Ken the cruiser

Went to another one of Fred Cink’s Astronomy lectures, Cruising with Comets and Meteors. And as always, he had some great pictures along with some great knowledge to share. Than afterwards we did a few laps around the ship’s promenade and saw some Brown Boobies enjoying the updraft in front of the ship!

Some folks have asked what our strategy has been to avoid getting sick while on one of the 10 cruises, to include this one on the CB, we’ve been on since cruising started back up (see below). So, here it is in a “large nutshell”.😂 In essence we treat moving around the ship like a game. Hey, what can I say, we're on a cruise and having fun is what it's all about, right? Dining: On our first visit to our dining room, my DW makes sure the hostess and/or maitre 'd know that if at all possible we would like an empty table next to us while dining and are also very willing to sit at the most undesirable table they have. But, in order to be able to do that, we always try to come when the dining room, especially in the evening, first opens. It's amazing how accommodating they can be when you don't care what (non-window) table you sit at. Elevators: We're in our late 60s and are still able to use the stairs whenever feasible. But if we have to walk up 4+ flights of stairs, especially after a meal, we'll take the elevator with our masks on. Now, if either unmasked or 3 or more passengers decide to enter the elevator on an in-between floor, we get off there and walk up the rest of the way. Main theater: When we first board and are exploring the ship, we head to the main theater and develop a strategy as to where we will sit using knowledge from past cruises if possible. On a Celebrity ship, the theaters have 3-4 levels and have a U-shaped design, so it's pretty easy to developmultiple out-of-the-way seating options. Now, on a Princess ship, their theater seating takes a little more creative thinking. But, of course, that's all part of the game to make adjustments when necessary. On the CB we basically found 8 locations where other passengers weren’t sitting directly behind us. Downtime: We always get a balcony and try to determine which cabin location will produce the most shade during the cruise, especially in the afternoon. Hanging out with a bunch of people near the pool is just not something we would do. Of course, we’ve already made an exception to this rule on the first port day when they were playing a Journey concert movie by the pool. 😂 Excursions: If at all possible we sit in the back of the tour bus while most folks like to sit more towards the front and, of course, we wear our mask at all times while on the bus. Reducing stress by walking in underutilized spaces: When we first get on the ship, we also check out where the entrances to the promenade walkways are and use them, when necessary, in a crowded situation whenwe need to get from one end of the ship to another. If not an option, we will use the nearby stairs, walk up a flight or two, and then walk through a cabin hallway to get to the other end of the ship. Personal Hygiene: We wash our hands whenever feasible without going into any public bathroom. That is a big no no! But we also wash our hands once we get back to the cabin. As far as hand sanitizers go, we use them whenever we go into a theater or dining room as well as when we leave those areas. We also sanitize coming back onto the ship or basically anywhere our hands may have touched something. Heck, my DW makes me sanitize even if I just touch the elevator button. 😂 BTW we use our triple-layered "washable" Celebrity cloth masks as they have done a good job for us and they're comfortable. And you guessed it, we'll probably be wearing them on the upcoming Princess and NCL cruises unless we're issued ones by the cruise line. But, most importantly, we treat it like a game as we've enjoyed not getting sick on/or after a cruise for many years now. Of course, we also have no desire to mess up our cruise by getting quarantined, either by getting C19 or being traced, as we usually are on B2B cruises that are at least 2-3+ weeks long. The bottom line is that it's up to YOU to keep yourself safe rather than to worry about the variety of personalities that will be on the ship cruising with you and what they will do.

We found out a few tidbits today. 1. If you have questions about the workings of your Medallion Class app, you need to go to the Ocean Front desk next to the Fusion rather than to the Internet Cafe. 2. If you are booked in the same cabin on multiple bookings like we are, you cannot use your cabin number, even if you are onboard, when choosing the Quick Access method to log onto your account. You have to use your booking number. As a side note, make sure you enter the correct booking number like we weren’t. 😂 3. If you want to see the combined entries in your Shipboard Account on the app and you are not #1 on the booking, you have to go to Guest Services to have them change you to #1. Also, but I learned this trick awhile back. If you type a bunch of stuff in like I just did, and then click on Submit Reply and it simply disappears. No worries. Just recycle the page and then “tap” on the new message area, which is now blank, with your finger or click on it with your mouse, where you previously entered your posting, and it should reappear. This also works (usually), if you get out of CC and then reopen it.

We’re getting ready to pass you in the night. How has the weather been so far from where you’re coming from by way of the Panama Canal? The weather from California to here has been great so far. It was a little cool until we started approaching Cabo about 5 days ago, but it definitely has warmed up since. https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9215490

Why? Because they’re asymptomatic or have the snivels? Sorry, it’s time to move on.

Thursday, May 5, Princess Patter, sea day

This evening in the main theater was the production singers and dancers performing in Broadway Ballroom. But the highlight of the evening in our minds was the Liars Club Game Show in the Explorers Lounge where once again the CD, Gary, and his hilarious team provided another great show!!

A couple of observations. First, our steward does a deep cleaning in the morning and then at turn down, he cleans the bathroom again, tidies up around the cabin to include rolling the balcony towels back up then placing them back on the lounge chairs, as well as turning down the bed. Now, he only has 8 aft-facing vista suites on 4 decks to take care of, but he’s doing an outstanding job and is always very friendly when we see him, which is not very often. The other observation is regarding formal night attire. On this cruise, and maybe it’s different than others, we saw a few men wearing polo shirts as well as short sleeve shirts with no tie. For me I wore a long sleeve shirt with a tie, but no coat. But, don’t get me wrong, quite a few men did come to CC dining in tuxes, suit coats with or without a tie, or wearing a sport coat. But I didn’t see any jeans or shorts. Of course, as my DW would say, all the women were dressed appropriately, regardless of what they were wearing. 😂 BTW I’m not judging anyone. I just find it interesting what is posted on the website when compared to what is actually acceptable when you show up for dinner on formal night.

