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Published: March 31st 2019
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Today the cruising portion of our vacation actually began. We started with a good night’s sleep in the Airport Marriott, but we had to be up and ready by 8:00 AM. That was when the staff was going to collect the luggage to be delivered to our cabin on the ship. So we had to get up and pack the one bag which had been opened last night. But we made it and had everything ready.
We left the bags inside our room and went down at 8:00 to find the Princess Agent in the lobby. There were actually passengers for two ships staying at the hotel– the Star and the Royal. The Royal is headed for a 7 day cruise down the Mexican coast and back. There were only a couple of people in that line and a lot of folks waiting for the Star. But the line moved quickly and we got our “bus boarding pass” for the transfer to the harbor of Los Angeles – fortunately we did not have to go all the way to Long Beach. Our departure from the hotel wasn’t actually scheduled until 12:00 so we had lots of time for breakfast in
the hotel restaurant. It was a nice filling breakfast and tided us over until we got to the ship.
Back in the room, Janet threatened to violate the injury rule – she started to get a cold sore. We had passed a CVS Pharmacy during the bus ride last night, so David got directions and headed off to find it. Turned out to be about a 30 min walk each way, but now he doesn’t have to find a treadmill today. Anyway we now have medicine and she should be fine for the cruise. We hope everyone else is interpreting the “illness rule” that strictly.
Just before 12:00 we took our roller bag and purse and went down to check out of the room. This was a nice place to stay but we are sure glad we did not pay the list price on the hotel room door - $469 per night. We got loaded on the bus with our group a little after 12:30 and headed through Los Angeles looking for the port. That actually was about 45 minutes away and we pulled in at 1:15. While driving through the port we drove past the USS Iowa museum (a WW2 Battleship). It is permanently moored but the Royal Princess was docked right across the channel from it. The Royal dwarfed the battleship in size – something which was considered a behemoth during the war.
We arrived at the Star and got off in front of a large tent. There was a bit of walking but the process moved along fairly quickly. We got the cruise cards and a map of the ship. Then we made our way through the security/metal checks, and finally to the gangway to board the ship. Some of the people are either very inexperienced or completely untrusting, because they lugged all their suitcases through the security checks and probably would have taken ages to get everything approved. Janet refused to get in line behind them and we waited for another checker (smart move on her part). However it got us in a parade of people using wheelchairs, scooters, walkers, and various walking sticks. They were pretty slow going up the gangway, but not as slow as the lady trying to push her large heavy suitcase uphill over the corrugated gangway. Anyway we boarded and got to our cabin just about 2:00.
We met the steward (Warlito Cabusao from the Philippines), had one suitcase already in our cabin, and generally started our cruising adventure. We unpacked and went up to the Horizon Court for something to eat. Then we came back to the cabin and found our other two suitcases. Unfortunately they broke one of the wheels on one suitcase. Warlito got us some paperwork to get the suitcase repaired, but there is no hurry since we will not use it again for 4 weeks. But we were able to unpack all the clothes.
David went to a bar and got a Coca Cola and some bottles of water. One of our “perks” is Free Drinks so we have pretty much anything we want on the whole cruise. Then a little before 4:00 we went to the Vista Lounge for the mandatory safety drill. David thought we had gone awfully early but he didn’t object. It turns out his watch had stopped for 30 minutes so it really wasn’t very early after all. He had pulled out the main stem during security and then restarted it when he put it back on later – so it was operator error and not a hardware problem. Anyway, we dutifully watched the safety drill.
By the time that was over, it was approaching 5:00. Sadly Princess has moved the first dinner seating to 5:00 which is pretty early for dinner when you had lunch at 2:00. We met another couple at our table, but the other 2 couples did not attend. If you’ve read our blogs before you know we talk about food quite a lot on cruises, so here is what we had for dinner. Janet had Fresh Melon Balls and then Caesar Salad. David had Shrimp Cocktail and Pina Colada Cold Soup. Then we each had the Prime Rib, with baked potatoes and corn-on-the-cob. For dessert Janet had ice cream and David had chocolate cake.
At 7:00 David went to the Princess Theater to see the show. It was a standup comic who had some funny jokes but not overly hilarious. Janet went back to the cabin instead to rest up and watch a little TV. We did not sail until almost 8:00 because they were late in loading all the supplies for the cruise. So it was after dark before we finally set sail. We could see a lot of lights along the shore, but nothing photo-worthy.
We got the traditional “chocolates on the pillow” which the steward dispenses each evening when he turns down the bed for the evening. We also received a blue Princes Cruises tote bag. We have a nice collection of these, but you can never have too many totes. Tonight we get an extra hour of sleep as we head west. Eventually we will have to give it back, but tonight will be plenty of sleep before we start again tomorrow.
Tomorrow we will try to insert some photos, but not tonight.
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