Live from Crown Princess, February 7 - 17, Mexican Riviera

[jaycruising]

This big guy came in and docked behind us, I never did find out what he was hauling

 

 

Carona / Pacifico factory

 

We didn't sail away tonight until after 6 so we were already at dinner

 

 

I started with the Prosciutto and melon

 

Then had the iced peach Bellini soup

 

When we walked into the dining room they were cooking pasta and it smelt so garlicky and wonderful I had to get a small bowl

 

And then the shrimp and scallops for my main

 

For dessert I had my favourite the lemon meringue cheesecake, so good!

 

I will say, this was our worst night in the dining room, our server was actually quite rude and snarky with me when I asked what the pasta they were cooking was and when I asked where my soup was after clearing my other plate about 10 minutes prior. He took about 25 minutes to take our dinner order and then just disappeared. I was not impressed at all. 
 

After dinner we went to the comedian, he started out slow, but did get better and there was no more room in Explorers’ lounge. We stayed a bit for the game show but didn’t enjoy it so we left early and went to bed since we had a very early morning coming up!

[Rescue Dog Mom]

I love the food and menu pics! Thanks for posting! 

[Scotmay]

We were on the Crown last September and we loved the food and entertainment. The desserts were particularly good - too good, if the truth be known!  lol. 

[Thrak]

22 hours ago, jaycruising said:

hey dropped us off by the shops inside the port area, but we made our way back out as I wanted to visit the Oxxo store to get some cheetos, love their’s so much more then the ones in Canada/US. It was right across the street and took about 3 minutes to walk there. 

 

Okay, had to Google this. Now I really need to get some Cheetos in Mexico. We should be able to pick some up at Walmart when we are in Puerto Vallarta. I love Cheetos. We take weeks-long camping trips and they are always purchased in advance (and usually along the way as well).

 

Story: When our second son (middle child) was very young a friend of ours was staying with us for a while so he watched the kid while we were at work. I stopped by home unexpectedly one day and found our son in his high chair covered in orange jive. Our friend looked embarrassed and said something like, "You caught me feeding him icky snacks". The "kid" is now 46 but everybody in our family still refers to Cheetos as "Icky Snacks". It's a term of endearment... 😁

[jaycruising]

3 hours ago, Scotmay said:

We were on the Crown last September and we loved the food and entertainment. The desserts were particularly good - too good, if the truth be known!  lol. 

This is our second time on Crown and we have really enjoyed everything, I mean an issue or two, but overall really good and none of the issues other people have reported. 

[jaycruising]

3 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Okay, had to Google this. Now I really need to get some Cheetos in Mexico. We should be able to pick some up at Walmart when we are in Puerto Vallarta. I love Cheetos. We take weeks-long camping trips and they are always purchased in advance (and usually along the way as well).

 

Story: When our second son (middle child) was very young a friend of ours was staying with us for a while so he watched the kid while we were at work. I stopped by home unexpectedly one day and found our son in his high chair covered in orange jive. Our friend looked embarrassed and said something like, "You caught me feeding him icky snacks". The "kid" is now 46 but everybody in our family still refers to Cheetos as "Icky Snacks". It's a term of endearment... 😁

Great story and can totally see it as being the icky snack!

 

I just find them to have a bit more flavour, then the ones at home. I hope you enjoy them!

[jaycruising]

Feb 14 - Cabo ❤️

 

 

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

This morning our port times in Cabo were 7-3 and we had booked a shore excursion through the ship, so you can imagine how unhappy I was when I looked at my excursion ticket last night and it said meet in the wheelhouse bar at 6:30am!  Who the heck booked this excursion?!?!  Oh right, me!  The alarm went off at 5:55am and we grumbled and groaned, but got dressed and made our way to the meeting point. I actually stopped down at the International Cafe for some water and they had everything decorated. 

 

The stairs were decorated for the vow renewal they would be doing later. 

 

 

One bonus of booking a cruise excursion for a tender port is you don’t have to wait for a tender ticket. Then then headed us into the theatre were we just waited for a few minutes and we were heading for our tender. 
 

