March 4 and 5 at Sea

The night that we left Ilhabela we all had dinner at Sabatinis.  When I say all I mean us, Barb and Craig and Debra and Danny who I met on line thru my Fan Page on Facebook.  The place is busier than most nights – I would say there were about ten tables.

I had the calamari to start with, then the pasta and then for my main entrée I had the shrimp dish and it all was very good.  Bernie had the lobster three ways and said it too was very good but did come across a large toothpick in the dish.  I am sure it was to hold the tail in the shell but they forgot to remove it.

I had the cheese selection for my dessert and was disappointed that they didn’t bring the cart over for me to choose what I wanted, and I missed not getting the date cake that I love. 

Lots of things happening on these two days.  The movies are popular (Gravity was popular – Bernie saw it and his comment was it was not that great and wonder why the women astronauts wore such short shorts and tank tops but they guys didn’t).  Lots of trivia, gatherings, afternoon tea, pub lunch, dance classes, pop choir, flash mob and so much more.

They delivered our mini bar the day before turn around and it was exactly what we ordered.

We are still under red alert and I can say I am really tired of it, but I can’t complain cause the crew must really be tired of it.  They are working so very hard to take care of removing this virus on the ship but the Captain every day comes on and says that passengers still show up with the symptoms so they are staying under red alert.  Although I have not noticed as many cabins getting their big sanitation as I wander around the decks.  When we were first under the alert I noticed quite a few sanitation crews sanitizing cabins, which I believe they do two times a day.

Comments about the first leg and here is the Great, Good, and Poor:

Great

The crew are amazing, working very very hard.

 

Bar staff are very friendly and helpful and are very happy to just bring us water if we want.

Love the International Café and they are very busy, minus the egg sandwich issue I had the other day.  The coffee servers are numerous and always around.  I love that they have a queue line roped off for us to get selfserve coffee too.

Entertainment Staff is very great too, love the morning show.  Sure have been numerous entertainment options and they have brought on many different acts too.

Love the Captain, he is quite funny, very informative, and he can be seen around the ship quite often and passengers are able to approach him. 

Good

Cabin steward is quiet and very thorough and low key but does a great job.  He seems very shy.  But we love him and the job he is doing.  Linens were changed numerous times, the shower curtain was changed throughout the trip too, always replenishes wine/champagne glasses, always have ice and he cleans the balcony glass often too.

Laundry service with our Elite service is good, or maybe fair.  Many items have been returned with marks on them and we have had to wash by hand and the marks have come out.  We are not surprised but feel I should warn people cause they do a number on your clothes.  But they still do a great job on 90% of the items.

Food is good, not bad and not great.  It seems to be hit and miss.  We have given up trying to get breakfast in the dining room or at least for a while.  Pancakes are never hot and eggs seems to be cold or warm and over cooked.  

Food seems salty for our taste at least, but may be fine for others.  Often food is warm or even cold and since it takes so long to arrive I don’t dare ask for a new plate.  Room service for breakfast has had issues every time with items missing often.  Yesterday I ordered the egg sandwich with ketchup ticked off on the card.  When I didn’t see it on the tray I asked and they said oh we brought you just ketchup.  He left and brought me one right away and that one was hot and perfectly cooked.

Poor

Dinning service is still poor, to the point of bad.  This has been going on since the beginning of the voyage and the red alert hasn’t made it worse but really the same.  Seems like the waiters are run off their feet in some areas and dead with no tables in other areas.  Those that are quiet are not directed to assist those that are busy.  Many waiters have been moved from the dining room up to Horizon Court too making it even harder in the dining room.

Of course the waiters/assistants have to serve everything and this causes more issues too.

Dinner service takes at minimum two hours and that is when we are dining at a table of four.  Head Waiters are in the dining room but I think we have seen a head waiter visit our table maybe three times in the entire voyage.  They don’t seem to be directing the staff very well and certainly not helping them when needed like we have seen on other voyages.

Final observation is that the first leg was great.  We relaxed a lot, saw lots of places we have not been to ever or have not been to in a long time. 

We reconnected with friends and with past crew too. 

We have enjoyed amazing meals with great wine and lots of laughs.

