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Good evening all from the Royal Princess. We just got back from having dinner with a bunch of our cruising buddies. Tonight we ate at Alfredo's. The service and food were both very good. Our waiter Henrique from Brazil was very nice. He did mention to us when we were seated that they were understaffed tonight but he did his absolute best to made sure we had a very good dining experience. We've yet to dine in the MDR so I cannot comment on that. One of our dinner companions had walked by the Symphony MDR and said the line for people without reservations was very long. We didn't have anything planned in Manzanillo today so I got off the ship and took some pictures. The humidity was high so I made a beeline back to the ship after 30-45 minutes. If memory serves me right, there were not many ship based excursions offered. Before we got on the ship I looked at the various offerings and they all seemed to involve too much walking for Holli and her back issues. As Gloria stated in her previous post there is definitely not much to do in town if you do not do a Princess excursion. Tomorrow in Mazatlan we have a ship excursion planned that shouldn't be too hard for Holli to participate in. That's all for now. Hope all are well..... Bob

Good evening from the Royal Princess. We sailed away from Puerto Vallarta about an hour and change ago. Today in port we didn't have much planned so I got off the ship and walked around a bit. I was only off for about 90 minutes before reboarding. The weather was a bit warm and it must have tired me out because I actually took a nap when I got on board. After I got up, Holli & I watched a couple of movies on the ship's TV. I must say that the selection of on demand movies is quite large & diverse. We decided to hang out in the cabin instead of going to dinner. I'll probably order something from room service. Earlier I had another app fail regarding food. Something was ordered and never delivered. I'm not mad, just reporting on what I'm experiencing. As far as entertainment goes, an abridged mentioning is as follows. The movie "Tolkien" was shown in the Vista lounge @ 1300. An old UB40 concert (2002) was shown on MUTS at 1530. Jurassic World: Dominion was shown on MUTS 1800 & 2100. The theater show was Guest Soprano Elina Moon @ 1930 & 2130. Tomorrow is Manzanillo. We do not have any excursion planned so we'll figure out tomorrow what we are going to do. That's all for now. I hope all are well..... Bob

Internet is continuing its abysmal trend…. Bob

For inquiring minds, below is the Anniversary gift..... Bob

Ooops, you are right. I'll try and head there tonight after dinner and snap a few pics of the Tissot offerings. Bob

Based on my Effy purchase, another watch will probably have to wait till October when we cruise to Hawaii on the Sapphire..... Bob

An early good evening from the Royal Princess. Today (so far) was a nice sea day as we cruise to our first port stop tomorrow in Mexico. Right now we are getting ready to go to dinner in the Crown Grill. We are taking advantage of one of the free specialty dinners the premier package offers. During the day, I decided to surprise Holli with an anniversary (34) gift. I made my purchase at the Effy store 💰💰💰💰💰. I then enlisted our suite Concierge (Carmen) to help out with the surprise. She took the gift and called Holli saying a crewmember had found something on deck with her name on it. When Holli came into the lounge I was standing behind her when she opened the bag revealing the anniversary gift. It all went off perfectly. The show tonight in the Princes Theater is "All of Me" with vocalist Cheaza (1930 & 2100). The morning movie on MUTS was "Encanto." The offering under the stars was "Bohemian Rhapsody." Thats all for now. Bob

Good morning from the Royal Princess. It is just before 0700 as we begin our final of three full sea days headed to our first port stop in Mexico. Last night was the first of our two formal nights. We are old time cruisers and always love getting dressed up for the occasion. We enjoyed dinner in Sabatinis as guests of the Executive Chef. Both dinner and the service were outstanding. I really like the way they've redesigned the menu (I know it happened several years ago). The portions now are somewhat smaller, but back in the day, you got all the appetizers up front and by the time the main came around, you'd be absolutely stuffed. Now I can enjoy the meal without walking away feeling like you were going to burst. After we dinner we briefly wandered into the Piazza and listened to the party band play a few tunes. The area was packed and everyone seemed to be having a great time. We got a nice surprise right before we went to dinner. There was a knock on our cabin door and when I answered, I received delivery of a beautiful flower arrangement. The Suite Concierge sent us the beautiful arrangement to celebrate our 34th anniversary. When we got back to the cabin after dinner our cabin steward made the below cute towel animal to also wish us a Happy Anniversary. It was very special as I this was the first time in fifteen Princess cruises we got a towel animal in our cabin. We don't have much planned today other than enjoying our Sabatinis suite breakfast a little later. After that we plan to meet up with our cruising friends for some additional games of LCR. Other than that, we'll just play it by ear. That's all for now, hope all are well..... Bob

