Embarking Caribbean Princess to Greenland

We are awake early after a great night sleep.  Which is rare for us in hotels, but we were so tired.  So we shower and head down for breakfast.

We are on the road by 8 am, fueled with a latte and a full tank of gas.  We are off.

Traffic was busy but not crazy, like yesterday.  Sure there was some delays in areas but not for long.  It flowed.  Until we got into New York!  Then it was bumper to bumper, but hey we are going on a cruise!  

We arrived at the port at 1130 and had to ask where the parking was!  No signage at all but people directed us.  Cost is $30 a day and you have to pay when you arrive.

Now I will say I was really prepared for long queues, especially with needing the Arrive Can App, and also needing a booster vaccine.  Yes, about 2 weeks ago we received notification that because this cruise was 16 days a booster vaccine was required.  So not only did you need to have your initial 2 dose vaccine, but also a booster.

But when we walked in the terminal at 1145 there was no queue for security, no queue to show our negative test, arrive can app QR code, or our vaccine info.  We just walked up to each station and were dealt with immediately.  Note if someone had not done the Arrive Can app there was an area they were directed and someone assisted them.  We then collected our medallion (they don't mail them out to Canadians).

Note we later heard from passengers who waited a very very long time for transfers from airport to ship with Princess. I mean they waited hours!  Some waited, many just gave up and took a ride service or taxi.  

Then we had to sit and wait for about 10 minutes as they had to adjust the gangway due to tides.  But we chatted with a lovely couple from Connecticut.

Once on board we sat in the International Cafe, had a coffee and a sandwich.  At 1 pm the cabins were available and we dropped off our carry on bag that carries my lecturing stuff.  Met our wonderful cabin steward Rohit.  

We then went to explore around the ship.  We have sailed on the Caribbean numerous times.  But it has been 3 years since we were on her.  Still love this class of ship!  

And I have to say that she looks really good!  I noticed fresh carpet throughout, including our cabin.  Oh and I am so happy to be able to head out onto the promenade!

This is a picture of Dominique and Bernie in Sydney together

We are out on the Sun deck when we see a familiar face waving frantically at us!  Dominique!  Yes Dominique from Peru.  I didn't even know she was here!  We had just missed her on the Enchanted when she got off the day we got on.  She has been to our house before, and we have been to her house in Peru.  She has been promoted to Bar Supervisor now and she looks great. We catch up for a bit and make tentative plans together to see her in the Elite Lounge as she is the supervisor there.

All suitcases arrive quickly to the cabin and we unpack.  Bernie takes a nap while I do a run through of my presentation for tomorrow.  Practice is key to making sure the lecture flows.  

Now it is time to shower and get ready.  The shower water is warm, not hot.  We will wait till tomorrow to see if it improves once we are away from the pier.  Sometimes not everything is running full force while still tied up.  Follow up it seems to be an issue ship wide after we chat with others.  But it is not horrible and periodic and they are aware of it and working on it.

The evening was great.  Started with drinks where we met some lovely people.

Dinner was in the dining room where I started with a roast prawn appetizer.  Then a goat cheese with roasted vegetables.  For my entrée I had the roast pea risotto.  Service was very good but you can see the staff are crazy busy.

Note Steamers and Planks specialty dining are not being offered due to staffing issues.   

In bed now.  It is 11 pm and the clocks go forward to Atlantic time tonight.  Sea day tomorrow and my first lecture.  

New York Sail Away and Morning of Rhode Island

It is a lovely afternoon for a sail away and there are lots of people out for it.  It is so nice to see so many people excited about their voyage.  This is a great place to people watch.  Most people are happy, excited, in love, hopeful and well just nice.  Give it a few hours, fast forward to 8 pm as we sit outside Explorer’s Lounge.  We sit waiting until dinner and we people watch as the passengers wander about the ship.  Now is not a good time for many people.  Many are tired from long day of travel.  They are trying to find something, the dining room, a lounge, the theater, even a washroom.  We notice a lot of people are short tempered and quite a few scream at their partners.  Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.  Hopefully a good night sleep will rejuvenate everyone.

Okay back to our evening and our regular scheduled program. 

We dance a bit, we enjoy a cocktail and we check out the views.  We are in a cabin that is aft right on Riviera deck so we can walk thru Horizon Court, thru Café Caribe to the aft pool and then down a flight of stairs right to our cabin.  We are the first cabin – well actually it is the last balcony cabin on starboard side.  So convenient to everything, but a long walk in the morning to the International Café.  But the exercise is doing us well.

The Cruise Critic gathering is happening at the aft bar and I meet up with many of the people from the roll call.  Didn’t get to make it to the roll call gathering last voyage as it was after we left Rhode Island and we slept right thru it.  Today I make a point of dropping in and meeting some really nice people.

