We also had a card in the mail opening outside of our door to give to the dining room where ever we decided to eat that night for an anniversary cake. Very nice!
We had a HUGE breakfast in the Horizon Buffet. My favorite things were cheese blintzes, (which they labeled as Swedish pancakes), and the most moist delicious bread pudding I've ever eaten!They also had a chef making omelets to order each morning and every other breakfast food you could possibly think of. There was plenty of fresh melon and pineapple but we were a bit disappointed not to find some of the fruits such as Papaya and Mango we had come to love at the land based all inclusives in Mexico. There was much discussion on the message boards about the coffee on board being made out of "syrup" and undrinkable, and mention of a coffee card you could get that they punched and entitled you to freshly brewed coffee, and assorted other specialty coffees, but of course that was an additional charge. We decided to go ahead and try the regular "syrup" coffee and found it was just fine. Not any worse than restaurant coffee and in some cases perhaps better. There was definitely cream on board - another thing I had heard mixed reviews about. So the coffee card decision was not an issue for us.
After breakfast we were stuffed and decided to stroll around to the upper decks we had yet to see. We found the virtual golf, the putting green, (which was almost unusable!), and the jogging track. There was also an excellent fully equipped gym and spa with all the usual services. Cost here was way more than at the land resorts and couples massages we usually pay for when away were out of the question on board. Of course on days the ship is in port they do reduce the fees but for us that wasn't an option since we planned to be off the ship at each of the islands!
We ended up in the main three level Piazza area which is surrounded by beautiful marble winding staircases, a gorgeous stained glass roof, and a glass elevator. This is the area where you would sometimes find a piano player, a string quartet, and sometimes demonstrations. As we wandered by we saw a crowd of people and looked to see chefs making animals and flowers out of fruits and veggies and there was also a demonstration of how they make the towel animals.
We ended up in the main three level Piazza area which is surrounded by beautiful marble winding staircases, a gorgeous stained glass roof, and a glass elevator. This is the area where you would sometimes find a piano player, a string quartet, and sometimes demonstrations. As we wandered by we saw a crowd of people and looked to see chefs making animals and flowers out of fruits and veggies and there was also a demonstration of how they make the towel animals.
When that was over we walked up to the aft Terrace pool where Alicia thought their group would be hanging out but we didn't see anyone familiar. The lounge and deck chairs were all packed with people every where we had walked but we did manage to find two out there. We lay out for a while and I had brought my book along and was loving the warm sun! I got myself a salad from the buffet and ate out there but unfortunately the wind became worse as well as the waves and you could see the pool water going back and forth. We were both feeling a bit queasy so we went back to our cabin to lay down for a bit and watched some TV. They do offer a good variation of channels and we watched some CNN, a movie, and the Princess Captain's Log channel which shows you where you are on a map in your travels, weather info, and other interesting tid bits. We read that the sea conditions were "slight" with 4' swells. It sure felt higher than that!
Eventually we felt hungry again and decided to go to dinner around 6. David put on his good dark suit and looked so handsome! I had brought the gown I had worn 10 years ago on our last cruise and after further primping we walked down to the elevators and went down to the Piazza area where they were taking formal pictures. There were several different set ups all around the whole area and we chose one near the staircase. Unfortunately none of them came out as well as we had hoped and neither one of us thought to take a picture with our own camera! This was a table side picture one of the roaming photographers took that we did break down and buy at the end of the cruise:
We ate at the Da Vinci dining room and as soon as I mentioned we were there to celebrate our anniversary we were immediately seated at a great table for two off to one side. At each table you have a main waiter and an assistant waiter be it a table for two or a table for ten. Once seated they put your napkin on your lap for you, pour waters, and present you with an already opened for you menu. When they came to take our drink order we asked if we could trade our card for a bottle of wine in for a bottle of champagne and for the cost difference they agreed.
Each night in the dining room the left side of the menu has things you can always order and the right side has that evenings specialties - starting with appetizers, then soups, salads, and entrees which are a variety of beef, seafood, pasta, vegetarian, and "home style". (This category is simple things like Meatloaf, Chicken Pot Pie, Spare Ribs, etc.) All the entrees come with appropriately paired sides. We both had Beef Medallions which were in a wine reduction, ( can't remember what it was exactly). After enjoying our meal they brought us out a pretty anniversary cake and some of the waiters came over and sang Happy Anniversary to us. The cake had a chocolate mousse layer and it was so good we finished it all up!
Each night in the dining room the left side of the menu has things you can always order and the right side has that evenings specialties - starting with appetizers, then soups, salads, and entrees which are a variety of beef, seafood, pasta, vegetarian, and "home style". (This category is simple things like Meatloaf, Chicken Pot Pie, Spare Ribs, etc.) All the entrees come with appropriately paired sides. We both had Beef Medallions which were in a wine reduction, ( can't remember what it was exactly). After enjoying our meal they brought us out a pretty anniversary cake and some of the waiters came over and sang Happy Anniversary to us. The cake had a chocolate mousse layer and it was so good we finished it all up!
Once done dinner we had just enough time to get to the Princess Theater and see the 8:30 showing of, "We Got The Music". It was awesome! We were so impressed with the sets, the costumes, and choreography, and the talented singers and dancers.
Since the theater was only a few decks below where our cabin was we decided to head back to our room rather than look for more entertainment which we knew was going on all over the ship.
When we got back to our room we had a nice surprise from our cabin steward - a towel art hanging monkey. He was so cute! We also found our bed turned down, chocolates on our pillows, and the next day's Princess Patter. Each night we both found ourselves looking the four page Patter over to see when day time things were happening, what evening entertainment was going on and where, (productions shows, comedians, magicians, bands, piano bar, MUTS, etc.), and which shops in the Piazza were having sales. There were also Scholarship at Sea classes listed which were offered during the sea days. I would take out a pen and we would circle the things we were interested in doing so we'd make sure not to forget about them. There was so much going on it was hard to keep track!
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