cruzin4us

So far they have had 2 Chef's table dinners. One on Monday and the other on Tuesday. My table is right next to the Chef's table. I don't know if there are more scheduled, but I know for sure there is at least two.

There are are a couple of buffalo gold machines and some of the Wonder Four machines that have buffaloes on them. I haven’t seen any regular buffalo machines. I went searching for them on day one and was told they took some of them out. The ones I saw are on the smoking side of the casino

Went to Rock Opera and it was good…..not spectacular but good. They begin singing rock songs and more towards the end they sang a couple of more opera type songs. Personally for me if they would have kept more to the rock songs I would have enjoyed it a tad bit more. Apparently a few of the audience thought the same because a few people walked out (like they couldn’t have just waited 5 more minutes for the show to be over). In all fairness, I don’t go to a lot of shows, but compared to the Jersey Boys I saw on NCL, this wasn’t near as good. anyway, it got me out of the casino and that was a good thing. another pet peeve…..why on earth do people get their big iPad out and take pics with their screen on bright mode? I must be getting old and cranky

It was Italian night in the dining room. It was much better than last night. I had the prosciutto and melon (very good), French onion soup, Tuscan style beef striploin steak (good but probably should have ordered the veal scallopine) and crème brûlée.

Hey, guess what...... I'm watching a Netfix movie on my laptop and it's playing beautifully! No buffering at all. That came as a complete surprise!

Yeah, we were on the Ruby in June (Alaska) and it did really suck......not sure it was because we were in Alaska or it's just the Ruby. We'll know better when we go to Hawaii in November. So far the wifi has been great, but then again we are cruising the coast of California. I'm heading to the Mexican Riviera next so I'll have to see if it stays that way. I only have an issue with switching between devices (technically challenged here 🙂

Hopefully these are in order. They are off the menu from the dining room.

I will definitely check. They have more variety than I remember in the past but me being a cheese lover I’ve never looked to see if there are sandwiches that are cheese/dairy free. I’ll probably make a midnight run so I’ll check them out. Have you tried their pot pies? They are pretty good but probably should make sure they don’t have cheese. They had the lentil vegetarian and a hamburger one today and yesterday it was chicken. Don’t know if they added cream to the chicken one. I’ll report back

they also don’t have the fennel shrimp salad which was my favorite. I did see a couple of salads today but I didn’t try them.

This was about midship looking aft. I think I was outside Princess Live area when I snapped this photo The promenade is open to walk on, but it’s narrow in some areas and wider in others. There is a smoking area on both the starboard and port sides (aft).

Port of SF at night, Churchill Cigar selection and the lifeboat under my balcony

Well, dinner was kinda blah tonight. The sesame chicken bites were on par with McDonalds, Bahamian Pea Soup was very good and the Pan Seared Striped Corvina was ok. Probably should have ordered the Prime Rib but after the nice beef medallion last night I thought I should go the lighter route and go with fish. I ate a little and then headed to the buffet where the Special was Indian food. I have to say it was really good and a large variety of choices. (Forgot to take a picture). As I’m eating my way thru the cruise, I stopped and got 2 scoops of freshly made gelato for $2.50. It was tasty, I got pistachio and salted caramel. Tomorrow, I’ll check out the menu and if nothing strikes my fancy, I may go to the Gastro Pub and get a hamburger. Today SF was clear and sunny. The wind picked up in the afternoon and it got quite chilly. Most people got off the ship so I was able to wander around and explore. It was a relaxing day for me

The dinner menu for tonight (night 3). I’ll post pics later

Formal night dinner pate goat cheese salad caesar and kale salad medallion of beef berry cobbler

Some lunch buffet pics and my gyro bowl I concocted with grilled veggies

Wakeview pool gym midship pool

Donut from International Cafe eggs Florentine with hollandaise and spinach croissant with apricot jam OJ

Promenade deck 7 with lifeboats

Today we are in the Port of San Francisco and it's a beautiful day in the mid 70's. I'm just chillin on the ship and enjoying the sun and the view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. Think I'll try loading some pictures and then take a nap before dinner.

