San Francisco Turnaround Day

Welcome to my turnaround day in San Francisco when one cruise ended and another began. 

A cloudy morning

A sunny afternoon 

And welcome to the day I had a meltdown. 

It started when we were leaving the ship to go through immigration. Just as we left the deck the scooter’s belt started going whack, whack, whack. I had to get off the scooter and push it off the ship, down the line outside the terminal, through immigration, and back onto the ship. I made it all the way to my new cabin and took things apart and found a piece of black rubber imbedded in the grooves of the belt. It could have been a complete disaster but thank goodness it was easily fixable.

While I was in the cabin I noticed something unusual.

Where are my clothes and suitcase and bags?

When you’re in transit and change cabins they move your things from one cabin to another while you do immigration. (So my clothes should be here in this picture.) Giving them the benefit of the doubt of maybe a running late situation, I cleaned out my scooter belt, reassembled all the pieces and headed to get some sun before lunch.  

A beautiful day for an outdoor concert 

Embarkation day lunch is typically the same for me, salmon and orange soufflé. 

 

I had an invitation for a slot tournament so I went straight from lunch to the casino where I got my tournament time - 9 AM tomorrow - and a nice gift. 

I returned to my cabin and found the closet still empty. So I spoke to a supervisor about the missing things. And a supervisor. And a supervisor. And guest services and guest services. No one could find my things. In all of our days sailing with Princess - 1,000 days for me this week - we have never had our things not get transferred. 

The meltdown then began.

I almost thought someone was playing a joke on me but it sure wasn’t funny. I stewed in my cabin (yeah there were tears, too) throughout the afternoon until everything arrived. They had been delivered to a completely different cabin. Thank goodness a cabin steward reported my things in one of his cabins (not even close to my cabin). I tipped him $20 in some ones and fives I had on hand and gave him some things from my mini bar. Boy, that was a big mess up by someone. 

Honey, I’m home

At the exact moment the clothes and bags were being delivered the future cruise consultant was calling me on the phone making sure I was coming to tomorrow’s Most Traveled Guest Luncheon. Umm…I didn’t get an invitation? She insisted it was supposed to have already been delivered to me. Another mess up by someone. (Later I asked my cabin steward about the missing invite and he said he has a bunch of VIPs in his section and has been too busy taking care of them to deliver the invitations.)

I’m trying hard to clear my head but it’s, well, hard. So happy to be back in a balcony cabin to clear my head with fresh air.

I was in no mood to attend the sailaway party so I sat on my balcony instead. 

The seagulls loved water stirred up by the ship as we left the dock. 

Alcatraz

And the Golden Gate Bridge on the way out

If fresh air wasn’t going to clear my head it was going to be lemon drop martinis. I planned on cutting back on them this cruise but I don’t think tonight’s the night to start. Yellow is an Easter color anyway. 

Being Easter and all I chose the ham for dinner. It really was good.

I turned in early so I’ll be ready to start pushing buttons during the slot tournament right after breakfast. Tomorrow’s a sea day so I’ll see you then!

Sea Day #10

Hello from our last sea day of the Hawaiian cruise! As I’ve told people before, if you want to sail from the mainland to Hawaii you better love sea days and be okay with a bumpy ride and cold temperatures. I would not recommend a cruise to Hawaii for your first one.

Seas may be smooth now but they weren’t for most of the voyage. 

This morning we had a meeting for all the in transits, the people who will be on board for the next voyage. They provided mimosas and some breakfast snacks for the meeting but I did not partake in either one. Go me! There are 50 of us who will be staying on to go south to Santa Barbara, LA (San Pedro), San Diego, and Ensenada, Mexico for a seven day cruise.

After the meeting I needed to use the comp I received from the casino. I had a choice of specialty dinners, spa treatments, or credit to use for shopping. I didn’t need any more dinners, I’m not a fan of the spa here onboard, but I knew from past experience I could buy snacks for the crew in one of the shops. I bought a couple things for myself, and for crew members I bought multiple packages of overpriced Ferrero Rochers and Kinder Buenos.

Only one person watching Movies Under the Stars.
It’s just too darn cold out there for anything. 

This evening I had my usual pre dinner Lemon Drop Martini along with some chicken dumplings from the Elite Lounge. 

I also tried something new I heard about, peanut butter whiskey. I’ve never had whiskey before and I’m not sure how I feel about what I drank tonight. It smelled like peanut butter and did taste like peanut butter and what I would think whiskey would taste like. Glad I tried it but won’t do it again. 

Served on the rocks

Earlier I pulled tonight’s dinner menu from the app. Unfortunately, it’s the same last night dinner that you’ll find on about every Princess ship. You’d think with prime rib as a choice it would be my favorite but the prime rib isn’t the greatest and when you have the same choices on the same last night of a cruise week after week, months at a time, it becomes uninspiring.

    

Thankfully the special meal in my section of the dining room was a pork chop. I had the double pork chop earlier in the cruise but this one was so much better. I almost ate the whole thing and had no room for dessert. 

Oh. My. Goodness.

When I got back to my cabin I had received another comp from the casino. It was a good one. I was hoping to use this one on another Hawaiian cruise on this ship, but the Ruby Princess doesn’t go back to Hawaii until after the expiration date so I may have to choose a different ship. 

