LIVE: Crown Princess Transatlantic Cruise, 9/22/19 - 10/8/19

[geoherb]

I played the True or Moo game and won a notepad. It was fun. We went to afternoon tea for the first time on this cruise afterward. It was very nice. I had just one little prosciutto sandwich and a couple of the scones. They had a live keyboard player.

 

The professional trivia team won with 20 out of 20 again. We would have had 18 if the host had asked a question specifically instead of generally: "What type of animals are marmosets?" We even asked him for clarification but he demurred. We ended up putting down mammal, but it turned out he wanted primate or monkey. 

 

The credit for the port fees and taxes for missing Ponta Delgada showed up: $3.25 per passenger. They must really want cruise ships to stop there to charge so little.

[Thrak]

3 hours ago, geoherb said:

I played the True or Moo game and won a notepad. It was fun.

 

Ahhhhhh.... Thank you!  I've been racking my feeble brain trying to remember where I won a Princess wine stopper. It was one night when my wife wasn't feeling well and I played True or Moo. I'd never heard of the game and didn't know what I was getting into so when I had to sit on a stool in front of everybody and answer True or Moo I was thinking, "D'Oh!" As it turned out I got all the questions right (the only one to do so) and I was also the only one to really give my "Moo" some gusto. The host loved it - they usually tend to like good participation - and I won the bottle topper.

[geoherb]

The book club discussion of Where the Crawdads Sing on Saturday has been moved to the Hearts and Minds Chapel for those of you on board. It's going to be 10 a.m.

 

I met friends for drinks in Adagio before dinner. It's a largely undiscovered quiet place. Dinner was very good. I had the sushi and the sole. DH had the pork chop. Here are the menus.

 

Tonight's show by the production cast was Encore. It was their last performance of this show. There will be a new cast getting on board in Fort Lauderdale. My understanding is that both casts will be on board during that cruise, but the new one will be performing this show. Encore really gives the singers a chance to shine. I enjoyed it so much more than Sweet Soul Music or Blame It on the Boogie. The guest soprano was very good. The last production show on this cruise will be Magic to Do. It's a new one to us. Tomorrow night will be a repeat of the singer from a few nights ago--Glenn Macnamara, the crooner who did songs by Sinatra, Martin, and other crooners.

 

 

[geoherb]

Here are the activity pages from today's Patter. I've discovered a new treat in the International Café: the vanilla-chocolate Breton, which is a French shortbread with a nice disk of chocolate in the middle. It's a good thing that the morning pastry selections vary from day to day so I'm not tempted every morning when I go to get a cup of ginger tea.

 

 

[geoherb]

I walked a few laps around the deck then played the goofy golf putting challenge this morning. Later on will be trivia and champagne ring toss before lunch. We'll eat lunch in the dining room. I'll probably take a nap after that. Then it's the Grapevine wine tasting at 3, trivia at 4, and Captain's Circle party at 5:30. The line for the second one last night reached all the way to Explorers.

 

Here's a photo of the chocolate vanilla Bretons. 

[geoherb]

Finally a trivia win. I played with the Canadians and a couple of American women. I was able to contribute several answers that my teammates did not know. I'm not sure the professionals were there. The host did mention that some of the questions were new. Of course I'd like them all to be new and not repeats from the previous two or three cruises since so many people are doing back-to-back cruises. 

 

Afterward I played the champagne ring toss. By the time I had a turn, four out of the six bottles were gone. I did not win and did not bother to stand at the end of the line for another go. The two remaining bottles were won before I would have had a shot. That's OK. We have two bottles in the fridge to share with someone. We're heading down to lunch in the dining room now. 

 

[Little Sister]

2 minutes ago, geoherb said:

Finally a trivia win. I played with the Canadians and a couple of American women. I was able to contribute several answers that my teammates did not know. I'm not sure the professionals were there. The host did mention that some of the questions were new. Of course I'd like them all to be new and not repeats from the previous two or three cruises since so many people are doing back-to-back cruises. 

 

Afterward I played the champagne ring toss. By the time I had a turn, four out of the six bottles were gone. I did not win and did not bother to stand at the end of the line for another go. The two remaining bottles were won before I would have had a shot. That's OK. We have two bottles in the fridge to share with someone. We're heading down to lunch in the dining room now. 

 

I am sure my post got missed in the blitz of messages.....who is the Captain on the ship?

[loge23]

I'll pinch-hit for geoherb whom has done a yoeman's job chronicling this fine voyage despite abysmal wifi "speeds"; the Captain is Vincenzo Lubrano.

[Little Sister]

5 minutes ago, loge23 said:

I'll pinch-hit for geoherb whom has done a yoeman's job chronicling this fine voyage despite abysmal wifi "speeds"; the Captain is Vincenzo Lubrano.

Thanks---was hoping Captain Lawes was going to be at the helm for my cruise on the 18th....there is still a chance though...LOL!

[geoherb]

Lunch was nice. I had the gravlax appetizer, an appetizer portion of pasta with meatballs, and spanakopita. I took my nap as scheduled after lunch and woke up in time for the wine tasting. It was one of the best I've attended. I think they tailored it to having so many Elites on this cruise and did not go too much into the basics of wine tasting like some have on other ships. 

