JamieLogical's Live from the Enchanted Princess 8/10

[grimace95120]

28 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

Side note: Rocky Horror is an American Treasure and is one of the most re-watchable movies in human history. I think I have probably seen it 50 times and listened to the soundtrack hundreds of times. It never gets old! My husband still has a bunch of friends that he met going to Rocky every week when he was in his late teens/early 20s

its is just a jump to the left after all ! 

[EllieinNJ]

The last time we were in San Juan we walked to the fort.  If you have the senior US Parks pass, both forts are free.  It was basically uphill all the way.  This time we are just doing a beach resort thru Princess. 

[Yehootu]

46 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

Side note: Rocky Horror is an American Treasure and is one of the most re-watchable movies in human history. I think I have probably seen it 50 times and listened to the soundtrack hundreds of times. It never gets old! My husband still has a bunch of friends that he met going to Rocky every week when he was in his late teens/early 20s

In the early 80's we were down at the beach by my home and noticed Brad, aka A-hole, at a beach home our friends rented out. We signaled to him to come over and he had a beer and talked with us for awhile. He said he came over as we called him Barry instead of Brad or A-hole and that we actually knew his real name.

[Crusin Karen]

5 hours ago, Scottdalfonso said:

We are doing the kind of weird one on 8/31 where they canceled Bar Harbor all together, and changed Newport to Eastport... yeah there's a reason you never heard of Eastport, lol.  We are one of like 3 cruises that stop there in the next 6 months and the others are all about half the size. It's a tiny  fishing town with not much going on. Which is fine, it'll be our first time on Princess so we will just use it as a "check out the ship day"  BUT we DO have the cast of the Love boat and a few performances by the band Air Supply, so that's all cool. 

Absolutely! Make lemonade out of lemons and who knows Eastport might be a fun place to explore for an hour or 2. I’ve been very lucky to have gone to the “same old islands” in the Caribbean many times and my past few cruises I actually stayed on the ship the entire cruise! Very relaxing! 

[555]

3 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

The last time we were in San Juan we walked to the fort.  If you have the senior US Parks pass, both forts are free.  It was basically uphill all the way.  This time we are just doing a beach resort thru Princess. 

I believe El Moro is closed on Tues & Wed. I read something about it but can't seem to find it again. San Cristobal is open every day.

Years ago they use to run a free trolley to the fort but that may be gone now??

btw- Your senior pass is good for 4 people & includes a video at the fort so if your traveling with friends from the ship be sure to treat them to admission. 

[Scottdalfonso]

2 hours ago, Crusin Karen said:

Absolutely! Make lemonade out of lemons and who knows Eastport might be a fun place to explore for an hour or 2. I’ve been very lucky to have gone to the “same old islands” in the Caribbean many times and my past few cruises I actually stayed on the ship the entire cruise! Very relaxing! 

Yeah, we have googled it- there's a cool little diner and a dive bar in town, some art galleries and brewery so we have some options if we want to get off for an hour or two, at least! 

[Ottawa_Cruiser]

Loving your updates as usual and I'm glad to see this Princess sailing seems to be a lot better than your first. 😀

[Crusin Karen]

LOVE OSJ. Great pictures! Gigi’s is a casual restaurant? Is there a fee for eating there? they’re open for lunch on sea days. Dinner all the time? TIA 

[kitkat343]

28 minutes ago, 555 said:

I believe El Moro is closed on Tues & Wed. I read something about it but can't seem to find it again. San Cristobal is open every day.

Years ago they use to run a free trolley to the fort but that may be gone now??

btw- Your senior pass is good for 4 people & includes a video at the fort so if your traveling with friends from the ship be sure to treat them to admission. 

Unfortunately, the trolley is currently not running.  Taxis are 5 per person from the port to El Moro.  It's walkable but quite hot, so for our kids we grabbed a taxi.  If your ship is scheduled to arrive late (sailing from NY sometimes arrives at 4 pm or later in San Juan) you can still fly kites next to El Moro.  