We dress for dinner and head to the shops to stock up on some cologne.  We do this every so often as the first two days you get a great deal from the coupon book.  Spend $100 and get 10% off spend $250 and get 15% off, plus with our elite 10% discount we are saving 25% in total.  Germanie from South Africa takes very good care of us here and recommends colognes for both of us.  We even are able to leave our purchases here until after dinner so we don’t have to rush back to the cabin with them.

We drop into the Captain Circle desk and say hi and he gives us the invite for the Most Travelled Passenger Cocktail Party.  We qualify again and this time we are higher up on the list.  Although last week’s number one couple are still on so I am guessing they are number one again. 

Since we are a little early for dinner we take a seat outside Explorer’s Lounge (well see above on how that went).  At just after 8 we head to the Palm dining room and many of the staff are surprised to see us again.  We head back to our favorite waiter Remil at table number 126.  Seems strange to look around and see so many different faces.  It is much busier second seating tonight, but the waiters shine as usual.

I decide to switch it up a bit tonight, normally I have the Basa fillet but I am going for the Fettucini Alfredo in the Parmesan bowl in honour of Alice our friend aka Mimi who is just about to be getting on the Royal.  I do start out with the spring roll though and a Caesar salad and for dessert well you guessed it, the cheese plate.  I am stuffed!

We are not really interested in going to the Welcome Aboard Show again as the dancers only have one dance.  We make our way back to the shops to pick up our purchases.  We head upstairs to Facets to say hi to Delmarie and catch up on how she is doing.  The shops are busy but it looks like more looking and not as much purchasing.  If only people knew what a great deal and guarantee you got from on board. 

We are back in the cabin around 11 pm and we crash…. Nothing like the rocking of the ship to put us right to sleep.

I am woken Sunday morning to the sound of the tenders being dropped.  Ahhhh Rhode Island again, although today it is overcast and a light rain and I am not sure if it will clear up.  But we are okay with that, we are on vacation and a little rain won’t hurt us.  And like I always say “it could always be worse”.

Bernie heads down to get some coffees and we sit out and watch the beginning of the tender process.  A quick shower and we head down to the dining room as Bernie remembers last week on this day they had blueberry pancakes on the menu and he can’t wait to get them again.  This time I enjoy them to and I will concur they are amazing.

Things this week don’t seem as crazy for the tendering process.  I believe last week’s boat show in town caused a lot more boat traffic and slowed down the tendering process.  So far today it seems there are minimal waits for tender rides.  But I can’t verify that right now.  Key is be patient if you are going ashore.  Make sure everyone in your party is ready and proceed to the tender ticket location (today it is Deck 5 Island Dining Room) and have your cruise card and ID with you.

Since we went ashore last week and since we need some more relaxing days we have decided to stay on board today.  It isn’t that we don’t like this place but for us there is nothing drawing us out.  Tomorrow will be a busy day in Boston so we are resting up.  The great thing about cruising is you decide how you want to spend your vacation.

I was still having trouble with the internet today.  Since we are on a back to back we usually have one voyage’s minutes end at 11 pm on the last day of the first voyage.  Then the first day of the new voyage we need to set up a new account and get the Captain Circle Package again.  However this trip when I logged on the first day of the second voyage it was still showing minutes from the last cruise.  I check with the Internet guru and he said you just ask to get a new package.  So this morning I tried to do that and it wouldn’t offer me any package.  So I waited till his desk hours and went down and showed him and he was surprised.  He then had to override the system and allocate the packages to us.   Now I am set up so I can blog and post.

I do want to do a big shout out to some amazing crew on board that have made the trip so far so special.  Dana the CSD, Adam the HGM, Michael F&B, Douw Head Waiter, Mario Maitre d’, Remill our waiter, Catalin Head Waiter, Alberto and all the Princess Dancers and of course our lovely Delmarie.  Yes the voyage would be great even if they were not all here but boy have they all been so great and we truly appreciate all they do.

Just sitting here waiting for our mini bar to get changed up, again we are having trouble getting things switched.  Bernie called about an hour ago to get it changed and he dealt with the same woman as last week (for which we never did get the change – and had to call back that evening).  She said it would be 20 minutes so I just called back and she said they are on their way.   One area we have noticed some issues is with room service and we have only used them two times and both times there have been issues.   And just as I type this there is a knock at the door and they are here – yeah more vodka and soda.