Our excursion for the day was Cabo by Land and Sea. They loaded us and about 300 of our closest friends on to the boat. It was a large boat, so wasn’t too bad. They offered us juice or soda as we got on board. And we were quickly on our way out to the arch. We had great views of the ship on our way out!

 

 

 

I’ve never been to Italy but this shot reminds me of photos I’ve seen there. 

 

 

 

 

 

[jaycruising]

The light and the clouds were just amazing today so I took advantage and took a TON of photos!  When I do that I will get a little adventurous with my editing!

 

We did go around to the pacific side of the arch and then turned around and went back. We did also see some whale action, but I couldn’t capture them on my phone, hopefully they are on my big camera, but that will have to wait until I get home. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I call this one perspective!

 

 

Anyone lose their pelican!

Edited February 16 by jaycruising

[jaycruising]

We then marched (not quite, but close) through the port area to get on our bus. They had 2 buses for our excursion, but lucky for us we got on the second bus and it wasn’t quite full!

 

Our first stop was at a glass blowing factory 

 

 

They did a demonstration for us 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet our tequila drinking, sombrero wearing turtle friend!

It took him about 6 minutes to do this!

 

 

 

It was a beautiful shop and they had a ton of inventory. I did buy a small blue and white heart, it was 160 pesos, so quite inexpensive. 

[jaycruising]

Next stop was at a restaurant called Sunset Mona Lisa. It was not open and we just stopped for a drink and some views. I guess it is quite expensive and if you want to eat dinner you must book in advance. 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes I took a photo of the bathroom, it is beautiful!

 

 

It is a stunning space and there are a bunch of tiers on the outside dining area. 

[jaycruising]

Back on our bus for the approximate 45 minute ride to San Jose De Cabo. Our guide was great and shared a lot of information, I didn’t retain a lot, that’s what happens when you get up before dawn.  We were dropped off in the square and our guide showed us a few spots, Walked ua over to the mission and then we had an hour to walk around. 

 

We hadn’t eaten today so we decided to head to a restaurant for some tacos. We headed down the road and saw this street

 

This is all recycled metals. 

 

 

 

We found a restaurant at the end of this road so we grabbed a table. We were joined by a lady we had met in the sanctuary that was travelling solo. So we ordered 3 kinds of tacos and each had one. 
 

Shrimp- these were the best!

 

grilled fish

 

bettered fish

 

And I had a passion fruit margarita, this was the best one I had the entire trip and I had a little buzz after this one!

 

We had a wee bit of time after lunch, so got a couple pictures of the mission

 

 

I don't recall what building this was. 

 

We then had our ride back to the port area. We did really enjoy this tour, but was not the stops I was expecting on a tour of Cabo, but I would recommend this one. 
 

We walked around the port for a while, mostly trying to find a washroom. 

 

I saw this guy walking by as I was coming out of the market and he stopped to let me take a picture 

 

This is one of the markets in the port

[Bemidji Ty]

Thanks so much for taking us along.  I live these ports.  Your photos are amazing.  Cheers.

[Cruise Raider]

If anyone onboard is still on this thread, is disembarkation starting off smoothly?  Any delays to report? 

[jaycruising]

37 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

If anyone onboard is still on this thread, is disembarkation starting off smoothly?  Any delays to report? 

I am still on board, still in my cabin but can see people leaving so looks good. 

[arizonaperson]

So many Great photos ,thanks for sharing your Live from.

[Cruise Raider]

13 minutes ago, jaycruising said:

I am still on board, still in my cabin but can see people leaving so looks good. 

Excellent.   Thank you for that and safe travels home!  

Edited February 17 by Cruise Raider

[jaycruising]

14 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

Excellent.   Thank you for that and safe travels home!  

Just in the lounge now and they said they are 45 minutes ahead of schedule 

[jaycruising]

I headed back to the pier to get a tender back to the ship and I was able to walk right on to one and got to enjoy a seat up top. 
 

 

 

 

 

Thought I was a bit confused but the captain had turned the ship 180 degrees. 
 

Back in our cabin our steward had left this for us

 

Back together with DM and we headed up to deck 16 to enjoy the views, maybe see some whales and just relax. As we went by they had this in the buffet area. 

