We've just had afternoon tea and a nap. There's a fruit bowl in our room that gets replenished each day. Some canapés get delivered each day around 5 pm and at that time there are also free munchies and a half-price cocktail of the day for Elite, Platinum and Suite passengers in a bar called Skywalkers which sits behind the funnel overlooking the back of the ship. This "event" is off-limits to most passengers. You become "Platinum" after 5 cruises and "Elite" after 15 and you get a growing number of perks as you climb the ladder of Loyalty to the Princess Brand. We are currently Platinum which gets us 150 free minutes of Internet use on the ship and priority boarding.
Skywalkers is seen in the next photo underneath the deck which has the two circular satellite domes. It spans the width of the ship (where you see the orange lights)
The view forward
and aft
Interior
Skywalker's is not used until 5 pm and if you go up there before that you may find just one or two people quietly reading books. The bar isn't open so it doesn't draw a daytime crowd.
After the free munchies from 5 to 7 it is unused again until 10 pm when it becomes a disco until 2 a.m or so, depending how many people want to dance the night away. I'm not one of them.
Here's a shot showing the location of Skywalkers with people standing on it's roof-which is where the jogging track is located.
After Skywalker's it's time to think about dinner, following a walk on deck. Tonight will be our first night in the MDR-Main Dining Room. We usually eat after 8 pm-sometimes as late as 9.30 (they serve until 10.)
We always ask for a table for two ONLY. The only part means we don't want to share with strangers.
Tonight's menu is "Italian Night" which means the waiters will be wearing red and white striped shirts, and Limoncello is offered at $4 a glass (Now $5). You get to keep the Princess Logo glasses!
My bottle of Pinot Grigio which I bought the night before in Sabatini's is brought from the lockup upon my request.
Beef carpaccio
I think this was veal Milanese...
Whatever it was, Delicious was it's name!
On this first night in the MDR we were impressed by our waiters- Michael from Mexico and Natalia from Ukraine. They were efficient and could take a joke and at dinner I like to banter with the servers to help them feel relaxed as we are "low-maintenance" diners. We don't order the staff around or make a fuss over simple mistakes. A good dinner makes us happy and jolly and Princess serves very good dinners! The wine and Limoncello both contribute to the happiness.
Here are our servers... (photo taken on our last night when "American" was the theme of the meal)
So impressed were we with their service excellence and sense of fun that on the way out of the room I spoke to the Head Waiter and asked him if there was a chance we could always be seated in their section. He couldn't "promise anything" but on each subsequent night he seated us as requested and consequently earned a $20 tip on our last night (which is when you usually give out tips).
He usually seated us at the same table-which was meant for 4 people. It was right by a window which is what we always ask for.
After dinner usually means a show in the Princess Theater or for us a visit to Club Fusion at the back of the ship where they have Karaoke. Passengers with enough courage (or wine) get up to sing and entertain us. Good clean fun and something we enjoy on every ship. Some of the singers are very good, some painful to hear, but we salute them all. They are having fun and so are we.
At the end of a day packed with eating, drinking, napping and being entertained, we fall into bed by midnight.
As we have 800 miles to cover before reaching our first stop-the island of St. Maarten we will have a day at sea when we wake...
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