We usually celebrate our first night on a Princess ship with dinner in one of the specialty restaurants. On the Diamond there are two of these, as is the case on most of the fleet; Sterling Steakhouse and Sabatini's, an intimate Italian eatery. Sterling Steakhouse is a pop-up restaurant in that it makes it's home in the evenings in a sectioned-off area of the Horizon Court buffet, whereas Sabatini's is a stand-alone room. Upon boarding we had called and made a reservation for Sabatini's.
Always a smile from the host. This is a morning photo as one of the best suite perks is exclusive use of this restaurant for a leisurely breakfast with maybe only 3 other tables occupied depending on when you go. Neapolitan and Opera songs play quietly in the background and the service is the best to be found on the ship .
This restaurant on some ships is on Promenade deck (7) and only has a couple of windows looking out to sea. On newer ships it is high up at the stern (deck 16 ) with a full wall of windows with fountains and outdoor tables outside. It is the place to eat at a relaxed pace and ease into the day.
I tend to take photos of rooms when they are unoccupied to show the room to it's best advantage and to avoid taking pictures of people eating and invading their privacy. Long shots on deck are a different matter. Many room shots will have been taken between 5 and 6 a.m on my morning walks.
Beautiful images of Italy adorn the walls
It's in Sabatini's that I usually order my first bottle of wine. As I don't drink it all at one meal it is held for me and can be retrieved when I ask for it during my next dinner in any restaurant on the ship.
It costs 2 to 3 times what the same bottle would cost on land. You can bring your own wine aboard and pay a $15 corkage fee if you bring it to the table. This would save you money but I already have enough luggage to drag around with me and haven't thought of leaving time to visit wine stores before embarkation.
The first night on board is always a celebration. You have arrived and passed through all the lines and checkpoints. You've had your photo taken by security-when you return to your ship in port and they scan your card they can see a photo of the cardholder on a monitor, thus maintaining security for ticket-holders only. You've made your calls for restaurant reservations, ship tours and the like. The luggage is under the bed, the clothes hanging and the small items placed in drawers. The mini bar spirits have been changed out for 10 bottles of Beck's beer in my case. We have met our room steward and advised him of any needs we might have-as suite passengers we can order dinner in our room so we have him bring us the menus each morning so we can plan.
With all that squared away the vacation at sea can begin!
A cruise ship is often described as a floating hotel. It is-but how many hotels (outside of Las Vegas) have 4 or 5 bands playing at various times during the day and night? How many hotels have 4 swimming pools, a day spa, a small hospital, a very small morgue, a wedding chapel , a couple of rooms just for kids, half a dozen jacuzzis, an outdoor movie theater with a 30 foot screen, an ice cream parlor, a fast food burger joint, a buffet, an Italian restaurant and a steak house, multiple bars including a martini one with a pianist, a cigar bar, clothing and cosmetics shops, a casino, 4 big rooms with live entertainment including singers and dancers and a live 7 piece band, dance lessons, fruit and ice carvings, bingo, trivia games, card rooms, stand-up comic shows, jugglers, acrobats and balancers, laundomats on all passenger decks, a portrait studio, mini-golf and shuffleboard, a small basketball court, video games, a library, a business center, a kitchen that feeds over 3,000 people a day, multiple times, it's own bakery operating 24/7, it's own recycling plant and it's own power station producing 66 million watts continuously......the ship is a diesel/electric which means that some of it's 6 engines are diesel and their job is to drive generators to make electricity which powers the ship and the hungry "hotel" above.
It's a hotel with maybe 20 elevators, 17 or 18 floors and it's motoring along at 25 mph!
When you wake up each morning the view outside has changed while you were sleeping. You didn't have to move a muscle to get there. You slept like a baby and when you wake up, making the bed is out of the question. There is a young man from Thailand, named Wee who is just dying to do that for you!
Time to eat.......(video)
The first night on board is always a celebration. You have arrived and passed through all the lines and checkpoints. You've had your photo taken by security-when you return to your ship in port and they scan your card they can see a photo of the cardholder on a monitor, thus maintaining security for ticket-holders only. You've made your calls for restaurant reservations, ship tours and the like. The luggage is under the bed, the clothes hanging and the small items placed in drawers. The mini bar spirits have been changed out for 10 bottles of Beck's beer in my case. We have met our room steward and advised him of any needs we might have-as suite passengers we can order dinner in our room so we have him bring us the menus each morning so we can plan.
With all that squared away the vacation at sea can begin!
A cruise ship is often described as a floating hotel. It is-but how many hotels (outside of Las Vegas) have 4 or 5 bands playing at various times during the day and night? How many hotels have 4 swimming pools, a day spa, a small hospital, a very small morgue, a wedding chapel , a couple of rooms just for kids, half a dozen jacuzzis, an outdoor movie theater with a 30 foot screen, an ice cream parlor, a fast food burger joint, a buffet, an Italian restaurant and a steak house, multiple bars including a martini one with a pianist, a cigar bar, clothing and cosmetics shops, a casino, 4 big rooms with live entertainment including singers and dancers and a live 7 piece band, dance lessons, fruit and ice carvings, bingo, trivia games, card rooms, stand-up comic shows, jugglers, acrobats and balancers, laundomats on all passenger decks, a portrait studio, mini-golf and shuffleboard, a small basketball court, video games, a library, a business center, a kitchen that feeds over 3,000 people a day, multiple times, it's own bakery operating 24/7, it's own recycling plant and it's own power station producing 66 million watts continuously......the ship is a diesel/electric which means that some of it's 6 engines are diesel and their job is to drive generators to make electricity which powers the ship and the hungry "hotel" above.
It's a hotel with maybe 20 elevators, 17 or 18 floors and it's motoring along at 25 mph!
When you wake up each morning the view outside has changed while you were sleeping. You didn't have to move a muscle to get there. You slept like a baby and when you wake up, making the bed is out of the question. There is a young man from Thailand, named Wee who is just dying to do that for you!
Time to eat.......(video)
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