[Essiesmom]

According to the website the parks are open daily 9-5 except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.  EM

[555]

3 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

According to the website the parks are open daily 9-5 except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.  EM

That's what I keep reading but I'm positive that they cut back the hours on Tues & Wed. I'd hate to walk all the way to the fort to find it closed. 

I'll keep searching. 

 

 

I just called and it does appear that except for certain holidays both forts are open each day.

Open today: 9:00 AM–5:00 PM

 

• Sunday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Monday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Tuesday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Wednesday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Thursday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Friday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Saturday9:00 AM–5:00 PM

Edited August 22 by 555

[JamieLogical]

3 hours ago, Crusin Karen said:

LOVE OSJ. Great pictures! Gigi’s is a casual restaurant? Is there a fee for eating there? they’re open for lunch on sea days. Dinner all the time? TIA 

 

Yes, Gigi's is a casual dining restaurant. It is open for lunch and dinner every day, including embarkation and port days. It is an upcharge unless you have Princess Plus, which includes two casual dining meals or Princess Premier which includes unlimited casual dining.

[RNCheryl]

We have done food tours of both St. Martin and San Juan.  Some research could lead to a lovely excursion.

 

 

[kad56]

Ok, this is a question for Jamie, and everyone else. Does anyone know if they're running tours of the forts in San Juan again? I went to a fort tour with a park ranger years ago and loved it. Unclear if they're happing again.

[JamieLogical]

4 hours ago, kad56 said:

Ok, this is a question for Jamie, and everyone else. Does anyone know if they're running tours of the forts in San Juan again? I went to a fort tour with a park ranger years ago and loved it. Unclear if they're happing again.

 

I am afraid I don't know the answer as we really didn't look into a ship tour for San Juan.

[notus]

Love San Juan.......Drunken Cookies ??!!  Drunken Cookies??!!    Sounds like a must stop in !!  Bring any back??  check them out??   (...inquiring minds want to know....)

Oh and YES to Rocky !!!

[notus]

.... sorry, double post...

Edited August 23 by notus

[kitkat343]

10 hours ago, 555 said:

That's what I keep reading but I'm positive that they cut back the hours on Tues & Wed. I'd hate to walk all the way to the fort to find it closed. 

I'll keep searching. 

 

 

I just called and it does appear that except for certain holidays both forts are open each day.

Open today: 9:00 AM–5:00 PM

 

• Sunday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Monday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Tuesday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Wednesday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Thursday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Friday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Saturday9:00 AM–5:00 PM

And they aren't kidding about the closing hours.  Last time I was in San Juan, our NCL ship was late for a 4 pm docking, and we got to the fort at 4:50 and they wouldn't let us in.  the kids really liked flying kites next to the fort, though.  I knew there was a possibility we wouldn't make it, but with a 4 pm arrival there weren't a lot of options for our kids.  They liked the kites and we had a nice meal.

Edited August 23 by kitkat343

[JamieLogical]

7 hours ago, notus said:

Love San Juan.......Drunken Cookies ??!!  Drunken Cookies??!!    Sounds like a must stop in !!  Bring any back??  check them out??   (...inquiring minds want to know....)

Oh and YES to Rocky !!!

 

So we discovered that place after we had just eaten lunch and were still very full. It seems that, in addition to normal cookies, they have what they call "cookie cups" and you can purchase a cookie cup and have it filled with the liquor of your choice! Sounds amazing and we definitely wish we had discovered it before or after we were so full.

[JamieLogical]

Yesterday was another sea day. I was starting to get pretty sad about our cruise coming to an end. I keep trying to think of things I miss from home to console myself, but it’s not really working. We did our normal room service breakfast at 6:30, I showered, I typed up my blog, and I started working a bit before 8:00. This was the first time I’ve had a Zoom meeting scheduled and it went fine over the ship’s wifi. There were six people on the call and no issues with audio or video. My work crisis solution from the night before seems to have been effective, as the nursing students were all able to access their quizzes.

