TracieABD

Enjoy your fun day on land! You are absolutely correct,,, we are gutting it out in the Sanctuary. Tanning, swimming, eating… Wash, rinse, repeat!

Yes!!! I am so happy, Julie, that all is moving seamlessly!!! Yay!!!

It looks like only the Palm (6-aft) and the Coral dining (6- mid) are open at this time. We have yet to see Planks/ Steamers open. Right now they seem to be using it for additional buffet seating! And thank you so much!

Thank you so much, Thrak. I am pretty sure at our age and stage we will not see too many milestone anniversaries, In the marriage- every day counts! Hope to see you on board soon, friend!

Day 3- Evening May 31, 2022 Still At Sea (Is there anywhere else to be?) Cabbage Soup Hi friends- The balance of our second full day of the cruise was lovely. I attending the Meet and Greet, which was very well attended by both members and officers. The officers spent a great deal of time answering questions. Most of the questions centered around the opening of the Chef’s Table (and other like events) and COVID practices and policies. We then received our “payouts” from the slot pull. Since I was the only one who attended, I collected Jon’s too, but don’t tell him… Shhhhh. It is our little secret. 😉 It was formal night and we decided to eat really early, so we were getting ready before 5 pm. In an interior cabin, this requires a bit of choreography. But Jon can make anything fun and silly… so it always works out perfectly. We are “dresser-uppers” for formal night. I have some lovely dresses that I only really get a chance to use on cruises. Jon is game. Thank goodness! We waited less than 5 minutes for a table for 2. Dinner was French onion soup, salad with goat cheese and beef tenderloin. All was delicious- especially the beef. We found that on our last cruise on the Regal, the beef in the MDR was actually better than the Crown Grille. Because it was formal night, my boyfriend, Love- Norman Love- made an appearance in the form of a citrus hazelnut bar. Yummmmmm. Is it terrible to admit that I am only here for the dessert?!?!? We made our way down to the Explorer’s Lounge for round 2 of the comedian, Don Friese- but did not end up staying. The lounge was packed. So we headed off the the IC to drink a pot of tea and play cards- (I won!!!). On our way back to the room, about an hour later, we chanced upon a trivia game- 70’s Music- in the Explorer’s Lounge. We joined a lovely couple from Florida. We were in the toppish teams with 36/40- but the winning team had 40/40. They won “headache in a bottle”. We stayed with our new friends for the comedian. He was again so funny. With an entirely new set. And fast on his feet. His improv was every bit as good as his practiced bits. We decided to head to the cabin and take a little nap. There was supposed to be a historic meteor shower- making an appearance at 1 am that we did not want to miss. We could not settle down. We decided at 12:30 to imbibe in our 800th meal of the day at the IC. It was really deserted but this time. We headed up to Deck 15 to see what we could see, but the lights of the ship were obscuring the view, so we climbed up to Deck 18… but to no avail. However, something really fun came of middle-of-the-night foray… I discovered there is a Skywalkers on the ship! For those of you who know- I honestly thought they were all gone… for those of you who don’t, Skywalkers was a “over sea” nightclub off the aft of the Grand class builds. You take a moving sidewalk to get to it. Most of them have been removed- as (I have heard) they impacted the aerodynamics of the ship- created a lot of drag- thus wasting fuel. The last time I was in a Skywalkers was on the Star in 2013. (That one has been removed). There are only two left- the Caribbean Princess and the Grand. How fun that was to show Jon another old school feature on the ship. We finally made our way back to the room and fell asleep promptly. Another wonderful day at sea! Now for the explanation of the title “Cabbage Soup”. It has to do with the on-again/ off-again smelly smell. Someone suggested that it smelled like cabbage… and with that I was totally able to reframe my thinking about it- so instead of standing bilge water- I am thinking of it as cabbage soup. (And still using Vick’s when it gets too strong). I think that I will cut here. Did anyone actually see the meteor shower???? Thank you for following along- More later- Tracie-Lynn

