arctickitty

They sold out of Cointreau, which had been something we’d thought of getting if we had extra OBC. We didn’t have any pictures taken due to Special Someone’s wardrobe malfunction since parts of his suit are in storage so he wasn’t up to his standards. We looked around the shops and came up with a few ideas; we’ll let them marinate and see what happens.

A staff member told us that an officer told them that the bigger issue is a storm between Ensenada and San Pedro and by leaving early the captain can sail around that storm, avoiding some rougher seas and helping us get to San Pedro on time.

Yesterday they netted off the one large rectangular pool that had been open the previous day. The only pools open were the small round circle pool by Sabatini’s and the square aft pool. Plus the hot tubs. At various times the closed pools have been drained or not.

Storm…weather…

News flash! Ensenada has been cancelled. We will dock for immigration purposes only. We had planned to spend $240 in OBC on a Zipline excursion. We booked Crown Grill for tomorrow night but are open to suggestions for what to do with the rest of it.

@tawlaw1526 I will try to get these pictures for you before this cruise is over.

@Bettyboop66 it was delicious because the MDR ice cream is delicious. The chocolate chip cookies were very soft so you could actually bite it. Most of the ice cream squeezed out but we still had fun trying to eat it. Real ice cream, real whipped cream…can’t go wrong!

This is what we got when Special Someone asked for an ice cream sandwich in the MDR:

Good Spirits deserves a proper entry in the future but to partially answer the question about favorite bartenders, here is Artem from Ukraine making an off-menu drink he calls the Rafaelo to represent his country, for Special Someone, and Velimir from Serbia making a Vanilla Sky to represent Tahiti, for me, as part of the thrice nightly Good Spirits “Cocktail Experience.”

I think Kristoff is leaving at the end of this cruise.

Who needs to wait for MDR breakfast when you possess this treasure:

I’ve done Alaska cruises twice and love them! (just not on Princess…I took bargain boats). It’s a very different part of the state from where we live. If you search by my user name you should be able to find my thread from last spring. Alaska is perhaps surprisingly a great place to drink ashore—we visited several breweries and distilleries at the end of our port stops. We do have three favorite bartenders on board. This being my first time having a package it’s the first time I’ve explored the bars much or interacted with the bartenders. I said to Special Someone that people our age (especially in Alaska) haven’t experienced the classic standard of service where the staff person seeks to exceed your expectation. (We have been confused sometimes but once we realize that’s what’s happening we relax and enjoy it). We’ve definitely found that style in Adagio and Good Spirits. I intend to ask each of our favorites how they feel about being online & if they green light it, I will introduce them here. I thought we would visit Vines often but we haven’t as they don’t have much that’s available on Princess Plus. I like the carmeniere the best of the choices in the MDR and there is a white Sicilian in Sabatini’s called La Planeta Segreta that’s our overall favorite.

@CruzeQueen2 Yes, I would sail on the Crown again. I’ve sailed on the Royal when it was new and two of the gemstones, I think, but I don’t really remember the other ones. I would be hard pressed to sail on a Royal class ship without a promenade deck. I’ve just enjoyed my cruises on ships with a promenade deck so much better. Of course, itinerary also matters because if there were mostly port days, the promenade deck wouldn’t matter to me as much. I really like the combo of being able to walk outdoors on the upper decks as well as the lower decks. We sailed on the Carinval Splendor in May of 2022 and when it was storming I felt like I wasn’t getting any natural light. As far as specialty dining, once I figured out how to view the dinner menus in advance, we booked one night in Sabatini’s with OBC and the food items that were awesome were far better than the MDR food. There were a few misses on the food but it was a wonderful experience and gave us a break from the table sharing (before I also figured out some strategies to alternate our table sized). We also enjoyed the Adagio bar and have been back to the bar a few times. I’ll do a full review of both at some point. We didn’t book specialty dining in advance since we had a chunk of OBC and once I started looking for Crown Grill reservations pretty much only available after 8pm. We were open to trying Salty Dog Gastropub but we used up (or earmarked) our OBC for now.

@Cobraman

I figured that after Zumba would be a good chance to ask Kristoff about his replacement but he was mobbed with fans asking for photos.

When I was 14-15 I worked in a local chain restaurant that was similar to a Dennys that served instant cappuccino from a machine in cups like that and people stole the cups on a regular basis.

Quick coffee update: We tried the coffee from a dispenser at the buffet and to us it tasted like instant coffee, so not fancy but not bad, and we could drink it if we didn’t have a package (tastes like camping). Special Someone wanted to try MDR breakfast to see what the fuss is about so we got in line at 6:55 this morning (they opened the doors at 6:57) and our “lattes” were not what I expected. When they arrived, he teased me, “You lied.” They tasted like instant coffee with a little milk. I’m not sure what they were. The prior time I ordered a latte in the MDR I got the blue ceramic cup with an IC latte and latte art. At the IC, I asked about the mint chocolate flavor and they said that is still out and the white chocolate is out, too. With that intel, I tried ordering a chocolate cookie latte one more time and this time I got a latte that tastes like a chocolate cookie.

Endless options for hot chocolate…

And a miniature ice cream sandwich! This was the Trio of Italian Desserts on the Italian Night menu. The cookie was chocolate-ginger!

Another hot chocolate; the Chocolate Almond from the MDR dessert menu:

I searched all around the theater on both floors and both sides and couldn’t find one. Closest thing was this: The sign changes with the day’s show.

And before someone else points it out, the bottled water may or may not cost $ depending on your package.

Current breakfast order door hanging card.