 

I finished up work at 10:00 and headed down to meet my husband at Good Spirits. We played some Splendor and I lost spectacularly. We then headed over to O’Malley’s to snag a table early, since we had decided to do that for lunch. A lot of others had caught onto this game and were doing the same thing. We played a round of 7 Wonders Duel and I won by one point, which is a very tiny margin in that game.

Lunch service was sloooooow. Despite having been some of the first people there, once they started taking lunch orders, the entire place was packed with a line out the door and they took our order last. Lots of people had their appetizers before we had even gotten to place our order. It was fine, though, as we really didn’t have anywhere to be. I ordered the onion soup and my variation on the O’Malley’s burger. My husband just got fries as his starter and the stew for his main.

 

Once my soup finally arrived, it was volcanically hot. I stupidly tried a tiny sip of it and scalded the entire inside of my mouth. It took over 20 minutes for it to cool to the point where I could actually eat it and even then it was still visibly steaming. It was very good once I could actually eat it. My burger was perfect when it finally came out as well.

 

After lunch, I had a smidge of work to do and they took a nap. I woke up to my husband texting me about high tea. We had said we were going to try to attend that, but I had completely forgotten, as had my husband. He had already ordered and drunk most of his afternoon coffee before he remembered. I decided I didn’t want to rush, so we skipped high tea and I just grabbed some coffee from Princess Live and met my husband at the Crown Grill Bar for more Splendor and Rummy.

 

I won the afternoon round of Splendor, but my husband was beating me handily at Rummy before we decided we were done with games as the bar was opening. I ordered a Gin Daisy, followed by a Floradora for the road. We were heading back up to our room to get changed for our final formal night. Once we were both beautiful, we headed down to Crooners and had Bon make us drinks to carry into dinner with us. I have no idea what all was in it (I only saw Chambord, St. Germain, and soda) but it was a perfect dinner drink.

 

Dinner service was definitely slower than the previous night, but not too bad. It took a while for us to get our initial bread and water, but it moved at a fairly decent pace after that. The whole dining room was much busier, of course, with it being a formal night. And it wasn’t just any formal night, it was the surf & turf formal night. I ordered the escargot, my husband ordered a caesar salad, and we split the seafood bisque as our starters. For my main, I ordered the duck and my husband ordered the “land & sea.” There were two men seated two tables down from us and they each ordered four appetizers and then FIVE surf & trufs between the two of them! Now I understand why other lines have started charging for extra entrees or extra lobster tails! For our desserts, we both ordered the chantilly swan, which was beautiful and delicious. All-in-all, it was an excellent dinner, but still not quite as good as the previous night.

 

After dinner, we headed back to Crooners to get seats for Ian Frost’s only set of the night. Even getting there early, it was tough finding decent seats. I ordered a French Martinin from one of the roaming servers and Bon was clearly offended I hadn’t ordered directly from him, as he walked my drink over to me himself. After that, I didn’t make the same mistake and I went up to the bar to order. I asked Bon for a combination of a Bailey’s & Raspberry Martini and a Blind Russian. What I got was not quite that, in that it lacked Kalua, but it was still amazing as always.

 

Ian’s set was good. He played Sound of Silence again, which is the song he was playing when I first tuned into one of his sets early in the cruise. He also played Mrs. Robinson. He has quite the following onboard at this point with the same crowd coming to all of his sets. I am sad our time with him is nearly at an end!

 

After Ian’s set, my husband went back to the room and I headed to the casino to kill some time (and money) before the late showing of Rock Opera in the main theater. My husband told me to text him when I was on my way to the theater in case he wanted to join me, but I knew there was no chance and I was right! I am glad I still went to the show. It was very very good. I didn’t know all of the songs, but they were almost all excellent. The singers were fantastic.

