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.

Crown Princess Sea Day

The ship has finally calmed down this afternoon after some rough times. I heard from our crew member buddy that the medical center has been packed with sick crew members. They've enjoyed a summer of smooth sailing and for many this is their first transatlantic in open waters. Several were worried about the ship movement and had to be reassured it was normal. They were dispersed a couple anti-nausea pills (some required injections) and sent on their way. Our buddy, after taking his meds and a nap, felt much better. Glad things have calmed down for all.

We found out from him that he was offered a promotion and asked for it to be delayed until after our cruise. Why? Because he knew two things:
1. We don’t eat in the dining room.
2. Even if we did, in his new position as junior waiter he wouldn’t be able to find time to talk to us because he would be so busy.
While I’m happy we are getting to see him and visit with him, and it makes me happy he was so looking forward to seeing us, it makes me a bit sad he (temporarily) passed on the opportunity.

It got me thinking. Why is it that we avoid the dining room? While we ask for a two-top, those are limited and sometimes we have to share a table with others. It’s at those tables where a hierarchy is formed and dominance established within the first few minutes of the conversation.

Let’s say we all start with 100 points. Let’s see how things go for us.

Passenger: Where are you from?
Us: Idaho.
We automatically lose 10 points because they assume we are potato farmers. (We aren’t.) Hubby and I both taught in rural farming communities and wouldn’t consider farmers less worthy than someone else, but this is a cruise ship and others do.

Passenger: Is this your first cruise?
Us: No.
No points lost.

Passenger: Do you cruise a lot?
Us: Sometimes we say yes or some or enough. But we lose another 10 points because the passenger goes on to tell us about how they’ve been on 16 cruises and they are elite and all the special privileges they get with Princess. Privileges they assume we don’t get. (How wrong they are.)

Passenger: How many cruises have you been on?
Us: Again, we usually say some or enough. We again lose another 5 points because since we don’t give out our number it is assumed we haven’t been cruising nearly as much as them.

Passenger: What do you do?
Us: This can go any number of ways. If we say we’re retired and they are retired, they tell us we are too young to be retired and lose 5 points. If we say we’re retired teachers we lose 10 points because we were teachers and they were something much more important than us. If we say retired and they are still working we also lose 10 points because they talk about how their business is just booming and how they can afford to go on any cruise they want.

Passenger: What kind of cabin do you have?
Us: Since we usually say inside, we lose 5 points because they are in a mini suite or suite or balcony. We lose 10 points if they tell us how they never stay in anything less than a mini suite.

Passenger: What’s your favorite cruise line?
Us: Princess. Lose 5 points because their favorite is an upper echelon cruise line we’ve never been able to afford.

Passenger: What’s your favorite cruise?
Us: We talk about how we love both Alaska and the Caribbean but it’s hard for us to choose a specific cruise. We lose another 10 points because we didn’t mention their favorite, whether it was South America or Asia or Australia or wherever.

Passenger: Have you done river cruising?
Us: No. Lose 5 points because they do river cruising and it is so much better than whatever the current cruise is that we are on.

Passenger: What are you doing in xyz port?
Us: We usually say we haven’t decided. We’ll probably wander town and get something to eat. Lose 5 points because we didn’t prebook an expensive private excursion.

Passenger: What’s your favorite part of cruising?
Us: We always say the crew. We realize we’ve lost 20 points when we see how they treat the waiters and junior waiters during the meal. We see how curt they can be to them when they didn’t receive the proper silverware, or the course timing was off, or the meat was undercooked. If they knew our relationship with the crew, how we treated them and how we spent time in port with them, we probably would lose even more points.

Passenger: What did you think of the comedian/show/musical group last night?
Us: We didn’t go. Lose 5 points because aren’t involved in the same activities they are.

And thus they are at the top and we are at the bottom. Repeat this on enough cruises and you get tired of always being the loser. So yeah, I’m good with the decision not to eat in the dining room.

We didn’t always skip the dining room. We always ate there and didn’t mind sharing tables. Didn’t even mind all the questions. But as we traveled more and it became clearer to us what the purpose of the conversation was, we started pulling back from going in there.  Ever so often we give the dining room another chance thinking the outcome will be different. And it never is. But here is the thing – we’re not at the bottom of the totem pole. Most times we are the one at the table with the most days or most cruises or most ports visited. While we will never be a winner of the I’m-more-important-than-you game, we are at peace with who we are. And with what we know. And with what we represent. And we aren’t going to give anyone the opportunity, through the standard cruiser questions, to put us at the bottom.

While many of those travelers at the table would most treasure their picture with the captain, we have another photo we most treasure. It is a blurry one taken many years ago on this very ship. It’s where our love of crew all began. Rushi, Neville, Sundar, Sid, and Victor represent why we cruise and who we hold dear. We've followed them from ship to ship, added in dozens more like them and have followed those new ones from ship to ship, and will keep booking cruises just to see them.

I’ll answer questions from them and others like them a hundred times over.

Our original gang. 

We'll have some extra sleep coming up tonight as we set the clocks back another hour and then we're off to Ponta Delgada tomorrow.

Crown Princess Sea Day

Today’s post will be a short one. We had a pretty bumpy ride last night and an even bumpier day. All open decks are closed and the captain told us to secure our belongings in the cabin. Hubby has a hard enough time walking when seas are calm so movement like this makes it impossible for him. We would typically at least make our way to the Piazza to sit where the ship is a little calmer, but it has been crowded down there this trip. In fact, in the Patter there was a notification telling passengers to move along after you’ve finished your refreshment to allow others to sit. So we are just spending the day in the cabin instead. I’m not feeling so great anyway. Remember last week on the Los Angeles to Rome flight when I went on the record to say if I got sick it would be because of the flight attending who was coughing in his hand as he was pouring the drinks, including my water? Well, it happened. It started a few days ago and today I’m in a full-fledged cold.

So I guess that’s it for the day. Other than an FYI – did you know that trying to concentrate on words on a computer screen during rough seas is just like trying to read a book when riding in a car? Makes ya a bit sick.

Until tomorrow…