Live from the Land of Princess

[YVRteacher]

13 minutes ago, AKR2011 said:

Welcome back, Yvonne! I'm excited to hear about your experience on Princess and how it compares to NCL. I am always curious. Safe travels! ❤️⚓️

Thank you!

[cr8tiv1]

1 minute ago, YVRteacher said:

I’m really looking forward to more variety in the food department when cruising. There are only so many times in a lifetime where one can order baked ziti and pretend to enjoy it.

 

They can make you a wonderful pasta dish with just garlic and. butter.  Do you do tofu?  Have you ever tried poke tofu?  I heard their fried cauliflower stak was also good.

[SenatorsFan]

@YVRteacher I'm glad you let us know where to find you for your next adventures! I'm looking forward to following along. 🥰

[wallyj]

@YVRteacher, most Princess ships buffets have an Indian dishes section where many are vegetarian, another option to check out. The Islands buffet is up top and forward with great views.

 

There is also a complimentary dry Sauna, a little hidden down a hallway with showers and locker area, ask if you cannot find by Spa.

[YVRteacher]

34 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

They can make you a wonderful pasta dish with just garlic and. butter.  Do you do tofu?  Have you ever tried poke tofu?  I heard their fried cauliflower stak was also good.

I would love poke tofu!! Is this something I can order on Princess?

 

Pasta is not my favourite. So many restaurants have pasta as their one vegetarian option that it isn’t really something I enjoy anymore.

 

Give me all the lentils, chick peas, curries, beans and tofu. Also all the veggies except eggplant, parsnip and turnip. 

[YVRteacher]

12 minutes ago, SenatorsFan said:

@YVRteacher I'm glad you let us know where to find you for your next adventures! I'm looking forward to following along. 🥰

I’m glad you’re here! Thank you!

[cr8tiv1]

Just now, YVRteacher said:

I would love poke tofu!! Is this something I can order on Princess?

 

Pasta is not my favourite. So many restaurants have pasta as their one vegetarian option that it isn’t really something I enjoy anymore.

 

Give me all the lentils, chick peas, curries, beans and tofu. Also all the veggies except eggplant, parsnip and turnip. 

 

That's the list you need to give to your Assistant Manager.

[YVRteacher]

4 minutes ago, wallyj said:

@YVRteacher, most Princess ships buffets have an Indian dishes section where many are vegetarian, another option to check out. The Islands buffet is up top and forward with great views.

 

There is also a complimentary dry Sauna, a little hidden down a hallway with showers and locker area, ask if you cannot find by Spa.

Perfect! Indian food is my favourite. I love cruise ship buffets and since I’m cruising solo can see myself eating in the buffet more than the dining room.

 

Thank you for the sauna tip. I did buy the spa pass for this cruise in lieu of expensive excursions in some ports and I know the spa on the Island is a little tiny. 
 

For those in the know, I will keep my bathing suit on at all times in the spa!!

[YVRteacher]

Please tell me everything I need to know about afternoon tea! I am very excited for finger sandwiches and delicate treats and hot liquid that I sip out of a fancy cup with an upward facing pinky.

Apparently I was practicing for afternoon tea on a recent cruise to Alaska

 

 

[cr8tiv1]

Afternoon tea is not as fancy as your crab posture.  No China teacups.  No Mrs. Pots.  No cucumber sandwiches (if I recall).  Good desserts.  I love the scones (which you can find in the buffet after 3).  You can ask for individual tea or hot water and bring your own from the buffet.  The first day will have a long line, but you have lots of sea days to enjoy tea.

 

[TheGuys16]

Excited to follow along, and hope Princess delivers a better experience for you. Having never sailed Princess, I have no advice to offer.  Just here for the stories.

[kluv2cruz]

6 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Burata. Get the Burata.

I was recently in France and when staying at an AirBnB the host was a chef on her day off and we paid her to make us dinner. Oh man, appetizer was burrata. WOWSERS! Amazing! Definitely have that! We also went to a restaurant in Bordeaux and had pizza at lunch. The creamy yummy innards of a burrata were oozing yumminess on my pizza! Get the burrata. 

[YVRteacher]

Burrata will be ordered, although the word innards reminds me of what’s inside a turkey that’s not for eating.

[YVRteacher]

Am I crazy for flying all the way to Newark and not going to New York?

 

Possibly.

