Live From The Grand - 3/5/14 - Mexico, CA and HI

[ccrain]

03/12/2014 – At Sea back To San Francisco

 

The roughest seas we’ve ever been in, and we’ve been in the Drake Passage, were northbound to CA along the coast in the Sea Princess. I think it’s the Japanese current that flows south along the CA coast and when the swells are just right you can get lots of pitch motion that is not affected by the stabilizers. Hopefully it’s a smooth ride.

 

Last night was a late night. Very late, as in after midnight late. The deck party was a huge success with a lot of people up and dancing. Caffeine and Ibuprofen this morning. (The deck carpet is just not conducive to twists and turns.) We ran into a couple of girls that were on our Ruby cruise last year. Small world. (One of them was one of the “trouble makers” in the back row with Paul during the flash mob!) Once again proving that when they say you won’t ever see these people again, it’s probably not true.

 

It was a pretty exhausting night as we started dancing around 7 and stopped sometime around 11. Danced for about 4 miles according to Judy’s pedometer. According to my feet it was more like 5. But one of those very satisfying nights.

 

PV was a trip to Wal Mart – scoring some water, some saline solution and some chicharones. The crew was carrying back bag after bag of those things. And they are not the pig skins we have in the states, these are chewy, salty, piggy goodness. They have finished the new docks in front of Wal Mart as the Carnival Miracle pulled up in the old berth next to us. We were in the new berth. They have certainly improved access across the street with crossing guards and lights. The Wal Mart takes Pesos or US, but gives you change in Pesos. Prices are actually higher than in the US, which surprised me, for comparable items.

 

So now we have 3 days at sea back to San Francisco. Let’s look at the Patter for the day:

 

Zumba this morning. (Pass the Ibuprofen please.) A lecture by Colonel Guidry on flying in Alaska and Greenland. Bingo. Egg drop and boat building. Bar wars. Cha-Cha. Wooden horse racing. Art auctions. Are you smarter than a crew member. Trivia. Princess grapevine – the free wine tasting. Philomena is on in the theater for the afternoon movie.

 

BTW – Kez is pretty sure that Bobby Brooks Wilson is on the next cruise.

 

Tonight we have pre-recorded music for dancing to start. The entertainment headliner is Bobby Brooks Wilson. MUTS is Captain Phillips. Country and Western night – oh my aching feet – pass the IB please…Doug Funk in Vista.

 

So now, off to Zumba…

[Colo Cruiser]

Looks like the rough seas shook the web cam loose! :eek:

 

Enjoy the sea days.

[bmench]

Thanks so much for getting me the information.

[tootsiescurly]

03/10/14 – La Paz Update

 

La Paz was interesting. A very long and worthwhile malecon to stroll along the sea shore. Lots of shops and restaurants. Too bad we only had half a day. A lot more city and touristy than Loreto, but I actually prefer it to Cabo. It’s got a lot of Mexican character. Once again, no beggars, no hard sell. A lot of cops, and I mean a lot of cops everywhere. Not sure if it was for our benefit or not. They picked up one guy, looked like a local, and whisked him off in the back of a police truck in about 5 minutes. Not sure what he did wrong.

 

The locals had a free shuttle bus from the ship to town and to the local beaches, which is a good thing as the town center is about 10 miles from the ship. You ain’t walking this one for sure. It is dry here and I mean dry, dry, dry. The sucharo cactus was even pretty scrawny. But I counted four different geologies on the way to town along the roadside cuts. It’s a place that could be interesting to visit. Lots of condos for sale on the way in to town, the water looked amazing with both white sand, rock and pebble beaches.

 

We didn’t go into a lot of shops, but did get our magnet. US dollars and Pesos accepted. All of the ATMs we heard about were Peso only, but there was an exchange booth next to the bus stop building where they dropped us off.

 

Lots of Norte Americanos around. Not sure if they are ex-pats, visiting or retired, but a lot of dogs with them, so I suspect they are at least semi-permanent here. Watching one dog chase out into the water after the pelicans was fun. We could have taken a boat to see whale sharks, but we just didn’t have the time. That’s probably why we felt pretty safe here. No one seemed overly concerned about anything. It’s funny, after being all over the Med just last year, Mexico almost feels like home! Definitely felt safer than some places in Italy and Greece.

