Hey Hey Paula.

Days at sea are always fun and today was no exception.  Lovely Paula celebrated with another formal night, champagne, birthday cake and the freshest salmon you can imagine, courtesy of David from our other table.  Being a keen fisherman, in Ketchikan, he did a fishing tour.  As it was a Princess tour he was allowed to bring back his catch, have it cooked by the chef and generously shared with us all…

When it came to sing Happy Birthday, as with Princess tradition all the waiters gathered with their wonderful rendition.  After they finished, very proudly one of the waiters called out Aussie, Aussie, Aussie…… (if you know Paula you will be already laughing) we played along and called out Oi, Oi, Oi, then laughing out loud we informed him that Paula was from New Zealand.

As Frankie Vallie would say: “oh, what a night!”

And so it is “Sea La Vie” from the beautiful Sun Princess.

Dinner at the Steakhouse, What a Sterling Idea!

We decided dinner for two was due, so we booked a night in the Sterling Steakhouse.  Part of the Horizon Court is cordoned off and curtains hung to give a more secluded ambience. The food in the dining room has been excellent and the food in the steakhouse takes it one step further.  Delicious prawn entrees, substantial cuts of meat and delicious desserts made for one very enjoyable night.  Worth the $29 pp cover charge in our opinion.

And so it is “Sea La Vie” from the beautiful Sun Princess.

Ye Old Pub Night

Every now and then Princess throws in something new... Ye Old Pub Night is a night of fun and frivolity in the Vista Lounge, with lots of singing, games and audience participation.

And so it is “Sea La Vie” from the beautiful Sun Princess.

Boom Boom, aint it great to be crazy!

For some fun and frivolity, we decided to have a mad hatters Tea party to celebrate Xmas in July. 

Not only did we have a wonderful display of hats but we had a special visit from the big man himself and his helper Wazza the Elf.

Our head waiters extraordinaire helped us choose a couple of winners....

What we would like to see is the CC footage of a fellow Pacific Circler raiding the toilets and borrowing the carnations to decorate her hat...

And so it is “Sea La Vie” from the beautiful Sun Princess.

Ukulele Final Performance . hang on when was the first one.

To support our fellow Pacific Circles we headed to the first.. or was it last Ukulele concert in the Vista lounge…  They did a wonderful job, but rumour has it that they strategically place a microphone in front of everyone who played in tune.

BRAVO Princess - A night at the Opera

Congratulations Princess on your new production show “Bravo” … The regular production team were joined by a very talented Soprano and Baritone to perform this excellent show.  So mesmerised were we all that it came to “Time to Say Goodbye” and without a dry eye the team was farewelled with a standing ovation.

And so it is “Sea La Vie” from the beautiful Sun Princess.

The Circle of Friendship

Just before arriving in Yokohama, we arranged to have a group photo of our Cruise Critic Pacific Circlers group.  Thanks to Garry and Mal our photographers extraordinaire.  It is not easy to get 200 passengers to look in the same direction… ok so we are happy with 95%

And so it is “Sea La Vie” from the beautiful Sun Princess.

Filling in time!!

Over the past month, we have had many sea days so we are always looking for new ways to past the time.  Of course, there are the old favourites, eating, trivia, eating, reading, eating and sleeping.  A few of us have started getting together and playing a few games … be it games, cards or pool.

We have found playing pool can be a challenge, especially if there is a bit a movement on the ship.  You may notice that the balls always seem to be lined up at each end of the table..  I assure you that has nothing to do with our expert playing.

As you can see from the pictures, that there are some area’s on the ship that are not well lit, those princess torches sure do come in handy!!

And so it is “Sea La Vie” from the beautiful Sun Princess.

Ricky, Roy and Mario makes three

Probably the crew members you have the most contact with are your table waiters.  We have always been lucky enough to have waiters who will bend over backwards to keep us happy and it is amazing after a three-month cruise how attached you become to them.

Ricky is from Indonesia and is our table waiter. Each night he will give you his recommendations for the evening “but the choice is yours”.  The benefit of late seating is that early seating are the guinea pigs.  If a meal proved to be unpopular first time around he will suggest you choose something different if you make the same choice.

Roy from India is our little doer…. He runs around fetching our drinks, runs to the kitchen and collects trays sky high full of our meals in quick time to ensure they are served hot to the table. He clears our plates and collects the crumbs “to feed to the birds”.  His moment of glory is at the end of each sector when they have our Bombe Alaska Parade.

Mario our head waiter… dear sweet Mario.  Any special requests go straight to him and even though he will have this worried look on his face, he always comes through with the goods….  Last night was no exception when he arranged for us to have pumpkin pie for dessert.

Unfortunately in Yokohama, we lost Ricky, cutting his contract short to be with his wife during the last weeks of her pregnancy of their first child….  The Nana in all of us came out when we showered him with gifts to take home for the new bub!

Having our "Share" of Curtis Stone.

Having read mixed reviews before we left, but positive reviews whilst on board, a group of ten of us decided to share a meal at “Share”.

