February 18, 2015
San Francisco was not very warm. Today is noticeably warmer, but still not really what you could call warm.
Dolphins and whales were spotted, but land was not. I don't think we're too far away from land, though. People are settling in, and so are we. Despite the fact that it is a sea day and we are on a relaxing cruise, I am busier than I am at home.
After a light room service breakfast, I went to join an informal gathering of knitters and needle-workers. I met a few other quilters and we had a nice time talking and sharing tips. The others had little hand quilting projects. Maybe next time I will find a portable quilting project to bring with me.
Next, I had coffee from the ship's version of Starbucks while we sat in the atrium/piazza - the best venue for people-watching. I went to the Internet cafe to get something fixed so that I could log onto the Internet. I don't know what the IT guy did, but it works now.
I went to the so-called library, which is in the same place as the Internet cafe, to wait for the book club meeting, where the book would be distributed. The library on this ship is the worst I've ever seen. There were only about two shelves' worth of books. Unfortunately, some passengers take the books home. It's a shame because some ships have a really nice library with many books that you would actually want to read. Assistant Cruise Director Cat showed up to speak to those of us interested in the book club. They usually have about 12 copies of the book to hand out. Cat told us she only had 6 copies this time. She said that on the last cruise five people had taken copies of the book home "as souvenirs." That is so selfish. It is stealing, and it ruins the book club for everyone who comes after you. Although you have to sign for your copy of the book, the staff apparently does not make any effort to follow up at the end of the cruise to get the books back.
Since I was one of the first ones there, I got a copy of the book - The Fault in Our Stars. They will be showing the movie later in the cruise, so I am interested in reading it before the movie is shown. I will turn it back in so someone else can read it before the discussion, which comes at the end of the cruise.
After a while we went to the Meet and Greet for Cruise Critic members, It was one of the less dynamic Meet and Greets we have been to, but we decided to go to the group lunch afterwards. It was supposed to be in the "main dining room." We went to the only dining room that was open at lunch time and the maître d' had no knowledge of a large group dining there. We went to the other two possible "main dining rooms" and they were both closed for lunch. Oh, well. We had a nice lunch at the International Cafe.
After lunch I played bridge rather badly with Gayle, a nice woman from Kansas City. There were four tables and someone there was willing to set us up for duplicate bridge, so we had fun. Later on, Ken and I went to speak to the Captain's Circle Hostess and learned that we would be invited to the Most Traveled Passengers Lunch. This is always great news. I will write about it when the day arrives.
Back in our room we scarfed down the special appetizers they bring on formal nights and tried to stay awake. I was startled back into wakefulness by a sudden loud announcement from the bridge telling the whole ship of a "First Stage Alert" on Deck 15 near the spa. After 10 minutes or so, there was another announcement to "stand down." A little while later the captain announced that someone had smelled smoke but they had determined that it was a belt in the A/C system.
Now that we were wide awake again, we got dressed for formal night and went up to one of the lounges for a drink and a few bites of cheese before heading back down to hear a comedian named AJ Jamal. He was quite funny and managed to carry it off without being offensive, though there was a bit of potty humor. His routine about being on the Cabbage Soup Diet was hilarious.
There was a special menu for formal night, created to mark Princess' 50th birthday (or is it an anniversary?). It was awesome. I ordered duck terrine, a salad with a very complicated name, a turbot main course, and a delish chocolate and raspberry dessert. All were new to the Princess menu. The dessert was part of Chocolate Journeys, a "premium chocolate experience" developed by Princess for its 50th. Click to see the Chocolate Journeys Video
After dinner we went to a new production show called Destination Anywhere. This show gets two thumbs down. First, the music track was so loud it was hard to hear the singers. The concept for the show was good, but it wasn't carried out well. It started with a cute number about going somewhere on a plane. The first destination was Las Vegas. There were two Elvis numbers. One would have been enough, especially since you could barely hear Elvis. Then there was a boring interlude with a girl, who reminded me of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, sitting on a suitcase and singing a song that was unfamiliar and hard to hear. Then they went to London, but it was 19th-century London. (Why?) There was a street scene with women, who were presumably prostitutes, and some men who were dandies/johns. After a bit of dancing around, the story line took a nasty turn. The suggestion was that one of the women was gang-raped, beaten, dragged offstage (yes, dragged) and then stabbed to death by one of the dandies. Really, Princess? What were you thinking? You are going to be hearing from me.
After another boring interlude with "Dorothy," the final destination was generic Africa. This was actually pretty good, although some of the dancing seemed more Polynesian than African, but dance is not one of my areas of expertise. The finale consisted of everyone coming out in white skimpy costumes and singing a boring song. Three women had GIGANTIC headpieces representing the three destinations. The headpieces had moving parts and lights and there were fireworks at the end. All in all, the show was confusing and not very coherent. Then there was the offensive, inappropriate, misguided London part . . . Oh, dear. Oh, dear.
No comments:
Post a Comment