Monthly Archives: November 2013

Honeymoon Part 2 – Princesses on Princess

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IMG_9225Actually we were positively princely getting all dressed up.

After leaving Orlando, we headed to our friends Jen and Elizabeth’s – who we met two years ago in San Francisco.  Thanks for putting us up and it was great to connect again!!

I wrote a variant of the blog entry below for Cruise Critic, so a lot of what I have written will sound more like a review of the ship, tours we went on, etc…  I’m hoping the pictures will add more colour to the things I mention.

Where do I even begin with my thoughts on our first cruise and that being on Royal Princess?  Where Disney appealed to our inner kids, the cruise on Royal Princess appealed to our “adult kid” side, if that makes sense.

Scott and I were completely blown away.  We were already saying, “When do we sign up for the next cruise?”  after 8 hours on the ship.  We know it will more than likely be to Alaska, though admittedly we’d love to do Golden Week in Japan on Diamond Princess but that’s just a bit pricey.

 

Day 1 – Embarkation & Sea

Firstly – boarding was completely smooth and effortless.  No huge lines, in fact our “non preferred member line” was completely empty relative to the elites that were on board.  Waiting wasn’t that long, and they started boarding early – 11:30am and all staterooms were ready for us to take our belongings to.  Amazing given the stories I’ve heard.

We made our way through the Casino to our elevator and up to our room.

I have to admit, my expectations were set much lower courtesy of Cruise Critic forums about the size of the room and balcony.  When you haven’t cruised before, you don’t know what you’re missing.

We were VERY happy with the size of the room (Balcony), despite having to dance a bit to get around each other.  I had feared that only one of us could fit on the balcony, that’s not the case at all – we fit no problem for both champagne and dipped strawberries; and the Ultimate Breakfast I had booked.  I would have no issue booking the same room again especially if it means saving some money on a future cruise.  We didn’t spend a lot of time in the room anyway preferring to see the sites, sun on the Lido deck, etc…

We made our way up to the Horizon Court which is the main buffet on the ship and then out to Horizon Terrace which is a lovely dining area outside the aft of the ship.  It was so breezy, I have to admit I was losing my peas.  No, I’m not crazy. LOL!

I’ve got two criticisms of Horizon Court/Bistro which others have already mentioned:

  • I did find the food a bit cool, however, I also walked around a fair bit trying to find foods to eat and what was being offered.  Still, it was tasty.
  • I put myself in the shoes of some of the older folks around me.  It does seem like a long way to walk – especially if you want to go from the Horizon Court to the Patisserie.
I don’t know how other cruise lines handle this on bigger ships like RCI’s Allure of the Seas, etc…
We ran around the ship looking for everything making sure we knew where everything was.

The biggest confusing thing about the elevators in the front and aft of the shift, was that all four were not connected to the same up and down buttons.  They were in a 2/2 configuration.  This, I think, is also slowing things down because you get people pressing both the up and down buttons.  For those who are able bodied, those flights of steps are also not too bad for going up and down.  Don’t always rely on the elevators.

After that, we made our way to the Lotus Spa where we booked ourselves for a 4:30pm seaweed wrap couples massage at a VERY nice discount given it was embarkation day.   It was amazing.  We also arranged use of The Enclave which has a Turkish Hamam, wet and dry saunas, aromatherapy showers, a massive hot tub, heated stone beds.  Ahh luxury.

The aromatherapy of the Lotus Spa is quite something too.  Very relaxing and soothing.

Yes, it meant we completely missed our first sail out and the photo opportunities that provides, but we did get the Reflections video, so… 🙂  It’s bittersweet.  The massage has helped to put away the rush of the first three days at WDW and the pain of walking so much.

We did dinner at the Concerto dining room.  Oh my – the desserts.   Really, I kind of felt like Scott and I are at Adult Disneyland right now.  My appetizer was three kinds of melon drizzled with port; a piña colada soup with rum in it served in a cocktail glass with straw, Hawaiian Luau Pork and then the Chocolate Love Boat Dream to top it off.  It was a meal that felt, sinful and wrong, but oh so good.