Today some of the happenings are:  Acupuncture seminar, Ping pong tournament, Trivia, Mahjong, NFL Football on MUTS, Movie the Internship, Taboo game, Golf Chipping, Afternoon Tea, Lighting Photography seminar, Basketball Best Out of Ten, Pop Choir Rehersal, Horse Racing, Veterans Get Together, Book Club (this week the book is different it is The Silver Star), Art Auction, Bingo, Solo Travellers Get Together, Service Clulb Get Together, Dr. Bob & Bill W Meeting, Zumba, GLBT Gathering, Wii@Sea, Captain’s Welcome Champagne Waterfall Party, Karaoke, Multimedia Music Trivia, Waltz class, Majority Rules game, 50’s and 60’s dance Music at Skywalkers, and so much more!

Saturday – New York and Turn Around Day

I am woken this morning by the thrusters and the vibration that comes with them.  It is 6:15 am – OUCH.  I am awake!  So I roll over and see that Bernie is now awake too.  Breakfast in the dining room today starts at 6:30 until 8:30 in the Palm Dining room so we dress and make ourselves presentable and head down.   It is nice to eat down here instead of facing the crowds in the buffet.

Back to the cabin and we both grab a shower and we head down to the International Café to get a tea and my latte and to try and find a quiet place to read but it is busy everywhere with people waiting for their time to be called.  We end up sitting at the bar in Crooners and chat with four women – three from California and one from Toronto who are travelling together. 

Our meeting time for In Transit people is 10:30 in the Crown Grill.  We have to bring our new cruise cards, our passports and a declaration form.  Which is odd since normally we don’t have to fill out the declaration card and we never even received one this voyage.  There are about 12 of us and three are spouses of crew.  I believe there are more of us, maybe 10 more that got off early and went into New York.

We thought about heading into New York for the day but we both agreed that if we took a taxi it would be very expensive.  We could take a bus to the subway but then we didn’t know how long that would take and we have to be back on early too.  Plus we are looking forward to a quiet day on board.

Back to the In Transit procedure.  A staff member lead us all off as a group and we binged out with our old cruise cards.  We go thru customs and then we wait for the clearance to head back on board the ship (maybe 10 minutes) and we head back on.  We bing in with our new card and we are on.  Note though of course our new cards make that horrible buzzzz sound.  And we are told to wait a second, they take our pick and then tell us to head to the purser’s desk to check our card.  We do and I don’t really think they did anything so I have a feeling when we try to get off in the first port we may encounter another BUZZZ sound.  Stay tuned.

We relax in the cabin for a while and then head down to the dining room for lunch.  Yes you can get lunch in the dining room on turn around day.  It is open to everyone, but not everyone knows about it.  We have a lovely lunch – I had the salmon. 

We are back in the cabin as the ship is now going a little bit mad as everyone comes on and luggage is being delivered, and people are trying to find places.  We will relax – I am catching up on my blog and Bernie is napping. That nap sure looks inviting and feel the urge to nap too.  So till later.

All Aboard the Caribbean Princess

We walk down to the lobby to get breakfast but the prices are out of this world!  $30 for the breakfast buffet, and $26 for the continental breakfast – ouch.  We both agree to head out and see if we can find a dinner somewhere.  No problem there is one right across the street, Lindys.  Now this is more our style.  Food was good, and hit the spot. 

We don’t have a whole lot of time but again we want to take advantage of being in New York so we head towards 5^th Avenue and then Rockefeller Square.  We are both surprised at how small the square is.  There is no ice there now but a lovely outdoor café but again we both figured it would be bigger than it is. 

We walk towards Broadway and they have an outdoor market happening and the street is closed off for pedestrians.  It is really nice, and I actually end up buying a few scarves 3 for $20! 

Back at the hotel and we pack up our stuff and stick on the luggage tags for Princess and head out.  Our car is waiting for us.  Again we booked with Carmel Car Service, for $38 they take us to the pier.  Plus we had a $3 coupon so it worked out to $35.  The driver was great and pointed out some of the sights as we passed.

Red Hook Pier parking

the Red Hook Pier.  The building on the left is the check/in.  the curved awning in middle is the pick up location for people with car services or friends picking up.  The middle two awnings are for taxis and shuttles.  The far right is for buses.

When we arrive at Brooklyn Pier the traffic is very heavy and we inch forward to the drop off area.  The pier is very nice but there are a lot of people here trying to get on too.  We arrived around 12:45 and we had a quick line to get thru security.  Then there was quite a long queue for those boarding but the Preferred check in was rather quick and after about 10 minutes in line we were given our cards and directed to board right away.

Those that are not preferred were given a boarding number and had to wait for their number to be called.

In all the boarding process was very efficient and thorough and all the staff we had to deal with were very helpful and friendly.

This is our 40^th Princess cruise, wow how time flies.

We are in an inside cabin this trip, C725 and that is okay since this is an extra trip and it is a back to back and all we could justify.

After boarding we drop off our bags – gee I love that we can access our cabins right away not like some other lines.  We head to the International Café and grab a tea and latte and a small bite to eat from the International Café.  We recognize a few people and we are shocked when they remember us. 