 

There was a lot of shopping right off the ship in a flea market type atmosphere. Mainly arts and crafts. I just love the plates and ceramics. Gorgeous and local, at least to Mexico. Vanilla, a lot of silver jewelry, handcrafts of all types.

 

Overall, we preferred Loreto’s atmosphere, but La Paz would be very interesting to spend more than a few hours in walking the downtown area and sampling the food. Tomorrow is PV and that will be a whole nother country, but I am glad that Princess is going to these different places. Loreto and La Paz are definitely worthwhile to see and we liked both of them…

 

On the down side, we are going to miss Italian night. For those of you familiar with our travels, you know we enjoy our Italian dinners in the MDR. (Come to think of it, we have yet to dine in the MDR this cruise!) But tonight we have reservations at the Crab Shack, so I will definitely have to check that out…

 

La Paz is a little slice of heaven to us. The people are wonderful, the diving is outstanding, as well as the fishing. Like you we much perfer La Paz to Cabo when we are spending a week or more in Mexico.

[senior lady]

now I'm really curious about the different bathroom. Maybe take a picture for all of us..lol

I'm gonna be on the Grand next April for a 10 day coastal cruise out of Vancouver :)

[senior lady]

ccrain........... did you manage to get the same cabin for all those b2b's?? If not that's a lot of packing and unpacking..lol

[ccrain]

now I'm really curious about the different bathroom. Maybe take a picture for all of us..lol

I'm gonna be on the Grand next April for a 10 day coastal cruise out of Vancouver :)

 

But it is bigger. I like it, but it does really limit closet space. Especially closet floor space for all the shoes and laundry.

 

I will see about a picture sometime today...

[ccrain]

ccrain........... did you manage to get the same cabin for all those b2b's?? If not that's a lot of packing and unpacking..lol

 

We have a great TA, but you do have to mark it no upgrade otherwise you might have to move.

[Colo Cruiser]

[ccrain]

So our current cabin configuration is exactly what is shown on the princess website for the Grand - all balconies.

 

But also what they show for the Star and Ruby.

 

But I know for a fact that C742 on the Ruby, which we were just on late last year, had the sideways bathroom configuration with the large closet - not what they show on the website.

 

This is the first time we've been on the Grand in a balcony cabin and I suspect that these configurations were original with the Grand, but changed out to the current configurations like on the Ruby.

 

I know the Ruby, Diamond, Golden, Star and CB have the other configuration as we have been in those cabins...

[MTJSR]

Woke up to whales, or dolphins, or both, having fun about a mile off the ship this morning. Even hard to see on the video screen at full magnification. Did not bring binoculars this time.

 

 

As always, another fantastic Live From review.

 

FYI, and I thought those were dolphins too however in Cabo they have an enormous Devil Ray population and they jump in mass like that out of the water.

 

There's a BBC documentary if you go to you tube, here is the link

 

[senior lady]

your right, went and looked at the princess site. I never noticed that before. I agree it will take a little getting used to.

I don't think I've ever cruised with that configuration before. Maybe the "old" regal or crown had them. they seem vaguely familiar.......lol

[jlf1]

I am an addict

 

Every time I see one of your Lives from .....

 

I happily subscribe to your thread ... So much fun.

 

Judy

[san diego sue]

The Grand has the smallest closets, half the size of the other ships in the Grand class. Bathroom is in the spot indicated by Charles. The area with shelves and the safe is very shallow too.

We had a balcony on the Grand and that is the way it was.

Not bad for a short cruise, but for a longer one, not enough room for two people's clothing. In the later versions (Star ,Golden) this was changed to what most of us are familiar with now.

[ccrain]

In a couple of weeks, this will be my least favorite day, but not today. We get to watch other people pack and just relax.

 

After Zumba we went to see Doug Funk’s improv workshop. That was fun and informative. Had a good laugh and learned a couple of important tips. It was a workshop, but it was definitely worth the time. Doug is very personable, like most Princess comedians, and believe it or not, does not have a DVD to sell after the show. I like that…

 

Last night was the show British Invasion. Is it my imagination or does the shorter shows lack a little continuity? Just seemed different from the full length show we saw several years ago. Frenetic as I remember, not as good as Colors of the World, but worth seeing again.

