Sunday, December 29, 2019; At Sea, San Pedro to Cabo San Lucas
Our clocks went forward an hour during the night so getting up in the morning did require some effort to get breakfast before the 9AM morning trivia. The kids wanted to do the Tai Chi on the pool deck at 8AM, but it was too cold and breezy to do that comfortably. Price and Ciara managed to find treadmills in the very crowded fitness center at that hour.
The kids’ room was quite cramped with the 3rd berth pulled down because it was over the only open floor area between the desk and refrigerator. It was possible to go in and out through the sliding glass door to the balcony, but you had to duck and shuffle under the bunk. We eventually figured out how to unlock the bed platform so that it could be rotated back up, restoring access to the floor between the desk and refrigerator. We did open the divider between our two balconies, so it gives the kids a bit more space to roam, but they will likely spend most of their time in the public areas of the ship.
Ben and Janet traded their minibar set up for coffee cards, so we stopped by the International Cafe after breakfast and got some Chai Lattes and Cafe Latte drinks to go to the 9AM trivia.
Apparently, after the time change, 9AM was too early for most people because there were only 4 teams and a handful of others in the Princess Live venue. This host was cracking down on extra clipboards, paper and pencils, insisting that each team have only one, so we have to say answers to each other out loud, making it possible for surrounding teams to eavesdrop, but since the 4 teams were spread out over the theater this morning, that wasn’t really an issue.
This was a typical general knowledge trivia, and we managed to win with 18/20, bagging some Royal Princess silicone coasters. They will go towards completing our collection of coasters from the fleet of Princess ships. We didn’t know who or what Cymbeline was the king of, according to Shakespeare. We also had no clue who was the first woman to win the US Open golf championship.
We went back to our rooms to find our stewards working on them so we headed to the atrium to hang out, and discovered Zumba going on. It was very crowded on the floor of the atrium, but there were a few balconies adjacent to the Panoramic elevator shafts where you could have done the Zumba. Ciara attempted to join the crowd, but felt too much at risk for getting an eye poked out, so she retreated to the balcony to hang out with Price and John until that finished.
We were finally able to return to our rooms to brush our teeth and freshen up a bit before the 11:15AM trivia. This time, the room was packed to capacity, so there was a lot of competition. This one was hosted by Marcus, the cruise director, who is from Toronto, but is a Filipino who greets everyone by asking them to say Ola Marcus! This was another general knowledge trivia, and we managed a second win for the morning. This one was a bit more satisfying because the competition was quite keen. We got 20/21, missing only one Greek mythology question- what youth was known for his beauty. We incorrectly answered Narcissus, instead of Adonis.
We stuck around for a Beatlemania trivia at 12:30pm. We thought we had done pretty well, but ended up getting creamed by a team that had a nearly perfect score, out scoring all the other teams, including ours, but at least 10 points. They had a real Beatles savant on that team because that trivia had a lot of very difficult and obscure questions like what was the second A side song that was released together with Day Tripper, and what 3 Beatles songs were banned by the BBC. There were other questions like who inspired the song Eight Days a Week, and what was the inspiration for the song Norwegian Wood.
We had lunch in the buffet and then did some walking and napping. It took a surprising amount of effort to get the kids to show up for the 3:45PM afternoon trivia. Price was do deeply asleep that he couldn’t be awakened for the trivia, and John was engaged in exercise, so it was just Ben, Janet and Ciara. We had scored 18/20, making a 3 way tie for first place, but lost the tie breakers. There were two- the first was who was the only boxer to defeat Mohammad Ali. None of the 3 teams got that right. The second tie breaker was to list as many countries bordering Germany as they could in 30 seconds. We managed 8, but there were 9 (we missed the Czech Republic) and one team did manage to get all 9.
This was our first of two formal nights, so we got dressed up and then had our dinner. Ben wanted to see if we could be reseated at a different table because the blue light emanating from a lighted pillar at the table made everyone look cyanotic, and the food oddly colored. Fortunately, the dining room staff were able to change the color of the pillar with the flick of a switch to a more neutral amber color. There was no lobster for this formal night, so we had to settle for lamb shank, prawns, and beef tenderloins. They did have the Chocolate Journey Hazelnut bars for dessert.
The Captain’s champagne fountain reception followed, so we were able to pick up a few glasses of champagne. One waitress actually “carded” Ciara and John by scanning their medallions. Price, who was sporting a 1 week beard growth, passed for being old enough to not need to be “carded”.
We carried champagne into the Princess Theater for our first Production show of this cruise. This was a new Stephen Schwartz produced show called The Secret Silk. The show was very elaborately costumed and choreographed. The sets were amazing and there was a lot of music and dancing going on, but it was hard to make sense of the plot, and the lead vocals were a bit muddled making the lyrics hard to make out. It was a show that was beautiful to watch and listen to, but it was hard to really connect with it. There seemed to be an Asian theme to the sets and costumes, but the music used a lot of contemporary pop and rock songs that seemed oddly out of place with the sets and costumes. The two other Stephen Schwartz produced Princess shows we have seen- Magic to Do, and Born to Dance, connected better with us as an audience, so we have enjoyed both of those shows each time we have watched them. Maybe we would pick up more of this show on a second viewing, or with better lead singers.
The club band had quite a crowd dancing in the Atrium after we left the theater and had a late night snack at Alfredos, the Pizza and pasta venue in the atrium. The Royal Princess’ version of Alfredos has a much more extensive menu than the Sapphire Princess’ version. That wrapped up the evening for us.
Tomorrow, we arrive at Cabo San Lucas at 10AM. We have an excursion that includes ATV riding and Camel riding, so that should be a bit of an adventure. We will have to anchor outside the harbor and use tenders to get ashore, so that will take some time. Our excursion doesn’t meet until 11am, so we will probably do the 9am early risers trivia and then grab a late breakfast before going on our excursion.
