Musings from around the ship Mark III

Photography Classes

Born out of the World Cruise 2023 Facebook page, was a series of photography classes.  Dave and Kelly gave up a lot of their time to run these sessions, not once but three times on this cruise.  They covered things like composition and Mobile phone photography. 

I thought I knew all I needed to know about my S23 Ultra, but these sessions opened my eyes to look for the other capabilities of my phone.

Dave and Kelly took us on an excursion around the ship photographing items of interest, taking on a different perspective.

Here is a group of avid photographers

Dover Farewell

The night before arriving at Dover  Princess put on a farewell party in the Atrium for those departing.   For us, it brought a close to the first half of the World Cruise.

Here we were also introduced to our new Captain, Gavin Pears, our little Irish Leprechaun and so full of life, that took over from Captain Perra in Cobh.

Some of you may recognize him as he had once sailed with P & O Australia.  Quite significantly from our last port of call at Invergordon, he also mentioned that during his time as a Marine Pilot, he had navigated drilling rigs into the harbor where he worked, similar to what we had seen.

This is a man you couldn’t help but like within the first five minutes of meeting him and he always seems to enjoy himself as much as we are on this cruise.

Previously we felt that we were kept in the dark about a lot of things happening around the ship and our ports of call, but Gavin has been very informative throughout the second half of this cruise…    Did I mention he loves the microphone!!

He has very quickly become a favorite Captain around the ship.,

If I had a dollar for every crew member who has also sung his praises, I could pay for another world cruise.

We also said farewell to a few key officers  in Dover

The crew deserved nothing short of a ticker tape parade.

Did I mention I had only just met the Captain

Wine Fairs 

What do you do when you have a whole lot of wine, but not enough bottles to sustain keeping them on the menu…. Have a Wine Fair!

Set out beautifully on tables paired with some lovely finger food, here you can work your way around trying a variety of whites and reds that have been heavily reduced.  Bottles could be bought with prices ranging from $25 - $50 that can be drunk anywhere on the ship with no extra corkage added…  

They have had a couple of these now and have been very popular both times.

Dover Welcome Party

Of course, after every farewell, there is another Welcome party

More Musings from around the Ship - Slot Pull

 We are not doing a lot of cruise critic activities this cruise but one tried and true favourite is the Slot Pull...

Sabina is doing a great job in running this activity for us... We have always walked away with something...  mostly less than what we have invested, but it has been a good time getting there...

My sister was the big winner on this particular day

More Musings from around the Ship – Culinary Show Mark II

We had a second culinary show just before we reached Dover.  What was nice about this one was they used the ending for us to congratulate the staff both in front, and behind the scenes for their fabulous work and commitment to making our trip as enjoyable as possible.

Just like the old Bombe Alaska parade, they brought a small group of team members out that represent all 185 crew that work in food and beverage.  Hector the head waiter, can often be heard belting out a song or two in the horizon court at breakfast, ended the show with a fantastic rendition of “Time to Say Goodbye”

More Musings Around the ship – Meet & Greets

Since we had our first Cruise Critic Meet & Greet, we have had two more, one after Dubai and the other after Dover. 

As I wasn’t expecting a lot of people after our Dubai one, I didn’t ask the officers to come, but it was so nice to see that they turned up anyway….

At this Meet and Greet we passed the microphone around and everyone introduced themselves

And once again they were there in full force for our Dover Meet and Greet.  The staff have been fabulous on this trip and very accommodating. 

Aaron the Cruise Director is one of the best we have had. As we have lost our Entertainment Director Kelvin in Dover and Princess could not get a replacement for him, Aaron has really stepped up and taken on both roles.  

More Musings Around the ship – Fruit Carving

The chefs from the kitchen do a great job when it comes to fruit carving.  I remember hearing once that the art of carving started with fruit before progressing on to wood…  Our team created some wonderful displays…  A few of these demonstrations have been repeated at each sector, but always a pleasure to attend. 

More Musings Around the ship – Margarita anyone

You know your husband loves you when he volunteers during a Margarita demonstration just so he can get a free cocktail!

More Musings Around the ship – Death by Chocolate

Sea days are great for demonstrations in the atrium, and as long as they don’t clash with other activities we like to go along.

This one was particularly yummy when our Executive Pastry Chef does a chocolate show…  Even more particularly so when you sit in the front row and score one of the delicious chocolate ganache and berry deserts….