After we walked around the ship some more, checking out the Karaoke Power Hour, stopping at Facets duty free shop, stopping at the Lido deck to have ice cream and pizza, watch the fountain light show, and then back to Karaoke Power Hour where Scott belted out two songs (awesome) and I did an almost scrag drag version of Madonna’s Material Girl – it had to be seen.

Day 2 – Eleuthera, The Bahamas

Princess has a resort on the island of Eleuthera which is part of The Bahamas called Princess Cays.  The Tender boats from the ship are REALLY cool and pretty quick.  It’s really cool how they just keep going back and forth to the ship like a mini transit system.

While Princess Cays can be fun, and Princess does a BBQ, and there are a lot of activities, you’re not going to learn more about The Bahamas and the people of Eleuthera sunning yourself.  I highly recommend getting out of Princess Cay and exploring the land that is Eleuthera going to Rock Sound and Tarpum Bay:

  • The people here are amazing
  • The economy is not doing great and Royal Princess was the first ship in 8 months  to visit their port – yes, it’s a seasonal business
  • It’s very safe if you’re nervous about that
  • If you’re looking for true Bahamian products, you won’t get it at Princess Cays.

We learned heaps about the culture (You mixed up like Conch Salad!), food, customs and the amazing waters of the Caribbean.  You definitely don’t want to miss this tour!

The Ocean Hole was the coolest part of the tour – so many fish, that I had only seen in an aquarium, in their natural habitat.

After the tour, Scott and I headed to Princess Cays and got some key photos and water time.

One last cool thing – they sent a videographer with us and as a result, a bunch of us were on the Reflections channel on the TV and the Reflections DVD sold on board the ship.  You’ll catch Scott and me dancing with the Junkanoo.

That night we had the champagne, roses, and chocolate covered strawberries delivered to our room and enjoyed them before dinner as we saw the sun set.

Before going to dinner we stopped in to see Sylvain, the Future Cruise Consultant and arranged our deposit on a future cruise.  The great thing about Princess is that you don’t have to pick a specific cruise or destination.  You make the deposit, it’s placed in your Circle Savings account, and you book when you want.  If you don’t use it, then you get the money back.  Simple and sweet.

That evening we had dinner with a group of people in the Symphony dining room, finally trying Princess’ famous Fettuccine Alfredo – TASTY!

That night we went to Princess Live for Princess Popstar, Star Trek on MUTS (Movies Under the Stars) where I had my first fix of Cookies and Milk 🙂

Day 3 – Sea Day

We got up, had the “Ultimate Breakfast” on our verandah – which really was too much food, but tasty, headed to the Circle Host meet and greet to pick up our gold pins and passports (YAY!!!!), Cruise Critic Meet Up and Gift Exchange (thanks everyone!!), Cruise Critic Lunch in the Allegro dining room (I like the decor here and the service was impeccable and the food awesome!) and then spent the afternoon on the Lido deck in the pool and hot tub.

I must say Princess@Sea is awesome.  Why carry around your Princess Patter (the daily newsletter of what’s going on) when you can use an iPhone or iPad to see what’s going on?  I hope Princess rolls this out to the rest of the fleet.

We did the first of two wine tastings which was awesome!  Some funny jokes from the staff, but also some good information about the wines we were tasting.  If you’re looking for a stuffy wine tasting experience, this is not the wine tasting event for you.  As someone relatively unrefined when it comes to wine, I really appreciated the wine tasting events.

Tonight was Formal Night.  Scott had on his wedding suit, I had on my kilt with a shirt, vest and jacket.  There were photographers everywhere, and they also had Hallowe’en  things everywhere.

Scott and I ate at Sabatinis that night. Sabatini’s will be at least a two-hour dinner if you go – so you are forewarned.

Scott loved it – having had the antipasto with prosciutto and on crustini (good), seafood and tomato soup (AWESOME!), pasta course (bow tie pasta, parmesan and a tomato sauce), and Strip steak (Scott) and Lobster (Iain).

The service we had at Sabantini’s was awesome.   I will say I was a bit disappointed with the food – the pasta wasn’t cooked properly but it was addressed immediately.  I will call out that the meatballs were awesome.  The lobster with the sauce seemed to cancel each other out so was somewhat tasteless, presentation was great.