We have really enjoyed three meals in the specialty restaurants and can’t wait to go back.

The Princess Singers and Dancers are very good and loved seeing “What a Swell Party” show for the first time.

Second Sea Day on our way to Antigua

Slept late again today and missed the Zumba.  Feel bad since I promised Leesh I would go but with it being at 9:15 it is hard to make it and I didn’t wake until 9:30!  But I feel relaxed and rested.

I tell Bernie to meet me down in the IC as he heads up to the Horizon Court and I head down and the place is busy.  The weather is a little overcast, it may have rained but I don’t know since I am inside.  Note the weather got hot and sunny for the afternoon.  Since the weather is poor and the $10 sale is going on in the room the place is crazy.  I grab a seat in Vines and Beverly takes care of me brining me my drink, she can’t chat much as she is busy.  I grab a yoghurt parfait and a donut for my breakfast.

We decide to find a quiet spot and our usual place (Crooners) is very busy, we say lets try the Wheelhouse, but since there is pub lunch today it is closed.  So we make our way to Explorer’s Lounge, the art is out but we sit at a table and read for an hour or so.  Jay the Art Guy is walking around answering questions and assisting people who may be interested in bidding at the auction this afternoon.

We agree to do the pub lunch this afternoon as it has chicken curry – it also served fish and chips too – and we enjoyed the curry but it is mild and we prefer a bit more spice but they do need to cook for the entire group on board so it is easier to make it milder. 

Interactive Trivia is happening in Club Fushion at 12:45 hosted by Frenchie and we head back there but bingo is still going on so we take a seat at the bar and we meet a nice couple from Alaska who come up to say hi and that they follow my blog.  Kelley and Scott tell us their daughter follows and got them reading the blog…. So hi to their daughter from us and thanks for following.  We join them and a British Couple for the Trivia and we win!  Yeah – we win a magnetic clip that comes in handy for the cabin walls and holding our documents. 

Princess Pyramid is happening now in Club Fusion but we want to see the movie in the Princess Theater this afternoon.  They are showing Lincoln which is nominated for an Oscar and we haven’t seen it so we are looking forward to it.

Tonight is formal night and the Captains Welcome Aboard Show is in the Atrium.  We are going to do formal tonight and attend the show, mainly because we haven’t and we also want to see them introduce Johan and get a pic just to tease him.

I decide to head back to the Thermal Suite for a bit and have a relaxing hour there then back to the cabin to change and get ready for dinner. 

The Captain’s Welcome Aboard Party tonight and the Atrium is packed, too busy for me, we look at each other and decide to head into dinner right away instead.

We go to our table in Da Vinci and Daniel welcomes us, but something seems off.  He has a new assistant waiter and he only has our table and two other two tops that are finishing their dinner and a six has just come in but things are off.  We order some wine and he fills our glass and we order and for 20 minutes we sit and look at each other wondering what is up.  My glass is empty but it doesn’t appear to be get filled.  Finally Bernie reaches behind and gets the wine himself and fills our glasses.

I order the crab quiche to start as my appetizer and it was very good but we once again see something is off.  We sit with our plates in front of us waiting for them to be cleared for nearly 10 minutes.  Daniel even clears the two tables beside us and glances over at us but the plates remain.  We get our second course which for me is the French onion soup which is very good and then service improves.

We both get our mains, Bernie ordered the vegetarian option and he loved it, sorry can’t recall what it was exactly called.  I had the Barramundi fish dish and it was cooked perfectly, very good!  We both are thinking the same thing and as Bernie looks at me he says “you want to move back to the Michelangelo Dining room and Elda don’t you?”  and yes I do want to go back.  I miss her and Nathan and the great service we got from them and of course the head waiter Rui is missed too.  Now don’t get me wrong, Daniel was good, but Elda is GREAT.

We head downstairs to ask Rui if we can come back and he quickly says ‘of course” ahhh I am happy again. 

Vines is calling, and after a trying dinner we are needing some friends and great service.  And of course Ryan and Christian take such great care of us.  Johan joins us for a glass along with Corey.  It is nice to catch up with both of them today.

What a Swell Party is on in the Princess Theater and it is one I haven’t seen in a long time so we head there and have a great time, but too much wine and the bed is calling.