travelin.sisters

enjoying your trip, thanks for sharing

in addition to the port taxes, they probably aren't charging you the plus part for 2 people if there is only one of you...so one person in the cabin might be the cost of one with plus & one without as you don't pay double gratuities or get double wifi

more food & menus I already did embarkation day lunch (posts 70 & 72) which was the only lunch we ate in the dining room we did go to the Trident Grill a couple of lunches...IMHO they are the only place onboard to get decent fries as they are fresh & crispy (I love their fries)...it was a nice choice when the buffet didn't have anythng enticing but they did not have a very efficient system on the Discovery with one person taking orders & doing the buns etc so the line was slow, fortunately not that many people were eating there (or maybe that is why?) on other ships they have used pagers for when your food is ready &/or had someone outside the food prep area taking orders...one thing I have always wanted to try but have never gotten on any ship is the port wine onion marmalade on the BLT burger (just plain onions) chicken sandwich is good when it is good, but other times it is touch & not enough chicken, street tacos were not very tasty & dried out tortilla the one time I tried them on the discovery (liked them on other ships)...another example of not understanding Americans & their love of mustard on their hot dogs, the beginning of the cruise they only had to small bottles of mustard, but by the middle they had found a mustard pump dispenser. we never did get around to trying the pizza either on deck or inside.

we never saw any actual chickpeas in our salads or any kale which is also an ingredient listed in the "new & improved" (I guess that would be what they call it) version

earlier this year(Jan/Feb sailings) it was not or you could ask for it, but just got off the Sapphire & it happened without asking, the steward also no longer has to wait for 15 minutes after you leave to enter the room...we did not get towel animals (only have one time on Princess) but the steward did help the Stanley's get ready for the next day by setting them up to read the Patter & letter

I know it was sadness, maybe it's just this ship & she's newly back in service? fortunately, or unfortunately depending on whether it's your taste buds or your belt answering, there are many other new favorites to find...the gluten-free hazelnut chocolate mouse is almost always available in the IC & it & the chocolate cake from room service are delicious...I always seem to find new things to eat on a cruise. I am hoping the alfredo was just new chefs because they also somehow managed to make the caesar salad unpleasant (although BIL ordered it most days, but he gets it smothered in anchovies so...) & I saw a much nicer one with shaved not powdered parmesan in a live from another ship so I have not given up on that

thank you all for your kind words & well wishes, I guess while I am sitting around waiting to see if the person who didn't wear masks as faithfully gives the rest of us covid & waiting on him (he's just got a sore throat & cough but we won't let him out of his room to breathe on us now) I can reminisce about cruise food it is always interesting to me how a dish that has been wonderful on every other cruise is turned not so good on one ship...for us on the Sapphire: the fettuccini alfredo was pretty uneatable, the pasta was hard & clumped & barely any sauce...I had it the first night & didn't try it again, but it has always been one of my sister's favorites so she tried it twice later in the cruise & it did not improve WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO THE PRINCESS LOVE BOAT DREAM?!?!? it has always been a reliable choice when nothing else sounded good or I just wanted a little chocolate after dinner--it is now some strange concoction of brownie, mouse & covered with raspberry brulee unlike the fettuccini alfredo, many things did get better over the cruise as they settled into their routine: the cookies were hard as rocks the first day or two but were pretty good by the end of the cruise, although I never found a peanut butter one; bacon & omelets were pretty good by the third or fourth day; I found I could get decent diet coke if I went to a bar that was pouring out of cans because the dispensers didn't work, some things were just really good from the start: the beef I had on this cruise was uniformly tender & delicious (we don't eat a lot of beef at home but on a cruise we do & this was much better than on our 2 January cruises); my BIL the marine biologist & seafood lover said it was all very good (he has been enjoying the seafood heavy menus since we came back to cruising); the bread was wonderful (I kind of miss them serving individual rolls because then I could get my waiter to just bring me 2 of my favorite every night with butter, but the variety is good too) I missed (since they changed the menu) being able to get a tuna or chicken salad sandwich in the International cafe. they do have new muffins at breakfast which are more like mini souffles or crustless quiches & are delicious. The buffet menu was a little strange. We only went for breakfast or lunch so I don't know about dinner. For breakfast there was the typical princess offerings: hot & cold cereal, fruit, juice, eggs, bacon, sausage & some items like adobo & rice but then there are things that seem to be left over from the night before (for example deviled eggs, seafood cocktail, etc) & lunch meats & cheese & maybe salad. For lunch there are lots of offerings but not much to make a sandwich & the salad bar offerings were very limited. One funny cultural thing was the day they had sonoran hot dogs in the buffet but there was no mustard anywhere. I heard several conversations between cruisers & confused buffet attendants about this issue. Anyway enough rambling about food, more photos & menus to come...eventually.

you can put whatever contact info you feel comfortable with...some people write AT instead of @ in their email addresses to prevent bots grabbing them & sending spam...others will have an address specifically for cruising (I have multiple emails to keep various parts of my life separate in my inbox...some roll calls i have been part of had someone who created a private data base of contact info for the group which had to be shared to access @Lady Arwenyou might want to share contacts if you are arranging an excursion with someone from your roll call?

mine it first & last (no middle even though my passport has my middle name) & I had no trouble boarding last month (I have never gotten the app to scan any of our passports)

if you have multiple people using the same credit card for their onboard account (whether or not they are in the same cabin) their charges & OBC are linked. the person the credit card is issued to will be able to see all the charges for each person & their OBC & a total for the group. for example, I travel with 2 older relatives, but not all in the same room: my account (on the app or printed) looks like my stuff (charges, OBC, total) person 2 account (charges, OBC, total0 person 3 account (charges, OBC, total) TOTAL FOR EVERYONE this means I can check throughout the cruise for bad charges (on our last cruise on the Sapphire we had several, so watch your account) & they don't have to worry about that or come home to charges they didn't make each of them only (if they knew how) see their own account

...after 2 1/2 years & 3 cruises one of us tested positive...it may be a bit before I'm back to do food & menus

and the rest of the papers they gave us: about our itinerary change immigration checks in San Diego disembarkation

all this trouble to add my preferred name (which used to be there) so that it will call me by something other than title & last name, but does it actually call me by my preferred name? NO it does not,...why would I think it would do such a thing

you may be able to tell from the Medallion app when you get closer to your sailing, they will list formal night photos in the activities in Journey View...I would not be surprised for one to be the second sea day at the beginning if those are the only sea days you have

traveling with one's older sister is a special thing; glad you were able to do this...looking forward to the rest of your report

Patter day 10

Patter day 9

Patter day 8

Patter day 7

Patter day 6

Patter day 5

Patter day 4

I think they will have most things fixed...there are always ongoing maintenance things on any ship, but the crew is working so hard to sort things out & Captain Ravera is great...have a wonderful trip wherever you are going

Patter day 3

Patter Day 2