 

I played afternoon trivia with the Canadian couple and a woman from Arizona. We were out of the money. The professional team won again. I know at least one wrong answer: the number of concertos Mozart wrote. The host said 23. That's only counting the piano concertos that Mozart wrote as original compositions. There were four early piano concertos that he based on works by contemporary composers and three unnumbered ones based on works by J.C. Bach. He also wrote concertos for other instruments. Add in the five definitive violin concertos, the one possible violin concerto, four horn concertos, and eight other concertos for various instruments/combinations of instruments plus the two symphonias concertante and you'd end up with our answer of 50. 

 

It's time to get ready for the Captain's Circle party.

[geoherb]

40 minutes ago, loge23 said:

I'll pinch-hit for geoherb whom has done a yoeman's job chronicling this fine voyage despite abysmal wifi "speeds"; the Captain is Vincenzo Lubrano.

 

If I have a chance, I'll ask the captain or someone else at the Captain's Circle Party tonight how long he is staying. The entire list of current officers is back in my first post on this thread in the photo of the front page of the Patter from embarkation day. The pages are not in order, unfortunately.

[dickinson]

5 minutes ago, geoherb said:

Lunch was nice. I had the gravlax appetizer, an appetizer portion of pasta with meatballs, and spanakopita. I took my nap as scheduled after lunch and woke up in time for the wine tasting. It was one of the best I've attended. I think they tailored it to having so many Elites on this cruise and did not go too much into the basics of wine tasting like some have on other ships. 

 

I played afternoon trivia with the Canadian couple and a woman from Arizona. We were out of the money. The professional team won again. I know at least one wrong answer: the number of concertos Mozart wrote. The host said 23. That's only counting the piano concertos that Mozart wrote as original compositions. There were four early piano concertos that he based on works by contemporary composers and three unnumbered ones based on works by J.C. Bach. He also wrote concertos for other instruments. Add in the five definitive violin concertos, the one possible violin concerto, four horn concertos, and eight other concertos for various instruments/combinations of instruments plus the two symphonias concertante and you'd end up with our answer of 50. 

 

It's time to get ready for the Captain's Circle party.

 

Is the Canadian couple you played trivia with named Mike and Susan?  They are a couple we have cruised with 2x and I know they are on this cruise. 

 

I’m enjoying your Live from. Thanks. 

[Little Sister]

42 minutes ago, geoherb said:

 

If I have a chance, I'll ask the captain or someone else at the Captain's Circle Party tonight how long he is staying. The entire list of current officers is back in my first post on this thread in the photo of the front page of the Patter from embarkation day. The pages are not in order, unfortunately.

That would be fantastic geoherb--thanks!

[abqmommyof4]

By a y chance have the coke free style machines  been installed?

 

[Corgidawgga]

 

 

yum, one of my faves.    Great for breakfast, too.  

[Griller]

1 hour ago, geoherb said:

Lunch was nice. I had the gravlax appetizer, an appetizer portion of pasta with meatballs, and spanakopita. I took my nap as scheduled after lunch and woke up in time for the wine tasting. It was one of the best I've attended. I think they tailored it to having so many Elites on this cruise and did not go too much into the basics of wine tasting like some have on other ships. 

 

I played afternoon trivia with the Canadian couple and a woman from Arizona. We were out of the money. The professional team won again. I know at least one wrong answer: the number of concertos Mozart wrote. The host said 23. That's only counting the piano concertos that Mozart wrote as original compositions. There were four early piano concertos that he based on works by contemporary composers and three unnumbered ones based on works by J.C. Bach. He also wrote concertos for other instruments. Add in the five definitive violin concertos, the one possible violin concerto, four horn concertos, and eight other concertos for various instruments/combinations of instruments plus the two symphonias concertante and you'd end up with our answer of 50. 

 

It's time to get ready for the Captain's Circle party.

OK so there is general dissatisfaction with the Trivia answers and the ignorance and attitude of  Will a frequent Trivia host. 

Today he disallowed correct alternative answers on two questions in the cumulative Trivia, both easily googled,

Will says the internet is wrong and he is right.

According to Will a spiny anteater which is an Australian animal is not an echidna, even though they are the same thing, and insists that you cannot have a covey of quail

Cost us 2 points. Very unhappy. And Will is very dismissive.

Will is lazily using a lot of old trivia questions, he keeps saying that passengers usually get this or that wrong answer to a question so they cannot be new ones.

And as mentioned by the OP there is one couple who seem to have lived on this ship for the past few cruises and are scoring 20 points a game quite often, and they are also going to be on the next cruise .

 

[Griller]

20 minutes ago, abqmommyof4 said:

By a y chance have the coke free style machines  been installed?

 

Not that I can see apart from the Medallion thing and a revamped coffee bar and pizza and salty dog grill on deck 15 its much as it has been for years

[geoherb]

Captain Lubrano is on for one more cruise after ours--ending October 18. CD Angela is on until sometime in December.

