timetravler

Bernadette and Eric!

 

Welcome to this thread. Lucky you to be retired for most of us we all love to travel (a no brainer) and of course love to cruise mostly on Royal Caribbean. We live in San Jose and grew up in Palo Alto (moi) and Menlo Park (DH). I think living in CA spoils you in many ways. My DH and I love to go wine tasting and have joined various wine clubs but also have had the opportunity to help harvest grapes at a nearby winery in Gilroy...what a unique experience.

 

Besides travel and wine tasting, we both love animals (have 2 cats) and dining, spending time with friends, love our San Jose Sharks. Plus I do love my occasional trips to a nearby Indian Casino to play penny slots.

 

Please come back again!

I love animals too. We own a 8 month old Boston Terrier. Our whole family are major animal lovers with even my DIL who is a vet.

Today we get to go to a wine event. It's called pick up your wine event,lol

They throw a big BBQ and have games and such so picking up you case of wine is actually fun. It is a very small winery about 1/2 miles from our home. The winery is named Lava.

When I figure how to get pictures from the uploaded photo part to here, I will post a picture of our puppy. I tried for about 1/2 hour and then gave up. I need lessons!:o

I'm new to this thread, so let me introduce myself. My name is Bernadette and I live in the Napa valley. I do not own any wineries or anything like that, just drink the wine. I worked for at&t for 30 years and retired a few years ago. My passion is cooking, cruising, pets and bicycling. I'm married to Eric. We own a Boston Terrier who is 8 months old. Our whole family is into animals. My DIL is a vet, but she does not live in California. Anyways, we cruise with Princess, but would love to try others. We have a cruise this fall, Quebec city to Fl. Today we booked the Trans-Atlantic cruise for 2013 on the new Royal Princess. If you have not seen the video's yet go to the Princess web site. Very pretty ship

BTW, we were in Kauai last September and stayed at the Kiahuna Plantations. We have been there many times.

That's all for now. Hope to talk to you soon. ALOHA!

I can't believe I searched this long but I can't stand not solving a puzzle. :o

This is the aft of the Emerald

http://picasaweb.google.com/jneves115/EmeraldPrincessHighlights818810Part2?authkey=Gv1sRgCMONoqbhpL6PUA&feat=directlink#5505611403731198098

 

 

Looks like they fixed the portholes that were on the Crown and made them into regular windows.

BTW - don't bother calling Princess. I have found the CSRs to be very friendly, nice sources of misinformation!

If you want accuracy stick with CC!!!

Thank you so much. This is the first pics of the aft of the Emerald that I have seen. Now I know what I booked. We chose a oceanview because we taking a repositioning cruise(Quebec to Florida) in late Oct 2012 & it will be too cold out to get much use of a balcony. Again, thanks for your research!

I am curious to learn about these cabins (Emerald 748,749,750,751) also. Are they just a typical oceanview cabin with an aft view or is there something distinct about them?

I don't know about porthole windows or if that is true, but I doubt it because these 4 cabins are the highest priced ocean view cabin they have. That is why I picked them. I didn't have any luck when I called Princess, but I may give them a call again. I certainly don't want port hole windows at a premium price. Sure hope someone has a picture.

I'm looking for pictures of the Emerald R750 cabin. This is an ocean view, not a balcony and there are only 4 cabins like this. Anyone have a picture?

Here is another vote for Princess pizza. Gosh just thinking about it makes me salivate. Never had a pizza I didn't like on Princess ships.

I have cruised on the Diamond and about 6 other Princess ships and have never been dissapointed. Even after they made some cutbacks to the food about 2 years ago, I still did not have a problem. One of the cutbacks was smoked salmon(loxs) are not available all the time in the buffet. But they are in the dinning room. I highly suggest you eat most of your meals in the dinning room instead of the crowded, noisy buffet. Also, if you want one of the best meals in your life, sign up for the chefs table. Yes it costs an extra $75 per person, but as a foodie, this is the absolute best meal ever on a cruise. In fact, it is close to one of the top restaurants in the world, The French Laundry in Napa Valley. Here is a menu from one of the chefs table: Alaskan snow crab margarita with avocado & mango

salmon tartar wuth traditional condiments

bistro mini quiche with truffle and cherry tomsatoes

potato crepes with sour cream and caviar

Italian risotto with tiget prawns, crisp mushroom and lemon foam

bloddy mary granite

Lobster tail therminidor & roasted beef tenderloin with morrel dust

creamy lobster broth, chill sambal, hollandaise sauce & peppercorn sauce.

grilled asparagus, market vegetable & scalloped potatoes

whipped brie de meaux feuillete, reisling soaked green raisin drippings walnut brioche

Brazillian pineapple delight with fresh summer berries

This all comes with several pourings of wine(no extra charge) and champagne(heidsick).

Now has this wet your appatite yet!

I am presently watching the series Tougher in Alaska. Got it through Net Flix. It IS filmed in Alaska and cover stories such as salmon fishing, gold mining and much more.

I just would not do it, period. I'm an avid biker and it is way dangerious on that road as there is no shoulder. But we did do a bike and brew excursion in Juneau that was fun. You end up after riding going to the Alaskan Beer brewery.I highly recomend that instead. It is 9 miles, mostly flat and very plesant.

I always decorate my door. Last year to Hawaii, I had leis and all kinds of Hawaiian stuff. Next month it is off to Alaska from San Francisco, so I have a picture of the ship under the golden gate bridge, then a picture of the ship in Alaska. Flat Stanely will go next to that and who knows what I will come up with. My daughter in another cabin will also have flat Stanely too, if she remembers(she is a teacher and flat Stanely is part of a teachers teaching tool).