We are excited to see Douw the Head Waiter on board.  In fact he and Delmarie are the reasons we booked this trip so we could see them.  Douw is in the Island Dining room right now answering questions about passengers, dining arrangements.  We have a quick catch up and then we are off to explore the ship.

We have never been on the Caribbean but it is very much like the Emerald with a few minor differences.  For instance Sabatinis is on the Promenade Deck here and there is no Adagio but they do have a Café Caribe.

The muster drill is scheduled for 4:15 and it is currently 4 pm and we still don’t have our bags.  I am sure they will arrive soon. 

Wow just had a knock at the door and flowers were delivered!  No card so not sure who they are from.  Will have to scout out who they are from but no matter who they are much appreciated. 

I should add that as we wandered around we ran into Conrad a waiter we have sailed with three other times, he is also from South Africa.  Then we saw Jose from Mexico a waiter we sailed with on the Star.  Jay the Art Director is also on board, a fellow Canadian from Ottawa who we have sailed with numerous times.  When we dropped into Sabatinis we saw a waiter there that recognized us from the Emerald last January.  This is why we consider being on a ship coming home, cause we get to see our Princess Family! 

There are a lot of new cruisers on board, as we walk the hallways we see very few elite door tags, and a lot of blue ones. 

We are both tickled to be back on board and spend the next 14 days on board the beautiful Caribbean Princess.

Movies Under The Stars for this voyage are:

Dirty Dancing, The Princess Bride, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Top Gun, The Internship, Iron Man 3, Now You See Me, Oblivion, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Great Gatsby.

Production Shows:  Welcome Aboard Show, Piano Man, Born to Be Wild, Do You Wanna Dance.  Comedian Steve White, Tribute Act Horizon, Comedy Magic with John Ferrentino.

Production show times tonight are 7:00 pm and 8:30 pm.  Muster is at 4:15 and sail away is scheduled for 5:00 pm.

Ship’s Officers:  Captain Giorgio Pomata, Staff Captain Gavin Pears, Chief Engineer Andrew Carney, Hotel General Manager Adam Gorst, Cruise Director Neil Roberts, Senior Doctor Christine Visage, Food & Beverage Director Michael Glass, Customer Services Director Dana Ionescu, Executive Housekeeper Liliana Antonesei, Executive Chef Antonio Cereda, Maitre d’Hotel Mario Propato.  

Planning for Canada New England Cruise

What is different about this trip is we have never done this itinerary before.  We have never been to any of the ports (except Halifax and St. John).  We are sailing out of New York and neither of us have been there before.

So the first thing we had to do was some research.  I read thru some of the Cruise Critic boards in the port section on advice on where the pier was and good location for hotels and took notes.

After checking flights it was very obvious that flying out of Seattle (3 hours away) was much cheaper than flying out of Vancouver.  We were able to scoop up a very good deal on a direct flight for $325 each.

Now search began for a hotel for one night.  Where to stay?  Oh my New York is so big and so many options.  And since we are only there one night where should we go?  

After some discussion we ended up agreeing we need to stay downtown and do a bit of exploring since we have never been and we do get in rather early.  

Check out Priceline for hotels and decided to try my chances and book with the option of naming our own bid.  We bid on four star, Manhattan West for one night and got the Sheraton Times Square.  Looks good and close to lots and we got it for $170 for one night.  Which was very good because when I go to their site I see that the same night booked thru them is $270.

Now for car service.  At first we weren't sure, do we take transit, shuttle with others or a reserved private car.  Again we went to Cruise Critic to check out what they would recommend from the boards.  We check some shuttles and then some private cars and since the price for a private car was really not that much more we decided to book a private car.

In the end we reserved a private car with Carmel Limo.  They can be found at www.carmellimo.com 

For pick up at the airport to the hotel in Manhattan the price is $44 and they have some free coupons on their web page too and we have a $4 off coupon we can use.  We then decided why not just reserve them again for transportation to the pier the next day and we got that for $38 plus there is a $3 off coupon on their site.

Now that Flights, Hotel and Transportation are reserved we can sit back for a bit and relax.  

We are hoping to see a show downtown on Broadway while we are there.  We will make our way to Times Square and the Tickets Tonight booth http://www.nyctourist.com/broadway_tkts.asp  We will see what we can get.

Canada New England - Woo Hoo

We decided to head to New York and head out on a back to back cruise.  Yup back to back, same itinerary too.  But since we haven't been to most of the ports and we have to travel so far we thought why not! 

The price was very good too.  Limited cabin selection but that is okay we took an inside since we are in port every day except one so we won't be in each much.  Plus who knows what the weather will be like.

Look forward to seeing Douw, Delmarie and Alberto on board!

Follow along.