Evening - At Sea

 Tonight is a formal night and we dress early and head down to the Atrium for a drink but the place is hoping and we sit in Vines but it is so busy and there is only one bar staff working along with the bartender that we ended up heading up to the Princess Live Bar on Promenade deck where it is so quiet and we sit and get a great drink and head into the Princess Live Theater for the Movie Poster Trivia.  There are not many playing but we have a good time with Geoff hosting.  We manage to tie with another couple and we loose in the tie breaker question. 

The Champagne Waterfall is happening tonight at 7:15 and the Atrium is busy, but it doesn’t feel as crowded as other ships cause it is so large and well laid out.  We are able to walk around easily.  We run into some friends and promise to meet up with them later.

Our table in the Symphony Dining room is waiting for us and our waiter Daniel and his assistant Inna greets us.  Daniel recommends a bottle of wine for us and sadly I can’t remember it, but it is from Peru and is a fruity full bodied white wine.  

For the special night the menu is unique and new.  Princess to celebrate their 50^th Anniversary has items from the past five decades featured and we want to try some new things.  We start with an appetizer of pate with a small bowl of mushroom soup, next course is a pasta dish of ravioli stuffed with lamb and the sauce is rich and flavourful.  I loved that dish,  in fact that as an entrée would be great. 

Franco the head waiter comes by and we are happy to see him.  He fills us in on the special significance of the menu tonight and his recommendations.  When I tell him I wanted to do the Tuscan Wine Tasting but 11:15 is too early, he laughs and insists I do it next sailing (which I promise I will do) and explains how I can do it by eating something early and attending with a something in  my tummy ready for the wine!  He is so cute... 

For my main dish I have the turbot fillet that is served with asparagus and a potato mash.  Everything is so good!  

photo courtesy of Mary Jane Flynn

But then dessert comes and OMG I am in heaven!  A Norman Love featured dessert is served, a chocolate mousse with raspberry served on a shortbread like base and it is in the shape of a heart.  Darn I wish I would of brought my camera!  Thankfully Mary Jane from my Facebook Page shared her picture of it.  

We finish just in time to head to the main theater to attend the Production Show Colors of the World.  We are excited cause this is a new show and we LOVE IT.  It starts with one of the dancers saying we are all the same, we are all colors, we are all colors of the world.  The show is fast paced and fun, and your eyes dart from one side of the stage to the other to catch it all.  I am for sure going to come back next sailing to watch it again.  Boy these dancers/singers do an amazing job.

After the show we are making our way midship and run into some friends in Crooners and we stop for a drink, which ends up being two drinks and well we close the place down.  It is 1:30 am when we crash and we are feeling great!  We dock early in Antigua tomorrow but something tells me we are not going to be heading ashore too early. 

Here are some of the other things happening tonight:  MUTS Saving Mr. Banks (note the first run movies need to play in a public area before they can show them in the cabin), Piano Melodies with Nadia in Wheelhouse, Movie Poster Trivia, Captain’s Champagne Waterfall Party, LGBT Get Together, Name that Tune UnPlugged, Caribbean Evening Grooves with Trevor Cole in Wheelhouse, Juggling Team Rootberry, Party Band New Deal play the 60’s music, Celebrity Liars Club, Kory Simon Entertains in the Vista Lounge, Water Fountain – Frank Sinatra,  Production Show Colors of the World 7, 8:15 and 10:15.

This Ship is having the Buy One Get One Free drink special – First one is at 3-4 in Crooners Bar and then again at 11-Midnight in Club 6.

Friday Evening At Sea

We head up to Skywalkers for around 6:15 to the Elite Lounge for some drinks.  Tonight it is Cosmos and peeled shrimp as the finger food.  It is relatively quiet in here tonight but they staff say it was busier earlier.  We chat with two women who are travelling, the one woman treated the other because of her birthday.  How sweet! 

We leave to head down to the Atrium for the Fiesta in there.  The balloons are all set up and the band Los Brilliantes is playing.  Lots and lots of people are dancing (way different than a few days ago on the Grand where you could barely get to the dance floor cause of the chairs/tables and people). 

The cruise staff are dancing and really getting people into it. The bar staff are walking around handing out the Norman Love Chocolate Pops – which the kids are really enjoying!  

The music is so great that you can’t even stand still you have to move.

We are meeting up with our friend Deidra for drinks and dinner tonight.  We meet up in the Wheelhouse Bar and I enjoy my first Bramble on board and it was yummy (although this ship puts sugar around the rim).  But I stopped at one, I have been drinking enough tonight.

We head to Donatello for dinner.  Remember last night in the Crown Grill?  We informed the Head Waiter there that we were to ask to see the Maitre D’ cause he wanted to come by and introduce himself.  Also the Head Waiter offered to make a reservation for us for the next day (we said we wanted Anytime Dining Room) and he said the Maitre D’ had a bottle of wine for us.  But when the Maitre D’ Giuseppe Castino arrived in the Crown Grill he went to the wrong table (the one beside us) to introduce himself thinking it was us?  The other couple had no idea who he was, and when Maitre D’ said you are dining in Donatello tomorrow they said “No we are dining in Crown Grill”. 

When we arrive in Donatello I state we have a reservation – the head waiter says “oh we have you down for the Crown Grill” we laugh and say no.  He quickly finds us a table and apologizes.  We know it isn’t his fault, we know that this all trickled down when the Maitre D’ went to the wrong table yesterday and no one corrected him.

We inform our waiter that we were told the Maitre D’ has a bottle of wine for us that it is under our folio number.  Guess what – they can’t find it, we fill them in on a bit of what happened.  I have a feeling the other couple (who are in the Crown Grill because the waiter thinks that they are us) are enjoying some lovely wine.  We finally do get some nice wine and I am thankful for it.  Sadly the Maitre D’ did not show up so we could not thank him in person.  But it is a bit of comedy of errors and I hope to run into the Giuseppe some time in the next few days to thank him personally.

Our meal was lovely.  The crew are dressed in the traditional Italian Night themed tops and they are making the pasta as an extra appetizer but the menu is not the normal Italian Night menu. 

I start with the pasta (which is cooked perfectly and just a bit of spice) and goes very well with the wine.  For my entrée I had the skirt steak with the chimichurri sauce and I really liked it.  I try to have that at least once on a trip and it is available on the always available side of the menu.

For dessert they are featuring one of the Norman Love Chocolate Desserts, and it is a hazelnut chocolate bar.  It looks too nice to eat and the bit of lemon curd along with each bite sends the taste buds into action.  Excellent!  I can’t wait to have it again. 

We are one of the last to leave the dining room, it has been lovely catching up with Deidra again. 

We are really wanting to see the comedian Carlos Oscar (who was Princess Cruises Entertainer of the Year in 2011).  His show is in the Vista Lounge in about 45 minutes (11:15 pm) so we decide to wander a bit and then relax in the lounge for about a half hour before the show starts – oh and of course we had a drink.

One thing we notice is a lot and I mean a lot of people have the all inclusive drink package on board this trip.  Almost all the kids have the Ultimate Drink Package. 

We saw Carlos a few years ago on a ship and just loved his show and we once again really loved his show, he seems to understand us and we can relate to everything he is saying.  

He has another show tomorrow and we will try and see him again. 

After the show it is just about midnight and we are done for the night.  We arrive and see our laundry that we put in just yesterday evening has come back already.  So even though we are not suppose to get next day service we are getting next day service and it is handy.

Tomorrow we are in Ensenada and we have a Ship’s Tour scheduled.