 

They had done a couple drink specials for the day, I tried the one with the jalapeño and it was not worth the $18, they did not make the rest of the drink sweet enough to counter the jalapeños. 

 

The pool attendant was crafty!

 

We played cards out on deck while waiting for sail away, we were slightly delayed waiting on someone, but the views when we did sail away were lovely. Cabo did have the best views. 

 

 

 

 

 

[jaycruising]

We headed down to the platinum/ elite lounge for a little snack before dinner as all we had ate was the tacos and we were hungry!  I didn’t get any pictures as I got distracted by whales!  They were too far away for pictures though. 
 

We then made our way to the dining room. I stopped by the piazza for pics of the area they were using for the vow renewal, it was very pretty!

 

 

This was our special valentine dinner menu 

 

 

I followed the Chef’s recommendation and started with the tartare, it was fantastic!

 

For my main I had the tournedos and shrimp, it was very good as well. 

 

I did skip dessert again. 
 

DM decided that she wanted to go and hang out in the room so I went solo this evening. I started my night watching the love and marriage show, it was so funny!

 

Then I went and watched Magic To Do

 

 

 

 

 

That was the end of my very long day!  I did really enjoy the show, but since I was so tired my head was bobbing a bit!

[Cruise Raider]

3 hours ago, jaycruising said:

Just in the lounge now and they said they are 45 minutes ahead of schedule 

Our wait in lines at the port to board was a little over an hour.  But the good news is that we weren’t asked to stand out in the wind and rain as we got here around 10:00 AM.  All is good, we are enjoying the charcuterie board at Vines.  

 

[Thrak]

16 hours ago, jaycruising said:

 

We walked around the port for a while, mostly trying to find a washroom. 

 

When you found the washroom was there a charge?

[karatemom2]

Beautiful photos - thank you for sharing. I love Cabo. It’s such a pretty port!

[jaycruising]

30 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

When you found the washroom was there a charge?

There was no charge, but there was no toilet paper and there was a lady handing some out for a tip

[Thrak]

15 minutes ago, jaycruising said:

There was no charge, but there was no toilet paper and there was a lady handing some out for a tip

 

Thanks. That's what I thought. It's pretty "standard" in many places. It's one reason some folks like to have a bit of local currency on hand.

[jaycruising]

Feb 15 - Sea Day

 

 

 

We detoured from our standard morning plans and skipped the gym today as there was an event at 10 am we really wanted to attend. It was coffee with the captain!

 

As per Jody our CD, most don’t really want to do this, but he is quite willing to do it. His wife was on board as well and we saw them throughout the ship. 

 

It started with Jody asking him some canned questions and then it went to the audience. Here are a few interesting tidbits I took away. 
 

* there are no wooden stir sticks or toothpicks on board as they were being mixed in with the uneaten food (left on people’s plates) and when it was being mulched they were sticking and breaking the machine, etc.

* if the ship (Crown Princess in particular) only has a short distance to go then yes they basically do donuts in the ocean as the slowest the ship can go with its motors running is 11 knots. 
* there are water tanks down below and they move the water around to balance the ship, so if you feel that listing you are not losing it (DM was happy to have it validated that she isn’t crazy). They particularly need to balance the ship in port to allow the gangways to work correctly. 

* they loaded about 6 or 7 tones of fuel onto the ship for our 10 day voyage and the cost was about $1.2 million

 

He was a very lovely captain, his noon announcements and as we were leaving port we very informative. If you see this on your ship I highly recommend. 
 

There wasn’t much else going on after and we decided to wait to eat until the dining room opened for lunch so we headed to Crooners for a drink and to play cards. 

 

I wanted to head to the dining room for lunch as I had heard grumbling on FB about a new lunch menu and that people were rather unhappy as only a few dishes were changing everyday. 

 

I started with the summer roll and the Thai spring roll, both were good, but the peanut sauce it was served with is one of the best I’ve ever had. 

 

 

I then had the Salmon Poke bowl, it was so good it seems I forgot to take a picture. DM had the yogurt, street taco and burger and said they were al really good. 
 

I for one am quite happy to see these new options at least on the lunch menu, I LOVE poke bowls and knowing I can get one, I am all in. There are more than enough choices that everyone should be able to find something.