Princess Chatter

Emerald Princess – Day 7

•   Cabin door LCD computer crashed for the third time in the last seven days, on its own.
•   Cabin housekeeper from the Philippines calls my dear wife (DW) with a word that sounds like “mom.”
•   The likely reason for the ship slowing down could be that it was ahead of schedule or  that the ship is having generator problems like last nights extended power outage in the back of the ship, apparently on all decks.
•   The gay like cruise director Hernando came out on the stage sashaying last night.  The Motown Princess Theater show, called Sweet Soul Music was heavy with Stevie Wonder selections.  The show appeared to include booth enhanced singing and enhanced band instrumentation.  In other words what the audience heard was not what I  actually believed was created  on-stage.  The audio level was really high and the strobes were  flashing the audience.  The booth had cut back on the extreme bass notes so the seats weren’t vibrating.
Sounds like everything is back to normal. 
•   The Comedy Juggler “The Mighty Quinn” is back again tonight for maybe the second or third time. 
I can only take so much of jugglers. 

•   When the ship maneuvered into dock position this morning everything in our back hallway behind what walls and ceiling were rattling like crazy.
That's normal tor that class ship.

•   There was a very long line in the terminal of passengers and crew waiting to catch the free shuttle to Walmart.  We rode Uber to town at a cost of around $9 each way which now includes a mandatory booking fee. 
Good to hear that the Walmart bus is still running. 

•   Last night the ship computer said it had a 5 pm opening in Da Vinci.  After it showed our pictures on the cabin TV and said to click the button to reserve the screen froze and said it couldn’t find our passenger record even though it found our pictures.  We went anyway to the dining room and saw lots of empty tables.  This tells me that the ship’s reservation system is badly flawed.
•   Heard from two elderly widows who said Princess EZAir got them to LAX one hour late causing them to barely make the ship departure..  They said that they arrived at the ship around 4 pm as the ship was preparing to sail and no one offered to help  them with their luggage either at the terminal or on the ship..
•   Kilauea volcano, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, erupted last night.  That volcano is maybe 20 or so miles of where we are docked.  I don’t believe that it is any kind of show stopper right now.

Emerald Princess – Day 6 - revised


•   It is difficult to walk through the deck 15 pool area as the walking lanes are crowded with tables.
•   No pencils in the library for puzzles.
•   WiFi calling in airplane mode, at least on T-Mobile is working again.
•   Celebration – 1 day turnaround for Elite laundry.  Unheard of.
•   Ordered English Muffin and bacon at breakfast in Da Vinci dining room.  English Muffin arrived cold after we finished breakfast and bacon never arrived.
•   Princess “Best Pizza on the Sea” was slightly better than on the Sky Princess but the crust was still undercooked.
•   Ship clock changes tonight just 5 ½ hours before we dock in Hilo.  I wonder how many passengers will forget to change time before they go ashore.
•   Received two Passenger Services give away Princess ball point pens.  Neither worked.
•   The mostly unreliable CrewCall Chat said one thing about Hilo shuttles, the port video and the Excursion Desk told a different story.
•   Our cabin sink drain, when closed, always immediately pops back open.
•   Yesterday brewed coffee in International Café was served in small paper cups.  Today it appears that all brewed coffee is only served in large paper cups.
•   I’m starting to wonder if the assignment of the Captain’s job on this older ship was a demotion.
•   The Da Vinci dining room lunch waiting line stretched all the way across the Piazza into the smoky Casino.
That doesn't say a lot about the buffet.
•   It was every passenger for themselves at lunch in the FM.  Line cutters were going at it full time.
Those Elites can get hungry & don't like waiting in a short line. Or maybe their just accustomed to sailing on a Royal class ship?
•   The ship speed currently is very slow as we sail toward Hilo for docking in the morning.
Sounds like you lost one of the generators?

Emerald Princess – Day 5

•   Internet stopped working at noon for most of the afternoon yesterday.  Before that the speed was 2 up, 2 down.  Paramount+ doesn’t work.  Peacock does at times.  Facebook is hit or miss. WiFi calling was working, now it’s not.
If you have Netflix, it's usually faster to download. Paramount+ is terrible for us at home. I get it for free right now & wouldn't give them a dime for it.

•   CrewCall Chat mostly much of the time doesn’t know the answer or gives bad answers. That is if they even answer..
 
•   Signs are still up for Planks BBQ in the back of deck 15 but Planks BBQ is no more on the Emerald Princess.  Steamers Seafood restaurant is also long gone.
•   Cabin nightlights with automatic movement sensors are a real nuisance.
•   It’s been cloudy every night so no star gazing so far.
•   Finally got the one and only early dining room reservation using the cabin TV.
•   Sent laundry out yesterday after photographing everything including the laundry ticket.  Now hoping to get the laundry back in three days without white undies coming back yellow.
Or not come back at all.
•   The highlight of a Sabatini’s overrated dinner was the Chef’s dessert.  The dessert was four different desserts and very sweet.  Speaking of sweet, Princess has greatly downsized the Volcano dessert on the Children’s menu.
I was told that the Volcano dessert is gone. It's replaced by the banana split.

•   Our cabin has creaky sounds as the ship slowly rocks.
•   I learned from a fellow passenger that there are iPhone tricks where you can change the time on the display.
•   Forrest Gump said “life is just a bowl of cherries.”  We found this to be true in the ship dining rooms when you take a “sharing” table.  You never know what “cherries” will sit at your table and totally monopolize the conversations with their very strongly held  political beliefs.  I found it was best to just politely listen and say nothing..