Day 15 - Weds 3rd Apr 2024
Participants: Tam & Kev
It's Tam's 60th birthday! I'm awake at 6.50 am and sneak out of the room to fetch a coffee and Danish for her to have in bed. Back in the stateroom I walk in to find an old woman in our bed - no, wait, it's just Tam now she's 60. We have the coffee and she opens the cards she's brought with her.
I haven't got her a card or present by agreement. Before you start to feel sorry for her we went to Moreton in the Marsh for a long weekend to celebrate my 60th. She gets a Panama canal cruise!
Ooohhh ... birthday greetings from Princess. Is it a free cruise? Is it? No it's not.
At least this is accurate today.
We go the
theatre at 9.00 am for the talk on Puerto Vallarta (more grumbles
about stupid early start time for port presentations), it's ok
but not great and the graphics are really poor quality. We also
have a glass of prosseco to start the birthday celebrations off
properly.
We stay for a talk by the Australian cruise director Mikka.
Normally cruise directors are a pain in the backside with their
over the top perkiness, but he comes across as a genuinely nice
guy and his catch phrase is 'Don't have a good day, have a great
day'. Thanks Mikka we'll give it our best shot. You get the usual
announcements about what's going to be happening around the ship
- 'Don't forget not to miss the bingo at 2.00 pm' etc. It's the
side of cruising I'm not fond of, all a bit too Butlins for my
liking. Still, each to their own.
His talk is really informative about how the crew are employed,
how they live onboard, length of contracts etc.
Off to the
front of the ship for 90 minutes lazing in the sun. It's cooler
today, down to 25 degrees centigrade and there's a breeze, so
it's very pleasant. We've booked our second Sanctuary afternoon
and go there at 1.00 pm. We have a video call with the girls and
Charlie so they can wish Tam happy birthday and we can gloat
about being on holiday.
We split a lunch of prawns with white beans and vegetable
crudites with a feta dip along with a glass of Flowers
Chardonnay. It's lovely and light as we've booked a balcony
dinner tonight. On Princess you can have a private dinner served
on your balcony and we chose to do this on Tam's birthday.
We continue to enjoy the Sanctuary for the afternoon and I have a
beer and Tam gets a Mojito. The Sanctuary is 80% empty, maybe
because it's a little cooler and breezy, but it's actually a
perfect temperature for lying in the sun (with appropriate
sunscreen applied obviously).
We return to our stateroom at 4.30 pm and shower and get ready for our dinner. The servers arrive at 6.00 pm to set up on the balcony. They are Borgy and Aulice from the Phillipines. They are really nice and set up the table on the balcony.
Our menu is as follows:
Pacific Blue
Crab cake baked in a puff pastry crown.
Marinated Chevre and Mesclun field greens (nope, I've no idea
what Mesclun field greens are either)
Either fillet of beef tenderloin or lobster or both (surf and
turf)
Princess extraordinary quartet mousseline (lost me again there
boys)
When the main
course arrives Tam has only got the turf and no surf. Borgy is
mortified and insists on getting another lobster even though Tam
tells him repeatedly that she really doesn't need one. He brings
it, but Tam doesn't want it and so she takes a small bite and
tries to hide the rest under her remaining mashed potato as she's
embarrassed. She's a strange woman.
You also get given half a bottle of champagne and we brought our
own bottle of wine onboard, which they serve happily. I've got a
Bose bluetooth speaker and I made a balcony playlist which we
play through ending up with a War On Drugs playlist. If you like
quieter rock music I can definitely recommend them.
Oh yes, we started out with these petit fours as well. To be honest they were a little dry like they had been left out for too long before serving
The crab cake. This was very nice.
So that's what Mesclun field greens are.
The surfless turf. The inhumanity of it all.
And now I know what a quartet mousseline is as well.
These little babies were a course too far. They had to go in the fridge for later consumption.
Our meal
started off in daylight and the balcony light was turned on
halfway through. We turn it off towards the end of the meal when
it's fully dark and the transformation is startling. We
immediately see loads of stars, it's really beautiful. Aulice
says we just need a candle. You're obviously not allowed candles
for safety reasons, so Tam finds a Youtube video of a candle
burning and props it up in the table.
It's not as warm as previous evenings, but not cold although Tam
needs a small jacket as the evening progresses.
It's been an excellent evening. I wouldn't say the food is wonderful, but very nice and the setting is just so much fun. The servers could not be better and it amazes me that you have 2 people at your beck and call for 2 1/2 hours. They serve your food and then wait outside the door until you are ready for the next course. The $110 that it costs is really good value for money and we'd definitely do it again given the chance.
Our servers. Thanks guys you were great.
We are done by 8.30 pm. What to do now? Should we watch more of the Princess Bride? Nah, it's Tam's birthday, so we walk around the promenade on deck 7 and watch the ship plowing through the sea and throwing out large bow waves. We go to Club Fusion where the ships band are playing. Tam's feeling a bit tired and just has ginger ale while I have a bourbon, but she gets her second wind and wants to stay and watch the comedian at 10.30 pm. Tam gets a frozen daiquiri and I have a Miller Lite. It's the same comedian as last night, he's only on the ship for 2 nights. The late show is a little more adult and is pretty good. It must be as Tam is giving it the old 'Ho, ho, hee, hee' laugh. Anyone that's heard her laugh will know what this is.
Back to the room and in bed at 11.45 pm. That constitutes a really late night on this holiday!