 

We did get into the marriage match game show – as the oldest couple! Oh come on! Where are those other couples married since dirt! Wait until Paul and Elizabeth hear about this – they never let me live down the “tugboat” nome de plume, and now we’ll never hear the end of this either. But we did win, yet another, bottle of Champoo. But we did have a blast. Gavin was the host and Judy and I did set him back on his heels a few times. That’s our goal, get the audience to go wild and get the host to turn red.

 

Zumba is on again this morning. We have tried and failed to get Gavin to show up. We need someone with pictures and photoshop. As is typical on the last sea day we have the boat building races, the culinary demonstration, a navigation@sea lecture, bingo, final art auction, a pub lunch, Gravity is playing in the theater, and there is a couple of trivias.

 

Tonight is highlighted by the Crew show, Thor the Dark World on MUTS, Princess Pop Choir and Popstar finals, Dallas Buyers Club in Vista, Guacomole and chips in the elite lounge.

 

So…off the zumba…

[SeaGypsies]

Only if you get a chance, would you inquire as to who the Catholic Priest will be on the April 13, 2014 Grand Princess cruise to Hawaii?

 

April 13 is Palm Sunday so I am assuming they will have a priest for the duration of the 15 days of the Easter holydays. Thanks very much in advance.:)

I mean the duration of the 15 day cruise.

Edited March 14, 2014 by SeaGypsies

[Colo Cruiser]

Enjoy your day!

[bmench]

In a couple of weeks, this will be my least favorite day, but not today. We get to watch other people pack and just relax.

 

After Zumba we went to see Doug Funk’s improv workshop. That was fun and informative. Had a good laugh and learned a couple of important tips. It was a workshop, but it was definitely worth the time. Doug is very personable, like most Princess comedians, and believe it or not, does not have a DVD to sell after the show. I like that…

 

Last night was the show British Invasion. Is it my imagination or does the shorter shows lack a little continuity? Just seemed different from the full length show we saw several years ago. Frenetic as I remember, not as good as Colors of the World, but worth seeing again.

 

We did get into the marriage match game show – as the oldest couple! Oh come on! Where are those other couples married since dirt! Wait until Paul and Elizabeth hear about this – they never let me live down the “tugboat” nome de plume, and now we’ll never hear the end of this either. But we did win, yet another, bottle of Champoo. But we did have a blast. Gavin was the host and Judy and I did set him back on his heels a few times. That’s our goal, get the audience to go wild and get the host to turn red.

 

Zumba is on again this morning. We have tried and failed to get Gavin to show up. We need someone with pictures and photoshop. As is typical on the last sea day we have the boat building races, the culinary demonstration, a navigation@sea lecture, bingo, final art auction, a pub lunch, Gravity is playing in the theater, and there is a couple of trivias.

 

Tonight is highlighted by the Crew show, Thor the Dark World on MUTS, Princess Pop Choir and Popstar finals, Dallas Buyers Club in Vista, Guacomole and chips in the elite lounge.

 

So…off the zumba…

 

Did you happen to get a chance to watch Bobby Brooks Wilson, and if you did how was the show?

[ccrain]

03/14/2014 – Summary so Far

 

Tonight was a good night of entertainment and dancing. Lunch in the HC was a Mexican taco/nacho bar with some very good guac and seasoned taco meat and frijoles. Oh that was good. The navigation@sea lecture was semi interesting by the third officer, I guess being #3 is better than being #2. The highlight of the evening was the international cruise show. Tatinana, one of the bar stewards in the IC and star of the morning show drink of the day, a tall dark haired Ukranian, did a traditional belly dance and it brought the house down. She was fantastic. The other highlight was a routine on the overhead ring by Alexander and Evgenija – an Adagio body balancing act typically in the Piazza. They combine comedy, ballet, dance and acrobatics in a most beautiful way. Alexander started out with a comedy act dressed as a clown which was pretty funny with the audience participating – but Evgenija stole the show when she started on the overhead ring. Beautiful, simple beautiful.

