine package which has enabled us to really try lots of different wines.  Many of the waiters, bartenders and even bar managers have introduced us to new wines and cocktails we have never tried but loved.

-          We really enjoy that Skywalkers is designated a quiet area and it is wonderful place to go and enjoy the view and read.

-          We started this voyage under Red Alert and I am impressed at how well the crew from the Captain, to the Medical Staff, to the waiters, cleaners, cabin steward dealt with it.  The level was able to return to normal after almost two weeks under the alert because of their dedication and hard work.

Good:

-          Food is good, certainly haven’t gone hungry.  But it is still way too salty for our taste and often we try something and it is so salty we can’t eat it.  We have noticed so much salt in the food that I have noticed swelling in the joints from water retention.  We are also not drinking as much water as we normally do at home (I drink normally minimum of 12 8oz glasses a day), which doesn’t help.  Still have not gotten hot French fries in buffet or Trident Grill.  Nor have we gotten hot pancakes or eggs, we have given up on this. 

-          Cabin Steward is good, he certainly does his job but he is rather shy and doesn’t do anything extra unless we ask.  We have been spoiled on other sailing with Stewards that anticipate our needs and we rarely have to ask for anything.  This time we find we often have to ask for extra laundry bags, soap, note paper cause we have run out.  Although we have really appreciated the sheets changed regularly and he is quick at cleaning the cabin.  We normally tip an average of $5 extra per day to our steward but so far in the 30 days we have maybe tipped him an extra $25 in total.

-          I have really enjoyed the Captain Circle Parties – currently there are four parties to accommodate all the Platinum/Elite Passengers.  The Captain has been hilarious and the waiters have been very efficient at providing drinks for us.  Sadly they have not been going around serving appetizer to us like they normally do, not sure if this is fleet wide or not.

-          The Glacier Alley after leaving Ushuaia should really go under Great!  But since we left Ushuaia early evening and only got to see the first three glaciers before nightfall it goes under Good.  I love this area, and it is beautiful.  We would love to see a change to the itinerary so that we could travel this area during daylight and really appreciate it.

Not So Good:

-          Lecturers John Maxtone Graham and Jeffrey Wolff have been a disappointment for us.  Don’t care for John’s political views being added to his lectures.  Jeffrey Wolff’s talks seems to be more like I am in a fourth grade class and I just don’t get the feeling he really knows his subject personally but more he gained the knowledge on line and is just repeating.  This is too bad cause we really like the subject matter and miss the excellent lecturers we have had in the past. 

-          Tender Service – now this leg tender service has really not been a good experience.  I should state though that in Punt Arenas Chile the weather with the high winds caused huge delays with tender service could not be helped.  But in Falklands and Puerto Montt tender service was slow and long waits to get back to the ship.  In Puerto Montt there must have been over a 1,000 people waiting to get back on board when we showed up at the pier at 4:30 pm (last tender was 5, but was much later).  They are down a tender due to mechanical issues but with the remaining tenders this causes long waits and many with mobility issues are having to line up for long periods, often in the elements.  Thankfully next leg there is only one tender port.

-          Downfall of this cruise is that it has a lot of demanding passengers who are experienced cruisers.  We keep encountering people who are upset about so much but we feel their complaints are not justified and wish they would look at the 95% great things instead of the 5% bad things.  The crew are encountering a lot of abuse from some of these people and I feel for them.  Also because this leg forced a lot of people inside due to the incumbent weather not only did it make many of the public venues busy it also cause many short tempers among passengers and also passengers to the crew.  I am quite impressed on how the crew have been able to defuse many incidents. 

-          Although we are only two weeks later in the season from the last time we did this voyage the weather has been poorer (although this could happen earlier too) and also a lot less wildlife viewings too.

-          The Captain Circle desk area is on Promenade Forward just outside the Wheelhouse and it is really a poor location.  Poor Cameron has his desk out in the middle of the hallway and often we encounter people using his desk and chairs when he is not there.  Not sure how Princess can rectify this but it really should be off limits and made a bit more private.

