SAILING WITH 3000 OF MY CLOSEST PERSONAL FRIENDS

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ENROUTE TO PONTA DELGADA, THE AZORES

I’m sitting in the Piazza, the central core of the CROWN PRINCESS. They have just come round and passed out chocolate cookies and milk to everyone sitting here. Yum. My traveling buddy, Dick Burns is seeing what is on offer at the Trident Grill.

So far, its been a very smooth crossing….but then when the ship is 950 feet long and 133,000 tons it takes a pretty rough sea to move this thing around. The food and the service has been excellent but the ship just seems too big to me. And too many people. Our cabin is located pretty far forward on Deck 12 so we either have to go down to Dec 7 or up to deck 15 to do most things. When we finish one thing at one end of the ship, it seems like the next thing is at thee other end!!!!!! Then because of where the cabin is located, I have to take an elevator up anywhere from 3 to 8 decks and I’ve had to work up a system to get onto one rather than wait 5 to 10 minutes to be able to squeeze on one.

Last night, the comedian asked how we like our “statecubbard” not stateroom. Yup, they sure are small….especially the inside that we have!!!! But, we’ve gotten used to it now and really haven’t even used all the storage space that there is.

Activities? When there are 2,910 people on board, there are bound to be lots and lots of things to do, music being played all over and places to eat. One very unique thing is the outdoor movies……….day and night. On a gigantic screen with surround sound. One can sit in a hot tub and watch the movie. One can sit in a deck chair, covered with a blanket and watch a movie…….and they serve popcorn!!!!!! There is always some sort of music virtually everyplace to a point where it is often difficult to find a quiet place to read. Right now, here in the Piazza, there’s a piano player.

Eat? We chose anytime eating which means we walk up to a Maitre D’ in one of the 2 main dining rooms and within 5 minutes are usually seated. We can ask for a table for 2 or ask to simply join other people. One night the group wasn’t so hot, but the others have been fun people. There is also a dining room for traditional assigned seating and two smaller extra charge dining rooms in addition to the Lido buffet which basically is open 24 hours a day.

So that’s the story on the CROWN PRINCESS up to now. Sunday, we will be in Punta Delgada for 6 hours so we’ll probably just do a bit of walk around. Stay tuned for more!!!

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