Day 3 May 30, 2022 Sea Day Hi friends- Today is Memorial Day. I want you to know how much we appreciate those who paid the ultimate price for their service to our country. We hold so much space in our hearts for their family and friends. Thank you ensuring our freedom. This morning started off with a bit of a kerfluffle. We both sleep too late. While “sleeping-in” may work for many, for us (especially Jon) it can be counterproductive. Because we ordered room service so late, we had no natural instinct to wake early- because we are still full. Jon headed out to grab coffees- and I tidied the cabin and prepared laundry to be sent out. Forgive the redundancy (from previous blogs), but I will repeat myself on more time for those who may have missed it the first ten times. I have one vice. Only one. My morning coffee. I get one cup. Only one. I would like it to be made correctly. I really enjoy an iced latte and preparing it is a simple matter of physics (and chemistry- as I was recently reminded). If you pour hot espresso directly over ice- you get a watered-down sloppy lukewarm mess. The proper way to make an iced latte is to pull the espresso. Mix it with the milk to cool it. Add ice. That way you don’t dilute the structural integrity of the espresso. It is simple. Seriously. However, Jon tried to explain this to the barista to no avail. So now, Jon just orders the espresso, the milk, and the ice separately and we mix it ourselves. But I don’t get it. It is no more difficult to make it correctly than incorrectly. But having to go through this drill every day is so… well… redundant. And I get it. These really are problems of privilege. Once we had gotten a proper coffee, we moved our grumpy selves to the Sanctuary for a bit of an attitude adjustment. As we walked to the Sanctuary, by the pools, most every lounger as taken. It is so nice to know that we have a dedicated space to plop down and relax. One note about this particular Sanctuary, while there is no sound bleed through from MUTS (like on the Royal and Regal), there is some extraneous noise from the Neptune pool which is directly one deck below. Water carries sound- again, it is physics- this time, it is acoustics. They make noise cancelling headphones for this. I will note, it is better when the ship is moving vs. “parked”. The sound of the wind and waves seem to dull the distant sound of voices. We hung out in the Sanctuary until it was almost time for our CC slot pull. I have never participated in one before… so I was pretty clueless. We had about 24 people from our roll call join, so there was a lot of action. The upshot is that we all doubled our initial investment plus some! Winner winner! Chicken Dinner! We grabbed a snack in the MDR then headed back up to the Sanctuary to sanctuate some more. Actually, we are waiting for tea. Then I have the CC Roll Call M&G. I think Jon has other plans. So we will catch up a bit later. Tonight is formal night… and with the strength and voracity of the cabin blow dryer, I will need to plan for extra get-ready time. I totally forgot about the blow dryers on the Grand Class ships. Oh. My. I could breathe on my hair and have it dry faster… No worries. I just need to be mindful of the extra time. I am going to cut here. Any one have any fun suggestions on how to spend our big winnings??? Thanks for following along- More later- Tracie-Lynn

It feels really “full” today… being a sea day and all. Love hanging out with you at the slot pull!!! You big winner, you!

That is so sweet! Thank you for being here! I am so happy to see you on the boards!

