Bon Voyage Dave (DMWNC1959)!!!

[regnig]

I believe that Dave is Platinum.

 

Whoops, guess I mistook that "gray" card to be "black". But none-the-less, Dave's STILL THE MAN!! :D:D

[dmwnc1959]

All six Retreat cabanas were booked for the full-day, and The Sanctuary is also fully booked. Seems those cabanas have been doing well every time I walk through.

 

Lunch was in Alfredo's (Pizza Capricciosa), had my first Bellini (Classic with white peach purée, pomegranate, and Champagne), and spent some time relaxing in the atrium.

 

Tapas and wine at 4pm in Vines, then 6pm reservations at Sabatini's and a table for 12.

 

 

 

 

[CI66774]

Dave,

 

Princess should hire you to blog/promote their existing and new ships. Because of you, I booked another cruise on Princess. Seriously, you do more than mass emails, etc. to excite people about the amenities, etc. on any given ship!!

[Mom33]

Dave,

 

Princess should hire you to blog/promote their existing and new ships. Because of you, I booked another cruise on Princess. Seriously, you do more than mass emails, etc. to excite people about the amenities, etc. on any given ship!!

 

He sure does and his pictures speak volumes! He answered so many of our questions with his pictures alone!:D

[nurse@sea]

Dave, I cant thank you enough for all the time and positive energy you put into your threads. My upcoming cruise on the Royal is in January, and after reading your threads, I can honestly say, that I am very excited to board her. This has not always been true. Since Ive started cruising I have always been thrilled to plan and sail. The negative information that this new ship has generated had made me question my choice of ship, not so anymore. After reading your posts and seeing your photos Im back to happily counting down the days till its my turn. Your positive attitude and honest descriptions of the ship have made me think that this might be my best cruise yet. Thank you again for all your posts and the positive energy that you put into them. Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and pray that you receive a back a hundredfold the kindness you give to others. Vickie

[homeinboca]

 

Thats a fine looking pizza! I must have missed that one at Alfredos. Thanks again Dave, you are bringing back some great memories of our time on board, and I'm glad you are such a great spokesperson for the Royal. She is one amazing lady!

 

Enjoy your time on board, you won't want to be coming back to the weather we are having all over the country!

 

Ron

[#1winelover]

Back on the ship! :D

OMG! I think you may have set a record for in-transit passengers getting off and re-boarding the ship!! 16 minutes from post to post about the process. Perhaps everyone read the scathing remarks about those who ignored the rules and figured they had better be on their toes! :D End week #2, David, and we will all be following along with you!

[sashas_mom]

Hi Dave,

 

Loving your posts and pics. If you see Nat, the one who teaches Brazilian line dance, would you ask him how long he will be on the Royal?

 

Thanks.

Eileen

[#1winelover]

Dave,

 

I'm about half way through all the pages on this thread and look forward to something new everyday. The attention to detail brings back memories of the "Everything Royal" thread (you must have that memorized) and the B2B the DW and I did in October and November.

 

Kick back and relax my friend and enjoy your second week.

 

Marty

I could not have said that better! And I totally agree that Dave needs to "take some time out for DAVID" on this leg of the cruise, and pamper HIMSELF for a change! :)

[#1winelover]

Goodbye to everyone from the 12/1 Roll Call!!! It was a real pleasure meeting all of you and the honor was all mine to have spent so much wonderful time talking with you and hanging out. It was truly a LOT of fun!

 

Now for WEEK 2!

 

:D

 

I did a side-by-side comparison, and the Princess Patters from the 12/1 (previously posted) and 12/8 Embarkation Day are exactly the same with the exception of:

 

- Duo Push not performing (departed last week in St. Thomas)

 

- Different NFL teams playing ;)

 

- Dwight Blake replaced Kory Simon in Crooners

 

- Troy Thirdgill has been replaced by Carlos Oscar as Comedian for this cruise

 

All MUTS movies are the same.

 

Other than posting the MDR each day, is there any other requests for specific menus? Someone had requested the Kids Club menus which I'll ask about, and I will also try and get the MDR Breakfast and Lunch menus to see if it has changed.

 

I did take a picture of the Elite, Suite, and Platinum 'Daily Special' and food offerings in Club 6 each evening.

 

My new cruise card has a Coke sticker, last week it was Sprite. Weird.

 

It's been a long day and I'm exhausted, so off to bed early tonight. More to come tomorrow...

 

If I recall correctly, Carlos Oscar was voted BEST entertainer on Princess Cruises last year. Beat out some of my favorites, and I guess that shows to go ya, I don't get around onboard as much as I should! :eek:

[#1winelover]

Kay is right Dave, your photos of food and venues were amazing but your photo documentation of obstructed balconies on Emerald deck was beyond amazing. It was valiant. You are a modern day knight in shining armor to us.

 

And since I have a ticket to ride on March 30th, that makes ME a Royal Princess. My first order of business will be to knight you Sir David of iPhone.

 

Frankly, you're making both the Royal AND the iPhone look good so by Royal decree - carry on !!

Hear Hear!! I am totally and completely a staunch supporter of your royal appointment of David M Walker as "Sir David of iPhone! As a duly christened member of the "nites of the various tables," I concur with your appointment and will defend that honor bestowed on our Brother with stalwart bravery and with a raised wine glass! :)

[#1winelover]

Hi Dave (and all of his loyal followers),

 

I am a CC "newbie." I happen to come across this thread after I returned from an AMAZING vacation on the Royal from 11/24-12/1. My family and I (husband and 3 small children) had such a wonderful time, I felt the need to stay connected to the ship.

