Monday, August 6, 2018

Sunday – Princess Cays



I end up waking up around 4 am and I know I am behind on my blog and I feel an obligation to get it posted so I get up and start writing.  It takes about 2 hours to get it written, posted and the addition of pictures, but I now feel up to date. 

I crawl back into bed at 6 am and sleep until 8 am when both of us wake up.
 
If you are ever on a ship with the on demand tv try out the sleep channel and put on the sounds. It lasts just over 8 hours and the first half hour or so is sounds to help you relax and drift off to sleep.  Then after that it is sounds of waves hitting the shore.  I am loving it and it is so relaxing.

Now I just wish the ship sold a cd or electronic file of this so I could use it at home too.   Note the suites come with their own Sleep Kit which includes an eye mask, a scented bar that you put in the bottom of the shower that helps clear your nasal passage allowing you to sleep better.  It also includes a bottle of lavender scented spray for your linens, a luffa (I guess for the bath that they recommend prior to sleeping), a nail file, and lip balm (not sure what those have to do with sleep) and a pamphlet talking about how to have a restful sleep.

After a nice breakfast we are trying to decide what we are going to do today.  We anchor off Princess Cays only at 9 am.  It is very hot out.  The Patter says it will go as high as 29c 84f but it is definitely hotter than that, especially with no breeze and the humidity adds to it.  Walking outside feels like you are walking into a sauna. 

First thing is we go and sit in the Atrium and enjoy a coffee and watch the people.  They have just called that tenders are open and people are directed to the Island dining room on deck 5.  Right now there is a long queue of around 100 that are lined up outside the dining room door waiting to get tender tickets.  Yes 100 and that line barely dropped the entire time we sat there. 

Although I was impressed how Jace and Kelly handled the crowds.  They were always coming down the line informing people to make sure everyone was in your party was here, that you had towels, that you had your cruise card etc.  Since there are a lot of new cruisers here this is a good thing to let people know.

Take note that if you are elite and you have priority tendering you will still have to wait to get into the dining room, but once in you are placed on the next tender. 
I will say that the line did move very fast.  Princess Cays has huge tenders that operate from the shore side that hold a lot of passengers. 

As we sat there in the Atrium we chatted and we both agreed that we would rather just stay on board today for a few reasons.  We are not crazy about tendering.  The queues to get off are long I would hate to see the queues on shore for he return trip.  It is very very hot and the sun is strong and even though I would be lovely to be hanging at the beach we know that we probably could only handle at maximum two hours out in the sun. 

So instead we return to the cabin.  Slather on 30 sunscreen all over.  Done our bathing suits and head up to the Sun deck.  Trying to get pool towels is difficult, most are gone and we have to search a few racks to find some and end up finding some near the Lotus Spa.  The laundry works hard though at getting them refilled.



It is rather quiet, but still many did stay on.  But a lot are staying out of the sun and heat, including the poor servers who have to be out in it.  They thankfully can take shelter in the shade but I feel for them.  We get large glasses of ice – no water as the ice melts so fast.  





there is a tear off where you send in your response


We did receive our invitation to the Most Travelled Guest Party – apparently, we are number 12 and 13 out of the 40 Most Travelled on Board.  It will be a cocktail party on Wednesday.  Love the new invitation format.  The Captain Circle Party is Thursday in Club Fusion.  We spot Steve who was the Most Travelled Guest on the Royal for the first 30 days we were on board.  Also Ron (also refers to himself as the “Captain”) and his girlfriend are on board and he has a lot of sea days, way more than us.  We have 640 days currently.

We don’t last very long out in the sun before you HAVE to go cool off in the pool.  The pools are refreshing, a little cooler than the air temperature – which is a good thing as it would be bath water temperature if they were the same as the air.

I was talking with a couple in the pool and she had a bad sunburn in areas where she had missed from her day in Fort Lauderdale.  She was saying she did not have sunscreen and was trying to buy some but the shops were closed.  She had made appointments at the Lotus Spa today and the attendant there gave her her personal bottle of sunscreen to use.  The woman was so thankful!  Now isn’t this service that goes over and above!  The crew are so great.

We talked about going to the Sanctuary this cruise but we would need lounges in the shade and we both like to sit in the sun a bit but we could not handle the full sun for long.  Because of this we opted out of the Sanctuary as we could only handle it for very short periods at a time.


I have fallen in love with the Strongbow Apple Cider at home and love that the ship has it (do wish they had more than just the one flavour) and I get a can of it while I enjoy the sunshine. 

At noon the announcement comes that people no longer need tender tickets to go ashore – Wow.

After almost two hours we have had enough sun.  We actually got red in areas even with 30 sunscreen and we have a good tanned base from home!  So if you are sailing in the summer in the Caribbean make sure to bring sunscreen and be careful in the sun.  Oh and when the people start filing back on board from the beach there are a LOT of red lobsters!  Tomorrow’s formal night could be painful for some.

