LACruiser88

Beautiful day! The pool is busy!

Since the pandemic restart, all cruise lines have had great difficulties hiring crew members. This has caused a serious understaffing. We personally know quite a few crew members that found jobs outside of the hospitality business during the pandemic. This has really affected cruise lines.

Good morning! It has finally cleared up and it is definitely getting warmer!

Tonight's extra dish in the Reserve Dining Room was a Rib Eye Steak. So, they made us a Seafood Pasta. Muy Bueno!!! Tonight's dinner wine. We purchased yesterday. We rated it 92 points.

We are trying a new Cab, to us, at Vines tonight. At $17 per glass, we prefer the Silverado.

We were also commercial breeders of Australian Bearded Dragons (along with a few other reptiles) so I knew what to look for. Fantastic time! Thanks again! 🐊

After leaving Zealandia, we returned to the cable car. Below is the view from the top of the cable car. We returned to the city center and Debbie started hunting for her elusive prey. Below I'm holding her catch of the day, something that I have becoming very proficient at!!! 🤣🤣🤣 We returned to the ship and grabbed a couple of sandwiches at the International Cafe. We were still a little hungry so we decided to get an ice cream. For the first time ever, I opted for one of the fancy ice cream sundaes. But, I pulled a Jack Nicholson. I choose one that had vanilla gelato. Then, I asked them to hold the candy cane, the snickers bar, the crumbled Oreo cookies, and the chocolate sprinkles. The result, vanilla gelato with chocolate sauce!

Great day today in Wellington! After taking the free ship shuttle to the city center, we walked to the cable car station. We then hopped on the free shuttle to the Zealandia Sanctuary. We began our hike into the Sanctuary hunting for the rare and elusive KaKa parrots. The valley in which the Sanctuary is located is very Jurassic Park-ish. It is lush, green and beautiful! The Sanctuary is also home to the Tuatara. The Tuatara are a rare reptile found only in New Zealand. They are the last survivors of an order of reptiles that thrived in the age of the dinosaurs. After about 30 minutes of searching for them in heavy vegetation, we found three of them!!! A bit later, we found 3 KaKa parrots in a thick canopy of trees. After climbing further into the valley, we finally found some Kakariki Parakeets. They were impossible to photograph. Below, I'm pointing to a tree where they were hopping branch to branch. Below is what a Kakariki looks likes in an aviary. A few more photos from the valley. A big thank you to @sailingkiwi for the recommendation!

That has also been our experience in our many cruises throughout the world on Princess. A few times we had to pay the corkage when bringing back wine from a port. They have never kept the wine until the end of the cruise.

Good morning Wellington! It is supposed to be sunny in the afternoon and no rain.

We did not make any reservations. I would recommend reservations for Cloudy Bay. They were fully booked, but the Manager was a big tennis fan and liked my Australian Open cap! 😊🍷🎾

The extra dish tonight in the Reserve Dining Room was a Seafood Medley with a Lemon Rissoto. It was very good.

Sorry, I forgot to answer you last night. $140 pp

We had a great today in Picton exploring the Marlborough wine region on the HoHo Wine Tour bus! We got off the ship at 8:30 and right onto the free shuttle bus to town. Below you can see the main street in town. The town of 4,500 was very quiet on a cloudy and cool Sunday. We were booked on the first wine tour bus of the day at 9:30. We would highly recommend this company for tours into the wine region. We did four wine tastings, the last two below were our favorites. We had a fantastic lunch at Allan Scott. We would highly recommend their restaurant and wines. Debbie had clams in white wine, black garlic and coconut. I had the Green-lipped Mussels in a spicy coconut curry, delicious!!! And a side of fries with aoli. For dessert we shared an Afogato with a shot of Tia Maria. Wow, it was superb!!!

We brought back 3 bottles!

There was nobody checking anything when we got off the ship.

Another breakfast favorite, the BELT sandwich. We substitute avocado for the bacon.

He runs all of the dining venues, the big boss!

So sad, tragic!

I just requested that my post be deleted, thanks!

April 13, 2024 2:30 PM EDT Princess Cruises Rolls Out Fleetwide Dining Revolution: Traditional, Reservable, Open Seating, and Anywhere Service Now Available for Every Guest Preference New Options Follow Successful Debut Aboard New Sun Princess FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., April 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Princess Cruises today announced it is making a significant enhancement to the main dining options found across its fleet, designed to give guests the ultimate in flexibility and choice when it comes to their dining experience by offering three table service options – Traditional, Reservable, or Walk-in Anytime - coupled with the brand's industry exclusive OceanNow location-based "anywhere" service. (PRNewsfoto/Princess Cruises) With a dedication to personal preference and individualized service, Princess will designate separate dining rooms aboard every ship in the fleet* to the three table service options – one dedicated to traditional dining offering an early and a late seating every evening; one offering reservable dining times; and a third with open seating to support walk-ins anytime. The three table service options integrate with the line's unparalleled OceanNow, which provides guests the convenience of ordering anything, anytime, and receiving it anywhere onboard, making Princess uniquely positioned to accommodate all guest dining preferences. Making all dining formats available fleetwide follows the resounding success of this new approach already implemented aboard the new Sun Princess. With the stunning introduction of the new next level Love Boat came the debut of three-story dining room with one floor dedicated to traditional dining, another serving guests with a flexible reservation and a third for anytime walk-ins. "Our guests have been delighted with the dining flexibility aboard Sun Princess and we're pleased to extend the concept to all the other ships in our fleet," said Sami Kohen, Princess Cruises vice president of food and beverage. "Now whether guests prefer an early seating every evening, or change things up every night, or even change their mind, these flexible dining options ensure that their dining preference is effortlessly accommodated." Starting on April 15, 2024, the new approach will launch on Princess voyages departing September 14, 2024 and beyond. To support these changes and the transition to the new system, main dining reservations that already have been made for voyages sailing September 14 and beyond for any ship except Sun Princess will be cancelled. Main dining reservations for guests sailing through September 13 will not be affected. Starting June 17, booked guests will be able to use the app ahead of their voyage to opt for traditional seating in a dedicated dining room with the same waiter, same table and same time each night, or flexible dining, allowing them to enjoy dinner at any available time and table size of their choosing in either the Reservable or Open Seating dining rooms. This change does not affect guests booked in specialty dining restaurants or suite or reserve collection accommodations, who enjoy a dedicated dining room on Princess ships, where no reservations are required.