Scott loved his steak and it was tasty when I tried some – I’m not a big red meat eater, yet every time I try steak, I keep saying “I need to have this more often”.

I would be willing to try them again, to give them one more chance.

When I arranged the honeymoon, I had listed that we would be celebrating our honeymoon on board and had picked October 31st as our day to celebrate.  In the morning (or the night before – I can’t remember), we received a card saying, and I paraphrase, “Present this to the waiter for a treat”.

They presented us with a chocolate cake and the restaurant staff singing happy honeymoon to us.  A nice cap to a challenging meal.

We then went to get our formal photograph taken at several stations.

While I love and appreciate the photo services, I do have to say they are very expensive.  There were a LOT of photos we returned that we didn’t want that they had printed.  And they do have a full photo lab on board with 4 photo printers, that does use a full proper photo process to print those photos.  Yes, they recycle both the silver and the paper, but it does still create a lot of waste – even if it’s recycled.

Day 4 – Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands

Welcome to the 6 mile by 1 mile island of Grand Turk.  I had no idea what to expect, and of course being who we are, we got off the beaten track and did not stick around the Cruise Terminal.  We actually visited the whole island, learning about what makes these people tick, visiting a church, the main town, passing by parliament, eating conch fritters and visiting where they used to make salt.

The tour stopped at Governor’s Beach which is close to the Cruise Ship Terminal and is home to the Governor of the Turks & Caicos.  I was initially hesitant at going swimming and snorkelling – don’t ask me why, I just wasn’t totally the mood and maybe a bit tired of being in the sun and the bright sunlight, but I decided to go with the flow and I know Scott really wanted to.

WOW!  I’m so glad we did!  I learned a few things

  • Snorkelling is such a mind trip.  Breathing underwater and all that.  I finally got the hang of it.
  • The fish we saw!!  So much wildlife swimming around below us!!
  • I have to admit, I freaked when I saw jelly fish and pretty much did run out of the water and on to my lounge chair.  It was confirmed later that they were harmless – still, it’s a fear I’ve had and they still scare the shit out of me
  • Scott saw smaller sharks in the distance. Very cool!

This was the prefect complement to the semi-sub tour we took later in the day that took us over the reef and where it drops off by 7,000m; explaining all the fish we saw.

Before that, we did a big no-no for us.  We ate at Margaritaville at the Cruise Center.  Yeah… no… Won’t do that again, I mean it was a good burger and all that, but… I want local flavour!  Not that there was much in the Cruise Center to eat.

We went and saw the NASA/John Glenn exhibit.  So cool seeing this as I had written a speech, I though, in grade 4 but it may have been in grade 6, about John Glen’s orbit around the earth.

We also took advantage of a VIP shopping pass I had for Duty Free.  You can get some cheap stuff here.

On our way to the semi-sub, we noticed an ambulance picking someone up at one of the tours.  Be smart people – drink in moderation and be aware of how much sun you’re taking on a trip like this.

Going to and from the semi-sub, we got some great photos of Royal Princess.

After we got back from Grand Turk, we headed to Lotus Spa for our facial massage as part of our honeymoon package.  The spa staff surprised us by taking us up to one of the Cabanas at The Sanctuary for the massage!  The view there is amazing, and the cabanas are AWESOME if you’re able to afford it.  The Sanctuary wasn’t all that busy when we got up there, but I suspect Lotus spa was pretty busy.

That night we went to Alfredo’s and had, what I think is the best meal of the trip.  Prosciutto and salami antipasto, Hawaiiana pizza (YUM!), and Tiramisu. YUM!  The service was great and quicker than any of the restaurants we ate at.

The Latin Night party was fun, with a bunch of us from the LGBT meet from the first sea day hanging around the SeaView Bar.  Sam, the Cruise Director and her husband stopped by to introduce themselves.  I really like Sam’s approach to being Cruise Director and how personable she is.

