March 6 - Sea Day #10

Friday, March 6, 2026

I got up and dressed quietly in the dark so Bob could sleep. My texts to J & M weren't going through for some reason so I resorted to using the chat feature in the Princess app and let them know I was going to breakfast. When I got to the buffet, Ian (our waiter in the MDR) was greeting people. He gave me a big smile and said "get a table, I will bring you coffee!" I felt like a VIP!

J & M showed up a short time after I arrived. It appeared that they were short-staffed in the buffet and no one was serving drinks. (Except for my special service from Ian!) I got up to get a 2nd cup of coffee and it looked like motor oil with coffee grounds floating on the top. I must have drained the sludge from the bottom of the pot. 😒 Jon messed around with the settings on my phone and somehow got the texts (and YouTube) working again. I wonder if other "wifi-less" folks on the ship had discovered that they had access to texting and YouTube?

Bob was awake when I got back to the room and he, Michelle and I went to the Wheelhouse Bar for a meeting for "in-transit" guests that was to begin at 9 am. At 9:10 no one had arrived to start the meeting, so I sent a crew chat message telling them that a whole room of people were sitting there waiting. The reply? The meeting was scheduled to start at 9:30. I let them know that the letter we received had stated 9:00 (as did several other people in the room.) About 5 minutes later several staff members arrived. They seemed to be very unorganized and all of the information they shared could have easily been put into letter form and saved everyone the trouble of coming to a meeting. The guy leading the meeting had such a heavy accent that we couldn't understand much of what he was saying anyway. 

Note: A letter WAS delivered to our room later in the day that had all of the information that had been given at the meeting. There was no need for an in-person get together at all. 

From the Wheelhouse Bar, we went directly to the theater to get seats for the culinary demonstration. Our usual spots were in the upper level which works well for most entertainment, but not so much for a demonstration. (Although there was up close video coverage on large screens.) And again, the guys doing the demonstration had accents that were hard to understand.

Holly and executive chef, Daniel Tanchev.

Once the cooking show was over, we went down to the Piazza and watched a parade made up of the dining room waiters and cooking crew. From there we lined up and did a galley tour that highlighted some of the vegetable carvings and fancy cakes that were to be served in the buffet at lunch.

Sushi was being served at lunch so I sampled a few kinds. To me, the best part of eating sushi is the wasabi and ginger but I got a little too much wasabi on one piece and ended up in tears! For dessert, we went through the line in the Cafe Caribe and sampled a few of the fancy cakes.

I got an overdose of wasabi! My sinuses were clear the rest of the day! 😄

No pity from Bob...he thought it was funny.

At 2:30 in the afternoon, we all went to the Voice of the Ocean singing competition in the theater. Princess did a great job with the set and special effects making it look very similar to the TV show "The Voice". We were given a wireless remote "clicker" as we entered the theater and used this to vote after the six contestants had performed. The fact that the least talented performer was awarded top prize made us wonder if the electronic voting was just "pretend".

Bob and I stepped out onto the promenade deck after the show to see the waves. It was windy and the waves were reaching almost up to Deck 7 where we were. We didn't stay long though...a crew member came along and asked us to go inside. 

The classical duo was playing in the Piazza as we walked by so we stopped and listened until the end of their set. Back at our room, the sun was shining on the balcony and it was a perfect place to hang out until it was time to change for dinner.

Hoping to not have to rush, we went to the MDR early at 5:00 but by 6:30 we hadn't even ordered dessert. We left without the dessert and went to the theater to get seats for the "Farewell Show". (We were in the dining room when the waiters paraded through to the tune "Hot, Hot, Hot!) The Farewell Show featured the Princess band, singers & dancers plus Jefferson McDonald and Donna Lajeunesse (who had done the She-Ha show that we loved.) I couldn't help but record Donna singing "Let it Go"!

I loved the location of our cabins on this cruise. We were just a few steps away from the aft elevators which were an quick ride up to the buffet or down to the MDR.

Donna Lajeunesse

The plan was to end the day with dessert and cards in the buffet. We did play cards, but no one was hungry enough to eat so we skipped that part. Tomorrow cruise #1 ends in San Francisco and Jon wants to rent electric bikes and ride across the Golden Gate Bridge...we will see. I "think" I could handle the riding but I haven't been on a bike since fall so not sure. Also now Michelle seems to be getting the sniffles and perhaps won't feel like going.