Evening 2 May 29, 2022 Princess Cays Hi friends- Our day in the Sanctuary was lovely. It was overcast, which kept the temperature at a more manageable degree. So far, people have been really quiet. It is exactly all that it is supposed to be. We ordered lunch from the spa menu. While the food is free, there is a $3 delivery fee- which is just fine. Jon got the tuna which was canned tuna and lettuce. Not exactly what he was expecting, but he ate every bit… so I assume it was good. I got the gazpacho- it was delicious. Actually it was some of the best gazpacho I have ever had. We shared pineapple and cottage cheese, fruit carpaccio, and veggies and dip. All of it was served in Bento boxes… a super fun twist! Also, the portions seemed much larger than those on the Regal and Royal. I am not sure if I mentioned this… This is the first time Jon has been on a Grand class ship. I have not been on one (the Diamond) since 2017. There are features that I really love with this class of ship… the Promenade, trays in the Princess theater, Explorers Lounge, the many pools, the lux paneling (ok. I know that one is pretty weird), the many super comfy nooks to tuck away into. To be fair, I love the Royal class ships too… there is nothing like “new ship smell”… but then again… any smell beats the smelly smell of our cabin and hallway. We gutted out the rest of our day in the Sanctuary. One of my most favorite parts of the Sanctuary is Afternoon Tea. All Princess ships offer Afternoon Tea in one of the main dining rooms. It is a lovely sit down affair that includes sammiches, cakes, tea, and best of all… delicious scones. However, if you have lounger in the Sanctuary, the Serenity Stewards bring you tea and cakes and scones right to your seat! Bonus! Yay! This may be my most favorite thing in the whole world! We extracted ourselves from the Sanctuary around 4 pm and took a quick nap before dinner. Jon napped. I might have taken a coma. After a long day in the sun, I slept hard. Once I woke up, I scrambled to get ready for dinner, while Jon headed down. This might be necessary, as there is not a whole lot of space in the cabin. Dinner was a bit livelier than our previous evening meal. Our section was definitely tighter, so even though we were seated at a “private” table for two, we were so close to our neighbors that there was virtually no way to no way to not engage in conversation. We were a bit underwhelmed by the menu, so we each had the tropical fruit cup, the Bahamian pea soup (think more like a white bean soup vs. a green pea soup- due to the pigeon peas), and I had ziti. Jon enjoyed the corvina- which he proclaimed very delicious. We quickly wrapped up our meal- and scurried to the Princess Theater for the comedian- Don Friese. I have seen a lot of comedy on cruise ships and some of it is pretty meh. This guy was funny. Like seriously funny. His bit on the airline pilot was hilarious. He is doing smaller shows again this evening, and we will do everything in our power to be there. He was totally worth sitting in a packed theater with a KN-95 on. We rounded out the evening by playing cards and drinking tea in the Atrium. The very loud singer from Crooners was back. She had toned it down a bit, and when she sang our wedding song (we are newly weds- married 10 months), we both got a little verklempt. Had we been up in Crooners, we would have danced. As an aside, one of the best gifts of getting married later in life is the realization that you have to make every single day count. So we might be those people who would dance in the middle of the a bar- without the dance floor. We turned in around 10 pm- yep- we are that old- only to discover that we were hungry. We ordered a little room service. Word of warning here- it took over an hour to be delivered. But it was hot and it was delicious- so no complaints. We just have to plan accordingly. That ends our first day of our weeklong cruise! Anyone want to guess our wedding song? Thanks for following along- More later- Tracie-Lynn

Hello Frank!!! So happy to see you around these parts!!!

Pretty much the lounger is the deal. If you book the whole cruise, it is $30 a day. The real advantage is that it is outbid the fray. It is quieter (most times). The stewards bring food and drink ($3 delivery in some cases). But my most favorite part is afternoon tea! It is such a treat!

There was the flourless chocolate cake! I might have gobbled up my piece and some of Jon’s too!

Such sound advice!

Yes!!! Such good stuff there! Enjoy the Crown tonight!! If it is amazing, we may follow you… Have a great night!!

Quick update: The smelly smell has receded! WooHoo! Fingers crossed it gets gone and stays gone!

I have had it happen too. It always stops my heart just a little. Hopefully, there will be no plumbing issues!!!

Thank you so much, my friend! I am so happy to have you along for the ride! Miss you and stay warm!!!! I am masking like it is my job… PS. Love, love, love the slogan. I am adopting it as my personal mantra!

Honestly, getting a balcony was super smart. If I had my druthers….

Oh Julie… I will keep my fingers crossed that your flushing issue are a “one off” and in no way pervasive. I truly wish that all people could realize how delicate the plumbing situation is on a cruise ship…. In the meantime… I hope you are enjoying your time on the little cay. Hopefully, we will bump into and Henry soon. Have a wonderful night!!!

I think that is going to be the secret to this cruise…finding quiet places to escape the crowd. We are also having to employ some flexibility. Which is great… flexibility can lead to some really happy surprises!

There are no rooms. This cruise is sailing full. We are living it with it. You will find us in the Sanctuary. A lot…. We have been on those unpopulated cruises. They are magical. Our trip on the Regal was a total unicorn. It will never happen again, but I am so happy for that memory!

Hey Paul. We are in an interior. It is actually emanating from the hallway and is affecting a number of cabins in our section. Those are excellent suggestions, and I totally wish that were the solution!

I am ALL IN!!!!

There have been so many announcements regard what can and cannot go into the toilets on the ship. I really hope people are listening. Flushing the wrong thing can be very impactful on many people. I really hope that you find another Iggy LoveBug. They are so stinking special!

Hey! I will try to take a picture, but if you remember from my past blogs…. I am particularly challenged in this area. I am not sure if these changes are fleet-wide… We were on the Regal, and it was the “traditional” set up. This is a new experience for us. PS I did it!!!