More Musings Around the ship - Bingo

Bingo is on every sea day… and it just seems to get dearer and dearer every time we are on board.  The cheapest combination is $30 which I think only gives you a set of 3 games for each round of bingo.  There are so many combo’s that even I can’t remember them all… The dearest is the set with the use of an ipad to play…  hence all you have to do is sit there and wait for it to ding when you have won the pot.

Generally, I only play on the final day when the jackpot has to be won.  On this particular day, I played because the night before they gave me a couple of free tickets when we walked pass the casino.  Carry, my sister decided to join me when she heard I was playing… 

Well lo and behold, she won one of the rounds and walked away with $150…. At least the marketing worked for somebody.

Musings from Around the Ship

Musing 1 - We have a cabin that we pass on the way to ours and every day there is a new Cartoon posted on his door… makes for great entertainment ….

Musing 2 – Gone are the big wooden deck chairs on deck 7, the Promenade deck.  Princess has decided to go with the Ikea Scandi look.  Quoted as going more environmentally friendly, the big wooden chairs that no one in Colombo wanted, are being offloaded in Dubai destined for landfill no doubt.  These aluminum frame chairs will be easy to clean and maintain. Let's hope for no big gusts of wind whilst the walkers are powering their way around the deck.

Musing 3 -  Ice carving up on Deck … always a family favorite… always a swan !

Musing 4 -  Tropical Fruit Extravaganza…. I love these as I get to taste the fruits we don’t normally have at home…

Musing 5 -  Rock the boat, don't rock the boat baby
Rock the boat, don't tip the boat over
Rock the boat (woo)

Goodness me finally a bit of movement on the ship,  ooh we must be in the Bay of Bengal….  But I would have to say, considering the movement in the pool, the rocking we are feeling around the ship is quite mild… The Coral Princess obviously handles the sea really well and she must have a good set of stabilizers, and considering we have been told we are supposed to be limping along it is not often you see her under 19 Knots

Musing 5 -  Captains circle parties seem to have taken on new criteria…  After receiving our invitation to the event, I asked my sister what date was their party.  Well, apparently only Platinum and Elites are invited now, which I think is really sad for the other loyalty members.  How much would it cost for priceless PR?

Anyhow,  the party was held over 2 days, and on our day we were lucky enough to have Captain Perra attend, day 2 had the Staff Captain speak…  I am thinking he is also a very nice man in need of a decent hairdresser as he always looks a little windswept.

I always enjoy these events as you always get a bit of trivia about the cruise.  We are approximately 800 elites, 400 platinums,  and another 600 of Blues, Golds, and Rubies … so not a full ship or there are a lot of solos onboard.

He touched on the fact that extra engineers and parts were arriving in Dubai to solve this generator problem. To win some browny points he mentioned that it is looking good for an early 9am arrival in Dubai instead of 12 noon. I think think this will work in their favor and may be the reason for missing Oman so they could have 2 full days to work on the generator in a stationary position…

Musing 6 - As many of you may have read in the past that there is unusual, quite loud noise around the back lifts which affects the surrounding cabins on the starboard side.  We are further towards the back and can’t hear it, but have experienced it when using the lifts.  Not all the time but in certain see conditions.  We had a note saying that even though creaks and bangs are normal noises on a ship, they were closing that section of the ship to run repairs while in Dubai…  Hmm after 10 years of cruising, certainly not a noise I have heard before….  I will let you know if I hear it again.

Musing 7 – Damn it, I missed it .. they had a towel animal-making display and I forgot about it, and remember when it was over… racing down to the Atrium I manage to the odd animal scattered around the room where guests got to keep them…

Musing 8 – Finally lobster on a formal night.  No more can I order a Surf and Surf, instead of a Surf and Turf, as this now incurred an extra charge for each extra lobster tail.  Probably just as well as my piece of tenderloin was cooked to perfection (rare) and was just a joy to eat.

Musing 9 -  We have had a few production shows and Motor City was very good … considering it was the first time this ensemble had performed it…

Musing 10 – Joachim’s & Johan’s Culinary Show.

It has been a while since I attended one of these, and although the staging has changed, the format is much the same. Lots of humor, raging flames, and a Black forest play-off between the Maitre D and the Sous Chef.  No prize for who won!

a little heavy-handed with the chilli

hmm whos is who?