Deciding to leave the menu choices up to Mark, waiter extraordinaire, he presented us with an array of culinary delights.

The first choice to make when dining at “Share”, is to share or not to share.  Once that is done you need to choose if you want to go with the $39 fixed price or the “a la carte” pay as you go option.

Mark chose pay as you go for us, and basically, for every dish he picked we received three portions to Share between us.

First course was from the Charcuterie & Cheese menu.  We enjoyed thinly sliced Jamon, Salami and Sopressa.  We enjoyed tasty, Bethmale, La Gruta, Pantaleo and Shaft Blue cheeses.  All of these coming with a fruit and nut accompaniment.

Next was “From the Garden”, shrimp on a small brioche with a lemon gel and turnip garnish.  Dressed tomato wedges on of a bed of soft cheese with the texture of a labneh or bocconcini cheese.  A Romaine salad of sliced cucumber, lettuce olives and feta, drizzled with just enough oil to keep it fresh.

Food was brought out at a steady pace and we never felt rushed at all.   This meant that each course was presented and savoured in our own time.

Our main meal “From the Oven“ was a very tender and juicy piece of roast chicken, served with a charred onion slaw and a slab of bacon. Cooked just as they like it in the States, crisp but chewy and pleasant to eat; it sounds like a contradiction in terms, but you couldn’t help going back for just one more chunk.  Turbot (fish for those as ignorant as me) with a cheese and spinach crust.

 Sides were Potato Gratins served with a truffle cream (you always have me at truffle), Wild Mushrooms served with Pine nuts, and for the life of me, I just can’t put the words Mac & Cheese and a la carte in the same sentence. Mac & Cheese is Mac & Cheese, but with the right cheese, it was very nice….

By now, we are thinking we couldn’t eat any more, but you know, no matter what, you can always find that little spot for dessert. When they place that bread and butter pudding in front of you, then pour a toffee sauce over the top from a great height, you are scrambling for your plate and spoon so that you can grab that first helping…   yes, that little tart with lemon butter and little bit meringue was nice, but I was back for any leftover pudding.

We started with the Princess 50^th Anniversary Prosecco and finished with the Princess Limoncello, and a wonderful serenade of “you’re just too good to be true” from Mark.

Thanks to Mark’s perfect suggestions our a la carte menu cost us $55 per couple.

TIP:  it was suggested to us by Ricky, our regular table waiter, that we could eat dinner in the dining room then adjourn to Share to share dessert……. Ha … at $4.50 I want my own!!

And so it is “Sea La Vie” from the beautiful Sun Princess.

Day Jeju!

First, we weren’t going to Jeju, then we were going to Jeju, then we weren’t going to Jeju … but here we are.

We have had a few medical emergencies, one airlift, several put off at ports, a call for a blood donation and even an unusual request for spare Parkinson’s tablets.

This emergency must have been fairly urgent, as it was only the next day that we were docking in Busan, but instead, they decided to call into Jeju to offload a sick gentleman and his wife.

They both seem to be sitting up in the zodiac that came zooming out to pick them up under the watchful eye of the Coast Guard, so we do hope that they are both well.

In the distance, we see could our Legend of the Seas in port. Another ship with an Asian badge was also sailing in whose shape made me think of an old Celebrity Ship.

And so it is “Sea La Vie” from the beautiful Sun Princess.

Birthdays at Sea

 We always seem to celebrate Garry’s birthday at sea.  I guess because that is the time of year our preferred cruises occur. 

So my first plan was that I would put a message on the Wake Show wishing Garry a happy birthday and to look under the bed!...  this is where I had hidden his present. I was so excited ……

Waking at 4.30 am I was so excited I couldn’t go back to sleep.  Realising that Garry was also awake I suggested that we watch the Wake Show…. Garry said OK, but even in the dark I could sense the look of “you are joking” on his face.

We sat through all 20 mins of the show and with no shout outs read out during whole show I was left with the dilemma of “what will I do now”. I decided to let the cat out of bag and asked Garry to look under the bed.

It wasn’t until later when at the Men’s Shed, everyone asked Garry, what was under the bed?  that we found out that a re-edited version of the Wake Show was uploaded and at a descent hour the whole broadcast was played…  He was very chuffed with all his birthday wishes when we re watched it later in day.  I did speak with Mark later in the day and he was very apologetic when he realised what had happened, he knew exactly who we were when he read it out….

Thanks to organising the Cruise Critic lunches, Cristian our Maître d has become my best mate, along with Mario our head waiter...  In passing I mentioned that on this particular day we were celebrating Garry’s Birthday….

So that afternoon when we sat down to play cards with our friends in the Horizon court, Garry was serenaded by a group of waiters lead by Mario holding a cupcake with a candle in it…  Later that night at dinner Cristian arranged for Garry to have a birthday cake that not only fed our table but our whole section!  We were also spoilt with a bottle of champagne to toast with.

Garry was in his glory as our friends came bearing gifts and more champagne.

To top the night off how good was it that our Cruise Director Mark organised a Deck party with a love boat theme!

And so it is “Sea La Vie” from the beautiful Sun Princess