Wednesday Night

It is a full night.  It is a formal night and there is the Captain Circle Party.  We dress and we head upstairs but we have about a half hour to kill before meeting up with friends.  

We decide to check out the Wheelhouse bar for one of the signature Norman Love Cocktails.  Note the Wheelhouse is the only place to get them.  We take a seat off to the side and sit there but after ten minutes we realize if we want a drink we will probably have to move to the bar.  And I really want one of these drinks.

This is how the drink should of looked

So we take a seat at the bar.  I ordered the Chocolate Whisky Bacon drink. Yup Bacon.  First issue is the bacon is not behind the bar so he has to get one of the servers to head to the galley to get a plate of bacon.  That takes about ten minutes.  The drink is made and when the bacon arrives the bartender is looking for a crispy piece but all the pieces are flimsy and not crispy.  He picks out the best and lays it on top of the drink and then puts chocolate on the bacon. 

this is how it looked - bacon was soft and not crisp

Hmmm doesn’t look very appealing but I give it a try.  I take a bite of the bacon with the chocolate and well, not really that good.  The actual drink is very good, kind of like an adult chocolate milk and very strong.  But have to say the presentation is not good.  As I write this I am not exactly sure how it should look but when I get home I will look it up to see.  I would not order any of them again.

Because the drink took so long to make we have to leave right away to meet up with friends so we take the drinks and leave and make our way aft to the Vista Lounge.

Rick and Monika from Kelowna are the Most Travelled Passengers and they have asked us and Kim and Norma to join them at their table at the Captain Circle Party.  The first person to greet us is Jazz and her Happy Happy greeting.  She  takes all our orders and even poses for a pic, and takes our picture too. 

Tonight we are dining in the Crown Grill and the main reason is because Beatrice is there.  We are sat at a table right behind the Hostess Station so we can chat with her when she is not busy.

Woody from Thailand is our waiter and he takes our order and Beatrice serves us our drinks. 

Our first course is the Black and Blue Onion Soup and when it arrives we are warned it is very hot and to be careful.  But when we taste it, it is just warm, certainly not hot.  We call Woody over and he whisks it away and brings us hot ones.

The next course is the beet with goat cheese, heirloom tomatoes and spinach salad.  The presentation is very different from other times we have had it and there is not as much in the way of beets or goat cheese.  Tons of spinach and the tomatoes are not heirloom but a mixture of under ripped tomatoes and some cherry tomatoes.  It was good but not at all what we have had on other ships.

For my entrée I ordered the tiger prawns with the rice and Bernie had the lamb.  His lamb was cooked perfectly and loved it.  I also really enjoyed my prawns and loved the bit of punch in flavor and spiciness it had.

For dessert Bernie ordered the chocolate obsession and I had the Norman Love Peanut Butter Bar.  I love this Peanut Butter Bar and hope it stays after the anniversary year.  Bernie’s chocolate Obsession was perfect too.

To see the Crown Grill Menu click here.  

In it was a great dinner.  It was so nice to spend some time with Beatrice.  You can really see her shine as hostess here.  She is so welcoming and friendly with the passengers.  She makes them feel like you are personally dining at her home.  As passengers leave she wishes them a good night and tells them she hopes to see them again and many respond back with lovely comments. 

Our server Woody was very good too and very attentive when he needed to be.  In all the Crown Grill is good but not great.  Sadly it doesn’t feel all that special and the food is often not better than the dining room and tonight I would say it was probably worse than the dining room.

We are off to the cabin and hopefully a good night’s sleep but the ship is moving.  We make sure that everything is safely secure in the cabin.  Hangers are pushed to one size to eliminate the clanging.  The bathroom door is closed shut as it often swings open/closed with the movement and we settle in to bed being rocked to sleep.

Sunday April 26, 2015 Catalina

We sure didn’t have far to travel last night.  We wake around 8 am and look outside and there is Avalon.  This is a tender port but we are not in any real rush.  We shower and head to the Da Vinci dining room for breakfast where we are sat with two couples from Southern California.  

I had the fruit plate with ricotta cheese with a bowl of cereal.  Just right!

It seems that the tender queue is a long one, and even though we don’t have to wait in it with our elite status we know the lines back to the ship will be long too.  We are not here long, last tender is at one pm.  Also apparently the port is busy and the ride is slower than normal so we decided to just stay on board. 

