Live from the Land of Princess

[tml1230]

17 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

Whistle for the dog. 

if that didn't work I would try breaking wind !

[YVRteacher]

Other than Mr. Breadcrumb Brusher, I truly enjoyed dinner. 
 

Appetizer from the vegan menu: Mumbai Frankie Wraps

 

Main Course from the regular menu: Indian Vegetable Korma (I could eat this every day!!)

 

 

Dessert: Chocolate and Caramel Tart

 

 

 

 

After dinner I did deck laps on the Promenade and enjoyed the changing landscape and the ospreys as we sailed away from Corner Brook.

 

 

[purpleally]

Thank you for all the pictures. It looked like an interesting day. 

[geoherb]

There was a priest on my Island Princess cruise last month. I wonder if it's the same one. He wore a cassock on formal nights with a little hat (zucchetto). He smoked in Churchill's a lot. 

[phabric]

Was that your first time eating in the dining room?

[CDNCruiser55]

7 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

 

Our guide is a Newfoundland relic who does not pronounce Hs. She pointed out the ospital and city all.

 

Don't worry, the H's aren't lost completely. Many Newfoundlanders will add an H to words that begin with a vowel. For example, if you taught in Newfoundland you'd work for the Department of Heducation.

[YVRteacher]

6 hours ago, phabric said:

Was that your first time eating in the dining room?

For dinner, yes.

[Norwegianprincess]

Hi, I’m a little bit late to the party, I didn’t realize your Princess cruise had already started until today! But this grey, rainy and chilly summerday was the perfect time to read through every post so far. 
So happy to hear you’re having a great cruise. Seems like you’ve had more interesting drinks than what I experienced on the Regal. My favourite drink there were «the Mule». Because the British Isles cruise was so port intensive, I didn’t have enough time to try all of the drinks, though…😉

Have you had an almond croissant yet? On the Regal you’ll find them in the International Café, in the morning. It was soo good, you have to try one (I had one every morning with my cappucino) 

Close to the port of St Andrew, Newfoundland is the place called L’anse aux Meadows, that’s where the vikings settled in North America around year 1000 (you probably know this!), I went there on a HAL cruise in 2011, an awsome experience for me to get to see that place I’ve read about in the sagas. 
We also went to Nanortalik on that cruise, it was nice just to walk around in the little town and take photos. 
 

Bon voyage, I’ll follow along from now on 😊

[BabySarge]

17 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Oh wow! You are an expert on the Island Princess! Anything I shouldn’t miss?

Nope, not an expert by any means just love long cruises and lucky to have the time and resources to take them.  Have you found the little sitting room "mini museum" area of the Wheelhouse Bar yet?  One of my favorite places to hide away with my Kindle when it all gets to be a bit too much.

[YVRteacher]

 

The hair dryer and I got into a minor disagreement last night. Long story short is the hair dryer won.

 

I have long hair and I accidentally turned the back of the dryer toward my head. In doing so, all the hair on the right side of my head got sucked into the motor thingy and the hair dryer was attached to me.

 

I couldn’t go the show in the theatre last night because the hair dryer was attached to the wall on one end and to me on the other end.

[arizonaperson]

@YVRteacher oh no is all I can say. Hope you are ok? So inquiring minds.. what happened next? Phone call to guest services?

[Sugar Magnolia]

8 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

 

The hair dryer and I got into a minor disagreement last night. Long story short is the hair dryer won.

 

I have long hair and I accidentally turned the back of the dryer toward my head. In doing so, all the hair on the right side of my head got sucked into the motor thingy and the hair dryer was attached to me.

 

I couldn’t go the show in the theatre last night because the hair dryer was attached to the wall on one end and to me on the other end.

 

Do you have short hair now?

 

[YVRteacher]

3 minutes ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

 

Do you have short hair now?

 

Some, yes!

[sunviking90]

1 hour ago, BabySarge said:

Nope, not an expert by any means just love long cruises and lucky to have the time and resources to take them.  Have you found the little sitting room "mini museum" area of the Wheelhouse Bar yet?  One of my favorite places to hide away with my Kindle when it all gets to be a bit too much.

Loved that room when we were on her some years ago. I’m glad to hear it is still there.

[YVRteacher]

St. Anthony’s, Newfoundland

 

This ship needs to get their water shuttle operations in full gear.  Today was awful. I had a meeting time for an excursion at 8:40am. So did hundreds of other passengers. At the time of meeting we hadn’t even anchored.

 

They let down two shuttles and a one way trip was 25 minutes. The waiting time in the Provence dining room was 80 minutes. People were falling asleep with their heads on the tablecloths.  I came super close to just foregoing the excursion.

 

When a water shuttle was available the rains were happening significantly and the seats were all wet. They squished people in and I hate being squished.

 

Why didn’t they use more than two water shuttles? They know how many passengers are on board, they know it is a 50 minute minimum round trip. 

 

We met the shoreside excursion man who would walk us across the parking lot to Grenfell Hall where the Screech In was held. He stood and waited for 15 minutes (making us even later) but everyone doing this excursion was on the same water shuttle.  When we got to the hall the singing group said that normally the concert part is 2 hours long but since we were so late they were only going to do an hour. They had enough tables and chairs set up for 20 people. We are a group of 50.

 

The room had no air and everyone was dressed for rain so it was stifling and sweltering.

 

I was hoping they would do I’s the B’y which is my favourite sea shanty and they started off with it. All the music was delightful.

 

When they were teaching us about the rum, they mentioned the triangle trade amongst Newfoundland, Portugal and Jamaica.

Cod is sent from NFLD to Portugal and Jamaica.

From Portugal comes salt and from Jamaica 80 proof rum. That’s the Screech part of the Screech In!

