Day 2 on the Majestic Princess
How do you vacation?
For some, it’s room service and relaxation in a comfortable room with a stocked minibar.
For some, it’s wandering around the new turf, exploring where you happen upon and doing things as you please.
For me, it’s grasping the activity guide in my grubby little hands, forming an impossibly tight schedule, and then spending all day running around in what becomes a burst of stimuli and emotion.
That is what sea days are like for me.
I underlined an impossible number of activities to make it to, but that’s not really the point. I just want to see and do as much as possible on the coveted sea day. Especially because Princess Cruise Lines has a lot of unique experiences that I want to make it to in my week on board. So here is what I did!
Breakfast.
I woke up insanely early so that I could be first in line for breakfast in the Concerto dining room. I was able to request and receive a window seat this way, and it was bliss.
Since I’m now used to Princess’s smaller portions, I was prepared and unashamedly ordered a couple of different things. I had fresh squeezed orange juice and coffee to start, then some papaya and “mom’s favorite compote” consisting of figs, peaches, and strawberries in syrup. I also got a bagel and smoked salmon, which is a cruise ship staple for me, but also ensured I smelled like fish.
Yikes but anyways…
First activity of the day was Zumba.
Something that really bothered me here was that they kept advertising the class as a way to “burn all those cruise food calories” which I find to be a very unhealthy message to be spreading. Sure, fitness is great for health, but framing exercise as a punishment for enjoying food just seems unhealthy to me.
However, after thinking about it, I decided that I was looking forward to the class because I love dancing, and so I went. I’m so glad I did, it was a blast! The instructor was awesome, she didn’t over-complicate the dance moves so it was easy to just enjoy the movement, and although I was definitely winded, the 35 minutes absolutely flew by!
Then I meandered into the Princess Live studio for a fruit and veggie carving demonstration. I’ve seen ice carving demonstrations aboard cruise ships, but this was the first food-centric display I’d heard of and so was excited to see what it was all about.
Basically, for half an hour, three master chefs carved up artwork after artwork made out of food like it was effortless, even carving through tough fruits like melons and coconuts. I suppose that makes sense, considering they have 35 years of experience doing this.
Each little artwork was so cute and they let us all take pictures afterwards. When asked how often the chefs sharpen their knives to do this, and they said every day. Every day! I can say with confidence my family and I have never sharpened our knives in 20 years of living together. Not once!
Next up, there wasn’t anything that jumped out at me so I attended an “Enrichment presentation” hosted by the show writer for Disney’s first animated show- David Weimer, the writer of ‘Ducktales’. He basically told the story of his life trying to make it in Hollywood as a screenwriter, which was especially interesting since this is a cruise to and from LA.
While I’m a bit envious of the fascinating lives that entertainers get to lead, I am grateful to not face the tough competition in the industry, it sounds stressful and difficult to make it in the entertainment industry!
Then was a presentation called “30,000 years of art in 30 minutes” hosted by the ship’s art gallery.
In the beginning, the host told us that while most cruise ships have art galleries, Princess believes that people should be able to learn about art in addition to buying it. I studied art history for a bit in college, and so I certainly agree with this. While I knew a lot of the facts they presented, I learned some new things as well about art history, such as how the Mona Lisa was stolen and Picasso was accused of stealing it! Drama alert!!
Next was lunch, also in the dining room.
I got some soy prawns and red snapper with spicy sauce and quinoa. The prawns were a delight, and while the snapper was better than the mahi mahi yesterday, it still could’ve been more flavorful in my opinion. Desert was a walnut chocolate apple turnover, and while I had only intended to try it, it was so darn tasty I ate the whole thing in no time at all.
The next activity offered was the bean bag challenge. Not much to say except I lost terribly, but who was really thinking that WTB’s athletic skills would shine here?
Then just one floor up was craft time. The normal craft lady was sick and so crafts became coloring. It was different from what I expected but still very relaxing. It was also around this time that the boat started rocking a lot. Tank goodness I don’t get seasick, because it’s very windy and the waves are pretty choppy today. It’s also only about 50 degrees, so no one is outside. I tried to go to the aft deck, but it’s so windy and chilly that I’d just rather stay in the world market place with a window seat.
Then I tried to go to the wine tasting before finding out that it was an additional cost. Umm no thanks!
I’ll wait until we get to Santa Barbara and do some tastings there instead. Instead, I went to afternoon tea. I met and older couple from Arkansas and we chatted while drinking English tea. This is another activity special to Princess, and I was really looking forward to snacking on tiny sandwiches to tide me through the rest of the day. The scones with cream brought back fond memories of my time studying at Oxford, though.
By this point, I was running out of steam, and instead of searching for something else to do, I just got some ice water and watched the ocean for a little while.
Then it was time to clean up and get ready for formal night #1!
Getting all dressed up is super fun to me, so I already had my outfit picked out. I had also decided to be brave and booked a group table reservation.
That was… I’m not sure. One one hand, everyone was way WAY older than I am and so I felt intimidated sitting with all of these well-to-do wealthy people. On the other hand, they were nice and I did enjoy chatting with them despite my nerves ringing alarm bells the whole time. I’m not sure if I’ll try it again, but I do want to be more socially brave so we’ll see.
Then we all ran to the showtime: the ‘Sweet Soul music show’.
Can I just say wow? I can confidently say that this is the best song-and-dance show I’ve seen at sea.
This company has a whopping 15 singers and dancers, and they are all fantastically talented. There’s also a guest soprano on board, and her operatic numbers were astounding!
The costumes are professional grade, and there’s an orchestra playing in the back, adding tons of quality to the production. The 45 minutes of classic soul covers totally flew by, and I was almost tempted to go see the second running of the show, it was that good!
But instead I just meandered into the Vista Lounge were the comedian had another show. Once again, he was good but not out-of-this-world-funny. Still berated the audience when we didn’t laugh enough at his jokes. Yikes.
I ended up going to the world fresh market place on the lido for some snacks as believe it or not, I was hungry again.
I was gonna get a drink after, but am just too tired now. Oh well! Now I’m finishing up this post and falling asleep all at the same time. You know what that means, time to sleep so I can enjoy San Fran tomorrow! Toodles 🙂
~WTB