Day 5 – Sea Day

We pretty much had nothing planned this day except for the Grapevine Wine Tasting,  packing, sunning ourselves and going for Afternoon Tea, however our plans were turned up side down because…  I was selected to go on the Ultimate Ship Tour!  Unfortunately, Scott was not – and I think there was a miscommunication on how to fill out the form when I signed us up.  I thought I had to put Scott’s name with mine on one line, instead of using two lines. I know better next time!

So that said, I will sign Scott up for the tour on our next cruise or he gets picked for Chef’s Table and I don’t. LOL!

We had breakfast in Horizon Court and then went to the second wine tasting of our trip. I figured out why they actually do the wine tasting before they even finished the tasting.  Yes, one reason is so that we can have some great tasting wine and learn a few things. The other part of it is so that the staff, especially those who speak english as a second language can get used to speaking publicly and build their confidence.  Such a wonderful program, seriously! So I really do hope the people who say that the “wine tastings are not great” do give this a second thought.  Some great stories, some great humour and again great lessons in wine for those of us who are only just starting to appreciate wine.  We all have to start somewhere.

And we got a free glass to take home at this wine tasting!

The Ultimate Ship Tour started at 1pm and we saw Princess Theatre during practice, the galley (drink and canapés served), where they moor the ship, procurement, photo shop, print shop, engineering, stacks and the bridge (drinks and canapés served).  It was a great tour and I learned a lot about how the ship runs.

Those taking the tour also received the following delivered to their staterooms – good luck if you’ve packed already and put your bags out in the hallway for pickup for disembarkation:

  • A Princess Cruises apron – used to be a chefs jacket, which I think the apron is more appropriate
  • A bathrobe
  • 4 ot 5 pictures, one framed with the captain and actually signed
  • A pad of paper with your name on it

Scott went and had Tea and also attended an Art Auction.  No mysterious packages have arrived yet and no odd charges were made to our stateroom, so I think we’re okay! LOL

We ate at the main dining room and we both had lovely steaks, plus witnessed the parade of the Baked Alaska – a tradition at sea.

After we went to our first show at sea – Colours of the World, capping off a lovely trip.

Further Thoughts

We often had a late night snack, sharing pizza from Prego’s, ice cream at Swirl’s, Gelato/Ice Cream at Gelato’s or something from the International Cafe which serves paninis, sandwiches, and sweets which are all very good.

The water fountain shows on the Lido deck, while to some they may be corny, I actually found them quite romantic.  Try sitting with your feet in one of the pools while they run, or watch from a higher place on the ship.

During MUTS, the pools aren’t closed but it can be a bit cool out.  Try jumping in a pool and watch the movie!  Just be sure to not splash about too loudly for the enjoyment of others.  Also don’t expect to be served cookies and milk in the pool either – a bonus, watching on one of the chairs. 😉

After talking to several crew members – I think they honestly enjoy working for Princess, and I don’t think they were touting the party line.  They genuinely enjoy working with Princess and they work hard.  And seeing that Princess has put in amenities for staff like the pool and two hot tubs at the front of the ship, says a lot to me.  I’m happy to support a company that treats their staff well.

I was brought to tears with how perfect everything turned out for Scott and me on our honeymoon – both at Disney and Princess.  This was a vacation we both very much needed – just to be with ourselves, and to disconnect from the world.

We’ll definitely cruise again, and we’ll definitely consider doing Disney again for sure.  Maybe for our 10th wedding anniversary?  Or maybe our 20th anniversary of being together in 4 years. *GRIN*

Honeymoon Part 1 – Walt Disney World

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Scott and I are back from our honeymoon and we had an amazing time.  I keep tearing up thinking about how perfect the honeymoon turned out.  Below is the first blog entry I wrote while on Royal Princess.

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Wow, what a whirlwind of activity to start our honeymoon.

Scott and I both worked Friday as I had a few things to clean up before I took a week off work and Scott has classes to teach.  We got to the airport around 3:30pm for a 5:50pm departure, spending time in the lounge.

After a three hour flight we were in Fort Lauderdale and very soon after we were in the car heading to Orlando for three night and days at Walt Disney World.

MagicBand

We have to say, MagicBand is awesome.  Your room key, entry to the park, FastPass+, PhotoPass+ and charging to your room – all in a single bracelet that’s not intrusive at all.  It’s really cool being part of a software experiment and being an active tester given MagicBand is still going through testing.

Be sure to customize your band online!

General Thoughts

I have to say, I was completely blown away by the level of service we received at the park.  Now, I’ve been to Disneyland in California twice and I recognized the service was excellent both times:

  • The first time I went, I challenged Disney to make me smile all day.  I kind of went into the park with some skepticism at the time, and Disney won me over – they made me smile all day.
  • The second time I went, I went with a friend who develops theme park rides, developing the stories, etc…  We had gone for his birthday and he tipped me to the wonderful services that are found at the City Hall on Main St – in the form of his Birthday pin and the I’m Celebrating pin that I wore.  Almost every cast member and even visitors called out, “Happy Birthday”.  That was magical.

Neither Scott nor I had been to Walt Disney World in Florida. Well, technically I had – visiting Epcot on a business trip for 1.5 hours and riding the monorail.   Technically that visit really didn’t count and while I was enamoured with Spaceship Earth and the Monorail (always had been as a kid), I didn’t see the magic behind the park and the magic that is Walt Disney World.

When Scott and I were planning our honeymoon, I figured it was time to do something fun like Walt Disney World.  We’ve needed it given our own life ups and downs and the last real vacation we took was 12 years ago.  It was magical. That place is magical.

Check-in

When we arrived at the All-Star Sports Resort, Scott and I were given two pins – “First Visit” and “Happily Ever After” celebrating our first visits and our honeymoon.  The number of cast members that said congratulations, asked us where we were from, etc… was awesome.

When we arrived in the room I had a gift waiting for us – a bottle of Wishes sparkling juice and two sets of bridge and grooms ears, embossed with our names, glasses and a box of chocolates for us.

We drank the bottle of juice, confirmed the hats fit and then we were off to bed.  We had a busy day head of us as we had to switch to the All-Star Music Resort (the first night was a last minute add-on), which was next door.

Waking up and packing, Disney was able to transfer our bags effortlessly to Music, so that all we had to do was go and check in, have breakfast at the Intermission Cafe (what a nuthouse – really busy at breakfast) and we were on our way.

The quote of the day was, “Disney doesn’t give parking tickets.  That wouldn’t be magical, would it?” – when I had asked about where we had parked in the “Guests Checking In Lot”

The service was impeccable everywhere.  We had absolutely no complaints.

Day 1: Magic Kingdom

We donned our brides veils and set out for the Magic Kingdom.  Disney’s Transportation system by bus was not bad and quite convenient.  I still think it would be awesome for Disney to extend the Monorail to some of the more distant resorts and parks.

Through the gate and we were at Main St.

Throughout the day what was awesome was the number of people who smiled at us, congratulated us, told us about family of theirs that were getting married, who took our picture because they wanted to show their gay brother or sister what was possible for them.  That’s some really powerful stuff in a country where gay people are told by too many states that it’s not right to love one another, who can’t get married, etc…  Were glad we could be that symbol of whatever people thought of us in a positive light.  No one said anything negative and if they did, we responded positively.

We did a lot that day
  • Sorted out our PhotoPass+ (Disney needs to arrange clear lines for activations versus purchases)
  • Watched the morning parade
  • Had heaps of pictures taken by the PhotoPass folks – And what’s really cool is they will take pictures with your own camera as well!  Amazing service and much much appreciated!
  • Went on a lot of rides

The highlight of the day was taking Scott to Crystal Palace to meet Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet!  It’s something I know he wanted to do and had found another place to meet the characters, but I was well ahead of him, and thankfully Scott did not look up anything online about Crystal Palace.  *GRIN* He was pretty moved.

The food at Crystal Palace is not bad at lunch.  I’ve heard that breakfast is fantastic.

As we were celebrating our honeymoon, we received our first cupcake. 🙂

We walked around the park, went on the Tea Cups – and specifically chose the purple ones that go the fastest, headed back to Tomorrowland and went on Astro Orbiter, before heading to Tony’s Town Restaurant for our “Lady & The Tramp” dinner and the fireworks.

Since the park was open late, we finally got on “It’s a Small World” and then headed over to the “Country Bear Jamboree”.

All in a day – we headed back to the resort, had a drink and went to bed.

Day 2: Animal Kingdom & EPCOT Center

Today was grooms ear day for us.

Scott and I had decided to look into Disney Vacation Club to see what was on offer.  It is, actually, a fantastic program and you can get some amazing deals for 50 years in what is essentially a time share program.   You’re also not limited to just Disney properties, but also other hotels and resorts around the world – which appeals to Scott and me as we want to travel a lot more.  So we’ll see – it is a sizeable investment.

As a result of going to the DVC meeting, we got a $15 gift card to spend at the park and 3 immediate FastPasses for any ride that supports FastPass.

Perfect because we were quite late getting to Animal Kingdom but on time for The Lion King show and then we see the FastPass for the safari tour – which is stunning.

Quite honesty, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Animal Kingdom.  It blew us away, and we’d love to spend more time there seeing everything.  And that goes for EPCOT and Hollywood Studios.

We were both pretty exhausted and were in need of food by the time we had completed all that and we found the BBQ and Rib place which is tasty.  On the way we ran into Dug and Russel, and I committed to Scott that we would stop and get pictures – and we did.

We headed to EPCOT and jumped on Space Ship Earth and then headed to the Food and Wine Exhibition.  After getting a snack, we saw Micky, Goofy and Minnie.  They all congratulated us on getting married – Minnie pouted because she still hasn’t had a ring yet from Mickey.  Hmmm!

Going through the various buildings, the coolest experience I had at EPCOT was the roller coaster simulator that essentially puts you on the end of a massive robotic arm with a virtual reality screen.  Cool!

We headed over to Captain Eo – Which I had seen in California, but it seemed better in Florida complete with all of the interactive lighting and effects.  Such fun!

From there we started walking around the International Showcase, stopping at Hawaii for Tuna Poke, Canada for the movie, New Zealand for Lamb Meatballs, and then Tokyo for dinner and shopping.  Amazing food there!

One last fireworks show, and we headed to the Monorail for Scott’s first ride on the Disney Monorail.  From there, we headed back to the All-Star Music Resort for a swim and packing our bags.

Day 3: Kona, Disney Hollywood Studios, Tea

We woke up, packed the car, and we were on our way to Kona at the Polynesian Resort.

Now, initially, I was not impressed.  The restaurant had a lot of empty tables, heaps of customers waiting and despite having a 10:00am reservation, it wasn’t until 10:20am that we were seated.  That said, the food was very good and I highly recommend the Kona Coffee.  We also got cupcakes for celebrating our honeymoon.

Much like Animal Kingdom, neither of us were sure what to expect from Hollywood Studios.  We loved it!  Star Tours ride, Yoda and R2D2 ears, and American Idol show later we were hooked.

There is a GREAT museum at Hollywood Studios dedicated to the vision of Walt Disney, the inventions, and the vision he had for EPCOT.  I found a new respect for what he was trying to do and the technology he developed.

In many respects, Walk Disney World as a whole is EPCOT – the Experimental Prototype City Of Tomorrow; though quite different from the plans that Walt and Rod Disney had.  It would have been really interesting had the EPCOT plans actually been put into place.  Would it attract the crowds that WDW gives?  Probably not, and EPCOT the park took a while for people to figure it out.  And with International Showcase, it is somewhat disjointed.  None the less, I still really do like EPCOT the park.

We met Frozone and Mr. Incredible at Hollywood Studios – and I teared up.  Don’t ask me why, but I do really like The Incredibles, so… 🙂

We headed out of the park, to find the ‘entrance’ of Monsters University where we had our pictures taken, and then we headed to the Grand Floridian for tea at the Gardenview Tea Room.

What a beautiful hotel, amazing service and food at the Gardenview!  I highly recommend it!  A perfect cap to part one of our honeymoon.

Stopping for gas, we headed back to Fort Lauderdale to being part two – our cruise on Royal Princess.

 

A few more photos from Disney’s PhotoPass service: