ceilidh1

Lunch menu

Oh, maybe! We are midship so that would make sense. It finished around 11:30 so not a big deal

Observation: we have sailed with this piece of junk app many times so know the score, but there are many blue cruisers on this sailing who don’t. There was MUCH confusion at gingerbread house sign up this morning! First people who bookmarked it on the app thought they had reserved it and had a spot, so came right at 9:30….by which time it was full. Second , people thought this was the actual house making rather than just the sign up, as that’s what the app had it listed as. Third, people who didn’t bookmark the event couldn’t find it on the app as it was “full” so gets hidden…

The teen wanted to sign up for gingerbread house making this morning so we got in line at 9am (this is just to sign up, not to make) so missed breakfast at the dining room. We went to international cafe instead and picked up a few goodies!

Found it

Saltgrass was LESS expensive than Crown Grill - the steaks averaged around $30 (they did have more expensive as well but most were around that price). They also had a kids menu which included steak - at $11 - and it was just a smaller portion of the same cut! The steak was cooked perfectly and was really tender. I would say one of the top five steaks I have had. My daughter and I both commented on how amazing the baked potato was - sounds odd, but it’s true! Perfect mix of all the toppings, cooked just right, no hard skin. I would have been content to have had just the potato as dinner! We shared an enormous chocolate cake for dessert - more than enough for four of us! For all four meals, a dessert, two sodas, and a beer, it was $110. I would choose this over Crown Grill any day! 2. Was that fried chicken for dinner? Have never tried ordering fried chicken. The fried chicken was good according to the two that ordered it. Not dry inside but crunchy topping with a Cajun spice. It came with mashed potato and a biscuit. I’m not a fan of fried chicken so not something I would ever order, I won’t sail from here again. Way too much time, work, and expense involved. I could have taken a whole other cruise for the amount we spent over the past three days. I always leave our steward a note the first day to introduce ourselves. We are really low maintenance in terms of housekeeping, etc so always let them know that as long as the bunk bed is down each night, we don’t mind if/when they come in to service the room. This note I added that we would like extra towels - particularly if they are made into towel animals! Lol. Came back to the room and found it! Today, we will leave our steward a thank you tip and some chocolate!

Slept like a baby last night. One thing I can’t fault princess on is the princess bed! Forgot to mention that after all our times sailing Princess I STILL always forget how inadequate the outlet situation is in their ships. I always tell myself to bring the extension and always forget. Once again, we are all fighting over one outlet! Lol. Let’s hope that is the biggest issue we have today!

Update:: Room service woke us up at 12:35am - almost a full two hours after we ordered. Half the order was missing. Doh.

First day impressions: Definitely some kinks to work out in terms of service! Lots of confusion around bar service - never anything official received regarding the inability to use the drink package, and some staff were unaware of the restrictions. At one point, we were refused service of a non-alcoholic drink due to the “law”…There was no announcement that we were in international waters and able to use the package and staff didn’t know if/when it could be used either. Dinner service wasn’t the standard it usually is. Drinks took forever- we had already finished appies and were on to main by the time they came. Never asked if we wanted anything else to drink and our coffee order never materialized. The kids ordered room service at 10:45pm using the app. It sat at “preparing order” for an hour. I even tried calling but they never picked up the phone. Needless to say, we never got the room service! Hopefully this is all first day issues and tomorrow will be smooth sailing

A little observation: we are in E514 and the music from Club Fusion can definitely be heard in our room! It’s 11:20pm and it’s still going strong! It doesn’t bother me and the kids are sleeping through it, but just an FYI for early/light sleepers

Tomorrows patter

After dinner we walked around and checked out the shops. I looked for the officer board but didn’t find it yet. We had a few drinks at Wheelhouse Bar and then went to listen to the comedian, Robbie Printz. He was pretty funny. Came back to the room to a towel animal, but still no minibar. We also got a notification that we hadn’t done the safety video/muster check in. We actually did - three times since it requires each of us to do it separately!

We finally set sail just before 6pm. There was an issue with transfers from the airport and guests reporting they waited over three hours for the Princess shuttle. Bar service opened just after 7pm but there was a long wait for drinks as everyone swarmed the bar! Dinner was pretty slow service and long lines to get in - we had reserved 7pm (after having our 6pm cancelled and then our 6:20pm cancelled and then our 6:40pm cancelled). We didn’t have to wait and got our table for 8 immediately. I didn’t get pictures of everything but it was all excellent! My only complaint was the fact that we wanted to order coffee with dessert but the waiter said he would come back for the coffee order. He never did.

Will do!

No sign of sailing away yet! This drink package is not getting its usage! Lol

I should add that there has been no notification that drinks are being charged - this m thinking there will be lots of angry guests later

Sailing from Galveston is definitely not up there on my “repeat” list! Firstly the dumb alcohol thing but now they appear to have shut off the ability to order drinks on the app while in port. No biggie. Went to the bar to order choco banana - sorry bananas aren’t ripe. Went to next bar. Sorry, can’t serve those drinks in Galveston. Ummm. There’s no alcohol in this drink and we’ve already had two since being here….

Yes they did! Da Vinci was open from 12-1:30

I three of our four bags were delivered. Hoping the fourth makes it as that’s the one with all our gifts! Got the doors of our four cabins decorated!

No sign of any bags yet! It’s been a long time since I sailed on this class of ship and it feels pretty small and crowded already!

Exploring the ship

Sailaway dinner menu

We went for the salmon and the chicken cacciatore. Both were excellent.

Lunch menu - sorry for he reflection

The ship looks beautiful