-          I have said this before on previous cruises but feel Princess should do something about the women’s uniforms.  They have to wear skirts even though they are exposed to the elements where the men get to wear pants.  In today’s day and age I would hope that they would be treated more equally. 

-          One thing I really really hate and wish Princess would do something about it has to do with the Waiters Bus Station/Food Serving Stations.  The cupboards/drawers bang so loudly when they are closed.  It scares the crap out of me all the time and certainly is not enjoyable to hear bang bang bang bang throughout a meal.  Why can't they install self closing, non slamming doors!  

So to wrap this up we have really enjoyed this voyage so far.  We have tried new things this voyage and look forward to trying new things next leg.  Bernie is tickled pink that he finally got to go golfing in Ushuaia and can’t wait to brag to all his golfing buddies.  We love this area of the world and we are so happy we are getting to experience it again.  We even can say that we would book this itinerary again but maybe not from Fort Lauderdale but instead maybe join the ship in Valparaiso or Buenos Aries and doing a back to back. 

Princess still is our line of choice and our Princess family keeps growing.

Sea Days March 9 - 10, 2014

I don’t think I had mentioned, or maybe I had but the clocks were moved forward before arriving in Montevideo so we are now five hours ahead of Vancouver time.

I don’t even wake up until 9 am and I am shocked, although it was not a restful night I woke up quite a few times but no worries I am just glad I can relax all day while sailing south towards the Falklands.

We are still under red alert but the Captain has announced that things are going very well and looks like the code will be lifted tomorrow!  Yeah…. We have been at alert for almost two weeks!  But I think people are getting the hint and washing their hands.

MUTS has been down for the past few days, the technicians are working frantically on it though. 

Today we pulled out the suitcase and the clothing items we packed for cooler climates – jeans, long sleeve tops, fleece jackets, coat, mittens, hats and scarves --- oh and the hot pocket hand warmers to use when going around the glaciers.

This morning I meet Bernie down in Vines and Sherri and Ken join us as they want to see our Rio Carnival pictures.  For breakfast I grab a few items from the International Café and the almond croissant is still warm and decadent!  Loved it!

There are lots of lectures going on today, dance classes, language classes, Zumba, vegetable carving and lots lots more. 

But I end up back in the cabin on the balcony reading my book and was able to finish it.  Really enjoyed John Grisham’s latest book Sycamore Row but like all his books it is very predicable and makes for great vacation ready.  Just started a new book “Rosie Project” by Graeme Simsion and this is my third book this trip.   Bernie adds he is reading “Nine Dragons” by Michael Connely.

Hard to believe we have been gone for three weeks and we are almost half way thru the trip.

Today is formal night and we are aiming to dress up and head to the dining room.  Tonight feature in the Princess Theater is Destination Anywhere and since we didn’t see it the last voyage we will try this evening, but if we miss it we know we have seen it before too.

We are also heading to our “new” table.  After the very noisy table in the back we ask to move and we are assigned table 485 in Da Vinci with Mark and Lorelei and it is the same waiter we had the other day when we dined with Barb/Craig.  Service is excellent, location is great and we can actually communicate between us and hear.  We feel a huge sense of relief.  Stephen the Head Waiter even makes an appearance to make sure everything is good.  Wow could things in the dining room have turned a leaf?  Stay tuned.

Bernie asked Mark about the wine card and how the tip is distributed when you buy the card.  Mark tells us that when you buy the card the tip is charged at that time and whoever sold you the card gets the tip portion.  Darn we never saw the waiter again that we bought the card from.  We just assumed that every time we buy a bottle the waiter we buy it from gets the tip money.  We have used 10 of our 12 bottles so I am sure we will be getting another one.  And when we do we will make sure to buy it from Mark.

Tonight we head to the 10:15 show of Destination Anywhere and we both comment that this is a new show for us and we are amazed.  Excellent, and kick ourselves that we missed it last voyage and sad they won’t be repeating it before we get off.  Oh well we will catch it another voyage.  I do have to comment that a woman with her partner sat in the middle seats in the front row and talked VERY loudly the entire show.  Now I understand if you want to make a comment but talk quietly and don’t disturb others.  She was quite rude and it was very obvious and I felt bad for the dancers/singers who work so hard only to have people not pay attention.  