I am currently relaxing in the International Café having my coffee watching the people.  There are a lot of newer cruisers and it is so nice to see everyone enjoying the experience.  

Bernie has gone to the trivia and I am thinking of watching a movie later.  The Theory of Everything is showing in the Princess Theater and also in the cabin they are showing Big Hero 6.

This afternoon there is a lot going on.  Indoor goofy golf, GoPro seminar, the movie, the egg drop sign up, cruise long scavenger hunt, veterans get together, 60 second frenzy, book club which is Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, art auction, line dancing class, golf chipping challenge, origami class.  Princess Grapevine wine tasting, champagne hoopla, bingo, afternoon tea, Discovery at sea is a trivia about Velocity, singles and solos martini meet and a Friends of Bill W Meeting.

Beatrice and I

Buy one get one free is happening at 3 pm for one hour in the Wheelhouse bar as well as in the evening in skywalkers at 11 pm.

It takes a while for everyone to come back from the tenders.  Someone told me it was a very long line to get back to the ship and took a few hours, but I can’t confirm that.

I tried to have a nap cause I was so tired.  But the thrusters are right below us and while they were bringing up the tenders the thrusters kicked in and it was noisy in the cabin.  Although this is a downside for me cause I like to nap during the day it really would be a problem while docking or leaving (famous last words).

One thing I like about the cabin is that is low on the ship (deck 5) and I can sit and watch the seas go by and the spray comes up and it even at some times covers the entire window.  Fun.

Bernie is up and dressed early tonight and leaves the cabin for me to get ready.  Tonight is formal night and I meet up with Bernie in Skywalkers for a drink.  

Rock presenting me with my Mojito

Rock the bartender entertains us along with David as they banter back and forth.  In fact it is hard to leave cause they are fun to be around, but Skywalkers closes down at 7 pm and they are have to pack up all the liquor.  Gee you would think they would just install locked gates for the bar to make it easier.  

We head down to deck 7 to walk towards the Atrium and we see the Captain.  What was funny is we hear a couple ask him (don’t think they realized they were asking the Captain)  where the Atrium was.  Captain Lawes responded “just walk all the way down till you see the champagne then stop”.  

The Atrium is busy but not CRAZY like we have seen it.  I think this may be because of so many new cruisers that just are not aware of it.  

Rick, Monika, Me and Bernie

Claudio, Bernie and Antonio

We finally run into Rick and Monika!  So nice to see them again, it has been a year since we sailed with them and they are so sweet and Monika is so helpful with my facebook fan page.  She has so much knowledge of Princess and is able to answer a lot of questions.  

Rick and Monika are the Most Travelled this voyage and they have been nice enough to ask us to join their table at the Captain Circle Party.  We are more than happy to join them.  

We did qualify for the Most Travelled Party – which is the top 40 passengers.  On this trip it is a cocktail party (which we prefer) which is taking place the night we are in Astoria.

We finally get to meet Stephano the Customer Services Director.  What a lovely man and I can see why Ali loves him so much.  He misses you Ali.

Dinner again is the Botticelli Dining room where we are sat at our table for two in Mark’s section.  It is very busy in this area.  It is full and very very noisy.  Large tables surround us and it is hard to talk, but everyone is having a very good time and I am glad.  

There is a table for 8 beside us but only five are at it and they are so sweet that they even ask if we would like to join them.  But we are happy to have our table.  Plus because two nights on this 7 day voyage are in port, and we are dining in the specialty restaurants twice, we only have three dinners with Mark.  So we thank them and decline.

Marianne a Head Waiter here comes over to say hi.  He ran into Bernie earlier in the day and promised to come over and say hi to me tonight.  We haven’t seen him in a while and we chat and catch up. 

I really enjoy this menu.  I start with the Rissoto Rice Cakes.  Then a lovely salad and my entrée is the Turbot fish entrée.  Bernie had the vegetable curry dish.  Then of course it is the Norman Love dessert.

we played a little joke on Gio

Dinner is very long tonight, over two hours and it is too late to attend the show.  The Production show was Destination Anywhere and we could of pushed it and made it to the show but we choose to not to.  

We wander around a bit and walk to try and digest a bit.  

We stop in at Crown Grill to make a reservation for the next formal night.  We want to see Beatrice and this is why we booked the Crown Grill.

Back in the cabin we watch the morning show and do some reading.  Both of us are asleep by midnight.