 

After the show, I climbed FIVE flights of stairs to try to avoid the mad rush for the forward elevators and it paid off, as I got an elevator with only one other person on it for the rest of my trip up to deck 16 for some pizza. Once I had my pizza, it was back to the room for some sleep.

 

Only one day left! 😭

 

Day's Drinks:

 

2x Champagne & Chambord from Good Spirits

Clover Breeze from O'Malley's 

Americano w/ Bailey's from Princess Live

Gin Daisy from Crown Grill Bar

Floradora from Crown Grill Bar

Bon Concoction #4 from Crooners 

French Martini from Crooners 

Bon Concoction #5 from Crooners

[JamieLogical]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 23 by JamieLogical

[JamieLogical]

On 8/13/2024 at 5:40 PM, kad56 said:

@JamieLogical How is working from the ship working out? I've never worked on ships, because I worry about the connection (I need to zoom), but it would be such a great way to stretch my PTO.

 

I finally had a zoom meeting yesterday morning and it worked great! There were six of us on the call and audio/video for all of us worked just like when I am home.

[JamieLogical]

On 8/21/2024 at 1:04 PM, JGmf said:

 

Hi Jamie.  I'm avidly following and enjoying your posts (as always!).

 

One question: as fellow fan of Bon...last month when I chatted with him, I think he mentioned he was headed home relatively soon with the end of his contract.  If so, I'm happy for him of course.  Did he mention that?  (Asking b/c I'll be back on the Enchanted in October; and I'm hoping to hang with him again).

 

 

I asked Bon last night and he said his contract isn't up until December, so you will see him in October!

[Honolulu Blue]

47 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

After dinner, we headed back to Crooners to get seats for Ian Frost’s only set of the night. Even getting there early, it was tough finding decent seats. I ordered a French Martinin from one of the roaming servers and Bon was clearly offended I hadn’t ordered directly from him, as he walked my drink over to me himself. After that, I didn’t make the same mistake and I went up to the bar to order. I asked Bon for a combination of a Bailey’s & Raspberry Martini and a Blind Russian. What I got was not quite that, in that it lacked Kalua, but it was still amazing as always.

 

Ian’s set was good. He played Sound of Silence again, which is the song he was playing when I first tuned into one of his sets early in the cruise. He also played Mrs. Robinson. He has quite the following onboard at this point with the same crowd coming to all of his sets. I am sad our time with him is nearly at an end!

 

After Ian’s set, my husband went back to the room and I headed to the casino to kill some time (and money) before the late showing of Rock Opera in the main theater. My husband told me to text him when I was on my way to the theater in case he wanted to join me, but I knew there was no chance and I was right! I am glad I still went to the show. It was very very good. I didn’t know all of the songs, but they were almost all excellent. The singers were fantastic.

 

After the show, I climbed FIVE flights of stairs to try to avoid the mad rush for the forward elevators and it paid off, as I got an elevator with only one other person on it for the rest of my trip up to deck 16 for some pizza. Once I had my pizza, it was back to the room for some sleep.

 

Only one day left! 😭

 

Great work as always.  Some irreverent notes:

 

• Mr. Simon is all right (mostly before my time), but I really like his wife's songs
• I saw Rock Opera on my cruise a couple of weeks ago.  I thought it was all right.  Too much opera for my tastes and not enough rock.  The performers were talented across the board.
• I routinely climb up 5 or 6 flights of stairs to get to the trough or come back to the cabin from a day out on the town.  IIRC, I only took the elevator once on my last cruise.  There are several boring reasons for my preferences.
• It sounds like you had a good time and Princess did their part to help.  🥰  Safe travels!

[Lady Arwen]

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I asked Bon last night and he said his contract isn't up until December, so you will see him in October!

That’s great!  We board tomorrow so we will definitely be stopping by to see Bon.  I’ll be sure to tell him that you miss him already!  Safe travels home!

Edited August 23 by Lady Arwen