Food: Well, it's only day 2 so I'll add more later on this subject. I've got dinner reservations at Sabatini's and Bistro Sur Le Mar later down the line so I'll give you my impression on those to Specialty Dining venues later. Since I'm cruising solo, I'm eating at a table for 1 in the Ketchikan Dining Room on deck 6 aft. I made a reservation for every night at 5:40. The first night I ended up in an awesome quiet location so I asked if I could have that table for all 21 night and they said yes (yeah). My waiter is so-so but we are managing. I'm sitting at a table for 2 and they never remove the extra glasses and silverware. I know it's not the end of the world, but it's odd to me. I'm SOOOOOOOO glad I made reservations for 5:40. I miss the rush that seems to come around 7:00 ish. Last night again people were lined up the stairs and down the hall of deck 7. Both nights, I was seated immediately. Now I've been told I can go right to my table. The first night many were in shorts because people weren't getting there luggage (remember the corporate party). I have pics of my first meal above. Last night was formal night and I saw everything from a nice shirt and slacks to tuxes on men. Women were wearing nice blouses and slacks all the way up to fancy sequined dresses. The food was really, really good on formal night. I seriously cleaned everything off my plate. I had the pate for an appetizer and a goat cheese salad. The medallions of beef were tender, perfectly cooked and a nice size portion. The most basic thing I had was the berry cobbler.....it was just ok. I think I was expecting more blackberry cobbler and this was more or less just blueberries. Typically, I don't eat breakfast in the dining room or buffet. Usually, I just grab something from the International cafe along with a coffee. Just an observation about the International Cafe. They have changed their sandwiches a little bit. They seems to more bread and less meat/cheese/veggies. Also, they have a few more varieties of bread (pretzel buns, etc). While it's still good, I found myself taking off one side of the bread because it was too much. If you have a chance to try the meat or veggie pies, they are good. The vegetarian selection is a lentil/curry tasting pie which is quite good. I'm really pleased they are open 24/7 unlike the Ruby. For us late night casino people, it's nice to be able to grab something to take to the room vs waiting for room service. The coffee is way better here than in the dining room. Dining room: I went there today for breakfast just to try it. The OJ isn't the best and if the glasses got any smaller they'd be a thimble 🙂. I had a croissant with apricot jam, fruit plate, gross coffee and eggs Florentine (eggs with hollandaise sauce over spinach). It was nice, but I'll stick with the croissant and coffee from International Cafe from now on. Buffet: First off, the place is huge. I found myself wandering around until I started to find some duplicate items so then I went and grabbed a bowl and went back for some possibly Greek food? I grabbed some kind of lamb dish, a meat dish that may have had curry in it and some grilled veggies. I have to tell you it was amazingly good. It actually surprised me. It was kind of like Gyro meat. They were both well seasoned and delicious. Chalk one up for the buffet. Gigi's: Just like Alfredo's pizza, it was delicious. I tend to like seasoning and shy away for bland food. I enjoy spicy, curry, etc. Thus fare the food has surpassed my expectations with regards to the quality. The serving size has also been adequate. I'm always full after dinner but not so stuffed that I'm miserable. More food reports and pics as the days go on.

Ship observations: Well, the ship is beautiful and the staff very warm and welcoming......but, it's not my favorite Princess ship. There are a couple things that bug me. Starting with the promenade deck. It is not welcoming at all, it's cluttered, narrow and the lifeboats block your view. Decks 5, 6, and 7 are where most of the indoor activities take place and when sitting at many of the bars and lounges on deck 7, you stare out the window at lifeboats. The other thing is, the ship feels a bit chopped up (for lack of a better description). For instance you can't walk all the way to the Ketchikan dining room on deck 6, you have to go up to deck 7 and then back down to 6. I like to be able to walk on one floor all the way forward and all the way aft. Some floors you can walk down one side, but are blocked off on the other. It just doesn't flow well. Anyway, these are minor complaints (except for the Promenade deck 7 and the lifeboats). I love the Wake View Pool area and the Infinity pool. It's been fairly quiet, but it hasn't been warm enough to sunbathe. Maybe in Mexico it will be different because it's warmer. I've seen only a handful of kids, of course they aren't hanging out in the casino much. My room: Everything has been perfect in my room thus far. I'm able to turn the air conditioning on to a cool temperature (I'm at that age) and it's stayed cool. When I first looked at the shower, I thought how am I going to fit in there with 2 handicap bars, and a handicap chair? Well, I pleasantly surprised when neither turned out to be an issue and the clingy shower curtain is far enough so that wasn't an issue either. It's definitely compact and I wouldn't want to share it with 4 people. Speaking of which, I have a connecting room and I haven't heard a peep from either side of me. There are also 2 beds that pull down from the ceiling should you want this for kids.....I wouldn't use them, but kids would be fine. Masking: I'd say about 5% of the people are wearing masks, and most of the crew are still wearing them.

Well, I'm not to good at posting my live reports.....I actually did write up a few on my iPhone and then when I was ready to add pictures everything disappeared. Anyway, I got my laptop up and running finally so here goes. Oh, I will add the pictures in the following posts, otherwise I have to transfer the pics to the laptop first and my laptop is geriatric and lacking space. So, for starters, I am sailing on a casino promotion which offered a free balcony, Princess Plus, and a bit of free play. So.....I can't B^%*%ch too much about the delay in sailing out of the Port of LA. But, if I had, I would have been upset by their Corporate event because everywhere you turned, something was roped off. Deck 16 and Deck 17 aft was closed off, Take 5 and Churchills was closed as well. The 2 aft bank elevators were closed which made for a big crowd trying to get on the elevators before and after dinner. They also took over the main piazza (but in their defense, this part was kind of cool). They had a band playing the Love Boat Theme and beach balls were dropped from. the ceiling. I will try uploading the video, but they turned on blue lights so the quality isn't so hot. I saw the new Capitan, Cruise Director and Bar Tender. Most passengers had no clue who these people were. I was told there were about 400 guests attending the party. Many got off around 9:30, but some stayed on until San Francisco. The 2 bad parts for me was we weren't notified of the party until 2 days before our cruise and if you didn't read the important notification/announcements on you travel itinerary, you wouldn't have known. They changed the sail time from 4:00 to 10:00 pm, and sitting in the Port of LA isn't all that exciting. Anyway, enough of that. Once I got my favorite cocktail in hand and we started cruising, I was in a better mood. The casino opened at 11 pm and it was crowded. Then, I decided to pull an all nighter and I sat a the same machine until 10 the next morning (still playing on their money)......so, the next day I was dragging. Last night I stayed until about 12:30 and I was a walking zombie. I saw a woman win $7,000 and a couple other small jackpots. I got called for a random hot seat drawing and won $75 in free play so that was nice.

Wow, left dinner at 7:00 and it was a cluster of a line. Moral of this story…..go to dinner at 5:40 to make matters worse, 2 of the elevators were closed for the private party