Princess has solid casino offers but they make it difficult to redeem them  

We’ll be going under the Golden Gate Bridge around 5 AM tomorrow and I doubt I’ll be awake for it. But I will be out of my cabin by 8 AM, and if it looks to be a nice day I’ll be off the ship and down to Fisherman’s Wharf. Otherwise I’ll be at the Wheelhouse Bar with all the other in transits who will go through the terminal together for immigration. See you tomorrow!

Ensenada, Mexico

Hello from Ensenada, Mexico!

We’re in port with the Carnival Panorama today.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to go out because (surprise!) I had more middle of the night, early morning, and midmorning texts and calls because a certain dog had another emergency visit. Poor fella. Once he was back home again with a new treatment plan I felt it safe to venture outside the cabin. It was a little after 11 AM which meant I missed breakfast again. I went to the buffet to grab a bite for lunch, but I guess breakfast is until 11:30 because those gross liquid egg dishes were everywhere. Desperate for any food resembling a lunch in my tummy I probably picked about the worst thing I could. Chorizo, rice, pound cake. 

Bad eating self report #1 
Didn’t eat it all so that’s a plus

Feeling highly unsatisfied with my attempt at a meal I decided to be adventurous. When I saw the white tents up at the base of the flagpole I knew I needed to go visit.

No flag up but yes on the white tents

Many times when we’ve been here the promenade area hasn’t been busy. Today with two ships in port, it being a Friday, and Easter coming up not only was it busy with ship passengers but with locals. It makes for the best time to visit. Scooter and I rolled our way to the tents but once there I decided to go farther to the fish market. I didn’t go on the wet, fish-smelling floors but did get some pictures on my way to the next place. 

Down by the fish market there’s a place Ed and I have eaten several times before, Tacos Lucero. It’s a locals place, tucked away from the cruise ship crowds. In all our visits we’ve never seen another passenger there.

Not easy for cruise passengers to find

I was there for one thing only, the fish tacos. Hands down, the best in the world with no other even coming close. The cost for one fish taco? $2. And I splurged for two!

Think of the best, crispiest fried fish you’ve ever had.
Add it to a tortilla and top it with a little bit of salsa.

Crunchy yet melts in your mouth

They also have a collection of sauces and vegetables you can add. 

Since they’re right next door to the fish market their fish is fresh. They even have a whole fish on the menu if you’re interested.

Now that’s a big fish!

On my way back after lunch I wandered the white tent area, but really stuff is stuff is stuff so I didn’t buy anything. Once back to the ship I grabbed some iced tea and some sweets.

Bad eating self report #2

I then went up to deck 16 to watch the Rolling Stones concert at Movies Under the Stars.

A glorious day for an outdoor concert

Had pre-dinner drinks. 

Bad eating drinking self report #3
Two lemon drop martinis and one Diet Coke.
Which is worse, alcohol or caffeine at 6:00 at night?

Drinks were supposed to roll into a dinner with a friend at Crown Grill but she got sick and had to cancel last minute. I already told my servers in the dining room to give my table away tonight so the buffet it was. 

Bad eating self report #4 
Lukewarm brisket with BBQ sauce, mashed potatoes with butter,
and focaccia bread

Up tomorrow will be our last sea day as we’re now heading north towards San Francisco. See you tomorrow when I hope I won’t have any bad eating to self report!

Sea Day #9

Hello from a location in the Pacific Ocean west of Ensenada, Mexico.

Post-sunrise sun from the starboard side of deck 16

By sea day #9 you’ve settled into a comfortable routine so today was a wash, rinse, repeat kind of sea day. Which means not much to report. An omelette for breakfast. Skipped lunch. Pre-dinner drinks, this time swapping out a martini with a Diet Coke for a caffeine boost. 

Calm evening seas

Tonight was formal night and I chose the land and sea main course which is never as good as you think it’s going to be.

I skipped the casino today and turned in early. Up tomorrow we have our last port of call, Ensenada, Mexico. See you then!

Almost sunset at sea

Sea Day #8

Welcome to a dreary sea day in the Pacific Ocean. The day that started cold, cloudy, and wet, ended the same way.

My breakfast view

Breakfast itself

I was feeling a little off this morning. Perhaps because I never received an early, early, morning text about the dog? He’s doing much better so I don’t think it was that. Carboloading pancakes didn’t make things better. Lots of water didn’t help. I wanted to check out the lunch offerings at International Café, but I wound up there in between breakfast time and lunchtime during the trade out. There wasn’t much left in the case but I think these unique toasts were a breakfast item, but I can’t be sure.

I went back to the cabin to watch a movie but for the umpteenth time the TV was out. I tried to do some work on the Internet, but it was very slow. 

The combination of cold weather, carbs for breakfast, no TV, not-worth-the-trouble internet, feeling a bit off, an inside cabin with no windows, and the gentle rocking of the ship made for perfect sleeping conditions. Even though I slept well last night I somehow took a two hour long nap. I must have napped hard because I didn’t even hear my messages coming in and slept right through lunch.

Thankfully I made it to pre-dinner drinks at 5:00.

Each day I’m a bigger fan of the Lemon Drop Martini

And wasn’t late for my dinner at 7:00. I had the starter of a pasta, minus the anchovies. 

A portion more like a main!
I definitely didn’t even come close to finishing it. 

And the real main of short ribs with mashed potatoes.  

Look at all the barbecue sauce. Yum.

Passing through the casino to get back to my cabin, I stopped and played for a while. Here’s a tip - never go to the casino when you’re feeling a little off. I was an BIG LOSER. After the ugly showing at the slots, I turned in early. 

Let’s get this day over and start a new one. Up tomorrow, another sea day