Okay I have ranted for today.  But to end on a positive note, Make sure you see the production show Destination Anywhere.

The next sea day was a sleep in day, there was quite a bit of movement on the seas, but not horrible but enough to make quite a few creaks and I kept waking up.  So Bernie crawls out of bed and dresses and tells me to sleep and I do just that until around 10 am when I shower and head downstairs for a cup of coffee and we catch up with Claudio.

I want to check out the Oriental buffet in Café Caribe and we head up for around 12:15 and there is a huge line so we just get a seat and wait for the line to die down, which really hardly did die down.  The food was good, very salty again and I need to drink a lot more water cause I am noticing the salt and since I rarely every use salt in my food it is more than I am use to, but others may find it perfect.

After lunch we decide to head to Club Fusion to check out the new lecturer on board Jeffrey Wolff who is talking about The World of Sea Turtles.  The place is packed but this is a good venue because there are so many tv screens that you can watch the show from.  But I have to say I didn’t find his lecture to be that informative, he kept asking questions with multiple answers and asked for a show of hands for responses…. Really just tell us and move on I am thinking.  He did have great pictures but would of like to have had a much more educational lecture on turtles.  I really am missing Mark’s lectures.

We are back in the cabin and watching a movie “Despicable Me” and since Bernie is having a hard time staying awake I head out to the balcony and read my book.  Considering our location it is rather nice out.  I am able to sit out in my capris and t shirt and I actually got some sun. 

Dinner tonight is back at our new table and we asked Jan/Michael to join us.  We sailed with them twice now and we have visited them at their home in Seattle too.  We like our smaller table which allows us to dine together or ask friends to join us and enjoy a lovely evening.

 

I wanted to add that we enjoyed wine in Vines prior to dinner where we ordered a bottle of Sanceer which we corked and saved for another night – note you can’t use the wine card in Vines.  As we are finishing our wine I see the Singer/Dancers wandering around and they are dressed in crew costumes and I say “hey they are going to do that production in the Atrium that we saw them rehearsing the other day”.  So we take a spot along the stairway and catch the new “Sail with Princess” act.  It isn’t long but it is cute and shouldn’t be missed.

After dinner we head to Explorer’s to catch Dan’s The Top Five Gameshow but the place is packed and we can’t get a seat and since there ends up being over 45 teams we just grab a seat along the promenade, order drinks and answer from there.  Next time we will come earlier.

Tomorrow we are arriving in Stanley in the Falklands and it will be an early day with the tender operation.  Oh and the clocks go back an hour!  Yeah.

Other things happening around the ship today:  Hot Latin Hour, Musicians Get Together (unhosted), In Stateroom Movie: The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug, Spotlight Showtime with Vocalist Peter Fernandez, Country Trivia, Music and Dancing with Rhumba Jazz Duo, Country & Western Night, Disco Inferno in Skywalkers, Zumba, Hole in One Challenge, and much much more.

Miscellaneous Comments:   

MUTS is still out but they are working hard at fixing it.

The demographics of this leg are different, we had a 1,000 people leave in Buenos Aries and  1,000 new passengers join us.  A lot less South Americans now on board, much fewer kids, I think I have seen one or maybe two kids.  A lot less Spanish Speaking guests to the point they are not doing the announcements in Spanish any longer, nor do they have the Spanish Channel or the Spanish Wake Show.

Laundromats will be closed from the evening of March 12 until March 15 due to Environmental Water Restriction while ship is sailing inside the Strait of Magellan.  I don’t recall this happening two years ago.

Dining rooms seem to working smoother with a lot more waiters around and helping each other.

Specialty restaurants appear to be busier too.

Since we left Montevideo we have notice a lot of moths being attracted to the lights from the ship.  I have never seen so many moths.  To the point if you open your balcony, especially at night you will have moths in the cabin.  They clean down the promenade in the morning and there are tons of dead moths.

The Red Alert has been lifted!  Yeah!  Everyone, especially the crew are smiling.