grand princess 20th December till 22nd of January

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

I take a coat every where.

I take combinations of my velour hoodie and/or a fleece, plus a very good lightweight rain jacket that can be worn over either, or just over a tshirt. I find this is more flexible and caters for most weather conditions. Since I tend to overheat easily I'd rather have layers I can shed when I need to.

[yes!yes!yes!]

we really enjoyed the abba party. dance floor was packed.

great night.

today we are in Napier. 

virgin ship is backing in

 

[yes!yes!yes!]

its pretty gloomy looking outside. not too cold tho.

in port from 7am to all aboard at 1.30pm

 

[yes!yes!yes!]

okay don't judge us.

we went down the ramp to get off and then walked straight back up the other ramp and got back on.

its windy out there. a little drizzly and gloomy. also. we have been to Napier a few times before. the free shuttle drops you off in the centre which isn't really worth a second look. its a port stop that is better booking a bus tour.

last year I did a 2 wineries and lunch day trip which I enjoyed. 

 

[yes!yes!yes!]

today there were a lot of balcony chairs delivered to deck 11. looked like at least 50.

someone mentioned all the balcony furniture was rusty.

 

[Jean C]

2 hours ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

okay don't judge us.

we went down the ramp to get off and then walked straight back up the other ramp and got back on.

its windy out there. a little drizzly and gloomy. also. we have been to Napier a few times before. the free shuttle drops you off in the centre which isn't really worth a second look. its a port stop that is better booking a bus tour.

last year I did a 2 wineries and lunch day trip which I enjoyed. 

 

Probably just as well, Napier suffered a central city power cut, closing shops and businesses -

 

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/power-outage-hits-napier-cbd-as-thousands-of-cruise-passengers-arrive-in-town/ICSX6LJ7QNDNNH3JEP67FCOR5Y/

[~*Lou*~]

Because we have teens, after all the sea days  we were very keen to get off & explore. We were off the ship at 7.30, and by  10.30am we had wandered round the main streets looking at art deco buildings, hired bikes and riden along the beach front for one hour ($80 for family of 4 for one hour - walk in rate) and bought ice creams from Lick  This. Then we played mini golf ($30 for family for 18 holes), had another look at the beach and back on the free shuttle at 11.45am. Other family friendly activities would have been the aquarium (1.3 km south from I site) or the bathing pools (about 1km north of I site). 

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

okay don't judge us.

we went down the ramp to get off and then walked straight back up the other ramp and got back on.

its windy out there. a little drizzly and gloomy. also. we have been to Napier a few times before. the free shuttle drops you off in the centre which isn't really worth a second look. its a port stop that is better booking a bus tour.

last year I did a 2 wineries and lunch day trip which I enjoyed. 

 

Don't feel bad about that. Last time we were on a cruise that stopped there it was also rainy so we didn't even bother getting off the ship. We'd been to Napier both on a land trip and other cruises so decided to stay warm and dry onboard. There is no rule that says you have to get off the ship at every port, sometimes it's just lovely to be on the ship when it's quiet.

[Rassa]

6 hours ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

we really enjoyed the abba party. dance floor was packed.

great night.

today we are in Napier. 

virgin ship is backing in

 

 

 

When you mentioned abba, I thought you meant a show in the theatre, but it was a theme night.   So were passengers dressed in white or 70s clothes ....?  I am on when you get off.   

 

Saw Nathan years ago and liked him, seems he has changed his presentation a little.

[yes!yes!yes!]

3 hours ago, Rassa said:

 

When you mentioned abba, I thought you meant a show in the theatre, but it was a theme night.   So were passengers dressed in white or 70s clothes ....?  I am on when you get off.   

 

Saw Nathan years ago and liked him, seems he has changed his presentation a little.

the entertainment crew dressed in 70s.

its the first time they have done the abba dancing in the explorers.  it was very  successful.  I think it will feature  on this ship for longer cruises. every one enjoyed it.

Nathan did 2 different shows. 4 shows over 2 days.he's a regular on princess. so you might get him again 

[yes!yes!yes!]

[yes!yes!yes!]

this was the lamb dish.

I ate the broccoli and mash the lamb was awful.

nearly all chewy fat

[arxcards]

25 minutes ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

this was the lamb dish.

I ate the broccoli and mash the lamb was awful.

nearly all chewy fat

Shoulder can be a bit greasy, but I am surprised they would have it on the menu if they can't do it justice.

[ceeceeDee]

28 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Shoulder can be a bit greasy, but I am surprised they would have it on the menu if they can't do it justice.

Absolutely. Our friend is a chef and his slow cooked lamb is to die for! Bless him, when he cooks it for me, he leaves out the rosemary as it has an adverse effect.🤗

[yes!yes!yes!]

[yes!yes!yes!]

it looks like someone had already chewed my lamb for me

[yes!yes!yes!]

[yes!yes!yes!]

On 1/15/2024 at 12:41 PM, Rassa said:

 

When you mentioned abba, I thought you meant a show in the theatre, but it was a theme night.   So were passengers dressed in white or 70s clothes ....?  I am on when you get off.   

 

Saw Nathan years ago and liked him, seems he has changed his presentation a little.

there's an 80s theme tonight

[mr walker]

36 minutes ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

there's an 80s theme tonight

 

 

for our Majestic cruise in a few weeks (10 Feb), there are a number of "Party" nights showing on the schedule including ABBA, Motown, C&W, 80's.

On Princess do people typically dress up 'in theme' for these nights like on other cruiselines, or is the dress-up more for the entertainment crew? On P&O, Carnival & RC etc, many passengers dress-up for the evening & photos are a big part of it.

[yes!yes!yes!]

12 hours ago, mr walker said:

for our Majestic cruise in a few weeks (10 Feb), there are a number of "Party" nights showing on the schedule including ABBA, Motown, C&W, 80's.

On Princess do people typically dress up 'in theme' for these nights like on other cruiselines, or is the dress-up more for the entertainment crew? On P&O, Carnival & RC etc, many passengers dress-up for the evening & photos are a big part of it.

I would say mostly the crew dress up.

[yes!yes!yes!]

we are in Auckland today.

we have the crystal symphony  and a viking ship in with us.

 

[yes!yes!yes!]

the Mexican omelet was awful this morning,  but the beans and salsa were great

[yes!yes!yes!]

I took a few photos at the 80s party last night. you can see that its only the crew dressed up.

it was great fun and a good atmosphere.

I added a photo of nick and clare who are excellent activities staff. they outshine the cruise director. so much fun and easy to talk to. nick should be a cruise director. he is so funny and talented. he sang very well at the Christmas crew party on Christmas eve. 

the band are great too.

[yes!yes!yes!]

okay, nick did not sing at the Christmas show. it was another nick. I should have worn my glasses

[yes!yes!yes!]

had a quiet day on board. did 3 trivia and scattagories. read a book.

here's tonight's menu.

I haven't seen this one before.

I'm still a bit scared of shellfish after getting crook on the Christmas cruise.

so I will skip the oysters which I would normally get