This afternoon we heard about some famous pirates presented in an Enrichment lecture by Kerry. Afterwards we went for our 2 mile walk around the promenade and saw a bunch of small dolphins swimming on both sides of the ship for a good 5-10 minutes!! 😁

I remember talking with a Celebrity buffet crew member on the Apex back in November who was paid a flat salary as she was hired just to clear tables up in the Oceanview Cafe. She said when cruising first started back up, she was actually making more money than the MDR and specialty restaurant servers were making as the ships were only 25-40% full. However, once they started filling up over 50-60%, they started making more than her again. As others have said, it’s all about capacity and how many gratuity $$$ are being collected. For example on this cruise, it’s only 50% full. However, on the next 2 legs, there will be an additional 1000-1100 passengers at last count.

No idea and FWIW it has not been addressed in the last 14 pages. But maybe someone on board reading this thread may have the answer to your question. As we don’t do room service, I wouldn’t personally know. Update: thanks @PacnGoNowfor answering the question! 😁

Today's astronomy lecture was about Cruising to the Red Planet. I have to say one of many great perks in this cruise with 19 sea days is we get one of these cool lectures every sea day! 😁

I asked that specific question of our guide when we boarded our 13 passenger van. The short version is no, they are not mandated. In fact Princess pretty much didn’t offer any guidelines to the tour company. In the beginning I would say all but 4-5 passengers were wearing masks. By the end of the 4 hour tour, where we were in the van between 5 to 20 minutes between stops, us and maybe one other couple were still wearing masks. It’s like some folks are still in denial as to what’s been going on. But, hey, we’re good and really that’s all we can do is to protect ourselves. We’re double boosted and our T-cells are working on over drive after a recent bout with a regular head cold a few weeks prior to the cruise. Now, if we were on the next leg after this one, we would probably be a little more conservative when booking excursions, like on a catamaran or open air bus, since we would have to pass an antigen test. 😁

Thanks for that as the assistant CD, Ashleigh, and Gary, the CD, also said they went ashore. Maybe it’s only the stewards that have been curtailed from going ashore.

I just wanted to say we have sailed in a variety of Celebrity Sky Suites on all 3 classes of their ships. That being said, we REALLY LIKE the Princess Vista Suite and would definitely choose it over cruising in a Celebrity Sky Suite in a heartbeat if the itineraries were similar. BTW since a Vista Suite has a separate sleeping area, it’s more like a Celebrity Suite rather than a Sky Suite. Did I mention Vista Suites have a walk-in shower and a tub where Sky Suites have a shower/tub combination. But I would also like to note, we have no use for a butler (retreat host), the Retreat Lounge (or Michaels Club) or the Retreat Deck on the Revolutionized ships. If we did, that might make a difference in our opinion. But, we don’t. In fact, from now on we’ll probably just be sailing in Celebrity Aqua cabins, so we can eat in Blu as we usually get heartburn when we eat in Luminae, or a Sunset Veranda, if we’re on an Edge class ship where we can switch around between the 4 MDRs or eat out under the stars in the evening up at the buffet. BTW we’re currently on the Caribbean Princess in a Vista Suite and having a great time and the food in Club Class dining is very tasty!

Here’s a piece of interesting information. Our steward told my DW this evening the crew is not being allowed to go ashore this entire cruise. He didn’t give any details, though, as to why. But I’m sure we can all think of a few. Anyway, thought it was an interesting piece of information worth sharing.

Yes, the Horizon Court is up on the Lido Deck 15 in the aft. As we usually don’t eat up there I just went up and first turned left and took some pictures. BTW it’s 10 pm at night as as you can see it was pretty quiet up there. Then went back where I entered from the rear elevator entrance and turned right and took some more pictures. Hope this helps.

Wednesday, May 4, Princess Patter, sea day

This evening was the Acrobatics and Comedy of Daniel and Kimberly Craig. Followed by the Fill in the Blanks game show.

OK, I did some research this evening and they use paper straws and the Cinzano vermouth. As far as what type of spirits that have, I took a picture of the back counter. If you use your two fingers, you should be able to enlarge the picture to see some of the brands. Hope this helps.

If you open up your onboard app and click on Shipboard Account, you will see all of the non-refundable credits, such as Promotional Credit and/or Future Cruise Credit will have (non-refundable) listed to the right whereas Military Credit won’t have anything listed meaning it’s refundable.

If you go to page 12, post 276, on the “other” thread, I gave a brief summary of our opinion of cruising in a Princess vista suite versus a sky suite which may help answer your question. But please feel free to ask if you have others, as I’m just sitting here on our fully covered aft-facing vista suite with the sun directly overhead looking at folks having fun on the Huatulco beach. 😁

Here’s some pictures of the International Cafe counters.

That’s quite the memory!!! I know cruising is all about creating memories, and we have created our fair share. But that definitely is one that should make the top of the list, and never to be repeated again! 😂

Thanks. I need to qualify something. We have been spoiled by Club Class dining and decided we’ll only book a Princess cruise if we’re in at least a Club Class balcony or higher. There’s just something about showing up when you feel like it, which for us is when they open, and then being seated instantly with the same waiters. 😁