Minette on the front desk called our Water Taxi. I thought I would have time for a beer before it came but she said the taxi would be here in 5 minutes. Not enough time to have a relaxing beer alas. The hotel manager came to see us off and asked if I wanted a couple of free beers to drink on the taxi : a very nice gesture which I declined as my hands would be busy with the camera and camcorder.
All of the staff on duty came to shake hands and say arrivaderci-another nice gesture.
The taxi came and our luggage was loaded in, followed by two excited travelers.
The hotel manager is waving to us from the dock as this video begins....
The driver stopped to pick up a friend on the way. He had an issue with getting the boat into gear soon after and we sat still in the water for two minutes or so while they debated the problem. Soon we were underway again. The taxi cost 100 E and took about 25 minutes including the delay.
Once ashore and in the terminal we had a security check by the Italian dock security team. There was no Princess staff there so we had to walk our luggage 300 yards to the ship.
We showed our boarding passes to the Princess security officer at the foot of the gangway and carried our luggage up into the ship where more security officers were waiting.
We had booked cabin 6088 but the security officer, reading his passenger manifest, told the cabin stewards to take our bags to 6033. I told him-no 6088. He instructed the stewards-6033. I said you can take them to 6033 if you want but they need to end up in 6088! He stood firm. One of the stewards had already taken two bags to 6033 in the meantime.
He ended up taking us upstairs to Passenger Services to check our room number, even though it was written on our luggage tags by Princess. There he was told 6088 and instructed both stewards via walkie talkie to take the bags to 6088. What a waste of our time! What a poor welcome. No apology was offered, nor did I push for one.
We were on board the ship and now in our rooms and that's all that mattered.
Living room seen from the entrance hallway
Big screen TV tuned to the navigation channel
Bedroom with lots of closets and an extra TV
We began our usual routine where Carol unpacks and I go for a walk (and a beer)
We had made a reservation for our welcome aboard meal (complimentary to Suite passengers otherwise $25 each) at the Sterling Grill which is the ship's steakhouse and one of two specialty pay-restaurants on board, the other being Sabatini's Italian Restaurant which was closed this evening while we sat at the dock in Venice overnight. Carol would meet me in the Sterling at 9.30 so in the meantime I went to the Tahitian Lounge at the top of the ship, overlooking the bow, for my inaugural beer which is my usual way to commemorate the start of my cruise.
To get to the lounge I took the elevator from our floor and when it arrived there were two Australian couples in it, dressed-up and all holding happy drinks. They were are fun bunch (as all Aussies seem to be on holiday) and they told me they had already been on the ship for two weeks-doing one cruise after another (called a Back to Back or B2B for short). They immediately put me in holiday mood after the aggravation of getting our room.
In the Tahitian Lounge they had 4 tables at the back of the room for the smokers so I set up camp there and was soon joined by a tall Kiwi (New Zealander) called Scotty who was traveling alone for a month's vacation, including some time in Greece when he got off the ship in Rome. He would rejoin the ship a week later when it docked in Athens again. A married couple from Manchester soon joined us. They had 300 days of sailing on Prncess ships under their belts.
Here's the video that covers our first dinner on the ship and brings us to the end of our second day in Venice....
We had made a reservation for our welcome aboard meal (complimentary to Suite passengers otherwise $25 each) at the Sterling Grill which is the ship's steakhouse and one of two specialty pay-restaurants on board, the other being Sabatini's Italian Restaurant which was closed this evening while we sat at the dock in Venice overnight. Carol would meet me in the Sterling at 9.30 so in the meantime I went to the Tahitian Lounge at the top of the ship, overlooking the bow, for my inaugural beer which is my usual way to commemorate the start of my cruise.
To get to the lounge I took the elevator from our floor and when it arrived there were two Australian couples in it, dressed-up and all holding happy drinks. They were are fun bunch (as all Aussies seem to be on holiday) and they told me they had already been on the ship for two weeks-doing one cruise after another (called a Back to Back or B2B for short). They immediately put me in holiday mood after the aggravation of getting our room.
In the Tahitian Lounge they had 4 tables at the back of the room for the smokers so I set up camp there and was soon joined by a tall Kiwi (New Zealander) called Scotty who was traveling alone for a month's vacation, including some time in Greece when he got off the ship in Rome. He would rejoin the ship a week later when it docked in Athens again. A married couple from Manchester soon joined us. They had 300 days of sailing on Prncess ships under their belts.
Here's the video that covers our first dinner on the ship and brings us to the end of our second day in Venice....
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