Just got back from breakfast at Sabatinis. The experience was once again outstanding. While enjoying breakfast the head waiter asked me to contact him when I was done. After I finished, I contacted him. The head waiter told me the executive chef saw my positive social media comments (well deserved) about my Sabatini's breakfast experience. The head waiter told me the EC invited us for dinner and he (the head waiter) was also going to include a very nice bottle of chianti for us to enjoy. So tonight, for formal night, we will be enjoying dinner in Sabatinis as guests of the Executive Chef. Very cool..... Bob

An early good morning from the Royal Princess. It is a tad after 0600 (we lost another hour last night 😩😩😩) as we begin our second full day at sea sailing towards our first port stop in Mexico. Yesterday was a relaxing day at sea. Holli & I took advantage of the best suite perk (IMHO) as we enjoyed breakfast at Sabatinis. After that, I did a little gambling at the casino. At one point I was up a nice tidy sum but alas, I gave it all back. A little later, we did some shopping at some of the ship's boutiques. Throughout the early afternoon I wandered around the ship. A few times I went up to the pool deck and noted the Hogs were out in force. A funny side note to this is when I was in the Calypso Cove store, I noted that Princess was selling branded large towel clips for deck chairs. I found it kind of ironic and a tad humorous that they talk about passengers not setting up residency in the lounge chairs but sell an item that allows them do do exactly that. In the early afternoon we meet up with some fellow crusing budies for a couple of spirited games of LCR. For dinner, we dined at Alfredos. The pizzas was good but not great. The staff at Alfredos was very efficient and friendly. After dinner we tried our luck (unsuccessfully) at the casino. The internet continued to be slow during the entire day. Once again i never got near 3mbs when I ran speed tests. This slow speed was noted throughout the ship. Today Holli has a hair salon appointment in preparation for our first formal night tonight. In the past I used a company to rent a tuxedo that would be in our cabin when we boarded. Alas the company is no longer in business and I had to pack a suit. For dinner we might try the Crown Grill to take advantage of the two free specialty dinners thet the premier package offers. As far as entertainment goes some of the offerings are as follows. Pianist Art Llardi performed in the Piazza. The movie Death on the Nile was shown in the theater. Armando the cruise director gave a Merengue dance class in the Piazza. Live music by True Colors Duo performed in the Piazza. Charlotte Newman played acoustic guitar and vocals in the Piazza. Piano and vocal entertainer Funch performed in the Wheelhouse bar. There was a Whitney Houston tribute with Cheza in the theater. Souvnir Duo performed live music in the Piazza. Top Gun Maverick was shown on MUTS in the evening. DJ Ata also played music in the Vista lounge. Thats all for now. Hope all are well..... Bob

I went up on deck around 0600ish. It was still dark out and the loungers we’re still stacked & tethered. I’ll check it out later….. Bob

It was the first time trying the app. I just wanted to see for myself how it worked….. Bob

One thing I’d like to mention, for those that may not know, regarding the Royal Princess concerns the sundry store (Old Godiva store on deck 5). If you forget some things (OTC Meds, combs, tooth brushes, etc) be advised the offerings in the store are very minimal at best. I’m not sure if the Calypso Cove store has additional items but I’ll check it out later. Bob

The usual soda and beer offerings (Dos Equis) in the fridge. The small liquor bottles were four bottles of New Amsterdam gin and four bottles led of Absolute vodka….. Bob

Just finished my first suite breakfast in Sabatinis. Food and especially the service were outstanding. I went solo as my DW is not really a morning person. They are open 0730-1030 on sea days so if she wants to go before they close, I’ll take her down there. One cool thing I discovered is they will have a “Super Tuscan wine pairing dinner the night we leave Cabo. Below is a picture of the menu. Cost will be $60.00pp and from looking at the menu it’s well worth it. I already made reservations. Bob

