CORAL PRINCESS-WELCOME ABOARD!

Friday, February 5, 2010 / rainy and cool

We were ready for the shuttle to the Coral Princess by 9 a.m. with the help of the bellman. Embarking was easy and we were quickly on the ship. The Coral Princess is elegant. We had lunch in the buffet, participated in the mandatory safety drill with our life jackets, and unpacked. The ship left port at 5 p.m. and this time the Pacific Ocean was more welcoming. TK won a floral arrangement at the Sail Away party. I think that is a great gift for Valentine’s Day! For dinner we had spring rolls, chilled pineapple soup, and the best prime rib. The evening show, comedian Al Katz, was very good.

TK’s Takes: He thinks the average cruiser age on this ship is 80. The weather was bad, but we did not get sick. We miss our cruise friends!

Saturday, February 6, 2010
This morning I attended the shopping show. Although the show was long, I think Cabo San Lucas will be a fun shopping port! Our Cruise Critic “Meet and Greet” was held in the Explorers Lounge. The Captain, Chief Mate, Food and Beverage Director, and Guest Services people attended, along with about 20 people escaping cold weather, from Washington, Michigan, Colorado, and other northern states.
Saturday, February 06, 2010 / sunny and cool

This morning I attended the port shopping show. Although the show was long, I think Cabo San Lucas will be a fun shopping port!

Our Cruise Critic “Meet and Greet” was held in the Explorers Lounge. The Captain, Chief Mate, Food and Beverage Director, and Guest Services people attended, along with about 20 people escaping cold weather, from Washington, Michigan, Colorado, and other northern states.

Since it was cool on deck we spent a low key day reading and exploring the ship. We did see some whale spouts about a mile from the ship. We think this captain is staying further away from the whales than the one on the Spirit. We went to the lecture on Cabo San Lucas, too.

We had a little glitch tonight with our “anytime” dining. We waited about 30 minutes (it was 8:15 p.m. by then) for a table for two with a pager. It finally buzzed, we approached the desk, and the hostess said she was going to seat us with four others. We had really planned on a dinner for two tonight and mentioned that. She promptly told me we would have to wait some more. I said that we would do something else. At that time I did not know what else we were actually going to do, when TK spotted the Food and Beverage Director. He immediately hailed the Maitre D’ who took us to the main dining room for dinner. Thank goodness we did not have to go to the buffet because the dinner was superb: chilled tamarind soup, ample filet mignon (TK), roast pork and braised red cabbage (MJ), chocolate hazelnut souffle, and a caramelized pear tart. The Maitre D’ also set us up with dinner every night at 7:30 p.m. at a window. That would seem to defeat the purpose of anytime dining, but that has been a good time for us. Donna and Lawrence, where are you????

We browsed the shops and then retired so that we could arise early tomorrow.

An Al Katz joke: He asked a couple in the audience how long they had been married.
She said, “Fifty-eight years!”
Al Katz responded, “If you had killed him when you wanted to, you would be out of jail by now.”