The start of day two
We woke up on day two only to find out that we had not left Vancouver until 1 am. That meant that we would miss our Sitka port of call. We were however being given $50 a passenger in on board credit. It was non-refundable, so we’ll have to spend it on the ship. Not exactly what we wanted, but we have no say in it.
We had breakfast at the buffet. Breakfast is okay, not a ton of selections, but the food is good. A hint to find a seat is to keep walking past the first buffet area, then past the elevators, and on to the second buffet area. There seem to be more empty tables because people don’t know it’s there. Also the right side of that area seems to be less crowded. There are buffets in each of these areas, but the first one you passed seems to have a bit more selection.
After that I explored a bit, then went back to the room to work on my blog. I was in charge of our Facebook page Meet ‘n Greet later also, so I needed to get ready for that. Some in our group had already seen whales, but so far I’ve seen nothing but ocean. I’ve never seen the Pacific though, so that’s cool.
The ship’s Naturalist, Susan Hazlett, gave a lecture at 10 am so we wanted to see that. It was all about explorer’s to Alaska. It was very interesting. We had met her the night before at dinner, and she’s very knowledgeable about Alaska.
The lecture was so interesting. It told all about the explorers that had been to Alaska way before it became a state. I cannot imagine how hard it must have been for them to leave their homes and take a ship to such an unknown area. A lot of the area landmarks have been named by or after these explorers. Susan will do quite a few other lectures during the cruise, and I want to see as many as I can.
Meet ‘n Greet
We had a large Facebook group for this cruise, so we arranged a Meet ‘n Greet so we could get to know each other. Marija from Guest Services arranged it for us, but Ferdinand, manager of Guest Services, was there to help. I’m not really a front of the scenes person and don’t like talking in front of people, so he talked to the group a bit. Then we just got together in small groups and mingled. I thought that the crew would do more than they did, but we still had a nice time. It was nice putting faces with names. We had the event in the Skywalker’s Night Club on deck 18, a really nice venue. I could see having a Wedding reception here. It has huge windows all around it with wonderful ocean views.
Dinner and the evening
After the Meet ‘n Greet we went back to the cabin to dress up for Elegant evening. There are two of them this cruise. It’s a night to dress up a bit, but don’t worry, you can wear what you brought. Not everyone dressed up. I wore dress slacks and a sparkly top with a sweater. Some wore gowns, some weren’t very dressed up at all. My husband wore a dress shirt and tie. Just wear what you want. This is a good night to get pictures taken. You can get as many taken as you want, and then just choose what you want to buy. There will be photographers everywhere with different backgrounds to try.
I thought that I had been told by Marija that we had a reservation at the Crown Grille specialty restaurant as a media perk, but when we got there, we had no reservation. So, we ended up back at Michaelangelos Main Dining Room. The hostess asked if we wanted to sit with others. We told her yes, but we were taken to a table for two. That was fine, but the head waiter, Dragon, came and told us that we’d be at his table on the other side of the dining room for the rest of the cruise, table 207. I love getting to know the waiters, so I’m looking forward to that. So far all the waiters have been good though.
For appetizers I got the White Rum Tapioca Fruit Salad. It was pretty good, but I guess I don’t like tapioca much. I also had the Alaskan Crab Cake, which was delicious. For my entree I had the Roast Pork Tenderloin Medallions, which was delicious. I do recommend it. Dessert was the Chocolate Hazelnut Bar with Citrus Cream, which was the best part of the meal. I’m glad that I missed the Crown Grill, I’ll figure that out later.
Production Show
After dinner we walked through the Piatzo, and the Captain was giving a welcome speech. They were giving out champagne. We watched that for a while and then went on to the theater to watch the production show, Magic to Do. It was so nice to actually see something besides the same old shows Carnival puts on. I was expecting a magic show, but it was so much more. It was a full production show with song and dance, not just magic, and I do recommend seeing it.
The end of the day
I decided to relax in the room the rest of the night. After the jet lag and not sleeping well, I was pretty exhausted. Plus, Princess has much better television than the other cruise lines I’ve sailed on. You can choose from a variety of options, including on demand TV shows and movies. I decided to watch the end of Whale, a Brendan Fraser movie. I am a fan of Brendan Fraser, but I wasn’t sure I’d like this one. But actually, it was pretty good.
The beds and pillows on Princess are comfortable, but not as comfortable as Carnival’s beds. I prefer Carnival’s pillows by far. But still, I had a good night’s sleep and was ready to face another day on Crown Princess.
The Quiet Cruiser 