 

The numbers from tonight's Captain Circle party: 386 blue, 417 gold, 304 ruby, 909 platinum, and 994 elite. The #3 cruiser had 999 days. #2 had 1,079. #1 had 1,381. Someone said it took 640 days to make the top 40 party. I have not confirmed that total.

 

The bar waiters at the party were circulating with trays of cocktails, wine, beer, and champagne. Some people were ordering whatever they wanted (and getting it, from what I observed). I had white wine and DH had a couple of cocktails. There were other waiters circulating with trays of hot hors d'ouevres. 

 

Here are the dinner menus and a couple of photos. I enjoyed the seafood casserole. It's one of the best dishes I've had on the cruise. I had the coconut chocolate journey for dessert.

 

[geoherb]

4 hours ago, dickinson said:

 

Is the Canadian couple you played trivia with named Mike and Susan?  They are a couple we have cruised with 2x and I know they are on this cruise. 

 

No. But I remember meeting a Mike and Susan. I can't remember if it was at trivia or a meal or somewhere else.

[geoherb]

2 hours ago, Griller said:

OK so there is general dissatisfaction with the Trivia answers and the ignorance and attitude of  Will a frequent Trivia host. 

Today he disallowed correct alternative answers on two questions in the cumulative Trivia, both easily googled,

Will says the internet is wrong and he is right.

 

I think on the cumulative trivia, he is checking the answers when challenged and giving points back before posting the scores in the library. We're not playing it because it's during lunch time. He is the one who had the close multiple choice answers for the distance to the moon. Any of the answers was right at some point in the moon's orbit. Today, he had another multiple choice question about the distance from the sun. The answers were a wide enough that there was only one correct answer. I don't know if my polite criticism of his answer caused him to change this question or if he already had it like it was today.

 

My problem with the Mozart question is that it's so easy to check. He probably copied the question from somewhere and left out "piano" from it or else the original person also had it wrong. It would be wonderful if Princess cared enough about us to give the hosts the resources to come up with enough unique quizzes that they did not repeat for several months. But what the new guy told us was that they were supposed to come up with 20 quizzes. That's not enough for people who are onboard for 40+ days, especially when they're sharing questions amongst themselves. We've had the same question multiple times already from different hosts on this cruise.

 

It's the same with another host who asked about what type of animal a marmoset is. He would not clarify how specific he wanted us to be. We answered mammal. It's right, but not what he wanted. He wanted primate or monkey. Today we had a similar question about what type of animal a sheepshead is. Saying it is a fish was good enough.

 

 

 

[geoherb]

We had a nice breakfast again in the dining room this morning. The special was eggs Florentine, one of my favorites. Two of our tablemates ordered the French toast, which was not listed on the menu, but the waiter said he could get it for them. I spoke to the internet manager before breakfast about credit for the unacceptable days. He gave me the credit I asked for (75 percent back). I'm happy that we don't have to pay for the days we had super slow connections.

 

The Captain's Circle hostess told me the cutoff number of days to make the top 40 is 673. I had heard several different numbers from people who are close.

[WisCruiser2]

Congrats on the Trivia win! It sounds like the one "host" is pretty lame, hope he's gone by our cruise on February as we do enjoy Trivia (but we're not cutthroat...)

Btw, sheepshead (or sheephead) can also be an obscure card game, in case anyone asks 😉

[Griller]

23 minutes ago, WisCruiser2 said:

Congrats on the Trivia win! It sounds like the one "host" is pretty lame, hope he's gone by our cruise on February as we do enjoy Trivia (but we're not cutthroat...)

Btw, sheepshead (or sheephead) can also be an obscure card game, in case anyone asks 😉

With entertainments crew in the junior positions you have to realize why they are doing the job, often  its because either they can't get a job at home, or they want to see the world or that they come from a country with poor pay.

Its not generally because they are exceptionally bright academically so its a struggle for some of them.

 

Will is apparently 36 years of age and still the most junior position there is on the entertainment crew, having worked on several lines and seems unlikely to have bright promotion prospects or he would be in a more senior position by now.

I do think he is trying his best but its tough for him. Trivia players are pernickety, and don't like getting dissed, what entertainment crew don't always remember is that we might appear to be useless old folk now but many of us have had long distinguished careers in professional capacities or we wouldn't have the money to cruise so much.

I believe Will is going to Royal Princess next contract.

Edited October 5, 2019 by Griller

[geoherb]

The Cruise Critic book club met this morning for Where the Crawdads Sing. Around 20 people showed up. We had a nice group with lively discussion of the book. 

[geoherb]

Lunch in the dining room was very good. I had the London broil, cooked rare as ordered. I also had a great appetizer size portion of pasta with garlic and a tiny lemon meringue tart. (It was the perfect size after a heavy meal.) I took an afternoon nap before playing trivia. I joined my Canadians again and another couple. We were breezing through the answers until we came across a couple of hard questions. We missed three of the last six questions, giving us 17 out of 20 points. The winners had 19.5. And the professionals were half a point behind with 19. The Effy people had given some goodie bags for prizes in addition to the Princess notebooks the host had. I don't think they held anything valuable.