For lunch we head to the World Fresh Marketplace (this ship’s version of the Horizon Court). We really like the layout.  I will post some pictures of it later.  We grab some salad and head after (to what we use to call the Café Caribe but is now the restaurant called Planks – right now it is not open for service but you can sit here and it is much quieter.

Bernie comes back with a small bag of cheezies! Wow I haven’t had these since I was very little.  They also have small bags of chips too.  Lots of neat new items here.  I look forward to exploring it more and will post more too. 




One thing they have in the beverage area is a wine and beer dispenser that you can swipe your card and server yourself.  Hmmm not sure about this – guess it is a good concept for when the restaurant is closed but I wonder do I have to pay gratuity here too when I have to serve myself?

We head down to the International Café and sit and enjoy an iced tea and watch people coming back on board.  The tenders are full and it must be hot if you are exposed on the upper decks.

A woman approaches and introduces herself – Karen who has been following my blog for a long time sits and chats.  It is so lovely to meet and get to know others who are also passionate about travel and cruising. So great and hope to sit down and chat some more with here later in the voyage.

Back in the cabin we start watching a movie and within an hour we both are asleep and sleep for 2 hours.

We shower and dress for dinner and head up to Skywalkers for a drink around 6:30.  Love this venue and it is a great spot to sit and reflect on the day.  The staff here are very attentive and the food layout today is minimal at 6:30 but there are still veggies for us to munch on.  Oh I should add that we got the invite for the Platinum Elite Lounge but inside it was totally blank – here is a picture.

Dinner is the Coral Dining room in the Club Class section. As many of know we rarely ever dine in the dining room but since we have Club Class this trip we thought we should try it out.  We are sat at a table right away and our server Fernando and his assistant Grace take very good care of us. 

The head waiter comes by (sorry can’t recall his name) and introduces himself to us. He is very helpful and attentive.

In Club Class you get an extra entre (tonight it is poached salmon) and a special pasta (tonight it is ravioli). 

Food tonight was the standard and I did enjoy it but I still have not been won over by the dining room and still prefer the buffet selection.  Mainly because I prefer vegetarian options and the menu in the dining room is minimal.  

Although the head waiter would of course accommodate any of our request I would not ask.

We did enjoy a lovely bottle of Pacific Bay wine – and stored the rest of the wine for another night.

Tonight Miguel Washington the comedian is performing and we do enjoy his show but we have seen it many times, especially recently so we are going to pass. His shows are at 7:30 and 9:30.

Instead we got back to the cabin and change and we head up to the top deck and walk.  It is still warm out but the breeze is a life saver and helps keep things cool.

Bernie grabs an ice cream and we enjoy the people watching.  There are many watching the movie on MUTS (Black Panther) and there are quite a few people in the forward pool – a lot of families really enjoying it.  But so far I have found the kids to be very well behaved.  Sure there are some that could use a bit of supervision but there are also many adults that could use some supervision.

Favorite comment we overheard today:  Young boy saying to his Dad “if I go to bed early can I get up early”. The kids are really looking like they are having a fun time!

We are back in the cabin around 11 pm and we finish watching the movie and a bit of the wake show and we turn on the sleep sounds and we drift off to sleep with a slight rocking of the ship.  Oh we are in heaven.

Some observations today:

  • There are some chair hogs out but not too bad, but many went ashore so we will see how it is on the sea day.

  • Great music throughout the ship – really enjoyed the Dixieland Jazz with the Princess House Band in the Atrium.  Paul we saw the drum player that you know but did not get a chance to say hi – yet!
  • Majority Rules Game Show is still the same idea but the stage set up and decorations are so professional looking – sadly I did not have my camera but will try and get a picture next voyage.
  • We have notice a lot more garbage/glasses/plates left all over the ship.  Places like elevators, by the pool, by a plant.  Not sure why this is.  Could be because of the passenger make up (adults and kids do this) or is there not enough housekeeping to handle the added messes left behind.

  • It is Shark Week (more like Shark Month) – there is a guest lecturer on board talking all about sharks!
  • Internet has been quite good – a few times I have to reconnect to the server but it seems fast and sadly no it is not unlimited like on the Regal.
  • We love Vines normally but we really don’t care for the sitting area of Vines on this ship. It has high barrel type tables with stools for sitting at and a few benches by the window.  Neither are very comfortable and we have therefore not spent long periods of time here.  I personally would recommend that they change out the seating here for nice tables and chairs.  We would stay longer and drink more.  Also miss the full bar at Vines, this ship’s Vines has only wine; however the Atrium Bar is not far away, because sometimes we want something different than wine – I know CRAZY.
  • Passenger Service’s Desk is very busy but they are so professional.  They have had to deal with a lot of passengers who have big issues (like lost luggage – apparently there are many cabins that don’t have luggage) and the crew at the desk handle each issue very professionally.
  • I was able to call the Dine line and trade off our mini bar items rather quickly today and the items were changed out around 4 hours later.  Still wish we could personalize our mini bar on line prior to boarding so it would save us from calling and save the crew from having to come and change it out.
  • Laundry took very little time and we got it back the next day.


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