CanadianBurger

Cool rainy morning in Messina, Sicily.

Since there’s no Library, games are on a cart at Wheelhouse. Seems like an odd location.

Actually, I was surprised to find it didn’t flip over at all. The rear cushions are fixed; they don’t move at all, and there’s nothing under the bottom cushions. It would seem the only convertible couches are the ones in cabins specifically designated for 3.

To answer the inevitable questions about this, the ship’s hull has holes through which compressed air is pumped, creating a layer of air between the hull and the water. This reduces friction, and apparently smoothes the ride as well.

Yes!

There has been side-to-side rolling, which was much more prevalent at the extreme aft, but overall the ride is much smoother. None of the vibrations from other Princess ships, even when the captain used a lot of power to overcome the wind to thrust off the dock. Today was so smooth I expected to look at the sea and see glass, but there were whitecaps. Very impressed.

Check my photos in post #385. Some have padding (the ones around the pool and along the side more forward). Most don’t. And don’t believe everything you hear on YouTube.

Tonight was the Captain’s Welcome Aboard formal night. I think half the ship was packed into the piazza. Could barely get through it. Our Reserve dinner tonight went much smoother than last night. No wait; we were seated immediately. They made a special chicken parm dish for my wife, and it sounded good, so I had it too. Forgot the pic though. FYI, they bring her the next night’s menu to pre-order something taking into account her allergies. The stuffed shells tonight were amazing, and the turtle cheesecake was to die for. The warm flowerless cake was meh. Our headwaiter, Marius, has been fantastic.

I can’t remember if I posted these IC food pics. It’s too hard to scroll back through all the pages with the phone.

Someone asked about Nitro Cold Brew. There’s no cold brew at the coffee places, but one of the Eatery managers said the machine they use has a cold brew setting, and to ask a drink waiter to get one. No idea if that’s what you were asking, but that’s all I got.

Someone asked about possible balcony obstructions just aft of the sphere. Someone else replied there were no obstructed cabins on this ship. Here’s a view.

It’s Remy VSOP. I believe the Courvoisier from previous cruises was VS.

It’s a minisuite, not a full suite, so there should only have been one. I’m assuming at this point that it’s just an error (wrong cabin number or something like that). If it suddenly disappears, I’ll let everyone know!

I’m going to post the photos I took in the Sanctuary this morning. I’m not going to post what I was told about booking and pricing until I verify the facts. There’s way too much misinformation out there. This is the Signature Sun Deck aft of, and separated by a railing from, the Sanctuary. The aft glass elevator that takes you directly here is behind the wall. A panorama of the Sanctuary, taken from in front of where the aft glass elevator takes you. A back and front view of one of the Cabanas. More pics of the general area. There are loungers with thick pads, loungers without, and sculpted hard ones. At least there’s a close bar. The main entrance by the regular aft elevators, and a menu.

File this one under “Steve’s weird anecdotes”. Two guys crawled into this hatch that’s secured with 20 huge bolts. And on the other side, guys were unbolting the matching hatch.

Thanks! I will look for it. But the Patter doesn’t show the Eatery as even being open at that time. Weird…

But this is day 3… and it’s definitely not two 5-day segments.

This is the best I can manage from onboard. Also, if you look back at my “lean-over” pic, there are uncovered balconies. Not sure if those are minis though.

So this is weird. Just before we left for dinner, room service came by with a complete second elite minibar setup. No idea why. Double checked the cabin number on his sheet and it was correct. He had no idea either…

I posted the same letter back in post #47.

Thanks! My wife says she told me that, but like she says, I don’t listen! 🤣

19 knots. No vibrations. Smooth day.

This venue is definitely elite-only. It’s a small space and seems like an afterthought for where to hold this. Since it’s basically a public thoroughfare to/from The Dome, there’s staff to keep the unwashed masses (kidding!) away from the Elite food.

Asked at the “Loyalty” (apparently renamed from Captain’s Circle) desk about number of guests: Total: 3861 Elite: 242 Platinum: 442 Blue (or white now I guess): 2007 He didn’t have the Gold/Ruby breakdown. He said all cabins are occupied, so there must be a lot of singles and/or staff/crew using passenger cabins.

I wondered the same thing. Didn’t see anything.