 

I love Broadway. My parents raised me on live theatre, hard work and moving houses if the walls needed washing. I have a tattoo of Wicked lyrics on my neck. When I was researching for this trip I discovered Broadway is dark for July 4. Going to a show on July 3 meant flying on July 2. I knew I would need more than two days to decompress from June.  Instead of flying out early and enjoying NY, I stayed in Vancouver and took my dad to see Ring of Fire at Granville Island (outstanding!), met friends for our regular #sushisunday, had a wonderful time at the bunny cafe and spent 5 hours on the phone with insurance people trying to work through a leak/claim/repair issue in my home. 
Tomorrow is the just-right day for a trans-continental flight. Let’s hope my seat mates all showered and the person behind me has short legs.

[ceilidh1]

I expect real time, blow-by-blow details with pictures. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I miss you already...

[YVRteacher]

I miss you too!!

[YVRteacher]

Last year in Iceland I asked the wonderful front desk person at my boutique-ish hotel (I booked it for the Icelandic breakfast) what kind of chocolate to buy for friends at home.

 

She recommended Omnom. This was an excellent recommendation and the beginning of my love affair with Icelandic chocolate and milk chocolate covered liquorice. 
 

This bar of chocolate has been in my fridge for  11 months.

Tonight I savoured it piece by piece, eagerly anticipating a restock in Reykjavik.

[ceilidh1]

33 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Last year in Iceland I asked the wonderful front desk person at my boutique-ish hotel (I booked it for the Icelandic breakfast) what kind of chocolate to buy for friends at home.

 

She recommended Omnom. This was an excellent recommendation and the beginning of my love affair with Icelandic chocolate and milk chocolate covered liquorice. 
 

This bar of chocolate has been in my fridge for  11 months.

Tonight I savoured it piece by piece, eagerly anticipating a restock in Reykjavik.

Your willpower is commendable. Ours disappeared in seconds. We must have got the vanishing kind...

[ceilidh1]

 

This is the best British chocolate (after Cadburys, of course - but only British Cadburys. Not that nasty made-by-Hersheys nonsense)

[YVRteacher]

Tomorrow is looking even better! My WTA (Wonderful Travel Agent) gifted me an airport lounge pass!

 

 

 

Now I don’t have to sit with the masses on a crumb covered seat while toddlers push their own strollers up and down the aisles and announcements disrupt my important writing (Cruise Critic live trip report!) every 18 seconds. 
 

Do you know what the lounge has?

Free whiskey!!!

[Muckyduckway]

So excited you're back to share your long summer of cruising. I truly hope that your expectations are fulfilled.

What made you choose Princess? If you've already posted this elsewhere, just point me in the right direction. I'm particularly interested because we are nearly vegetarian and enjoy informal cruising with relaxed dresscodes and open dining too.

We love the smaller NCL ships but entertainment and food quality and variety has definitely slipped in recent years.

Good luck and Bon Voyage.

[YVRteacher]

That’s a great question!

 

In answering why I did choose Princess, there’s an underlying layer as to why I didn’t choose NCL. 
 

Firstly, I was yearning to return to Iceland and have wanted to do a Transatlantic crossing for years. This summer I found the NCL Star, the Queen Mary and the Island Princess all offered Transatlantic cruises. After spending 23 nights on the NCL Star last summer I almost quit NCL altogether. I loved the ports yet did not love or appreciate the shipboard experience and I truly struggled with the poor quality of food. Since the restart post-Covid NCL is no longer consistently meeting my needs or my expectations as the food, entertainment and service decline, especially on the smaller ships. Note that I did have a fabulous experience on the Breakaway for a B2B in March.
 

I selected Princess this summer for the itinerary, for new experiences and to try something different. 

 

5 of my friends sail on Princess and speak so highly of the crew and the shipboard experiences. For years I thought I would only sail on NCL but now I’m ready to try different cruise lines.

 

[Muckyduckway]

Ah, so the itinerary led you to the line. I loved your love of Iceland last year - it just permeated everything you posted, despite the dire performance of NCL. It reignited my own desire to visit (which i still haven't managed, despite living relatively near!)

 

Good to have your friends' inside knowledge, although the proof will be in the pudding (almost literally 😀)

 

If all the lands come even close to your Iceland experiences, you are in for a wonderful summer (fingers crossed for kind weather).

[Sarnia 432]

@YVRteacher for your OBC.

If the excursions you have booked are not sold out, you can cancel them when you are onboard and then rebook.  The new purchase will use the non-refundable stockholder OBC and the refund will be in refundable OBC, which you get back if you don’t use it.

[fethiyeden]

So glad you posted on the Ncl board, I have been (not so patiently)waiting for your trip.

Have a fabulous time, I’m so looking forward to an extended live.