 

 

This is the plate of food we were served.

 

I didn’t try it because 

I don’t eat fish

I don’t eat bologna 

The smell of fermented capelin permeated the room and the molasses bread that I would have liked to taste

 

Before sampling the Newfoundland food we did a toast:

 

From the waters of the Avalon 

To the shores of Labrador 

We’ve always stuck together

With a rant and a roar

To those who’ve never been

Soon they’ll understand

From coast to coast

We raise a toast

We love thee Newfoundland 

 

Kissing the cod was next. They brought out a fish in a sock and people full on put their mouths on the fish, making lots of kissy kissy noises. They didn’t even sanitize the fish in between different mouths. People may as well have been licking each other’s mouth parts.  I predict the cold and cough that I have picked up is going to be rampant throughout the ship in 3-5 days.

 

 

Best part of the morning? Screech.

 

 

The cardboard box serving tray

 

elevated the experience and truly made us feel like they had gone all out to prepare for this day, carefully sourcing materials that would equal the hundreds of dollars we each spent on this excursion.

 

As the rum went down the hatch, the singer said we shouldn’t be tasting hints of oak or leather or notes wild mountain thyme. We should just be tasting the 80 proof rum.  

 

I loved the rum! So much!!

 

I’ve had a few shore excursions that I didn’t like (one in Jamaica, one in Finland and the bear one in Alaska last year when the bears weren’t even out of hibernation yet.) This was the worst of them all. It was just so poorly executed and poorly prepared. I was glad when it was over, mostly because the room was so hot and the singers kept complaining to us over and over and over that we were late. 

[Mary Beth D.]

On 7/8/2024 at 4:01 PM, YVRteacher said:

This afternoon I enjoyed a Man Called Otto on the pool deck big screen.

 

I also thoroughly enjoyed a Captain’s Bounty.

 

 

 

 

 

As the afternoon fades and evening approaches the deck team adds chair pads to the loungers in preparation for Movies Under the Stars. 

What other movies did they have for Movies under the Stars?

[mking8288]

1 hour ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

Do you have short hair now?

Shouldn't we be more empathetic toward Yvonne ... asking for a friend 😉 

Well, I feel this "traumatic" incident warranted a bottle of wine with a note from Guest Services.  It could've been far worst.  

 

 

P.S.  ... now that I'm catching up & reading her experience with the morning shorex, almost like some of the ones by NCL except their ships don't - me think - stop there on a routine basis.  

LOVE the pictures 👍

Edited July 10 by mking8288

[YVRteacher]

With a deep love of exploring small towns and walking, I set out toward the water. 

 

 

 Two duck mamas were herding their broods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I walked up a hill the turned and walked through “town.” Town consists of a pub,

 

A post office

 

a pharmacy

A combined grocery store and liquor store (yes, I found the screech!)

 

 

Two churches 

A graveyard

 

 

This town is dying.

 

Here’s the funeral home 

There isn’t even a bakery.

 

If you need wool, thread or fabric it can be purchased in the basement of the Grenfell Hall.

 

yellow houses are charming

 

 

 

 

I decided to take photos of wildflowers. By wildflowers I mean the those planted by homeowners in neat little pots. This was the best I could get while only trespassing minimally.

 

When I returned to the tender dock I saw two of the shore ex staff. I asked if I could provide feedback and I told them since we were delayed with the water shuttles this morning the performers had to cut the excursion short by an hour because they had the second group coming in. One of the guys listened and the other started arguing with me, saying we arrived ashore and at 10:30 and got the full 2 hours in. I told him they ended our Screech In at 11:30 to prepare for the next group. The shore ex guy kept trying to argue and I just said I’m not here to argue. I’m here to provide feedback.

 

I will try again later. If I only got half a show I should not be charged for a full show.

[YVRteacher]

19 minutes ago, Mary Beth D. said:

What other movies did they have for Movies under the Stars?

I have been posting the Princess Patter daily and you can see the movies listed there.

[YVRteacher]

19 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

Shouldn't we be more empathetic toward Yvonne ... asking for a friend 😉 

Well, I feel this "traumatic" incident warranted a bottle of wine with a note from Guest Services.  It could've been far worst.  

 

 

P.S.  ... now that I'm catching up & reading her experience with the morning shorex, almost like some of the ones by NCL except their ships don't - me think - stop there on a routine basis.

I think I need a set of hair extensions more than a bottle of wine!

[YVRteacher]

 

I asked one of the water shuttle crew members to take a photo of the lighthouse for me. I should have zoomed in first.

 

Princess has rooftop seating!

 

Look what was waiting in my cabin! Thank you to my WTA (wonderful travel agent!)

They were delicious.

 

[YVRteacher]

 

I enjoyed a light late lunch in Horizon Court. It is likely insignificant that I had raw veggies and hummus, chips and guacamole and a mini cupcake.

 

Then I did this

and this

I tried to order screech but they don’t have any so I “settled” for regular rum

 

[YVRteacher]

When I got back on board at 1:30pm water shuttle ticket numbers 34, 35 and 36 were called. At 2:15 they called groups 43 and 44. Imagine waiting all day to go ashore.  I asked the Jr. Cruise Director, Amber, if today was typical for the water shuttle operation and if they would only be using 3 water shuttles at the Greenland ports. She said she didn’t know what happened today but advised me to pick up tender tickets early in the morning. 

[TM]

I would suggest politely complaining to the Shore Excursion desk about your total dissatisfaction with the shore excursion you took.  They will most likely refund you some money although probably not half.  Never hurts to try - the worst they can say is "no."

[YVRteacher]

People are being quite rude and loud as they complain to guest services. My philosophy is to never yell or raise my voice when expressing a concern, especially when the listening ear did not cause or have anything to do with the problem.