 

The cruise so far is good. Good value for the trip and exactly what we expected. Plenty of dancing, good food, good crew, good fun. Tomorrow is turnaround day and we are scheduled to meet and get our new cards authorized at 1030 in Alfredos. Then we plan to go out and see the sights in San Francisco. Grab some lunch, some shopping and then get back on the ship in time for more drinks and dance.

 

We’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow afternoon.

[ccrain]

Did you happen to get a chance to watch Bobby Brooks Wilson, and if you did how was the show?

 

Will try and catch it the next cruise...

[Elua]

03/14/2014 – Summary so Far

 

The other highlight was a routine on the overhead ring by Alexander and Evgenija – an Adagio body balancing act typically in the Piazza. They combine comedy, ballet, dance and acrobatics in a most beautiful way. Alexander started out with a comedy act dressed as a clown which was pretty funny with the audience participating – but Evgenija stole the show when she started on the overhead ring. Beautiful, simple beautiful.

 

Aloha,

Aren't they fantastic? We have been lucky to work with them for the past few years and I always try to take the time to watch them...no matter how many times I have seen the particular act that they are doing.

 

They also happen to be two of the nicest people you can meet. You all are very lucky to have them on board.

 

Malama Pono,

Dave

(of Elua)

http://www.facebook.com/eluamusic

[ccrain]

Aloha,

Aren't they fantastic? We have been lucky to work with them for the past few years and I always try to take the time to watch them...no matter how many times I have seen the particular act that they are doing.

 

They also happen to be two of the nicest people you can meet. You all are very lucky to have them on board.

 

Malama Pono,

Dave

(of Elua)

http://www.facebook.com/eluamusic

 

Agreed. Sheer strength combined with artistry. Its mesmerizing to watch...

 

Tell Leia we will be putting on our heirloom leis this cruise and next to show off her handywork!

 

Wish you were on this ship!

[ccrain]

03-16-2014 - At Sea To San Diego

 

Well that was relatively painless. Was able to get a decent 4G signal yesterday morning in the Piazza, so we spent the morning in Alfredos updating all the electronics and downloading all the emails and such. Faster than ship’s wireless. Judy is having nothing but trouble with her IPAD. It worked fine on the Ruby last year, but it just doesn’t want to connect with enough speed to play her games. They aren’t a real time on-line game, but they are somewhat interactive with messaging and such. Her connection on the ship is just not fast enough, or there is too much lag. My laptop is working. It is slower than I remember, pages take longer to load, emails longer to download, but it seems to be more forgiving of a slow connection than her IPAD.

 

So we got dinged out of our old cards and bonged into our new cards in about 5 minutes. We could have left the ship and just taken our new cards with us, along with the paper “In Transit” card. But we weren’t in any hurry.

 

I thought it wouldn’t be a cold as it has been, so Judy only brought one pair of slacks for evening wear. Temperatures are a bit cool, especially on the open decks. So we went over to Ross, about 4 blocks away, and picked up some slacks for her. Walgreens was close by so we picked up some water and a pair of scissors there, then to Safeway for some liquid Stevia.

 

Being a Saturday, Fisherman’s wharf was hopping with a drum band and a variety of street performers, some pretty professional, some clearly just trying to make a buck here or there. We went to the fish house for lunch. Once again it was one of the higher rated Tripadvisor sites that, quite frankly, did not deserve that high a ranking. Very overpriced and very crowded – as in tables are really close together so they pack everyone in tight. Not a very comfortable atmosphere. The ceviche was chilled and refreshing, but needed a bit more acidity and a few more tortilla chips. My seared ahi tuna was perfect, the veggies could have used just a touch less onion and a touch more time in the wok. Judy got the short end. Her swordfish was oily and not seared properly, so it was almost soggy. Her asparagus was not peeled and so woody it was inedible. Serivce was slow, but friendly as the place was really packed. The drinks were good, but pricey. All in all, not recommended. We will be trying some other places on the next turnaround day.

 

After lunch we wandered down to Boudins for a loaf of sourdough, to be used at the movie tonight. That San Francisco sourdough tangy crust is just addictive. We went back on the ship around 1400 and just breezed through the lines. Piece of cake.

