Touring Our City with the Crown Princess

Yesterday the Crown Princess was in and I was finally off so we coordinated with some crew on board to show them around.

We arrived at the pier early (around 8) as we were not sure what time they would be able to get off. While standing on the overhead walkway we saw Al Katz the guest entertainer we became friends with many years ago. We knew he was coming in and had hoped we could see him before he flew up to Juneau to meet the Golden.

He had some time before he had to catch his bus to the airport so we hung out at Starbucks and enjoyed catching up with each other.

After we said goodbye to Al we walked around and then went and waited just outside security for Thais and Beatrice.  

But after spending 49 days on this ship this year we recognized quite a few faces.  

We saw our cabin steward coming out with all his bags and I smiled not sure where or what department he was from. Then he smiled back and said hi and it came right back. Yup our Cabin Steward who said "I won't forget your name as it is the same as my wife's name". He is heading home back to the Philippines, safe journey I say as he rolls his bags to the bus.

Beatrice comes out after doing an early shift at the International Cafe dressed to the nines and the shoes! Thankfully we won't be walking too too much. I walk with her to Starbucks and we sit and catch up while Bernie waits for Thais.

Thais also works in the International Cafe but today is the day she is going home. We had offered to transport her to the airport and show her around Vancouver for a bit before her late night flight home to Brazil.

While sitting at Starbucks we ran into a few other friends... Mark our waiter from the dining room and James from the photo department. Bernie also got to see Francesco while waiting for Thais.

We quickly got in the car and heading out as Beatrice only had another hour and a half before she has to get back on board for her next shift.

Out to Stanley Park for a quick drive around and a few photo stops. Then down to English Bay and then along Davie and over to Yaletown, Chinatown, Downtown Eastside and then Gastown before dropping her off at the pier.  

We hug goodbye and we will be seeing her again this season for sure.

Now we have more time so we are back in the car with Thais and we drive to Spanish Banks beach and the University of British Columbia grounds.  

We head down to Granville Island (boy was it busy here) and we walk around and end up having a lovely lunch on the patio at Bridges restaurant.  

A drive thru Shaughnessy and then up to Queen Elizabeth Park (which was busy with a grad class taking pictures for their prom).  

We still have more time so we head South to Steveston and grab some ice cream and walk the pier and check out the daily catch and the sights.

Off to the airport and big hugs and wishing her all the best.

We don't know when we will see Thais again but we were so honoured to have met her and been able to show our city to her.  

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.

Stanley Falkland Islands Part Deux

So while sitting in the International Café sitting with friends we talk about seeing so many penguins from the window here the last time.  Of course people overhear us and many keep saying “did you see penguins?”  I can’t help myself, I head back to the cabin and get a Falkland brochure that I have from last time and cut out two small pictures of penguins.  I then proceed back to the IC to tape them to the window and then the joke starts.  See the penguins!  Many people pose with the penguins in the window and I mean many.  Heck the photographers should have been there taking shots they could of sold a ton of them.  The pic stayed up all day and night too.

Thais sees penguins too

Zoran excited to see penguins

We decide to head ashore around 11 and we head to Da Vinci (the priority boarding lounge) and Cameron the CC host is there checking people in.  We are given the next tender ticket but there is a medical evacuation on a tender in front of us so we have to wait for the next tender – I hope they are okay.

Anthony

When we get to the tender it is cold but we head up on top and bear the elements for the ride in.  It is windy and that wind is cold but other than that it is rather nice. 

Once we get ashore it is crowded at the pier, lots of people are coming back and there is a long queue.  We head up the street and decide to walk to the left and we get a lovely view at the top of the hill.  We walk along streets and see beautiful gardens and homes and little store, but many are not open (hardware store, furniture) guess they have odd hours in such a small place. 

We head to Shorty’s Diner, yup that is the name.  We enter and it is filled with locals, nothing special but normal diner food and we order.  I get fried fish that comes with fries and baked beans, Bernie got a barbecue chicken.  Neither dish was that good, Bernie hardly ate any of his and mine was just too much fried food, so well I guess I won’t give it my Stanley recommendation.

As soon as we leave the skies open up and it pours, we thankfully have our wind/rain jackets but it is coming down and we laugh and say “reminds us of home”.

As we get back into the port area the crowds have invaded the town.  We walk around a bit and head to the West Store – their grocery/clothing/coffee shop/liquor store – we don’t really need anything so we are back out on the street.  All the stores are so busy and we are tired and need to find a quiet place.

We find the pink café and we enter and grab a coffee and a cupcake (darn those cupcakes were good) and enjoy some relaxation.  Now I see they have wifi but find out they charge for it here, in fact it seems all the establishments charge for their wifi.  At the pink café they charge 5 pound or $8 US for a certain period but I can’t recall the period. This seems to be standard here I later find out.

We get in the queue to get back to the ship and be prepared it is exposed the elements.  We did have to wait about 20 minutes for the ride back but we once get back on and head upstairs to the open deck.  The ride back is around a half hour. 

In the end I think I would of rather have just stayed on board for the day.

As soon as we get on board the ship we head back to the cabin and we crawl into bed and we are asleep quickly.  So little sleep last night and getting up so darn early made a two hour nap necessary but we are probably going to have a late night tonight.

We dress for dinner in Da Vinci at our regular table.  Mark and Loralei are there waiting for us. We tease Mark cause he is shocked to hear I am a transit bus driver in Vancouver, he looks right at me and says “don’t you find it hard driving a big bus” and of course I laugh and say how come you are not looking at Bernie and saying that cause he drives too.  He says well it isn’t a normal female job…. Bernie is laughing cause he knows Mark is just digging a hole.  I tease Mark more saying you know a woman can do anything a man can.  It is just as easy for me as it is for Bernie to drive a bus.  By the end of the dinner I have forgiven him.

For dinner I had the crab cake, the Thai soup (which I LOVE and had two servings), heck I could have had a huge bowl of that for dinner itself.  For my entrée I had the cowboy steak and it was way overcooked but tasty and then mango sorbet for dessert.

We thought about going to the Majority Rules game but we are don’t feel like waiting around for it to start and we walk around a bit and then head back to the cabin around 10:30.

 

Oh I forgot to mention that the Captain came on earlier in the night to tell us the approximate time for heading around the horn tomorrow.  He also commented that the winds are high and they will be coming right at us during the night and tomorrow so be prepared.

We notice the ship moving a lot more as we turn in for the night.  Lots of creaks and bumps thru the night for sure.  The seas are not bad but boy the wind is really strong.