Crown Princess Sea Day

I’ve really tried to give our cabin steward the benefit of the doubt. After coming off a month on the Caribbean Princess where we had the best cabin steward ever, I knew it would be hard for the next steward to come close to meeting Smit’s excellence. But our cabin steward here hasn’t even come close to coming close. We are really flexible people and don’t ask a lot. Just clean our cabin well when we’re ready for it and make sure we have plenty of ice.

I’m a patient person and give people lots of chances. (If you ask my husband I give too many chances.) He might be right. Because lots of chances for this cabin steward isn’t working out so well. There are some things you come to expect on a Princess ship when it comes to your cabin.

You expect your cabin steward to:

• Introduce him/herself. (I’m still waiting for that one.)
• Greet you. (Still waiting on that, too.)
• Supply clean towels. (Ok there.)
• Wipe down counters. (Sorta-kinda happening.) You can tell he doesn’t wipe down the desktop because if he did he would have noticed these exposed wires, don’t you think? I can’t decide whether to wait and see how much longer it takes him to catch it or report it to the Passenger Services Desk.

• Replenish ice. (We didn’t even have an ice bucket for three days. How can you not realize an ice bucket is missing out of a refrigerator, especially when you (are supposed to) refill it daily? The only way we got it was because I left a note. Now that we have the ice bucket, we only are getting ice every other day. What’s up with that?)
• Replenish soap and shampoo. (Needed to leave a note on that same piece of paper I used for the ice bucket note.)
• Makes sure you have a writing utensil and pad of paper to write on. (We had one piece of paper. And used it up when I wrote the note about needing an ice bucket and soap. The paper hasn’t been replaced yet.)
• Vacuum. (Not sure that’s happening.)
• Make beds. (Sloppily, but done.)
• Knock and announce him/herself before entering. (Never. He opens the door first, knocks as he’s walking through the door, and never, ever, has announced himself. If your privacy sign isn’t out, expect him to come in anytime he is on duty.)
• Ask about dinner arrangements so he knows when best to clean the cabin. (Nope. Don’t think he really cares because he barges in whenever he is ready to clean, not when we ask for the cabin to be cleaned.)

So for only the second time in our cruising history, we will not be leaving an additional tip. If we could remove gratuities just for him, we would. But pulling gratuities mean everyone else would suffer, and we wouldn’t want that to happen.

On a more pleasant note, we did have some nice weather earlier this afternoon. Pizza by the pool. Now that’s a vacation.

Off to yet another sea day tomorrow.

Update: Today was our ice delivery day and we came back after dinner and were welcome by nothing other than a half-full bucket of ice. Guess we're in an ice shortage these days. And I also just realized we never received our elite canape ordering card for formal nights. Calling Smit on the Caribbean Princess, where are you when we need you?!

Crown Princess Sea Day

The ocean has been really rough for this crossing. During these past few days the open decks, including Promenade, have been closed. The pools have been drained (hot tubs were still full) and the gym has been closed. Seasickness bags have been placed around the ship. Thank goodness these new Princess beds absorb some of the movement at night. Even with the soft beds, sleep has alternated between feeling like you’re on a roller coaster, a see saw, and a merry-go-round.

But now it seems like a new ship. After countless days of the rough seas, things have calmed down. We walked onto the Lido deck today and it finally seemed like a cruise. After being cooped up inside for the past week people are sitting outside, eating outside, and even taking a dip in the now-filled pool. While the wind hasn’t settled down, the sun is out and we even sat by the pool for the first time this whole trip.

So no more rough weather talk today and let’s get to business with some things about the Crown Princess.

• One thing we like with the buffet here is where we can find the silverware. It’s now placed in a basket/holder on the tables, wrapped in the napkins, just like on the Caribbean Princess. It’s much better than having to pick it up in the buffet line (where then you had to carry it and serve your food at the same time) or just placed on the table (where people would sometimes grab just a fork or spoon out and leave an incomplete set). We hope all Princess start going with baskets on the table.

• There has been a shortage of seating in the Piazza/International Café/Vines area. They’ve now been placing extra tables from the dining room into the area during the day to accommodate the additional folks sitting inside. 
  
• Live vests are available by the pools for adult and child use. We saw this back in August on the Caribbean Princess, too. I don’t know if this in a new Princess policy, but I’ll be on the Royal and Grand in the next month so I’ll be able to tell you if I see them there, too.
• On the starboard side of the Lido deck there is a wall that looks like a big huge coloring page. The only thing that would make it cooler would be if they had a basket of colored pencils sitting nearby. How awesome would that be to stand and color in a section of it when you had some extra time?

• I always am interested in where my mini bar items come from. This cruise the mini bar diet Coke is from Denmark.

• We receive notice in the Patter every day about the dress code. It seems to be more strongly worded on this ship than other Princess ships. The wording on this one also includes specialty dining. 
  
• We also received notification in the Patter about not pouring extra shampoo and other liquids down the drain. I didn’t even know that was a thing. 
  
• The exchange fee this trip seemed awfully high. 
  
• I’ve been spoiled with the super speedy and super reliable internet on the Caribbean Princess. Here on the Crown it’s back to the old, medium speed internet. Hence, very few pictures right now. The internet is certainly better than it used to be 5 years ago, but the speed is not great. I’ve already run out of my 250 minutes and have had to tap into hubby’s.
• There are so many repeat passengers there are several Captain’s Circle Cocktail Parties to accommodate everyone, the Platinum/Elite/Suite lounge has been moved to Club Fusion, laundry isn’t returned next day, and even the Elite wine tasting has been divided into multiple times.
• While the TVs are the larger screen TV, they are just fit into the regular TV corner spot. And don’t have the on-demand system.