 

We had at least two loads of laundry saved up, so we had to do laundry first off, then continue updating the electronics – geez this get ridiculous for sure. The nice thing about B2B’s is that you don’t have to go to muster drill. So Alvin, our room steward, came in to check the cabin and we talked for a while. Once again we have scored with our room steward. He is very fast, very efficient, friendly and always has a smile for us. We always bring a pad of sticky notes and a sharpie with us and leave little notes on the bathroom mirror for him if we need anything. Works great!

 

Oh, and because this is only a 7 day cruise and we have liquor left over from our last mini-bar and two bottles of Champoo, we traded in our mini-bar for two coffee cards. Brand new, unmarked coffee cards. Enough to keep us in coffee and lattes for the next 3 weeks easily. Then we will keep the mini-bar on the start of the HI cruise.

 

The sail out was gorgeous. Blue sky, great views of the city and the bridge as we sailed along. Since it was Saturday, the sailing boats and a couple of windsurfers and kite surfers were out. Really fun to watch – although some of those sailboats looked like they were going over! Everyone hanging on the outboard side for dear life!

 

The Elite lounge has moved back to One5 so we had to check that out. Our favorite server, Flora, has been transferred to the Casino. Darn. The Casino stinks. Literally. Oh well, hopefully she get out somewhere halfway decent on the next cruise.

 

Some dancing to canned music, advertised as ballroom but more like a hodge podge including a 15 minute salsa medley, in Explorers, but we did want to see the early welcome aboard show as well. The early show highlighted Alexander and Evgenija. Same act that closed the crew show the night before, but this time we were down front and saw it up close and personal. Great artistry. Loved it.

 

We have some new faces on board. Sarah left. Veronica boarded. Niki left and Mikey boarded, and apparently Kez will be going home after this cruise as well. She has great potential for a future cruise director – and a lot of Princess CDs are getting a bit old, like the rest of us. Gavin has switched personnel around a bit. We have Miranda for Zumba this morning, not Lexi. A little variety is good.

 

After the show we went dancing. A little bit of a change. The Randy Heddon Quartet moved to Explorer’s for the night, not sure why, and Retrospect moved to Wheelhouse. Their sets were staggered such that we could bounce from one to the other. More professionally trained ballroom dancers on this ship than last. Big sweeping arm movements and large steps – not exactly apropos for tiny dance floors with social dancers. Collisions are imminent. It was not really crowded last night, but then the first night hardly ever is. We shall see how it goes as we just stay out of the fray in the corner somewhere…

 

So that’s it for turnaround day –

 

This morning we awoke to the fog horn and fog, plus a bit more fog. The marine layer is here in force. We saw it just off the coast as we sailed out and we were in it right away. This morning its back in force.

 

So now for the Patter of the day. Tonight is the first of two formal nights with the Captain’s welcome and Champagne Waterfall at around 1900 this evening.

 

We have Zumba at 0930 in Vista, a holiday store shopping in the dining room from 0900 to 1200. Dirty Dancing, the Princess Bride and Barry Manilow on MUTS. Martini demo, dicey wooden horse racing, hair style show and paper planes in the Piazza. Bingo. Gaming lessons. A holdem tournament. Passenger feud. A navigation@sea lecture.

 

Afternoon movie in the theater is Gravity. We have a Merengue class, a line dance class, the matre de wine club (not the free one), dollar bill origami, a couple of trivias, a pub lunch in Crown Grill and several seminars from the Lotus Spa – you know the ones – lose weight while eating everything on the ship, go home pain free and looking 10 years younger than when you came on board – trade in your existing body for a brand new android body (just kidding). And last but not least, the infamous art auction!

 

Tonight is Stardust in the theater. Ventriloquist Don Bryan in Vista. Retrospect is back in Explorer’s for a British Invasion set. The quartet is back in the Wheelhouse and we are going to MUTS to see Captain Phillips with our sourdough bread and Chicharones from Mexico. Oh yeah, there is Karaoke as well as Alexander and Avgenija in the Piazza.

 

Pretty full line up wouldn’t you say!

 

See y’all later…off to Zumba with Miranda….

[CruzinNoony]

Sounds like you two are having lots of fun. A question about the most traveled party. With only two sea days, are they having just the cocktail party or squeezing in a luncheon?:rolleyes:

[Colo Cruiser]