The coffee was good.
For most of the voyage the coffee has been execrable, and that was on the better days. For some reason the staff don’t have the vaguest idea how to make a decent cup of coffee. Being an American ship I expected horrible things from the black boiled sludge that passes for coffee in your standard American diner. What I didn’t expect was that the expresso coffees would be just as vile, but with frothy milk and a chocolate heart on top.
Today they surprised us with not one, but two decent cappuccinos. Bliss.
Otherwise a fairly quiet day. We didn’t do much other than my attending a couple of lectures, Emma finishing a book, a visit to the gym, and other typical cruise ship stuff.
I am still fascinated by Emma’s non-existent sense of direction. After three weeks she still can’t remember which way to turn to get to our cabin, or to return to the correct side of the deck we were just on, or to correctly identify which deck the buffet is on. It’s remarkable.
We were having lunch and she said working out which side of the ship she wanted was still confusing, and that she needed to remember which direction the ship is sailing. I commented this was unnecessary, and advised all she needed to do was look to see which direction the water seemed to be going: the ship would be heading in the direction the water isn’t. A then pointed outside the window to illustrate my point.
Emma thinks I’m a smartarse. She’s right, of course, but she still loves me.
The evening show was a guy called Ric Steele. Basically just a cabaret singer, not much more than you’d expect from an RSL club. It was OK, but only OK. A few of the passengers have noted the production shows have vanished, and now we’re just getting solo performers.
The most popular theory is that as this is a relocation cruise for the Sun Princess, which will be operating out of Australia for the next year or two, they’ve downgraded a number of aspects of the cruise. We met a couple who have sailed with Princess twice before, and the said that this cruise wasn’t up to the standards of their previous trips.
While most of the crew are fabulous, Princess Lines’ service standards do seem to be slipping, not least in the tour office, and their never-ending attempts to extract every last dollar out of passengers does get wearisome. Overall the cruise is great, and we’re already planning our next one - but not necessarily with Princess Lines.
However the fact they finally learned to make a decent cuppa provides hope for them.
2 comments:
Quality Coffee -
Have the Princesses Lines coffee standards improved (mysteriously after many days at sea) or have your standards slipped after many carefree days of nights.
Have you subtlety become one of "them".
Hi Guys
A quick Hi from the Meaders!! HI!!
Our big excitement this week was Ryan's 18th birthday! He is just so gorgeous, what did he want for his bithday I hear you ask?
A coffee machine! How topical. So, we are having fabolous coffee here - and great coffee art to boot.
We had a family dinner at La Botte, I had forgotten how fab their food is - it's on the list for dinner when you return. The whole extended family went and it was a lot of fun.
Ryan has been celebrating non-stop since Thursday. Wayne took him to Epoch Thurs lunch to make his 1st legit beer purchase, the bartender gave him a free shot of Tequila on realising it was his birthday! The family dinner was that evening.
Friday he went to a pub to see a band and then on to a nightclub!
Sat more bands at a bar in the Opera House. Oh my, my baby is growing up!
It is like 1 day he was one thing and the minute the birthday came, he was out there exploring a whole new world! I have to say he looked gorgeous all dressed up (did I say he has also bought himself some new clothes). It is great to see him evolving.
Today back to normal and HSC exam prep!
Elyssa and I had a great 5 days in Nelson Bay, she is such a water baby she was truly in her element. She even wants to move up there!
We spent our time swimming, snorkeling, dolphin watching, E went parasailing and saw a whale and her calf (pretty cool), more swimming (she even had me in the freezing cold water 18 degrees), then more swimming and did I saw swimming and then more swimming in the apts pool when we got back from the beach.
I realised how vey important a break is - for me!
There is a new nursery that has opened up on Lane Cove Rd, pretty cool. Emma put it in your diary for when you are back. It is called Eden and has the most beautiful display gardens and a good cafe and restaurant (good coffee too).
Hi from Ryan & Elyssa.
Love you both
Helen
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