Honolulu Blue

Normally I say "don't give them any ideas" about money making sources, but since it's for charity, I'll allow it. 🙂

Good morning! I hope you are all feeling well. I had a good night of sleep. I didn't do anything exciting last night, but I do have plans for today. I watched the Wake Show thus morning and for the cruiser who asked above, his name is Lloyd. I don't have a last name yet. Lloyd and his guest Eliko the Guest Services head, dusclosed that there are between 3200 and 3300 guests onboard. I believe it. The ship feels pretty full most of the time. Except for breakfast. I think the time change scared a lot of people off. I don't normally do food pictures, but I can save 1000 words by disclosing I had this for breakfast. Also, I got a few items of paperwork before heading out. The most interesting offered 20% off certain excursions in Halifax tomorrow. Alas, none of the ones I'm interested in are on the list. ☹️ That's all for now. I'll talk again when I have something to say.

I looked on the app

The buffet layout is suboptimal on the Emerald.They sometimes close off half of it at dinner, which makes the other half uncomfortably full. It's also unnecessarily painful, IMHO, to get my own beverages. The buffet was better on the Regal. The rest of the experience so far is similar on both ships, at least to me. YMMV.

I used these gift cards to pay for the booking on my current cruise which includes EZ Air.

I've never seen Five Skies, but thanks for the side compliment on Rock Opera. I'll try to make it tonight.

Thanks. Rock Opera is one of our shows. It's actually scheduled for later today.

I don't have any opinion on the listed itineraries, but I'm currently on the Emerald and sailed on the Regal a few years ago. I generally prefer the Regal. It fits better with what I like about cruising.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I think you got a bad draw (at least if you like production shows) because on the 7 day cruise I'm currently on, there are at least two production shows, in addition to the guest entertainers.

Oh really? Thanks for this note. I haven't seen this on the Royal class ships I've been on, but that was a couple of years ago. And I only saw it once for dinner on the Ruby when I was on her last year. But then again, maybe I was lucky about which side I entered on.

I'm glad to be of assistance. And I'm happy to report things are apparently improving in Boston. I promise not to eat more than my share at the trough 🐷 (though it did smell good as I passed by). We'll be back soon enough. Enjoy your upcoming cruise!

A little while ago I wandered out and got a BLT burger from the Salty Dog Grill. The burger and fries were good, but... the skies were gray and icky and occasionally wet, the floor was definitely wet, some of the tables were wet, and we had some foghorn blasts. Either it was rough visibility out there or there was a lot of traffic out there. When I went out, half the buffet was out of commission. I don't know if they eventually opened the other half. But the half that was open was quite busy. And the self serve drink options are limited. In better news, I did get tomorrow's newsletter.

We have Rock Opera on the Emerald, which I'm on RIGHT NOW. Your opinion is valuable and has been noted.

Since my last post, we got nagged again about safety procedures, sailaway comes closer but we haven't left yet, the general emergency alarm was sounded as a FYI, Captain Jonathan gave us more safety instructions, and the Olympics is available in the cabins on two separate channels.

I almost forgot, this is today's newsletter:

All right. I made it back to my cabin and have reviewed the paperwork left there. I guess I'll unpack later. Here are my first impressions: . TPTB have already nagged us threee times about doing the safety briefing thing, and I'm sure there's more to come. Not my favorite part if the cruise, I assure you. 😝 . There will be a time change tonight and we'll change back just before we get back to Portland. . Oh joy, we have to fill out a Canadian customs form that looks awfully familiar. 🙄 Princess did helpfully provide some instructions in addition to the instructions on the form. They recommended we turn them in to our steward by 6 tonight. I think that's rushing things a bit, but who am I to fight authority? . Speaking of cabin steward, I met mine. His name is Daniel and he we had the usual conversation about cabin administrative details. He also handed me a letter about my Platinum events and perks. He seems nice. . My interior cabin on Baja deck seems standard, except for the hair dryer. It's old, but seems more substantial than the ones I've seen on other cruise ships. . This is the first time Princess hasn't upgraded my cabin. I'm only a little disappointed. ☹️ . One of the nicest pieces of paperwork we got was a listing of theme nights by day at the trough. No Caribbean night of course, bit it's nice to know when my favorites and not-so-favorites are coming. Thumbs up, Princess! 👍 . I got a glossy brochure with details about Princess and its cruises. Most of it seemed standard with stuff I already knew, but I found a bombshell in the fine print of this page. See if you can spot it. All right, since when does Princess keep the casino closed on its Galveston sailings? I did one last year from there, and I swear up and down that they DID NOT DO THIS. . My official review is "so far so good". There are 6 1/2 days to go, so the gang onboard can totally screw things up. I don't expect them to, but you never know. Sailaway is in less than an hour. I'm looking forward to the rest of this adventure. I hope some of you are too.

The formal nights are the sea days - days 2 and 6. The latter us listed as "dress to impress". I don't know what the difference between it and formal attire is. Perhaps someone can enlighten me? Thanks!

It sounds OK to me. Just keep in mind all the risks of EZAir and flying in day of.

Our cruise director made the announcement that our cabins are ready. So I guess I'll head to mine.

I haven't decided. I didn't book any excursions prior to boarding. Stay tuned! I'll see what I can do. Keep in mind that all of these ports are known for their fishing and seafood. And I don't eat seafood. ☹️ I took Lyft. It took about 20 minutes and cost about $31.

I did not. EZAir flew me in day of and I decided not to resist.

I checked around. It's Botticelli on deck 6 on this ship that's hosting the embarkation day lunch.

I made it to the cruise port at 11 and made it onboard by 11:50. Not bad, all things considered. I'm now doing some miscellaneous things while I wait for my cabin to open up. I think I'm in the Explorers Lounge. It's starting to fill. I'm shy, but my friend wanted to say hi. Thanks for the conversation so far. I'll have more to say later.

I love it when I'm onboard Carnival's Journeys cruises. I wonder if it's a similar experience. I hope so. 🙏

I do plan to do that day by day. I haven't been to my cabin yet, but I'll get there eventually.