 

After settling in and retuning to life as it was before our wonderful voyage, I couldn't help but "google" the Royal Princess...I wanted to read everything I could about this ship! This simple google search is the reason I stumbled upon this website and, specifically, this fabulous thread! I have truly enjoyed reading each and every post by you and everyone else who has chimed in!

 

I found myself laughing out loud when you discussed the midship stairway. Prior to sailing, I had not read anything about the Royal. My husband booked the cruise and all I did was pack the bags. Needless to say, I was unaware of any "faults" of this ship. The absence of the midship stairs did throw me for a loop the first day or two...but I quickly figured out how to best navigate my way around.

 

Thank you for posting such magnificent pictures and sharing your experience with everyone. Not only will I will continue to follow this thread, but I will never cruise again without first referring to his site.

 

Next on my reading list..."Everything Royal!"

 

Enjoy the 2nd week of your vacation!!!!!!

 

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer! I was on the Maiden Caribbean and the b2b from 11/3 - 11/10 and really enjoyed the ship. And yes, I read all the nay-sayers posts and ignored them. I loved the ship, in spite of all the design "flaws" and would go on her or her sister again at the drop of a ticket! Ya know, some folks would complain at the 2nd coming of Christ if, for instance, He did not arrive in a golden chariot! Who knows, He may arrive in a Chevy Truck(er)!!! One of our posters!! So I will just say, Jennifer, WELCOME to Cruise Critic!! I hope you have a marvelous time here, consult with the forum and roll calls well before you make a purchase, and meet your new cruise partners long before you sail. It DOES make a difference!! :D

[dmwnc1959]

Aboard Royal Princess this week there are 3,427 passengers (364 Elite, 873 Platinum, 409 Ruby, 709 Gold, and 1072 first timers), and of that 49 are kids, the breakdown of the kids clubs is as follows:

 

3-7 year olds (19)

8-12 year olds (19)

13-17 year olds (11)

 

The Counselors did say that next week there are 200+ kids aboard, and for Christmas week 700+ kids.

 

While up on there I also stopped in the Platinum Studio, which does portrait studio pictures and it was quite nice. The guy the runs it, Nikola, is really friendly and we talked for a short while.

 

Dinner at Sabatini's was very nice, with wonderful food and conversation, as was our pre-dinner get together in Vines where I had ordered a 'Charlotte Amalie Ice Tea'. I thought it would look like a New England Ice Tea but it didn't. For dinner I had the twice baked artichoke soufflé in castelrosso cheese sauce, pasta with clams, garlic infused shrimp, and white chocolate mousse with limoncello cream. It was all quite tasty. Also had a glass of Malbec, although I'm not sure if it was the correct wine to have with that dinner (?) but it was good anyway.

 

Our group of 12 has also received written confirmation for the Wine Makers Table on Friday, the evening we leave St. Thomas.

 

Tonight, which is the night leaving Princess Cays, is when clocks go ahead one hour, and the Captain came over saying the seas may be a little bouncy, but he said that last week too. We'll have to see how Royal Princess rides tonight.

 

Full Sea Day tomorrow. Yeah!!! :D

[dmwnc1959]

Platinum Studio

 

[dmwnc1959]

Drinks, tapas, and sunset at Vines

 

 

 

[dmwnc1959]

Our table

 

 

Dinner

 

 

 

[Cruz-OR]

Wow, that food looks great especially the shrimp.

[dmwnc1959]

Oh, and we have out Meet and Greet tomorrow at 10am in Club 6.

 

Should be fun!!!

 

Will post more tomorrow, MDR menus, etc.

 

Ciao for now...

 

:D:D:D

[alexmom]

Hear Hear!! I am totally and completely a staunch supporter of your royal appointment of David M Walker as "Sir David of iPhone! As a duly christened member of the "nites of the various tables," I concur with your appointment and will defend that honor bestowed on our Brother with stalwart bravery and with a raised wine glass! :)

 

What a great idea ! Raising a glass of Cline cashmere to Sir Dave ! AND to the #1 winelover who deigned to schlepp a likeness of Sir Dave onboard when he sailed the Royal ! Pretty special, Larry, and so clever !

[lfk60]

Dave,

 

You continue to add so much excitement to the Royal Princess!!

 

I love your pictures and narratives!

 

After having to cancel our previous RP bookings due to my health issue, DH and I are just about ready to schedule a cruise for the spring. Your 'Live from' has me so excited to see the Royal!!! We hope to book the last Caribbean voyage on 4/20.

 

Thanks again for all you do!!

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise! :D

[CRLess]

Drinks, tapas, and sunset at Vines

 

[/url]

 

 

 

Our favorite place for pre-dinner wine and tapas. Tell Carmen Chris and Brenda say Hello!

[fielddreamer]

Our table

 

 

Dinner

 

 

 

The food looks so good my wife and I can't take it anymore looking at these photos and knowing that all of this food will be right in front of us in five more days !

Edited December 10, 2013 by fielddreamer

[nimiq]

Hello Dave,

First I got to thank you for all of this thread it is simply amazingly informative.

 

I was thorn not long ago between 3 ships for my birthday cruise January 15th.

 

I even posted about what ship I should select between Carnival Glory,NCL Epic and the royal Princes. Of course I got all the pro and cons of each ship but was always sceptical about the Royal with its bad threads here going around.

 

Someone on my thread actually told me about this one and because of your positive outlook on this ship I am able to say that I know now that I have made the correct decision in selecting this ship for my cruise Departing January 12th.

 

One à gain thank you for all the picture and hepl.

 

Bye

Ses y'a

Eric

[Retiring cajun]

Dave, where does the ship port in st. Martin?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Retiring cajun]

I would like some recommendations on touring St. Martin. Wha is the best way to see the dutch and french parts? On the new year cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk