Royal Princess Cruise to Cabo Wrap-Up

I'm going to combine both the September 29 sailing and October 14 sailing together for this wrap-up. They were both the same cruise, going to the same port for the same hours...

and we had the same type of cabin (mini suite) on both legs.

Things to know about these 5 day Cabo overnight sailings, in no particular order of importance:

*It leans towards a party cruise. Lots of younger people, lots of drinking, and lots of families. We had a 10 day Mexican Rivera cruise smack dab between these two voyages and the difference between the passenger make-up was night and day.

*Tender tickets were still a pain. On past trips, when your entire party was ready to go ashore you headed to the dining room to pick up tender tickets. Then you waited there until your number was called. Here on the Royal you can send someone to pick up tickets for you group several hours before even anchoring. You don't have to wait in the dining room; you can be anywhere in a public area to listen for the announcement of your group number. Good idea, right? But we overheard one passenger who had grabbed 12 tickets for her group. When she met up with the rest of the group in the Piazza two other members had also made separate trips to the dining room to pick up 12 tickets. So 36 tender tickets were in the hands of just 12 passengers! It took until after 3:30pm (we had a 1:00pm arrival) for all tender ticket folks to get on a tender. Ugh.

*Speaking of tenders...they aren't calling them tenders anymore. They are being called "water shuttles". (Although the local Cabo tenders the ship uses actually has "Cabo Tender" on the side.) Not sure why we're changing language now, but I don't care either way.

*We had an overnight in Cabo with the tenders running all night about every 30 minutes. We kept our balcony door open at night and could hear some of the groups coming back. Lots of happy and cheery crowds. It sounded like several had quite the fine time ashore. Come morning they fired up all the tenders for constant runs back and forth.

*As usual, our go-to spot was the Horizon Court Terrace. Even with the warmer weather cruise (as opposed to our five weeks in Alaska) it wasn't too busy up there. Never had a problem finding a great table. With a great view.

*If you are getting a minute steak from the buffet, don't choose a thicker one. I did only twice and both times it looked like this. Compared to past cruises, steaks on the buffet line have definitely gone downhill. The thin ones are overcooked and the thick ones are cold on the inside. 

*The International Cafe has redone some of their sandwiches. Even how they warm them have changed. Not only will they press it panini style, they can also warm it in their oven. Cheese actually melting on a sandwich from the IC? Oh, yeah. Yummy!

*The check in process with the Medallion sucks big time. Again, we already had our Medallions and were directed to a very long line to check in. Can we use the Priority line? Nope. It has to be the long Medallion line. Maybe if they had all the Medallion check in stations it would have helped. Next time I'm not going to bring my Medallion and go to the Priority Line instead. It has to be quicker than this stupid line we stood in:

*It was nice to find out about all the dining options on embarkation day. One thing to note on both of these 5 day cruises - on embarkation day the back part of the Horizon Terrace was closed off. One day it was for a wedding and another for a private group function. I guess these short day cruises are popular with groups.

*We tried watching the "Good Spirits" thingy going on in the Good Spirits bar in the evenings. It was pretty much a flop. Once we saw one drink being made...

but after that night we never saw anything else being show on the screens but the Good Spirits logo during the scheduled presentation times.

Princess has wasted a lot of money on the Royal Princess for Good Spirits. While the bartenders there sure like entertaining lady customers sitting up at the bar, they do nothing with the special drinks or the Good Spirits scheduled presentations. Heck, they even stopped putting out the special menu during those times. They better get themselves a bartender willing to do the Good Spirits evening presentation or it's going to be a complete flop. (Actually, it's already there. Get a Good Spirits Bartender. Now.)

*I turned in my free Elite minutes for the MedallionNet unlimited package. The WiFi in Mexico was definitely an improvement over what we saw during our five weeks on this ship in Alaska. But not as good as in the Caribbean.

*Since this was a short cruise there was no Captain's Circle Party so we got the free drink coupons like we have in the past.

*I was only able to catch Matt O' filming the Wake Show a couple times this trip. He and his team were running like crazy on these short cruises. Compared to the Wake Show filmed on other Princess ships, the one Matt O' films is in a league of its own. Matt is highly entertaining and the engagement and excitement he shows with his cohosts is just fun to watch. There is no script, and he certainly doesn't need one. If you are a passenger on a ship where Matt is the cruise director, definitely tune into the Wake Show!

*I say this all the time, but it's worth saying again. On the Royal Princess you will find almost every crew member telling you hello, good morning, good afternoon, or good evening. Like every single one. From cabin stewards to deck attendants, waiters to maintenance crew, and everyone else in between. I do believe this is the friendliest crew at sea!

Royal Princess Cabo Cruise - Last Sea Day

Here we go with our last sea day as we head back to San Pedro. We had a beautiful sunrise showing up outside our balcony this morning and even the Seawalk's colors got into the action.

We had our typical leisurely buffet breakfast out back on the Horizon Terrace, spent some time down at International Cafe, and made it by Princess Live just in time to watch Matt O' filming the Wake Show.

For those who don't know, the Wake Show is the TV show filmed every day that highlights the activities happening around the ship. Compared to the Wake Show filmed on other Princess ships, the one Matt O' films is in a league of its own. Matt is highly entertaining and the engagement and excitement he shows with his cohosts is just fun to watch. There is no script, and he certainly doesn't need one. If you are a passenger on a ship where Matt is the cruise director, definitely tune into the Wake Show!

Today's filming was for our first day of our next cruise. Here it is October 3 and he's having to get into the mood for October 5. We have a 10 day cruise coming up with several sea days and as we heard during the filming, the cruise is packed with activities. We also learned the passenger make up for the next cruise - 2,000 Platinum and Elites, 1,000 Ruby and Golds, and 800 newbies. 

We will be changing cabins tomorrow, heading from this regular mini suite to a handicap accessible one. There is this issue we've been facing. We had it last week on the Golden. We had it this week. And the cruise after this upcoming one we have it too. The issue is this:

Nice shower, right? Unfortunately it's a tub/shower combo and hubby can't get over the edge of the tub to get to the shower. So when we were on the Golden Princess for three days he couldn't shower. For the five days on this ship he couldn't shower. (Thank goodness we had one night on land in San Francisco where we had a stand-alone shower.) So to get 10 days out of 23 cruise days in a cabin where your spouse can actually take a shower? I am going to celebrate, for sure.

Today we went to the dining room for lunch. We typically don't go, but one of our crew member friends got moved from the buffet to the dining room so it's the only way we get to see her. I usually don't post menus either, but since we were there I grabbed a photo for you.

Nothing else too exciting to report. Maybe something will show up between now and bedtime. If so, I'll be sure to stop back and share.

San Pedro turnaround day tomorrow.

You can find the Patters from this voyage here.

Royal Princess in Cabo San Lucas Part II

Hello from our second day in Cabo San Lucas!

Today wasn't actually a full day as the last tender was at noon. We had tenders running through the night, but there was a lot of confusion about exactly how often they were running. Crew were under the impression if anyone (passengers included) were off the ship at 2am they wouldn't be able to get back until morning. Yet we also heard they were running every half hour every night. So who knows?We did hear them ever so often throughout the night, and boy was it a loud-loud-loud crowd coming back onboard. More than a few obviously had a great day (and night and morning) filled with some tasty libations.

Ship tenders, AKA orange party boats

The Patter did tell us the frequency of tenders/water shuttles would increase again at 7 am and by the looks of it, they were right on. We had five ship tenders and another three local tenders waiting just a bit before 7. 

For us, today was another stay-on-the-ship cruise with great morning and daytime views.

Such a beautiful sunrise

Not a shabby breakfast view, either

Before we left Cabo, I saw something in the water. This picture was taken almost straight down over the top of it from our cabin on deck 12. I saw it from several angles and although from this angle it looks like a dolphin it definitely was not a dolphin.

I want to mention a few things about this ship I haven't gotten around to yet.

• I've said this before, but the Royal Princess has the friendliest crew onboard. And they want things to be right. For example, last night I grabbed a steak off the buffet for dinner. Once I cut into it, I thought I heard a moo. (Or maybe it was the wild crowd onshore in Cabo?) Just kidding, but the meat was raw. Like cold raw.

I got up from the table to go get a new one and someone stopped me and asked me if I needed anything. I explained about the steak issue. But I didn't have to take care of it myself - someone else went and got me a new one. Replaced it with a nice, hot, juicy steak. Oh so yummy!

• The inconsistencies of service from cabin stewards across the Princess fleet continues, but this time it has swung wildly towards the good side. We have a great cabin steward who keeps our ice bucket full, prioritizes our cabin to be cleaned right away, and keeps things clean. Next cruise we are heading down the hallway but I'm not sure if we'll have the same guy or not so I may see another swing yet the other way. Or maybe not.
• I turned in my free Elite minutes for the MedallionNet unlimited package. The WiFi here in Mexico is definitely an improvement over what we saw during our five weeks on this ship in Alaska.
• Since this was a short cruise there was no Captain's Circle Party so we got the free drink coupons like we did last week on the Golden Princess. 
• We went to the Good Spirits at Sea thingy tonight. It happens in the Piazza bar on deck 5 during certain times of the evening. It is described as, "the place where every drink is an experience and every drink tells a story. Indulge as our unique cocktails and the craftsmanship of our mixologist immerse you into the extraordinary culture of your chosen destination." Well, I'm not exactly sure what that is supposed to mean but I can tell you what we saw. A special menu is available only during those set hours. 
   

A bartender wears a headset and talks to the crowd while a camera films the drinks he makes. But only the drinks on the special menu.

If there are no people ordering the special drinks you either get to watch a blank screen or snippets of the Good Spirits TV show. That's it. That's all. We didn't see (and hear about) more than a couple drinks before we decided to give up.

Last sea day tomorrow. 

You can find the Patters from this voyage here.

Royal Princess in Cabo San Lucas, Part I

Hello from a not stormy Cabo San Lucas.

The only photo of Cabo you'll get from us is one taken from the Royal Princess. While the ship is here for an overnighter, there is no way we'll be joining the tender ticket line. What craziness. Despite information posted in the Patter, discussed on the Wake Show, and shown on the portals around the ship, people didn't get it.

We had a few different things going on. 

*We had new passengers who have never sailed before who had no clue we weren't docking. They thought they could just walk off the ship. Didn't have a clue what a water shuttle (the new term for a tender) was. 

*We had other passengers who understood there were water shuttles being used but thought they could just go get on one.

*Experienced passengers thought they should just go to the dining room and get a ticket when they were ready to go ashore.

*Very experienced passengers thought they could just show their Elite cards and get on the next shuttle.

But this ship started handing out tender tickets at 10am for our 1 pm arrival. Much, much earlier than you'll find on the other ships. And Elite passengers went to an entirely different place for their numbered tickets.

It was quite the mess. We were down in International Cafe during the arrival time and watched swarms of guests who had not followed any of the instructions given. It was great people watching for sure, but the poor cruise staff!

Here we are at 3:40 in the afternoon and the ship is on water shuttle group number 92. Yikes. (Update: At 3:50 tickets were no longer needed. So that makes it close to three hours to get everyone who wanted to go ashore outta here.) Yep, we're skipping it to watch the view from our balcony instead. Not sure if we'll make it out tomorrow, but I'm guessing not.

You can find the Patters from this voyage here.

Royal Princess Cabo Cruise Sea Day

We had a smooth ride last night. We were so tired ours eyes were closed not long after dark but not before I saw the Coral Princess alongside us. We've been following her (or she's been following us) since we saw her in Vancouver when we were on the Golden.

She looked much cooler in person than the picture shows.

The night was great for sleeping, and boy we love these new Princess beds. They make us realize we need a new bed at home. But if we had a great bed like this at home I imagine we wouldn't appreciate the ship one as much! We do like this cabin, too. Although again, two TVs and only one TV controller. And (surprise!) I don't get to touch it.

Another thing we like? These new sandwiches at the International Cafe. While I loved my Cuban sandwich, my hubby really, really loved his Italian Brick sandwich. Just look at all that meat! Add in the toasted bread, red peppers, pesto sauce, and cheese? Oh, yum.

We've also noticed the menu continuing to change at the buffet. Many of the signs refer to it as the World Fresh Marketplace. We knew it was coming but it's interesting to see how things have changed in just two weeks.

This morning the buffet had their chocolate breakfast. So. Much. Chocolate.

And the weather? Well, we're making our way to Cabo San Lucas where they are under a tropical storm warning, thanks to TS Narda.

We haven't heard a word about any diversions yet, and based on the weather right now it's surprising there is a storm not far from us.

We're definitely not in Alaska anymore.

Tonight is formal night and even though we have dressy clothes, we'll be heading to the buffet. It's Ramen Station night and hubby can't miss that one.

You can find the Patters from this voyage here.

Maybe see you in Cabo San Lucas tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Royal Princess 5 Day Cabo Cruise

Hello from sunny San Pedro, California.

Here we go with another somewhat quickie cruise, a 5 day with an overnight in Cabo San Lucas. It'll be interesting to see how this quickie compares to the 3 day we just left on the Golden. One thing I already have noticed is the passenger makeup seems to be a bit more on the wilder side on this cruise. Okay, maybe a lot wilder.

Embarkation was not fun. Again, we already had our Medallions and were directed to a very long line to check in. Can we use the Priority line? Nope. It has to be the long Medallion line. Not all of the Medallion check in stations were open so that may have had something to do with the backup.

Next time I'm not going to bring my Medallion and go to the Priority Line instead. It has to be quicker than what we went through today. And the seating areas, particularly in the priority boarding area (where we couldn't even find a seat) were nuts. We sat outside the priority area watching folks with all colors of Medallions crowding the area. And when they did finally open the boarding doors? Oh. My. Gosh. I don't want to experience that again, either.

After much standing around in and out of lines and a bit of sitting, we did get onboard the ship and headed straight to the buffet. 

They handed these out today.

There was a wedding out back on the Horizon Terrace so we had to confine ourselves to one section of the Terrace. No worries as one of the gals we met last time was stationed there. We heard all about the last cruise to Alaska and the one before when the ship had the oil spill in Vancouver. Sounds like the two weeks we were gone from the ship were pretty eventful. The crew is so ready for warm Mexico. 

We again wound up in a mini suite for this cruise as it was another one of the Princess price mistake ones. It's a bummer they don't honor the prices shown on their website, but when they make it up by giving us a mini for an inside price it makes it better.

The cabin is kind of similar to last week's on the Golden, but not quite. I'll get more photos up of this cabin later this week. One thing we did notice is something outside our balcony when we look up.

That's the Seawalk, and yep, people can see us. I think if we tuck close to the door we might be hidden. We'll try it out tomorrow.

Tonight's sunset as seen from our cabin. 

You can find the Patters from this voyage here.

A sea day is up tomorrow.