I think that's plenty for the day. Off to another sea day tomorrow!

Crown Princess Sea Day

Sea Day number I-can't-recall with another slew of busy activities, activities I am not partaking in. I find I’m spending more time nursing a cold and babysitting hubby. I wish I was able to spend more time getting caught up on writing (and blogging) than anything else. It’s kind of why I was looking forward to all these sea days. At home I spend so much time with my sewing and crafting tutorials (and fostering kittens – boy, I love those little babies) that I don’t get a lot of time to write. Plus, with hubby around all the time, needing help with this or that (or bringing me the mail when I’m in the middle of doing a video voiceover), I have lots of starts and stops with my work. But when I’m on a ship, being surrounded by water with nowhere to go, with my meals prepared and bed made, I can dedicate more time being immersed in writing. Except in these rough seas. Concentrating on the words on a screen makes me a bit queasy. So while I would like to say, even on smooth seas, blogging from a cruise ship is a glamorous life, it really isn’t.

What’s a day in the life of a blogger like when on a cruise? It’s work. Think about this – what if you had to write an essay every single day while you were on vacation? And you had to proofread the essay as well as make sure it met the needs of your audience? Some days your audience is fellow cruisers. Some days it is your neighbors who’ve never cruised before. Some days it’s your relatives who are ill and need something to take their mind off their health problems. Some days the audience is you; something may be happening in your life during your travels that you have to process through and you use your blog to do it. And somedays (most days, actually) your audience contains all of those people at the same time. It’s a big audience with a variety of needs.  And wait – you also need to take photos to accompany your essay. Don’t forget to edit the photos, too!

And you only have 20 allotted internet minutes a day to post the essay, upload the photos, pay your bills back home, transfer money, email family and friends, reply to emails from readers who are asking questions, make changes to your travel arrangements, and make necessary phones calls using the wifi network. (FYI – I’m basing the minutes on the free internet allotment for platinum and elite cruisers. None of us want to go over them because the cost of extra minutes is so darn expensive.) 20 minutes with high speed internet? Nope, more like medium speed.

And…you don’t get paid to do any of it. Not only do you not get paid to write that essay and take those photos and deliver worthwhile content to your audience, no one is paying for your vacation either. Sure, there are travel writers who get paid to review hotels and tours and cruise ships, but you’re not one of them. Every penny spent is coming out of your own pocket. You paid for your own hotel rooms and flights and rental cars. You paid for your cruise and your gratuities and drinks and tours. You may or may not have ads on your blog, but even with those you could bring in as little as just a few cents a day. Most days it won’t even cover the cost of dropping off one dollar in an encouraging word money pocket.

So why would someone do it? Why sacrifice time that could be spent with your traveling companions? Why, when all the other travelers are closing their eyes on the bus back from a long day of touring, do you stay awake and tap out words on your phone? Or participate in activities you might not be interested in just so that you can get information and pictures for your readers? Why spend all the time, energy, and effort to write an essay and take pictures for others for free?

Because you know you are in a unique position of being able to share a view of the world of travel that others can’t. You have the willingness to share information through your activities and experiences. Just like teachers who teach to make a difference in the life of a child, you write and blog and to make a difference in the life of a traveler.

Here is where I'd add a totally non-glamorous photo of a certain blogger working in the middle of the night in a closed-down buffet if the internet would have allowed it.

If you know a blogger who has added value to your travels, has made your traveling life easier or more enjoyable, please thank them. I know a couple I’ll be emailing today.

Ponta Delgada, Portugal

Well, that was a bumpy night. Our clothes hangers have been dancing and singing for the last few days as the ship has been both pitching (front to back) and rolling (side to side). Lots of creaks and groans as well. Then last night I got up to get a glass of water from the bathroom. We can’t leave the bathroom door open this trip because it slams closed from the movement. So I stood outside the bathroom to fill the glass, thinking I was holding the door open at the same time. No, the door took me out. Stumbling back to bed from that, the ship lunged and threw me against the desk. When I grabbed the desk for stability I knocked off the silverware that had been sitting on the corner. I knew better than to walk with forks and knives around the floor so I had to wake hubby up to turn on the light. He made some grumpy kind of noise when he turned it on. I found all the silverware, placed it back on the desk while balancing my glass of liquid, and told him thank you. As I let go of the desk to take a step forward on my way back to bed he turned off the light. As I had already started walking in the very dark inside cabin I tripped on the leg of the chair and ran into the wall. At least I had something to lean on. Oh, my. What a night.

So I was ever-so-grateful to get onto dry land today in beautiful Ponta Delgada, Portugal.

 We stayed in the harbor/marina area. The day started out beautiful! But it turned rainy after a while.

 

We did get a small bite to eat and enjoyed the views.

Crepes and ice cream and chocolate and whipped cream.

Coca Cola not from the US.

Even watched locals swimming in what had to be a some chilly water.

This is our last port and we’re headed into six straight sea days. Hoping for smoother waters (the captain just said no way) and no more bathroom doors knocking me silly, silverware spread on the floor during the middle of the nights, and being body slammed into walls. A girl can only hope.