An early goon morning from the Royal Princess. This is our first of three days at sea as we journey on to our first stop in Mexico. No picture this morning as we lost an hour last night i.e. it's 0630 ish and still dark outside. We had a good first night on the ship. We met up with some friends and enjoyed a few drinks in Vines. I must say that I’m impressed with adult cocktails on onboard. After we finished our get together with our friends, we decided we were just going to do dinner at the buffet. I found the buffet choices to be plentiful. The items I selected were tasty however the hot items were barely lukewarm at best. I realize food is subjective, but that’s what I encountered. So far on this voyage the crew members I’ve encountered have been fantastic. All have smiles on their faces and were very friendly. Definitely rude passengers on the ship. My biggest beef so far are the elevator rushers. So far I’ve seen two instances of people basically pushing people, who were trying to exit, back into the elevator so the rushers could enter. I even had a run in with a group of four adult rushers that almost ran into us before we could even exit the elevator. I lost my cool a bit and yelled at the rushers. I’m not happy that I lost my cool, but my DW walks with a cane and isn’t that steady on her feet. Internet has been working but is very slow. You can surf the net and check emails but streaming would not be good. Throughout the ship I’m getting only in the high 2’s for both up and down. Ping rates are insanely high as well. Going down in a bit to enjoy Sabatini's for breakfast (Suite perk). I might be going solo as DW is still in bed. Later on today I might go exploring some shops or just hang out. That's all for now. Hope all have a great day..... Bob

We are in a Penthouse Suite on the riviera deck. I think our check in time was 1100 but we got to the terminal early and had no trouble getting onboard. I'll look into the issue about the taxes..... Bob

A very good afternoon from the Royal Princess. We just pulled away from the docks to begin our wonderful cruise. I cannot wait to see what the next 10 days hols in store. Embarkation was a breeze. we walked into the terminal around 1000 and were on the ship within less than an hour. When we boarded we were told that our cabin wouldn't be ready until 1300. We were however able to drop off our bags in the cabin before we went to explore a little. We are in a PH suite on the Riviera deck. I like the location as it is right across from the suite lounge and a ery short distance for the self service laundry. First impressions are the ship looks beautiful for being ten years old. The crew, the few we've interacted with, have been super friendly. The Medallion app seems to be working pretty well. Had a little hiccup involving ordering a drink while we were sitting at Crooners. I ordered a drink, via the app, and it was never delivered. My medallion app said it was delivered. I just went up to the bar and told them about the issue and they happily made me another drink. As fas as dinner plans go, we just might grab something from the buffet after we meet up with some cruising buddies in Vines at 1800. One interesting thing I'd like to mention concerns the self service laundry. My cabin steward told me that if I wanted to do my own laundry to let him know and he would give me some free tokens. In the past when we've sailed a suite/had our elite status we've enjoyed the free laundry service that we sent in but I still always paid for the self service laundry if I chose to use it. I'm not sure if this was alway a suite perk that I wasn't aware of or something new. In any case, I kinda like it. Thats all for now. Bob

We walked into the terminal @1000. Bob

We are onboard. Very seem less embarkation process….. Bob

I’m the terminal’s PE&S lounge waiting to board. So excited…… Bob

She's here..... Bob

An early good morning (0440) from the city of San Francisco. As expected, I didn't get much sleep as I'm just too keyed up about getting on the ship in about 7 or so hours. It will be my first cruise in a little over three years. Cruising is what I truly love to do and now I 'm back at it. Last night, we ventured out to Pier 39 and had dinner at the Fog Harbor restaurant. The food was very good and we had an overall very good experience. We plan to avail ourselves of the hotel's buffet breakfast around 0830. I hired a car service to take us to the pier around 1000. Can't wait to get onboard the Royal Princes..... Bob

Just make sure there is enough vermouth left..... Bob

Good evening everyone from the city of San Francisco. Holli & I got here several hours ago. We are staying at the Hotel Riu. It is an okay establishment for an overnight stay. I wouldn't stay here much longer as the hotel does not have room service and their version of a restaurant is only open in the morning for a buffet style breakfast. They do have a "Grab & Go" area that serves prepackaged salads, etc. What I like about the hotel is the location. It is only about a short (10 minutes or less) walk from the Pier 39 area. Now to talk about my flight drama from Sky Harbor to SFO. When we got to the gate, the agent told me my seat was taken down because it was broken. I lucked out however and was given my seat back when another First Class passenger didn't show up. Now here's where it gets interesting. About two to three minutes after siting down, I was approached and told the passenger had shown up and I would have to go back to my seat in the back. It was then explained to me that my seat was not the one that was broken, but another FC passenger's seat was broken. This passenger had a high AMR loyalty status and thus bumped me out of my seat. I subsequently went to my "In the rear with the gear" seat. About five minutes after sitting down, I was again approached and told that the seat had been fixed and I was allowed to return to my FC seat and sit with my DW. Not much on tap for tonight. We are still trying to decide if we are going to just hang out in the room or walk down to Pier 39. We plan to take advantage of the breakfast tomorrow before the car service I hired picks us up for the short ride to the terminal. That's all for now. Hope all are well..... Bob