Back On Board

We are back on board around 12:45 and our cabin is not quite ready yet so we head to Alfredos for Pizza!  Yummy.
Demographics:  Very different!

It is spring break in California and I know it is Spring Break in British Columbia too.  So lots of families are on board.  

Word is there are 600 kids under the age of 18. There are so many kids that a pamphlet was inserted in our Patter called “Parental Advisory”.  What was hilarious was during Muster I sat beside a family with two small kids ages 5 and 7 (who behaved so well during the drill – better than some adults – yes I am talking to the woman on the other side who played Candy Crush during the entire drill).  This the kids first cruise and Mom said she sat them on the bed and read out the Parental Advisory to them.  The little girl who is 5 responded “yup we are not to run and jump in the pool”.  I was impressed.

Sail Away was different.  First it was cool outside and second it was a big deal with the ship leaving Los Angeles on it’s first Mexican Cruise.  

I had seen both Jan Schwartz and Arnold Donald on board during the day.  I so wanted to approach them but knew I did not want to bother them.  But still impressive to see them here.  

So back to sail away.  There was no dance party because the fire boats were there to send us out with sprays of water.  

The USS Iowa was there with the UCLA Trojan band playing as we sailed past. Now that was impressive.  They even played the Love Boat Theme.  But after we got to the end of the channel I was just too cold and went in.

Here is the Patter

We were both exhausted!  We were relaxing and trying to figure out what to do tonight when the phone rang and I instantly remembered!  John and Leslie Ripper are on board!  I have been chatting with John for years and originally their son Eric was suppose to be on the Royal as Senior Videographer but things change rapidly when on board ship and he was moved to the Majestic Princess.  But his parents had already booked this sailing.  

We had arranged prior to their board that we would meet them in Vines at 7!  It was now 7.  We both quickly got showered and dressed and met them at 7:30.

Now first night is always a poor representation of the dining room and tonight was the first night and yes the dining room was busy right at 7:30 when we approached to get a table for four.  Sail away ended at 6:30 and by the time people get down to the dining room the place was packed at 7:30 with people still finishing.  So we gladly accepted a pager and went back to Vines.  But we did not have to wait long – around 15 minutes.

We sat at a table for four (again right beside a bus station with the slamming of drawers and cupboards – still wish Princess would change this design).  You could see our waiter was run off his feet.  With the ship at over a 100% capacity with many of the 3rd and 4th berths filled it means busier restaurants.  And sadly service reflected this.  It was not horrible, but it certainly was not the normal Princess standard service.  I had to ask for water refill two different times.  And some courses were served together.  Might stay away from the dining room for the rest of the cruise though.  It is still good but it is not like we need to go – especially with such a great buffet.

At 10 pm (yes the Production shows are back to a decent hour) we went to catch Sweet Soul Music – one of our favorites.  The Secret Silk is not being shown this voyage.  

But Encore and Colours of the World are going to be shown.
We went back to the cabin at 11 pm and the ship was still rocking with guest all over the ship still enjoying the events.  So nice to see this ship come alive again.  But it of course has it’s downfall too.